Soul eater: Shadowed truths
By jack t. Hegehog
(A/N): note that this is a rewrite of a story I've been putting off. Also those who have submitted an oc via pm back then will be used here, without ado chapter 1.
Lord Death (LD): A sound soul… rests within a sound mind… and a sound body, a lesson that dates back to even before the awakening of the keishan ashura. For centuries this lesson has been passed on. But not many people know that there is a another barrier beyond the soul mind and body, a hidden fourth barrier. Ancient reports suggest that whoever can break through this barrier will learn experience a whole new kind of power. At the moment, this is just mere speculation, but there could be reasons why this power has never been discovered, maybe some just haven't attained the means to access such things, or maybe this truth was sealed away for it could mean catastrophic disaster upon the world and all its inhabitants…"
"Well, whatever the reason, I'm not worried one bit."
"Hmm? Your wndering why? I thought that as obvious, the young students here at the academy are more than enough protection for any kind of harm may come to the academy. Though I'm sure you were aware of this already, although unseen, I'm sure you've seen a handful of the students here and what they can do, there all turning into such fine partners, I'm starting to think about the possibility of being overthrown."
"But who could overthrow a cool guy like me right?"
….OH!
(Looks at random clock…)
"Speaking of which, it's just about time for the main event to begin, so let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!
Chapter1: ominous beginnings.
"keishan eggs, evil humans corrupted to the near break of insanity by consuming monstrous amounts of human souls." "It is known When a human devours another humans soul for the first time, there's no turning back, it is the duty of a meister and their partners to expel these monsters at once or it will continue to devour souls until they turn into a full-fledged keishan." "This has been and still is the duty of those who choose to fight the monsters, who want to protect not themselves, but the academy, the city, and the world."
We come to a wide open plaza that seemed to be cleared out. The location of the city seemed to be somewhere in the far desert. The buildings surrounding the abandoned plaza were desert sand yellow, it was very similar to the color of the miles of sand, but there was a slight differences from the two that only a few could find."
The sun that beaded down on the city had soon reflected of some kind of oval shaped shadowy object. As the shadow emerges into sight, it is revealed to be an arachnid humanoid like pre keishan. The beast itself was so big that its legs were as tall as two humans. Along the left and right side of the thorax were dark green and red veins with the thorax itself being a corrosive purple. It had twelve bones like legs that with the red colored veins across the right set of legs and the green colored veins across the left. Its front two legs seemed to be much larger and sharper than the rest of its legs; it looked to have the capabilities to be used as scythes.
Under the belly and up to the mouth was covered in brownish grey fur similar to a tarantula.
On its head, there were signs of a skeleton protruding out a purple like venom had dripped with no end of its golden fangs. Though it only had four eyes, there was a weird zodiac shaped pattern on its head that couldn't be identified.
The arachnid keishan had let out a high pitch streak as it had swiped its front left leg slicing a nearby fountain into chunks. It was about to continue its rampage as it was prepared to strike down a nearby building, but it was quickly stopped by a large silver flying shuriken.
"HEY SPIDER FREAK! Shouldn't you be picking on flies instead of people?" Shouted an energetic yet annoying voice the large shuriken had returned to black star,
"It's a real shame for you ya know, now that I've got you in my sights, there's no hope left for you!" Black star bellowed. But his pointless boasting did nothing but upset the evil human even more. Soon enough a few more kids had walked up beside black star. The first was maka albarn, wielding soul in his death scythe form.
"Jeez black star, you ruined our shot at a surprise attack again, can you get the first hit on our target without self-advertising? I thought ninja's were supposed to be more stealthy then that." Maka groaned. "Well excuse me Ms. know it all, but I'm the ninja here, so unless you had the kind of brutal intense training I had, please tuck those suggestions away in your head." Black star smirked as he made a shooing motion.
"Why you little…" Maka grinded her teeth as a vein started to form on her head.
"You know she does have a point black star, you could stand to go through one fight without your usual…. "Flavor" coming up now and again." chimed in a well-mannered and yet critical voice.
The third member to the party was death the kid, son of lord death, carrying the twin pistols Liz and patty. "If we could knock the creature off balance once in a fight we might be able to collect souls faster." Said kid. "Oh now you're getting on my back to?! Sneak attack or not this beast won't stand a chance, he'll be cut down like all the others and that's a fact."
"Um, if I may interrupt…, began tsubaki as her reflection appeared on black star's large shuriken ...Shouldn't we focus more on the problem in front of us?" tsubaki asked, referring to the monster that was still in front of them. When they all turned their attention back on the spider like evil human, it was all but set to bring one of its scythes like claws down on the trio.
"Evasive maneuvers!" kid shouted as the three jumped into different directions.
"Anyone got any ideas on how to take this thing down?" asked soul as his reflection appeared on maka's scythe. As they were coming back down towards the sandy ground, kid had notice that the color of the veins on the back of the legs of the pre keishan was slightly darker then the veins that could be easily seen.
"The back of the legs looks like it could be a weak point, I'll distract the head." As soon as he landed kid had started to fire at the misshapen head of the spider.
Maka and black star nodded and began running to the sides of the monster and as kid had proceeded to draw it's attention.
"Aww, I wanted to break the big bugs legs, no fair…" patty whined "quit your griping, you can step on an ant or something when we get home." Liz said with a small scowl. "But that won't be as fun…" but as they complained, some shots came out as blanks or completely missing the mark.
"Would you two stop it, you know I can't fire anything if you two aren't in sync…" Kid growled. while kid had begun to lure the monster around, black star and maka had begun moving towards it's legs, black star had took the left flank while maka had took the right. It was somewhat difficult to hit them while the beast had continued to move.
"Tsubaki, uncanny sword mode!"
"Right!" in a yellow flash of energy, tsubaki had changed from a large shuriken into a slender dark blade. " "Alright!, let's cut this thing down to size!" with a wide grin black star had picked up speed almost instantly thanks to tsubaki's lighter weapon form. " Though as black star was moving at a greater speed then her, maka was the first one to find one of the discolored week points on the back of one of the eight legs, though on closer inspection it could be seen that the thing was pumping like a heartbeat "Yuck… I think I'm goanna be sick…" maka groaned, resisting the urge to bring up her breakfast.
"Suck it up, hurry and slash this thing before it moves again!" Soul shouted. After keeping it down, maka closed her eyes and swung the scythe at the pulsing anomaly, slicing it in two and soon disappearing. "Alright, one down, eleven to go, were got our work cut out for us." But before they had begun moving again, the evil human had let out an ear curdling roar as it had slowly began to lose its balance. "Sounds like that really hurt, let's keep it moving maka."
"Right... Huh?" before soul and maka could get in motion again, they had seen that black star was striking down the various weak points of the beasts in a flash. Already he had taken out 5 of the designated weak points on the mega bug.
"YAHOO!" the egotistical ninja shouted as he had continued to slash the legs apart. The beast had soon become torn as it wanted to swat the vermin hacking away at its appendages, but there was also the case of the gunman firing at its face. It had begun to lift the legs that it was still able to move and swiped them close to the ground. Maka was able to see it coming and managed to avoid the attack in time. But black star that was still focused on taking the monster down had his leg grabbed by one of the monsters legs, causing him to trip up and land on his face.
"Stupid bug, you dare trip the mighty blackstar?!" "Wait a second black star look at it for a second." Said tsubaki as she noticed something off about their target
It had seemed to stop moving completely.
'It..it stopped moving?" Kid asked "Hey! Maybe it's giving up and letting us kill it? What a nice evil monster." patty happily suggested. "I hardly doubt that it patty…" liz sighed. Soon it had shot out a clump of purple venom out from its mouth. "INCOMING BUG SLIME!" Patty screamed flailing her arms inside her weapon form.
Mala and kid quickly got out of its line of fire in time to dodge the attack. But while it had begun to pursue maka and kid, black star had continued to attempt an assault on the beast. "Black star wait! That purple venom looks kind of dangerous!" tsubaki warned. "Come on tsubaki, this is our chance to finish it with its back turned!" black star had proceeded to jump on the back of the bug that spring upwards into the air aiming for the monsters head.
"Haha! Your mine now!" black star yelled as he came in closer to the back of the head of the beast. Though this had failed when the humanoid arachnid had attempted to turn around to target him, this resulted in black star slicing one of the fangs off the beast instead of splitting its head open. The pain from the hastily removed tooth had caused the evil human to begin thrashing about destroying about two more buildings in the process. It was easy for the assassin to dodge the falling debris, but maka and kid had to find cover to protect them
"Black star! What did you do?!" Maka questioned angered at the assassin's recklessness. "I was trying to destroy this thing duh!" Black star answered in a matter of fact like tone." But while his back was turned the evil human had spat out another venom projectile at black star.
"Black star behind you!" maka warned as she saw the projectile heading towards him. He attempted to evade the attack, but the venom had managed to hit his left boot. And as soon as the venom made contact, the assassin had dropped to the earth like an Annville. "Gah! , what the heck… was that stuff. I can't move my left foot..." black star had struggled to move, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his foot off the ground.
"That purple venom must have somehow increased the density of what it hit. It's likely that you won't be moving for a while if this thing lasts long." Said kid after watching black star struggle helplessly for a few seconds.
"Watch out, that things about to attack again! Soul warned , seeing the evil human was bringing its claws down on them. Maka and kid tried to move black star off the ground in time to evade the attack, but it was no use, black star's new led foot was too heavy to move. It seemed like that the assassin was about to meet his end.
"Go now…. Scream resonance!" Said a sort of depressing voice from nearby
A sword was raised in the air. The handle of the blade was wrapped in bandages. At the bottom of the blade was what seemed to be a grey leather belt with spikes that made an x on both sides of the blade
The blade itself was black with a white line strip in the middle. Right after scream resonance was called out a cartoonish red lipped mouth had appeared on the sword and let out a scream more painful than the beast's.
"KEYAAAAHHHHHH!" The sound waves from the attack were enough to make the evil human cringe in pain. There was no way for it to block the sound of the painful bellows from the mysterious weapon.
The owner of the weapon was none other than chrona the sword meister. The weapon in hand was none other than ragnarok. "That was a close one, thanks for the backup chrona" Maka smiled thankful for the quick assist.
"No worries, I'd do anything for you maka." Said chrona returning the smile
"Oh BARF! Get a room or something! Are we going to take this thing out or what?! Asked a very impatient ragnarok "Cool your jets man, we were working on that, we hit most of its legs but it's still standing,, and we can't get to close to that weird venom it's spewing or we'll get stuck like this guy here." Soul explained as he looked at black star. "Hey I was about to take that thing out until it got lucky!" Black star shouted defensively. But everyone just ignored his comment.
"Oh really? And why didn't you idiots just attack the zodiac mark on top of that things head?!" Ragnarok questioned. They all gained surprised looks on their faces, not noticing once that there was a zodiac mark on the top of the creature's head. "A zodiac mark? That means it's another one of those 'things' we were supposed to be on the lookout for, but how to get to it?" Asked soul.
"Leave that to me…" kid's flying skateboard seemingly came out of nowhere, just coming to a stop next to him.
"Try to keep him still while I aim for its head." As kid had begun to ascend into the air, maka,soul, chrona and ragnarok all went to keep the pre keishen busy while tsubaki had stayed back to keep black star safe. "Hey! What about me? You can't just leave me stuck to the ground like this!" Black star growled not being able to move at all, reducing him to a common bystander.
The beast had continued to fire it's venom at maka and chrona, unaware of kid making its way behind it. As soon as he got a good enough look, sure enough, what could be described as a zodiac mark was spotted on the back of the beast's head.
"There it is… it's another one of those creatures alright." "What do we do now kid?" asked patty as kid had landed atop a building. "Like last time, we need to hit the mark with a soul resonance to protect the soul from disappearing along with the beast.
"Right, whenever you're ready." Said Liz determined to finish the job.
(Kid,liz and patty) "LET"S GO! SOUL RESONANCE! As kid had got on one knee and held liz and patty outwards, a blue aura of energy had started to appear around him. liz and patty had transformed into large cannon like weapons. The weapons had fit onto his arms. Three black spokes had stuck out of his left and right arm.)
(apologies, don't know how to describe liz and patty's soul resonance forms.
"Charging soul cannon, power output at 10% and charging." Said liz in a monotone like fashion. As they continued to charge, black little energy skulls had began to circle around kid.
Meanwhile back on the ground floor, the demon swordsmen struggled to keep the monster at bay, trying to counter the monsters attack, blow for blow.
"Hey! You better not let any of that nasty gunk get on us or I'm going to give you what for!" Threatened ragnarok as he blocked another oncoming attack. "I know I know, there's no need for threats." Chrona replied after evading another attack.
Maka had tried attacking one of the weak points on the marked evil humans leg that haven't been struck yet, but right before she could slice it in two, the beast had raised said leg and knocked two nearby barrels in her direction.
She had quickly destroyed them with one swipe of her weapon, but as soon as she did, the beast had brought down the same leg again and knocked the scythe meister across the ground and into a nearby wall.
"maka are you ok?" Soul asked as his image appeared on the scythe. "Y..yeah, I'll be fine, stupid thing pulled a cheap shot while I wasn't looking…." As maka gritted her teeth and struggled to get up, she had caught sight of kid charging up for an attack. "Power output at 35%.""He's using soul resonance already?" while maka was distracted, the evil human was about to bring down its claw and end her. It would be too late before maka could react in time to evade the attack.
Luckily a certain assassin who was thought to be grounded had come to the rescue and sliced not only the visible weak point, but half of the entire leg.
"HA! You thought you could stop this rising star? What foolishness!" Black star gloated while the beast writhed in pain. "Black star?! But how are you moving… more importantly what is that smell?" maka asked as she couldn't help but cover her nose. As she had looked down she saw what the source of the foul odor was.
"It was quite simple really, the gunk had only affected my shoe, so all I had to do was take it off and I'm up and moving again."
"DO you ever wash those things? They reek!" Maka complained. "We can discuss black star's hygiene issue's later, we still have a whole lot of monster left." Added soul.
"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Said ragnarok as he and the others turned to kid who seemed to be finished charging.
"Power output at 100% preparing to fire…" said Liz "Firing cannon's in 5, 4, 3…."patty counted down. "Everyone brace yourselves!" Said maka Everyone had raised their guard as kid prepared to launch.
"FIRE!" Patty yelled cheerfully as two purple energy blasts had fired from the twin cannons. Luckily the attack was able to hit the zodiac mark right on target. As soon as the blast made contact, the zodiac mark on the evil human's body had begun to light up along with the monster. Soon weird bright purple lines had begun to cover the whole body of the beast. Each body part that was covered with the weird lines was made unable to move. The beast writhed and screeched as its very neck was soon made to stand still.
Before long, the beast finally began to vanish into darkness like the regular monsters that beset the heroes every day. And what was left was a purplish soul with the same the same mark that was on the evil human's body. "Yuck, are souls even supposed to be this kind of color?" Asked a disgusted ragnarok
"I'm not eating that…" Said soul "Well don't worry, this soul isn't supposed to be consumed anyway, we were told to find unusual souls with zodiac markings and deliver it to the r and d lab." Maka explained as she had grabbed a bag she put nearby and took out a expensive looking jar. The lid was silver and had what seemed like a combination lock on it. The jar itself was a dingy grey.
"Where do you think these weird souls are coming from? Asked soul
"I don't know, but I'm sure professor stein and everyone else in the r and d unit will be able to find something out, given they find enough clues to the weird occurrences." Said tsubaki. "Speaking of stein, we still have that quiz today; he said it was going to be both a review and what we've learned in the field." Said maka as she had put the jar into her bag. But as soon as she finished packing, she had looked at her watch and began to panic
"GAH! OH NO! THERE"S ONLY 45 MINUTES UNTIL THE TEST STARTS!" Maka cried as he clenched her head in despair. "What? But we took like an hour and a half plane ride here! We're not going to make it back to the academy in time!" Soul added. Everyone was thinking about how they were going to get back in time before the test started, except for kid who had walked up unfazed as usual.
"If you would all calm down, I believe I have a solution to our problem." Said kid as liz and patty returned to their human forms. "If it'll get us back to the academy in time I'll take it, so tell us already." Said black star.
"I wish you wouldn't have said that..." Liz groaned. As they all began walking back to the jet, black star had stopped to look at the boot that was left behind.
"Black star, are you coming?" Asked tsubaki. "Yeah yeah I'll be there in a sec." black star shooed tsubaki away as he began to inspect the weighted boot.
When black star attempted to pick up his shoe, it seemed like whatever what was afflicting it had finally worn off. but just thinking about what happened had gave the assassin an idea. "Weighted clothing huh…? I think I can use this." Black star grew an eager devious grin as he quickly put his shoe back on and went to catch up with the others.
A few minutes later... the team was riding back to death city on a pre-approved jet. By the look of it, it was going at top speed, which usually isn't safe for casual plane rides. Inside the plane it was like a red velvet room.
Maka seemed to be triple strapped into her seat, black star and soul seemed to be barley hanging on to their seats as they were on the edge of falling off and plastering the wall. Liz was clawing on to her seat like a frightened cat; tsubaki had her hands cuffed to the arms and legs cuffed to the seat.
But kid and patty seemed to be taking this well. Kid was simply buckled in and enjoying a cup of tea while patty was humming a happy tune in her head as she was enjoying the ride. "Is it really safe to be going at this speed? I mean one of us could accidentally fall out the window if we don't slow down." Said maka as she griped her arm rests tightly.
"Don't worry; I assure you that we will survive. And besides, you wanted to make sure we got back to the academy on time, in case of emergencies, I'm authorized to order the driver to go above the speed limit, so there's nothing to worry about." Kid explained as he had took a sip from his cup.
About half an hour later, they had made it back to the death city airport and soon to the dwma. Though some of them had trouble coming up the stairs as they were still dizzy from the ride. The ones who couldn't handle the ride were slouching from dizziness or nausea. Kid was walking with the same expression he usually wears and patty was skipping happily along. "
"That was awesome! Do you think another emergency will happen again soon kid? I want to go again." "Let's hope not patty, I don't think our funds could cover collective emergencies." "You mean those emergencies cost money?" soul groaned. "When he said our funds, I really hope he didn't mean us…" Maka sighed.
Soon they had managed to reach their classroom, and by the looks of it right on time. it looked like it was spirit's time to teach the classroom today.
"Ah, there's the rest of the class, glad you could join…." Spirit had trailed off after seeing the exhausted look on his daughter's face. "AAAAAAHHHH! MY DEAR MAKA! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! Spirit screamed.
"Ugh… not now, the test would be more relaxing then dealing with you after today." Maka groaned as she passed right by spirit and headed for her usual seat.
"Excuse me Mr. Death scythe, but can we just get on with the test? The sooner we start, the sooner I can make the highest score, like always." Said a smug Oxford.
"Oxford…" Maka growled as she continued to walk to her seat.
Oxford, maka's nemesis in the field of smarts, there have been times when she's come out on top, and times where oxford has left her biting the dust. They've been rivals for as long as they've been students of the dwma, and an end to the rivalry didn't seem visible at the time.
"Well students, I know you were all excited to begin the review/ pop quiz today, but do to some last minute paperwork, we've fallen a bit behind and won't be having it today. All the students up roared in a group cheer after hearing those words. "Alright! no test today!" Cheered a happy male student. "Oh thank you gods above us!" thanked a female student
"Oh well, I suppose I'll have to humiliate my rival some other day." Smiled oxford as he laid back in his chair.
"Ok ok settle down. We'll just have to move on to the next lesson for now, but before that we have a new student joining our class today." Said spirit as he reached for a few papers on his desk " A new student, don't we have enough people here as it is?" Asked a rude male student. "I sure hope he's not anything like black star…" whispered a judgmental female student
"Now I know you all know this already, but just in case you forget, you should treat every student with the same respect you would treat yourself with. Any teasing or bullying will not be tolerated, failure to comply with said rules will be met with the according punishment. "Spirit explained as he looked over all the students in the room.
"Now that we have that covered, you may come in now."
a boy who seemed to be 16 years old had walked in. he has ash brown groomed hair which seemed to spike upwards near his neck. He wore black rectangular reading glasses with dark blue eyes underneath them. He had peach skin and was wearing a grey dress shirt with a green velvet vest and black tie. This coordinated well with his pinstripe pants. Even his dark brown dress shoes were thoughtfully polished.
He seemed to have the kind of expression that says 'I'd rather be anywhere but here.'
"Don't be shy kid, there not goanna bite you, go on an introduce yourself." Spirit pushed on. The boy had simply nodded and faced the class.
"Hello, My name is Danny formal, it seems I will be joining your class from now on, I hope my experience here will be a pleasant one." The boy politely explained as he adjusted his glasses slightly.
"Danny formal? What kind of name is that?" Questioned black star. "Before Danny had joined us, he used to work down in the S. R. D. unit. (Soul research and development.) Though he hasn't seen much else of the academy except there so I'm hoping that you'll be friendly and show our new face around, can't have him wandering into areas he shouldn't go." Spirit had turned back to Danny who still seemed to have a disapproving look on his face. "Well Mr. Formal, go ahead and find yourself a seat, just stay away from my daughter though or I'll have you expelled." Spirit said with a creepy smile on his face.
But Danny didn't pay much mind and began looking for a seat. As he began to look for a seat, he could already feel eyes beginning to stare at him. One pair belonging to the son of the grim reaper, his stare had made icy cold chills run down his spine. He didn't even have to talk to him to know that's someone he wouldn't want to mess with.
But before he had walked any further, someone had started to call to him.
"Heyl, new kid over here!" Danny turned around to see the student known as oxford was calling him. "Hello fellow pursuer of knowledge takes a seat net to me." Oxford smiled as he held out the seat next to him.
From one glance Danny wasn't sure whether to trust that guy or not, but he seemed like the only friendly face at the moment. Judging from the looks on the other students faces, they really didn't seem all that eager to know him, so he took what he could get for now and took the seat next to oxford.
"I couldn't help but notice the model of your glasses, the light slicker specs correct?" Ox asked adjusting his glasses.
"Yes that's right." He replied simply as he sat down and opened his textbook.
"If I remember correctly the light slicker is one of the most expensive model specs on the shelves, how did you come across them?"
"I…just had a well-paying job." Danny hesitantly answered before staring down into his textbook, hoping to end the conversation early.
"Hey soul…, does anything about the new kid seem a bit... Off to you?" maka asked as she looked down at the new student. "You mean besides the fact he's hanging with Ox?" Soul asked sarcastically
"I'm serious; I don't know what it is something just seems weird about him, though maybe I'm just being skeptical."
"Well maybe you can ask him what's up after class. Mr. Death scythe did say the new guy will need a guide." "I guess so; I just hope ox hasn't driven him crazy before we get the chance to talk to him."
After class….
Maka had a few minutes before she would head back to her apartment, so she decided to find the new student and give a proper introduction.
"Hmm, now where did he go... huh? As maka walked down the hallway, she could hear a couple of voices. One of them sounded like they belonged to the new student, the other sounded like professor stein. "Well, if it isn't the kid from the labs, never expected to see you in the same class." Said a snobbish voice
Maka had peeked around the corner to see that two girls at least a year older then Danny was standing in front of him. By the look of things the new student wasn't too pleased to see the two.
They were twin sisters as they shared similar features and clothing tastes.
Both sisters had tanned skin. The girl on the left seemed to be the oldest; she had long hair that was tied up in four purple bands and purple eyes. She was wearing a plain white tank top with a yellow winter coat. Long blue pants and black stilettoes.
Her sister wore similar clothing. She also had tanned skin, but she had short hair that was tied with one purple band. She wore a red winter coat with a white tank top with long blue pants and blue stilettoes.
"Aria and Maria, what do you want with me this time?" Danny questioned almost immediately.
"Oh nothing much Danny boy, were just surprised that someone like you was moved up to the eat class, given your horrendous background." Aria giggled with a sneer.
"If all you two have come to do is insult me then can we schedule it for another time, I have a current engagement to attend to." Danny responded calmly as he tried to walk past them. But it didn't look like they were prepared to move.
"I bet you'd want to make it there on time, though it probably wouldn't last long, kind of like your relationship with whatever weapon got stuck with you." Maria chimed in.
"How long were you able to sync with this person anyway, probably no less but a few seconds right?" aria added.
Danny had started to become more irritated, but he had attempted to keep a calm face.
"GO on tell us, what chump got stuck with you this time? Though it probably wouldn't matter, even if your partner had enough skill to carry 100 beginners you'd still fall flat on your face." aria mocked.
Danny felt like he wanted to blow up, but he had inhaled then exhaled before adjusting his glasses and prepared a returning statement.
"I'm not sure if I should be taking tips on skill from you two, given your current attire and …overuse of whatever kind of musk you have procured, I suspect your field of skill may be in the other kind of services." Danny replied
(Translation: you look and smell like whores)
They had seemed to get the gist of what he was saying and didn't seem too pleased about it.
"Oh so the kids got jokes huh? Real chatty for a twig like you." Aria growled as she yanked Danny up by his shirt collar, hoping to see some sign of fear in him. But she was only met with a disapproving glare which only ticked her off more.
"You're only lowering your standards even more by taking this course of action. Save what little humility you have left and walk away from this situation, less you end up hurting yourself and maria's." Danny responded coldly as he continued to stare down at the two.
"You're not giving the orders around here you little twerp!" Shouted Maria
"You got a lot of nerve talking down to someone with a higher rank, instead of hurting myself; I think we'll just hurt you instead." Aria had turned her free hand into a fist and was all but ready to hurt the young meister.
But before matters could hit the worst case scenario, Ms. Albarn had intervened.
"Hey! What's going on over here? What are you doing to that boy?" Maka questioned.
"Yikes, it's Maka albarn…" Maria yelped
"Shit... Of all the times for someone like her to show up..." Aria hissed as she immediately released Danny's collar letting him fall to the ground.
Having a three star ranked status in the dwma did have its perks, one of them being able to break up little skirmishes alone.
"Oh Ms. Albarn, funny running into you here." Aria smiled innocently as she and her sister bowed.
Maka didn't believe their innocent act; the boy that was still picking himself up off the ground was proof enough.
""What were you two just doing to that boy?"
"Who Danny boy here? We were just rough housing like we always do." Aria smiled nervously as she placed her hands on Danny's shoulders.
"Yeah just rough housing, we'd never really hurt the little guy, isn't that right?" Maria asked, turning to Danny.
"I suppose that would be the case here, these two had no intention of doing serious harm to my person." Danny replied as he looking away from the smiling twin.
Maka still had a suspicious look on her face as it really didn't look like playful rough housing. But before she could press them any further, they had decided to cut and run.
"Well we'd love to stay but we need to practice for an upcoming test so we'll have to get together some other time." See you around Danny boy." Aria smirked as she pounded her fists together as she walked away.
"Yeah, see you around Danny boy." Maria repeated as she followed her sister down the hallway
Maka could only scowl at the two as they walked away, pressing them on the matter right now probably wouldn't do any good. Instead she had turned around to check on Danny.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Yes I'm fine, a bruise here and there but nothing some soap and water won't solve." Danny said as he brushed himself off.
"It didn't seem like those girls were playing nice, are they someone you know?"
"You could say that… aria and Maria mutsen, a pair of twins that I'd rather soon forget, but there's no need for you to concern yourself with them, nothing escapes lord death's eye, I'm sure he'll find a suitable enough punishment for the two when the time arrives."
"Anyway who are you; I don't believe I ever caught your name." Danny asked politely.
"Oh, my name is maka albarn, I'm one of the students in your class, and it's nice to meet you." Maka greeted as she held out her hand.
Danny was a bit hesitant to shake her hand, but he quickly grabbed and shake it to quickly avoid suspicion. "Uh, nice to meet you Ms. Albarn ." there was still something off about Danny but she decided to leave it alone for now given the current situation. "I understand you haven't seen much of the academy except the labs and the library, if you'd like I could help show you around the academy."
"Awfully friendly of you Ms. albarn, from the stares I've been getting from some of the students, I thought I was like some kind of disease or something. " Said Danny, still a little hesitant to accept her offer
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make some new friends in no time, you just need a day or two to adjust."
"If you say so, I guess I could use some help around the academy, lead the way."
Maka nodded and had begun to walk down the hallway with Danny following. But when she back was turned, Danny had taken out a small light green journal with a weird crest on the back. He had made a quick sketch of maka's face and began to write down a few notes.
"File number 06, maka albarn, seems to have a friendly attitude and a caring personality about her, awaiting further details before having a full conclusive file and a sensible way to approach the subject from now on." Danny thought to himself as he wrote his thoughts in the small journal.
The first area they visited was the mission board, where there laid posts on both finding and executing evil humans disturbing the peace, or simply missions where gathering info and reporting back to the designated target. The rates of missions are equal to the level of meisters in the academy.
"This is the mission board, we use this to look for tasks that can only be completed by a meister and his or her partner with enough experience, and also it's a great way to skip out on tests or subjects you might not want to do, though your academic grade may take a hit for not showing up." maka explained.
"I see, I think it'll be some time before I try to skip class." Danny tried to joke. But the thought of having to fight on the frontlines still bothered him for some reason, but he wasn't planning to share that information anytime soon.
"So, how can I tell what missions are safe or too dangerous to attempt?" Danny asked turning back to the meister.
"Well, first of all you know how meisters and weapons are ranked right?" Maka asked as she turned her attention back to the board.
"Yes, there are the no stars who start from the very bottom and are least experienced, then there are the one stars who are slightly better but still beginners, then there are the two stars who are in the advanced classes and then there are the three stars who are the most experienced and take on the most grueling responsibilities, is that right?
"That's right. These missions are ranked by the ranks of meisters and weapons so that the team it the appropriate skill can take on the according mission, starting with the no star,
No star= a mission of lowest priority, otherwise known as the lowest ranked mission. Missions like these don't require that much urgency and can be accepted and completed almost any time. Missions like these are recommended for those who are just starting out in the field,
One star= a mission of higher priority than a no star mission, but still pretty low. These kinds of missions involve hunting evil humans who haven't become an urgent threat yet so it's a good way of cutting a small problem off quick before it becomes a big problem,
Two star= missions that become more advanced and will most likely require a team if one pair isn't good enough. Things become a bit more complicated as these missions may not be simply search and destroy anymore, sometimes we need to trade information with certain people or first complete another task before getting access to the real problem at hand, it can also require a certain knowledge of stealth or skill to be able to execute the mission to its specifications, not being able to comply with one of these specifications could very well jeopardize the whole thing if you're not careful."
"So when you get past one star things become a bit more tense, I guess I should start studying more to prepare, so what about the three star ranked missions?"
"Well, there's not much to say about three star missions except there the most difficult to accomplish. It is also not recommended that any one lower than the respective rank attempt a mission that's out of their range, many students tried skipping ahead before, but It only brought on unwanted casualties, so try not to attempt anything reckless."
"Duly noted, geez, this is a lot to take in…I had it easier when I was just writing and comparing reports and notes..." Danny muttered under his breath.
"That reminds me, what rank are you?" Asked maka.
"Unfortunately I'm new to this, meaning I'm starting at the bottom as a no star meister." Danny sighed. "Wait, did you say you were a no star? But then you should have been placed in the N.O.T class, how come you were moved to E.A.T?" maka asked slightly surprised. "That's something I would also like to understand, apparently professor stein believed I had the capacity to learn in the advanced class, I tried asking why, but that scientist speaks in riddles." Danny sighed
About half an hour later, they had come to the nurses' office. The room looked like a standard emergency room. There was a wheel chair and a mahogany desk in the corner next to a large window with white curtains. The bed sheets mattresses and pillows were so crisp and clean, it looked like any stain that would spill would be seen from a mile away. The shelves were lined with remedies, medicines, and other marked bottles used for medical purposes.
"This is the nurses' office, this is where students who get sick or need to recover from their wounds would end up, and the academy nurse is the one who makes sure they get back to full health." Said maka as she had walked in the room.
While Danny had followed her, he had noticed something sticking out of the nearby trash bin. It had looked like a name tag. After pulling it out, he saw the name tag had read medusa.
" , who is this medusa? Did she use to work here?" Maka had gritted her teeth a little as the name seemed to be enough to make her agitated.
"She was a nurse, but it turned out she wasn't a very good one." Maka sighed
There wasn't really enough t go on, but Danny understood that it as a subject he should not bring up and had decided to drop it.
"Uh.. so who's the nurse that works here?" Danny asked as he had tossed the dirty nametag back into the trash bin. "Oh she should be in, she's a real nice person." Maka smiled.
Suddenly a shout of anger had come from a room across them.
"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT FAKING ILLNESSES?! Shouted a woman from the next room.
""What was that….?" Danny asked slightly nervous. "Oh dear, It must be another one of her admirers." Maka groaned.
A few seconds after the shout, an old man dressed up in a tuxedo was thrown out of the room next door.
"But my dear ivy, I swear to you that there's an illness in my heart that only your love can cure!" the old man pleaded as he tried to enter back into the room. But before he even reached the door, a chair had come flying out just barely missing the man's head.
Soon after, out came a woman who seemed to be in her early 30's and a sizeable bust. She had purple hair with most of it tied into three buns on her head with a few bangs hanging on the right side. She had dark tan skin with green eyes. She was wearing the standard white nurse jacket. Underneath was a long sleeved grey turtleneck with red khakis and purple heels.
The woman had glared down at the old man with a look of anger at range.
"I can tolerate the terrible pickup lines one after another…but when fools like you fake the ill, you've crossed the line!" the woman yelled as she proceeded to pick up her mahagony desk.
"NOW GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO A REAL ILLNES!"
Frightened out of his mind, the man had run out fearing for his life.
As soon as he was out of sight, she had took a deep breath and calmed down.
"That makes the 11th one this month…" The woman exhaled sharply
:Uh nurse ivy..?" Maka had asked as she was coming out from one of the beds.
"Oh maka, are you here for a checkup?" Asked ivy with an attitude completely different from before
"Actually I was just showing one of the new students around the academy, this is Danny formal…huh, he was just behind me.." Maka had looked to see that Danny was hiding
"Is he an imaginary friend?" The nurse joked. "No mam I assure you I'm quite real." Danny spoke up as he came from hiding behind a plant.
"I'm Danny formal mam, maka was showing me around the academy and we came here next, which reminds me, who was that you were having a... conversation with?" Danny asked looking at the chair in the wall.
"Oh don't worry about that, he was just another lovesick puppy looking for a bone." The nurse had sighed.
"A word of advice, don't try to fake being sick when Ms. Ivy I working, unless you really want to be in bed all day." maka warned.
""I'll keep that in mind..."
"Anyway it's nice to meet you Mr. Formal, I'm the school nurse Ms. Ivy, if you ever have something that ails you, just come to me and I'll have you fixed up in no time." Ivy smiled as she held out her hand. But when she brought her hand near Danny, he quickly stepped back a bit.
"Uh sorry, forgive me for being a bit nervous, but after seeing how you sent that guy running, I'm a bit…frightened…" Danny chuckled nervously.
"Oh there's no need to worry about that kid, as long as you don't get on my bad side or fake any ailments and you'll be just fine." Ivy reassured trying to calm the timid boy. "That's nice to know mam, but I'll be making sure to be extra cautious just in case." Danny laughed, but he noticed that the nurse was not laughing; she seemed to be looking at him as if he had something on his person.
"Is there something wrong Ms. Ivy?" Asked maka concerned. "It's nothing dear, but Mr. Formal, when exactly as the last time you had a routine health checkup?" ivy asked with a concerned look on her face.
"I've had all my check ups and medications from Professor Stein up until now; I assure you there's nothing wrong with my health." Danny said with a straight face. but judging by the look on the nurse's face, she didn't seem to completely believe him.
"Um, I really should be hurrying along, I've already took enough of Ms. Albarns time as it is." Danny ha began heading for the door.
"Well we still have one more stop to make before the end of the tour, see you later Ms. Ivy." Maka waved goodbye as she exited the room along with Danny.
'Right, you two play nice now." once they left the room, they headed for the death room which was the last stop on the tour.
Though Danny as a bit confused when he had saw lord death in person. seeing a person completely covered in what seemed like a black cloak and the only thing that could be classified as a face was the weird skull with three holes.
"Ah hello, what have we here, a new student perhaps?" Lord death asked as he got a closer look at Danny who was still confused.
"Although I am a student now, I have already been working at the academy as a junior scientist in the srd unit , working to help how to go about attacking certain threats, at least I was until I was moved from the unit into the eat class." Danny explained.
"Well I must say I'm a bit surprised that you've been at the academy for some time and this is the first time I'm actually seeing you, I usually take pride I knowing all of my staff and faculty."
"Um, I was meaning to ask something." Danny spoke up. "Hmm? What is it?"
"Is it true that if you touch somebody they'll die instantly? Where I came from a lot of people say you're not supposed to touch death or you'll die right there."
Lord death almost busted out laughing after hearing what Danny had said.
]"I fail to see the humor in this situation…" Said Danny as he was unamused
"Whoo, sorry, but it's a long time since I've heard somebody who's actually believed in that old myth, I simply couldn't help myself." Lord death laughed.
"The lord of death is a lot more… comical then I would have expected" Danny sweat dropped
"Just be careful not to make him mad or you'll get the reaper chop." Said maka.
""The reaper chop? What's that?" Danny asked a tad frightened
"Believe me, you don't want to be on the wrong end of it, it's what lord death uses against those who step out of line." Maka groaned, feeling sick from just imagining the pain from said chop. "That's right, so I suggest you stay out of trouble too, or the chop 's goanna come own on you!" Lord death exclaimed as he began to chop the air.
"A lot of people seem to be eager to injure others when they step out of line, perhaps I should consider wearing armor during school hours from now on…" Danny groaned, knowing his luck will be changing from now on. It was hard to determine whether it was for better or worse.
After the tour was finished, Danny and maka were set to depart from the entrance of the academy.
"Well that's about all I have to show you , do you think you got all that?" Maka asked turning to Danny.
"Yes , I'm sure I can navigate my way through the academy now, I appreciate the helping hand." Danny had looked at his watch an saw it as time to return back to his room. "Well, I should get going, see ya..
"Hey Danny boy! there ya are man" called out an energetic young voice.
"Crap… I was hoping to make it back without running into him today…" Danny groaned as he clamped his face in distraught. "Huh? Who's him?" Maka asked a bit confused.
a young youth had quickly climbed the flight of stair and was in front of the two in a matter of minutes. The boy had fiery red hair that stood up super saiyan style.
He had light tan skinned with green eyes and wearing a headband around his neck with an image of what seemed to be the head of a jackal. He wore simple clothing that was very easy to move in. he had a long black crew neck and yellow khakis with shiny red and grey sneakers.
"What's the deal Danny boy, I told you your training was going to start right after school ended, what kept ya…oh wait, I think I know why." The boy grew a devious smirk as he had taken a look at maka and already had an idea of what was going on.
"Geez man, your first day out of the dingy old labs and you already found yourself a girl? Kudos man, I told ya your life would change for the better when ya met me." The boy smirked as he had Danny in a head lock.
"H-Hey! What are you talking about; it's not like that at all!" Maka said defensively.
"Gah, gin it's not like that at all, she was just showing me around the school that's it!" Danny growled as he struggled to get out of the headlock. "Ah a girl showing ya the site's eh? Nice, so which sites were the, you know… the most scenic?" Gin asked with an impish smile. Soon Danny was finally able to break free as he was just about agitated enough of the youth's teasing.
"Listen gin, all I needed was the tour of the school, maka here was generous enough to help me, that's all there is to it." Danny huffed as he brushed off his shoulders.
"So a regular tour guide then? Well that's boring." Gin frowned with a disappointed look on his face "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, she looks to be a bit on the scrawny side anyway."
It was only a few minutes when maka met this person, but she could already tell she wasn't going to like him very much
"And dare I ask who might you be?" Maka struggled to smile as she resisted the urge to clock the person in the face.
"I am Gin kanibara mam, one star demon weapon and upcoming martial artist!" Gin proclaimed proudly.
"And apparently my assigned weapon partner." Danny sighed as he pinched his forehead.
"That's right, I'm the guy who saved this guy from his mundane life down in the labs, sure he may just be a no star meister right now, but just you wait and see, with me as his partner, were going to become superstars in no time, as soon as we get past his little problem first." "Little problem, what do you mean?" Maka asked not fully understanding.
"Heh, gin you jokester!, Danny laughed as he had slapped gin on the back giving him the signal to stop talking. By little problem, he had simply meant that I wasn't showing enough initiative, it's nothing to be concerned about." Danny smiled hoping maka would drop the subject
"Well if you say so…" maka was still a bit skeptical but decided not to push any further for now.
"Well we should really go; I'll see you around Ms. Albarn." Danny had waved goodbye as he dragged gin down the staircase.
"Hey, what was that for?! Gin complained as he and Danny continued down the staircase. "I told you I'd rather have as less people learning about m condition as possible, at least until I can figure out a way around it." Said Danny as he had finally released Gin's shirt collar
You do know that there going to figure out sooner or later, when someone uses soul perception there' going to figure out something's up." Gin stated. "I know… that's why I want to advance past this problem as soon as possible before there's any time for anyone to figure it out." Danny sighed as he clenched his fists in frustration.
"Well what do you think the training is for? When we get back to the dorm we'll start with 50 log lifts!" Gin laughed as he and Danny walked away from the academy and headed back to their dorm.
Meanwhile in professor stein's lab, he was studying the recent marked soul that was collected after the battle today.
His desk was cluttered with papers, test tubes and various contraptions that didn't look like they belonged together.
He had put the soul into some kind of containment mechanism that kept the soul afloat for a while. "That's the fifth one this month, these souls don't seem to be genuine, corrupted or otherwise, but it still looks like the real thing…." Stein had let out a heavy sigh as he lit up another cigarette.
"Maybe it was possible for someone to manufacture a soul? but who would be able to manufacture souls, there's no way it can be anyone we know, both medusa and Arachnophobia were long since exterminated..
Hmm, maybe we should start looking at beats appeared where they did, perhaps there's a hidden clue somewhere…."
Professor Stein continued to look over report after report to try to find a hidden clue to the weird occurrences. About after 25minutes of countless inspection, professor stein had thought of a possible theory. He had taken out a map of numerous locations including the sights where the mysterious evil humans had appeared. He had taken out a red marker and began marking the locations.
As he finished marking them, it seemed like the places they appeared were laid out in the form of some shape. But there didn't seem to be enough evidence to make professor stein's thoughts a solid theory.
"It seems to be coming together, but I need more information… oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and sit back before I can pursue this any further, maybe I'll find something interesting to experiment on to pass the time." Professor Stein had turned around in his wheelchair as a creepy smile had crept on his face. Whatever the good doctor has planned, I feel sorry for the victims.
"A mysterious outbreak of unusual evil humans and an ominous new student added to the E.A.T class roster even though he's a no star meister. Could the two have some kind of connection between the two?
Though exactly what kind of theory does the mad doctor have in mind? and how will It help find the reason for the outbreak, more importantly will he and the rest of the dwma be able to stop it before it turns into a catastrophe?
Another problem for another chapter I suppose."
(A/N): Almost forgot, don't forget to read the fill out form on my profile if you'd like to submit an oc