Before anyone makes any complaints, this story takes place after the anime. So I hope nobody plans on asking why Character A isn't in this, or why Character B doesn't have a bigger role. Sorry if I seem rude saying it like this, but I just wanted to make sure everyone understood this. Now then, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter of Dark Resonance.
-o-
It was a wonderful morning in Death City. People chatted as they wandered through the streets, the sun laughing as it slowly rose into the heavens. Maka Albarn sat up and stretched as she awakened. She had had a pretty decent night's sleep, so she was in a good mood. None of those weird dreams she had been having recently at least. She quickly got dressed and headed to the kitchen to fix breakfast.
What to make? she asked herself as she walked down the hall. She and Soul had omelets yesterday, so maybe she would fix up some pancakes today. The only problem was that they didn't have any syrup to put on them. Oh, well. Soul could eat just about anything anyway, so she supposed that it didn't really matter.
When she opened a cabinet in the kitchen she felt a sudden chill down her spine. She turned around, only to see the lichen table and the chairs. It was an unsettling feeling, but it may have just been a draft or something.
-o-
Soul Eater yawned sleepily as he shut off his alarm clock. He sat up and looked around his bedroom. He sighed in relief. Blaire hadn't snuck into his room again, so that meant that Maka wouldn't whack him with one of her patented Maka Chops.
He climbed out of bed and stretched. He looked out his window and smirked. From the way things were going so far, today might be a pretty cool day. He got dressed in his usual yellow and black jacket and dark red pants and headed down to the kitchen, where he could smell something cooking.
When he arrived in the kitchen, he saw Maka standing over the stove fixing pancakes. "Morning, Maka," he said as he took his seat at the table.
"Good morning, Soul," the young meister said with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"
"No, I was up tossing and turning all night," Soul deadpanned. "That's why I'm in such a good mood. You?"
"Yeah, I slept fine."
"You didn't have that dream again?"
"No. I slept like a baby." She kept a slightly nervous smile on her face. It had been a few months after Asura's defeat, and things had returned to their normal schedule. Well, except for Spirit helping Maka to hone the weapon powers she had inherited from him. Other than that, things were pretty much back to normal. Until the dreams started.
Sometimes, when Maka slept, she would have a bizarre vision. A younger version of herself would be wandering aimlessly through a dark, eerie forest, looking frightened of something. Then, out of nowhere, a monstrous shadow would appear and devour her in an instant. The worst part was that the last thing she would always see before darkness finally consumed her vision was an image of one of her friends suffering somehow: Kid was trapped in a room with no doors or windows, and walls that were painted with nightmarish, asymmetric images that Maka was too afraid to describe. Black Star was being dragged down a seemingly bottomless ocean by an unseen force, with some divine light always just beyond his reach. The others were far too gruesome for her to think about, especially Patty's. There was simply too much blood. The only one she had yet to see was Soul, and she wasn't exactly excited to see that one.
Soul looked at her with a rare analytical stare. He soon shrugged and said, "If you say so." Soon after that, they had their breakfast. When they finished, they collected their things and left for the DWMA.
-o-
Death the Kid took a deep breath and exhaled with a grin on his face. He was always thrilled to be at his father's school. The building's perfect symmetry always put him in a really good mood.
"Isn't it just wonderful?" he asked Liz and Patty, the former of whom couldn't have cared less about the building's symmetry and the latter being distracted by a butterfly that just happened to be flying by at that time.
"Yeah, sure," Liz said in a bored tone. She followed up with a tired yawn. "It's really amazing." At this point, the butterfly that had Patty's attention had landed on her nose, making the girl giggle loudly.
"We should get going," Kid advised his weapon partners. "It wouldn't be a good idea to keep our teachers waiting. Besides, I have an attendance record to maintain."
"Two hours late is not a record, Kid," Liz deadpanned.
"DON'T SAY TWO!" Kid shouted with that face of his that always screams OCD. "IT'S NOT-!"
"It's not symmetrical, I know. Sheesh." Liz walked on right past her meister. "Let's just get to class."
Kid glared at the elder Thompson sister as she and Patty walked ahead of him. He shook his head and followed after them, quickly getting in front of them both. He was about to say something as they walked, but just as he was about to…
"Yahoo!" A black and white blur crashed into him from above, causing an explosion of dirt and debris. When the smoke cleared, the familiar blue-haired form of Black Star stood atop Kid's unconscious body, giving a thumbs-up and an idiotic grin. "Behold, mortals! The man who will one day surpass God is finally here! You may now proceed to bask in the glory that is Black Star!" The young assassin then laughed heartily.
"Black Star!" called Tsubaki's voice. She came running over, gasping slightly. When she was a few feet away, she said, "Don't rush off like that! And did you have to crash into Kid?"
Black Star gave the dark-haired girl a confused look, then looked down at his feet to see the smoking pile of flesh that was Death the Kid. "Whoops!" he said as he stepped off of the young Grim Reaper. "I didn't see you there, Kid! Sorry about that!"
"I want fruitcakes on my bananas, Mommy," Kid muttered nonsensically. Liz sighed as she picked up the barely conscious boy with Patty's help. It was then that Maka and Soul arrived.
"Hey, guys," Soul said with a smirk and a wave. He and Black Star high-fived, as usual. "It looks like today might be pretty cool. Not as cool as yours truly, but still cool."
"You bet!" Black Star agreed wholeheartedly with loud laugh. The group then headed into the academy, each of them looking forward to a good day at school.
-o-
Through a pair of binoculars, a dark-haired man with a cigarette in his mouth observed the DWMA's most renowned team. He studied one of them in particular. "We finally found the subject," he said to a red-haired woman. "Not exactly what I was expecting, but it seems like this'll only be easier on us."
The woman scoffed. "You shouldn't underestimate a student of the DWMA. From what I hear, Death treats all of them as though they were his own children."
"Whatever," the man replied with a shrug. He took a long drag on his cigarette, then tossed it away. "We'll still get our paycheck."
"Even if we have to face Death himself to get it?" the woman asked with some level of doubt in her voice.
The man chuckled. "Especially if we have to face Death. If he were so tough, he would've gotten to me by now. My heart might not be beating anymore, but I'm still kicking." And with that, the pair left their perch atop a building near the academy. They were going to acquire their target one way or another.