A sound soul… Dwells within a sound mind… And a sound body…
I heard the dramatic piano notes dance in my ears as I walked the halls of the D.W.M.A. I was in a trance and before I knew it, I was following the wonderful sound down to the end of a long, dark hall. I wonder who is playing that beautiful piano. Once I finally got to the room leaking the resonance, I opened the door only slightly so I wouldn't be noticed. There sat a snowy haired teen, around my age, pounding his fingers down on the keys venomously. My heart became full of static and I began to slowly sink into the room, stopping to stand behind the boy who wore a black suit with gray pin stripes and a blood red dress shirt underneath, finished off with a tie.
"What do ya want?" he stopped playing, not looking at me.
"I-I was wandering the halls and became en-enchanted with your music…" I admitted shyly, looking up at the red ceiling.
"I see. Wanna hear more?" He turned slightly to look at me from the corner of his eye.
Too shaken for words, I nodded excitedly. Keep calm, Maka. It's only a boy and his music.
The next song, dripped with painful sorrow and betrayal, he played with even more ferocity in that piece than he had prior. Then, it hit me. The ache and distress of the notes coursed through my veins as I began to cry at the overwhelming power of his music.
When he finished off the song, he turned and knelt down next to me on the floor where I had collapsed to my knees. "So how was it?" He took no obvious notice of my breakdown as I tried to gather myself.
"That was beautiful…" I sobbed, wiping the tears from my face.
"Making a little girl cry. How uncool of me," the snow white haired man sighed as he grabbed a handkerchief from his slacks pocket, handing it to me.
I took it with a nod and wiped away my tears effectively once I stopped weeping. Once the tears dried from my eyes, I looked into his face, garnet eyes staring intensely at me. I put on a shy smile and stuck out my white gloved hand. "I'm meister in training, Maka Albarn. And you are..?"
"Soul Eater Evans. Weapon," he said, taking my hand in a firm greeting. "Well, Meister Maka," Soul said as he helped me to my feet, "You are the first person ever to connect with my music. I think I could get used to you." Then he paused. "Wait. Albarn, like the daughter of the Death Scythe, Spirit Albarn?!"
"Unfortunately… Yes…" I grumbled, hunching my shoulders.
"That bad, huh?" Soul teased, his smirk showing shark-like teeth.
"You have no idea…" I sighed, making him laugh.
"Well anyway, I'm glad you like my music."
"Yeah! It was great! How did you learn to play like that?" I fussed over his skills.
"I don't really know… I've been able to play ever since I can remember…" Soul pondered, his crimson eyes gracing the floor and sneaking back up to my eyes.
"That's so cool!" Geez… Calm down Maka…
"Hey, no need to get flustered. I know I'm dripping with cool but try not to fall for me," he joked with that shark smirk, sticking his hands in his pockets.
I punched him playfully. "Oh shut up. Hey, wanna go grab something to eat?" I asked when I heard his stomach growl faintly.
"Haha yeah. That'd be great. I'll buy." His garnet eyes met my jades as he added, "'Cause that's the kind of cool guy I am."
"Why thank you." I said as we walked out the door, my long, black coat flowing gently behind me.
Once in the cafeteria, seated with our food, we sat and talked about my walk-out mom, my letch of a father, and Soul's lack of knowledge of his parents. Then, the televisions posted around the school's walls and ceilings blasted to life. Everyone immediately turned their attentive ears to the screens.
A skull-faced figure stepped into view of the camera. "Hiya! Hiya! Hiya! Yo, new students of Death Weapon Meister Academy! This is Lord Death speaking! I hope you have enjoyed your first day here or back to the academy! I am glad to have ya!" he began in a way to chipper voice to be a Grim Reaper. "Well, I know you have all just been familiarizing yourselves with the classrooms and campus but now it's assignment time! All weapons and meisters without partners must find one before last class and report to that class with your partner! Good luck! See ya, everybody!" Then the screen went black.
After the shock wore off and the devastation of their first assignment set in, the school rumbled with a collective, "AAWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHH?!"
"Oh, no! How are we supposed to do that?!"
"Sucks for you! I got my partner already!"
"Why the hell spring this on us at lunch, when the day is almost over?!"
The frantic screams of the new students rang throughout Death City, Nevada as they tried desperately to find partners.
"What a bunch of freakin' idiots. So uncool…" Soul growled under his breath, the frustration of the assignment and the noise of the other students obviously getting on his nerves.
"Well… Um…" Don't bring it up if you think it'll irritate him further. Breathing deeply after a few minutes, I finally gained the nerve to pop the question sturdily. "Soul, will you be my partner?"
His crimson orbs went wide with surprise. "You want me… As your partner…?" Not waiting for an answer, just seeing the blush on my face, he stood up and brought me into a strong embrace. "Of course. We will be the coolest meister and weapon pair out there. And I'm counting on ya to make me Death Scythe!"
"Alright!" I squealed ecstatically.
"But first, I want you to hear one more song of mine," Soul said before leading me back to that music room down the long hall.
He sat down on the bench, gesturing me to sit next to him, even though the seating space was limited. I sat on the edge of it so not to be too close or in his way. When he started playing, the melody was soft and sweet, yet passionate. I closed my eyes to feel the music better, being carried away in the tune. My heart fluttered and danced to the rhythm, feeling the music flow through my body once more.
In the blackness of my closed eyes, I saw two souls; Soul's and mine. His essence: spiky and a bit beaten around the edges. Mine was smaller and a little unbalanced. But as they got closer together, they seemed to dance and grow slightly stronger. When they finally met in the middle, they sparked and became one bright mass of spirit energy. Then I heard Soul's music get stronger and fiercer at the climax. Once that happened, our souls resonated with blinding light. The music started to calm down and so did the light but our souls stayed near each other.
I opened my eyes to see Soul sweating lightly and looking at me with satisfaction. "What was that?" he breathed.
"Soul Resonance. I've heard of it before in the weapon meister handbook," I stated matter of factly.
"I see. Whatever that is, was great. I feel so much stronger." Soul clenched and unclenched his fists, seeming to assess his strength.
I stood up when I realized during Resonance, I had scooted closer to and was leaning on Soul. "Now, shall we make it official?" I reached out my head like I had once before in the same room not even hours ago.
"Yeah," he reached up and took my hand, "partner." Then and there, he transformed into a beautiful black and crimson scythe, light and fitting just right into my hands. I stood him up and held him firmly, stepping back so I had room to swing him without endangering the piano. The way he sliced the air with a whistling sound was just perfect. There was honestly no better scythe. And he's my partner. My weapon. My friend.
Just then, the bell had rung and we were on the wrong side of the school from our class. Transforming back to human form with my hand in his, he ran with me following suit to our classroom across campus. There, we were officially dubbed partners by our teacher, Sid, and sat next to each other in the middle row of the lecture hall. I figured out real quickly that Soul was too cool for school, not paying attention to Sid about the lesson. I, on the other hand, soaked in every word with interest. I have a great feeling about this partnership.
"Soul Evans. Maka Albarn. Your first mission is up for you," Sid called us down to receive our first mission to collect a Kishin egg.
We both looked at the assignment. "Piece of cake," Soul said with a cocky smirk.
99 Kishin eggs and one witch's soul. This will be his first Kishin soul, making us just one small step closer to making Soul one of Lord Death's Death Scythes! "Let's go, Soul!" We ran out the door onto the first of our many adventures as meister and weapon.
~END~