Chapter 1
Maka Albarn leaned over the toilet bowl, taking sharp breaths of air whenever she could as she puked out the breakfast she had forced herself to eat so as to satisfy her weapon, and partner, Soul Eater. She had become more frequently like this; always sick and feverish. She glanced down at the healed- over cut on her upper arm, the reason for the venom that now festered within her body.
It has happened on their last mission, and they were after a witch said to be wrecking havoc on a nearby village. Naturally, Soul jumped at the chance to take a witch's soul, and the team of two set out on their new orders, eventually coming face to face with Misa the trouble-making witch.
It turned out though, that this witch was more than what Maka and Soul had bargained for, and they had struggled throughout the entire battle, but nevertheless, found a way to destroy her for good. Before they were able to nab her soul, however, the witch manically lifted her hand , pointing it at Maka, and mumbled some indecipherable words. As if on command, a snake shot from Misa's bloody fingertip and flew straight for Maka's heart. Although caught off guard, she successfully avoided a fatal blow from the snake's venomous fangs. She hadn't noticed the slight scratch until that night when they were back home and she had gone for a shower.
Little did she know was that a scratch was all the witch's damn snake needed to utterly destroy her.
As Maka washed her face clean of the cold sweat resting on her pale skin, she was grateful she had told Soul to go on ahead to school. She didn't want him to know about the way she was now. Not yet.
As she walked to class, slowly and carefully, so as not to trigger the nausea that seemed to always be lurking, she tried to make her expression seem more decent, or vacant, in case someone could see the anxious fear in her eyes that seemed sadly obvious when she looked at herself in the mirror.
"Maka!" She heard Tsubaki call her name in her warm, inviting tone of voice. She looked up and over to Black Star's ever-patient partner, who fell into step with Maka's sluggish walk. "Good morning!"
"Morning, how are you?" Maka inquired of Tsubaki, who grinned in a silly fashion as she held up a boxed lunch.
"Black Star forgot his lunch again. I ran back to our house to bring it to him so he wouldn't get cranky."
"So that's how he is when he isn't fed." Maka giggled, "Just like a little kid."
"I know, I can't believe he still forgets his lunch sometimes!" Tsubaki rolled her eyes, playfully smiling with Maka.
They came to a stop outside their classroom, and Tsubaki suddenly looked closely at Maka's face, frowning ever so slightly.
"W-What is it?" Maka blinked awkwardly, taking half a step backward and running into a wall.
"Nothing, it's just…you're very pale, Maka. Are you feeling alright?"
"Y-Yeah, totally!" Maka waved her arms in front of her face, grinning nervously at the observant girl.
"Oh…well if you're sure."
Class dragged by, especially for Maka, as she tried not to throw up when Professor Stein dissected and speculated another species of bird before them. Soul continuously glanced over at Maka, who didn't seem like her usual self. He knew that even though the dissecting was pretty boring, she would always take notes or pay close attention in case of an upcoming test. But all she did was rest her head on the desk and shut her eyes, as if she was taking a much needed nap. When Stein dismissed the class, Soul shook Maka's shoulder gently, actually waking her up as he did so.
"You were sleeping?" Soul asked in bewilderment of her unusual behavior.
"Guess so, sorry…" Maka mumbled. Soul frowned in confusion.
"Didn't sleep well?"
Last night, Maka had tossed and turned, for hours on end, icy chills spreading through her entire body, and was so uncomfortable she eventually got up and paced her room, stopping every half hour or to dry-heave into the toilet with the door locked, just in case Soul could hear her.
"Yeah, but I'm fine. It was just a bit hot last night." Maka fibbed, forcing herself to smile at Soul who didn't seem to buy the story but left the subject alone for the time being. Maka looked around and found, to her surprise, that she and Soul were the only ones left in the classroom. She got up, remembering where she was supposed to see Stein in the clinic. Soul stood as well, and she glanced at him apologetically.
"Sorry, I have something I have to do." Maka explained vaguely, straying away from his side. Soul continued to scowl, as she reached the door, he called out to her.
"Hey, Maka!"
"Yeah?" She answered, not meeting his eyes.
"If there's something you want to talk about, you know you can tell me, right?"
"Yeah." Maka repeated, although the reassuring smile she showed him didn't seem genuine. Even so, she retreated out the room and rounded some corners, soon coming to a stop outside the clinic, where she knew her father and Stein would be waiting inside for her. She slid open the door, and faced the her homeroom teacher/doctor, who wheeled over to her on his office chair, fiddling with the bolt screwed in his head as he did so. He solemnly ushered her over to an empty patient's bed, where she silently laid down. A few minutes later, as Stein had just finished running some tests on Maka, Spirit, her father, burst through the door, near tears, as always, when it came to his daughter.
"Dad…" Maka mumbled, sighing heavily at her dad's over-emotional ways.
"MAKAA————!!" Spirit dashed over to Maka, wrapping her into a tight over-the-top bear hug, which she attempted unsuccessfully to avoid. "ARE YOU ALRIGHT? DO YOU NEED ANYTHING? FOOD? WATER? A PONY? A DRAGON?"
"Dad…" Maka repeated, only this time in a half-choked squeak. Her father, in response, released her from his grip, placing only his hands on both her arms.
"Now, don't forget! I'll do my best to make you as comfortable as possible! Now you listen to what Stein recommends and you'll be just fine."
"I was doing just that before you came in here all blubbery and loud…" Maka muttered darkly.
"Oh, right. Good, good. So what's the diagnosis, doc?" Spirit grinned half-apologetically at the man who could easily pass as a mad-scientist.
"Honestly, it's not much better than last time you were here, Maka." Stein began. "The venom is spreading, and there isn't much I can really do for you at the moment. I'm still trying to put an antidote together, and that may take time, which you may not even have."
Maka closed her eyes, taking this in. Spirit glanced at his daughter before speaking aloud.
"Do you think Soul should know about this yet?"
"No." Maka answered immediately. "He doesn't need to know. If I can be cured, there's no point in causing so much worry to him."
Maka's father turned and stared at her incredulously.
"But he will notice sooner or later that you're deathly sick! He's not stupid! It only makes everything worse if you're keeping secrets from your own weapon!" Spirit yelled.
"You would know about that, wouldn't you, dad?" Maka spoke coldly, referring to her parents' broken marriage. Maka bit her lip as she sat up from the bed, watching her father storm to the door of the clinic.
"If you don't tell him soon, I will!" Spirit snapped, before leaving the room in a huff.
"Dad…" Maka murmured in a hushed voice, placing her head in her hands.
