[Seven Deadly Sins]
Prologue
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"I can't believe after all this time we're still cleaning up after Arachne."
Maka panted as she ran down the streets of Loew Village, the air hot and sticky against her skin. She clenched Soul's staff in both of her hands, she could feel his irritation from all the way out here.
"There can't be many of them left. Let's just find this guy and collect his soul before he hurts more villagers." Maka said breathlessly, and slid to a stop.
She stared up at the factory before her, tall and gruesome golems standing lifelessly before her. Bitter memories of her and Soul fighting against a newly revived Arachne flashed in her mind. Her being completely paralyzed and useless and Giriko, Maka hated remembering that. She forced the thoughts away, focusing back on her mission as soon as Soul called out name.
Maka turned and felt a crushing blow in her cheek, her body tumbling down to the dirt with a grunt. She caught her stance at the last second, holding Soul up in front of her defensively.
"Oi Maka, quit dozing off!" Soul called out.
Maka wiped a drop of blood from the bust in her lip, gripping him tighter. "Sorry."
The pair stared up at the massive creature that attacked them, a surreal sense of nostalgia smacking them right in the face. A golem stood before them, meters tall, and a familiar mask sitting right up on its shoulder.
It was one of Arachne's foot soldiers. Everyone just figured when she was killed that her little minions would revert to the people they originally were, but most of them were killed in the war before any such thing could happen. Turns out some of them managed to escape and scatter across the world, looking again for a way to revive their long gone Queen.
They had been all over, causing trouble and mayhem for anyone in their way. Maka and Soul had a free day, so Lord Death suggested this mission once news came out that one of her little soldiers was in Loew Village. Maka and Soul were already familiar with the area, so they seemed like the best choice.
"I really don't get it. Arachne's dead, we have all of Eibon's tools, shouldn't they be normal or something?" Maka questioned, glaring at the villain in front of her.
"Arachne powered up these guys with Eibon's demon tools. I doubt it'd be that simple to just cleanse them." Soul droned. "Let's just get this over with."
Maka hummed enthusiastically. The next second the golem shot forward towards the two, the ground shaking with every stop and smashed it's hand down into the dirt. Maka jumped out of the way, a crater now in her old spot and rose up Soul's blade. She slashed at the Arachnid on the golem's shoulder, but he ducked, the golem now throwing its arm backwards.
Maka gritted her teeth as she blocked the hit with Soul's staff and fell back to her feet. She shifted left and right, taking on each hit with swift steps and glared daggers at her opponent. The golem lifted its stone arm and swung it down to smash on her head, but was met with the steel of Soul's staff.
Maka easily slid underneath and lifted her blade up to pierce the stone arm. Soul only managed to cut halfway through, before the brick got too hard to slice. Maka tugged on Soul to remove him, but he didn't budge. Panic bubbled in her gut as she sensed another attack coming behind her.
She ducked the golem's other arm and let Soul go, swiftly escaping and smashing the heel of her boot into the crack Soul's blade made.
The arm and Soul fell to the ground, and Maka quickly picked up her scythe.
"Let's finish this!" Soul called out.
Maka strengthened her soul and charged at the pair, sending her scythe down on the golem's head. She slashed at its body right after herself and slid back on her feet.
The golem crumbled. It's head and torso fell apart, rocks and stones stumbling to the ground in a giant heap.
Maka panted. Her eyes darted around the battle scene, wild and cautious, and gripped Soul tighter.
"Nice job." he commented.
"Yeah, but where's the–"
Maka screamed out. A searing pain stabbed at her shoulder with a burst of blood. She whipped around and froze immediately at what she saw. A pair of beady eyes covered by a spider's mask. She threw her elbow back and crushed his nose, swinging Soul's scythe in the same path.
A splurt of blood dropped down Soul's blade; completely piercing the chest of the Arachnid. Maka withdrew him, the body dropping to the dirt with a concluding thud.
Maka bit down on her lip. She gently brought her hand to her sensitive shoulder, but even then the mere touch had her hissing with pain.
"You okay?" Soul asked, his reflection gleaming in concern.
Maka looked to him in his blade. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can't believe he bit me."
Soul started to chuckle then. He saw a soft ball of red light gleam to him then, and licked his lips hungrily.
Maka observed her wound as Soul peaked his body out of his blade and slurped up the corrupted soul. He transformed back to normal with a sated grin on his lips.
"Well, let's get back to Death City. We can check out that bite later."
Maka, who had her neck twisted and collar pulled to check it out, grimaced at the throbbing red bite marks at the nape of her shoulder. She sighed and straightened up her shirt, humming tiredly. It was to be expected at least, some type of injury. The last time they faced off against a golem ended very badly, Maka was even surprised to win without some kind of setback. She was suddenly grateful that Soul was a full-fledged Death Weapon now, or else that too, could have ended very badly.
She latched her hands behind her back modestly and caught up to Soul sauntering away, skipping up by his side. They walked away in a comfortable silence.
"Well Maka, nothing broken. Just some teeth marks, nothing to worry about." Naigus concluded, sending the meister a happy squint of her eyes.
Maka sat in the DWMA infirmary and twisted her neck to glance at her wound again. "Really? That's good."
Naigus finished taping her bandages onto Maka's skin and smoothed them other with her wrapped hands. "Just give it time, it'll heal over."
Soul watched quietly across the room, leaning against the old metal desk with a bored gleam in his eye. He saw Maka struggle to check out her wound, and retract reluctantly as Naigus covered the whole thing entirely. He didn't get why she was so bugged about a bite mark.
"It really itches, is that normal?" Maka questioned, testingly. "It's annoying me."
Her hand went to rub her shoulder as she said that with a huff, and Naigus gently removed her hand from doing so. "It's probably nothing to worry about. Though, try not to touch it. Don't want it getting infected or anything."
Naigus got up out of her seat and Maka went back to rubbing her patch, with an irritated purse of her lips. The door was suddenly kicked open then with a loud holler, and everyone's mood suddenly tensed as a certain pair appeared in the doorway.
"Oi Maka! I heard you got chomped on by some itsy spider, you're really losing your touch!" Black Star laughed, stomping his way in here.
Tsubaki peeked out from behind him with a smile, "Are you alright?"
Maka jumped off the bed with a huff, "I'm fine, it was nothing."
Black Star raised his arm up to flex his muscles, and grinned at the meister with a dazzle. "Betcha wished I was there huh? I coulda kicked it's ass no problem, eh Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki hummed in agreement. Soul kicked himself upright then and strolled over by everyone else. "We were just gonna head home. Ready Maka?"
She hummed and waved to Tsubaki, "See you guys tomorrow."
Black Star and Tsubaki said their goodbyes and the two left to go back down into Death City. The sun set down above the horizon, a long drip of drool slipping out of the sun's great mouth as it was almost time for it to sleep.
"Don't go thinking you're getting out of cooking tonight just because of that bite." Soul said to her.
He glanced over to his meister as silence replied, and saw her dazing off again; her fingers rubbing circles on her patch. Maka didn't even notice he said something until a soft chop of his hand hit her head. She blinked and looked to him, "What was that?"
Soul snorted in irritation, "You've been spacing out all day, what's gotten into you?"
Maka shrugged. She just couldn't seem to get those beady little eyes of that spider out of her mind. It was surreal to her, imagining up that scene again. Her wound throbbed each time she remembered it, and grew worse in itchiness. It frustrated her to no end.
She just didn't get why that thing would bite her, of all attacks. They didn't fight in a war and almost win by biting people, they had magic and such. Why not use it? Maybe he was overexerting himself? He did make that golem come to life. Maybe he was just desperate for any type of damage.
"I was just out of it today. I'll be better tomorrow." Maka assured both him and herself. She raised a fist up and smiled widely at her partner, darting off down the street. "Come on! I have something great planned tonight!"
Soul blinked as she flew away from him and grumbled lowly. He took off after her. "Oi Maka! Wait up!"
Maka stirred restlessly in her bed. She shifted back and forth, on her side to on her back, a mess of kicking her blankets off only to tug them back up again. She opened her eyes again and groaned into her pillow. It was too irritated. The itch that stung her shoulder was literally driving her to madness. She rubbed her bandaged wound for hours and the result was never satisfying. She even considered ripping it off just to be able to use her nails on the evil thing.
She felt hot. Moonlight poured through her window and lit up her room dimly as she stared out to the bleeding grin that gazed right back at her. It's been a full week, and her bite mark was just as annoying as when she first got it. The throbbing stopped, the puffing settled, but it was still irritated to no end. She even went back to Naigus, worried that it might have gotten infected, but all she said was that it was the 'healing process'.
Bullshit.
Sweat dripped down Maka's body as she writhed. She felt so tired, so exhausted. She couldn't remember the last time she's actually slept. The stupid wound has kept her awake basically every night. She couldn't focus on anything anymore, she always felt off. Like something was out of place, something she couldn't put her finger on. She didn't want to worry anyone about this, but she could tell Soul was beginning to suspect something. He did that thing with the side-glances and prolonged looks of concern, as much as he knew she hated that.
Maka worried that bite could have been more than a bite. Maybe there was some kind of spider venom or something weird like that. She sorely remembered those beady eyes behind that mask. A shiver coursed through her spine, and she kicked her sheets off in an automatic reaction. It was too hot.
Maka got up slowly, wiping her forehead of sweat and staggered to her feet. She just wanted to sleep. She slowly made her way into the kitchen for something cold, and settled on the ice cream in the freezer. She resisted the temptation to stick her entire face in the bucket.
Maka spent her time prying the ice cream apart with a spoon, and felt a sudden loss of air for a second. She stumbled back, a black mass overtaking her sight, and shivered again. She blinked until her sight returned, and found herself halfway across the kitchen. She hated those spells. They were weird, like she was floating through space and time. She usually only got those when she stood up too quickly, but they had become more constant after Loew village.
Her skin shivered. She felt cold now. Topping the ice cream, she realized she wasn't even hungry. She just wanted to keep herself busy with useless activities. Hopefully to take her mind off of her exhaustion.
"Can't sleep?"
Maka nearly jumped out of her skin at that voice. She whipped around quickly, panic flooding her veins and let the ice cream drop to the floor. A shink sounded through the kitchen as Maka gasped for a breath, another flash of those beady eyes popping up in her mind.
Tension brewed between the two as Soul hardened his gaze at her. He glanced down to the scythe protruding from her forearm, a mere inch away from his cheek, and looked back up to her. He rose an eyebrow. "Bad dream?"
Maka didn't even notice she transfigured herself. She sighed out, relieved, and let her blade sink back into her skin. She combed her bangs back. "Hungry."
Soul nodded as she bent down to clean up her spilled ice cream. "Usually hunger doesn't make you a paranoid freak."
Maka grimaced to herself. "You scared me."
Soul walked around to crack open the fridge and snorted. "I haven't seen you scared since we fought on the moon. You're just being weird."
"I'm not weird," Maka defended, dumping the entire ice cream bucket in the trash. Soul glanced to her as a slip of attitude entered her tone. "Don't sneak up on me like that."
"Hey, I'm the nightowl here. You're the one not supposed to be up this late." Soul said, casually. He drank a long gulp from the carton of milk and saw her turn towards him with a tick in her expression.
"Well sorry for being cautious! It's late at night, I thought you were asleep, what did you think my reaction would be!" she hissed.
Soul leaned against the open fridge door, and tilted his head at her. "When was the last time you've slept?"
Maka fumed out smoke. "What?" she snapped.
Soul bore his eyes into her. "You get grumpy when you're tired, but you're still more hostile than usual. What's got your panties in a twist?"
"Nothing!" Maka yelled.
Soul narrowed his eyes at her fiery gaze. He matched her glare easily. "Quit yelling. You'll wake the neighbors up."
Soul kicked the fridge door shut and strolled over to her. He noted how hardly she was breathing now, how drenched in sweat she was and the clear emptiness in her green eyes. "Go get some sleep."
Maka scoffed a laugh. She shoved by him and headed towards the bathroom. "Yeah, I'll just go do that."
Soul flinched as she slammed the door shut and silence ensued in the apartment. He sighed and rolled his eyes. What crawled up her ass? He had been wondering that for days now. Every conversation he tried having with his partner always ended up in an argument. He didn't get why she was so on edge all the time, always look over her shoulder and getting all jittery. It was like she thrived on screaming at him, it was so not cool.
Yet, despite all of that, concern really did fill Soul's mind. It was very unlike her. Of course she got pissed at him sometimes, but this was different. Something was going on with her, and any time he asked about what that might be she got all defensive and pissed again, and by then Soul was too mad at her to even try anymore.
A loud crash came from the bathroom and Soul looked at the door. It was still closed, but he saw her shadows scurry around in the crack underneath it. Maka breathed a hot curse.
She had another spell. Her sight got all blurry and she completely fazed out for a second there, and next she knew she was tripping and knocking glasses off the counter.
"You alright?" she heard Soul call out.
Maka swallowed harshly, shaking her head to clear her sight up. "I'm fine."
The bite in her tone was enough to send Soul away, back to bed, and she mentally thanked him for it. She didn't know why she felt so hostile towards him, it was something she couldn't help. Everything he did pissed her off. Everything anyone did pissed her off.
Maka breathed out a breath. She needed to calm herself. Her fingers trembled as she gripped the sink basin. Her skin was pale and moist and she hated how awful she looked in the mirror. What was happening?
She scratched at her wound again, the frustration just piling up inside of her gut. She wanted to shred her skin to pieces. Maybe that would sate it.
She just needed this all to stop.
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uh, soul eater fic? i've had this idea for so long i'm glad i actually got around to writing it :)
review and tell me what you think!