"God Damnit." Soul growled as he walked. It was raining, hard, as he walked down the street of Death City. He had been unceremoniously thrown out of his home in England a few days prior and had almost immediately rented a hotel and hopped on a plane that morning. His family was a prominent musician family, Soul was no exception. The Sixteen year old's skills on the piano were no match for veteran musicians, even. He never really liked it, though, especially since he was a scythe weapon, a person that could transform into said weapon.
They had thrown him out when they found out he had secretly applied to the DWMA in Death City. His mother had found the acceptance letter in the mail. He had intended to leave on better terms, probably doing something like forging a tutorship letter from some famous musician or something, but in hindsight this was for the best. They threw him out, but his parents had allowed him to take what was rightfully his. This meant his clothes, some of his personal belongings and a cache of money he had been saving up. He still had his inheritance, since they hadn't disowned him, but that wouldn't come into effect until someone died and he'd rather not have that happen.
He had been in the city all day and had only just found a good place to stay. It was a small, two room apartment, but it was all the landlord he found had. He had meant to fully register with the DWMA today but talking to several different landlords had eaten away the time, hence the curse. The rain calmed him, though.
As Soul looked around, he was sure of one thing. He was in a very bad area of the city. He was a scythe, so he never needed to carry anything for self defense, but people didn't know that. As he walked in front of an alleyway, he suddenly stopped. There was a strange sound, just now. It sounded like a droplet of water falling into a puddle. What separated it from that same sound coming from the rain surrounding him, though, was a strange feeling that made the sound itself strange. It felt like something was touching him.
It felt like something was touching his soul, and it didn't seem to be the happiest thing out there.
The drop sounded again, this time louder as he was concentrating on it. It was different from the rain, even without the feeling added. It sounded heavier and thicker.
A tiny spark was all he felt. But that spark in his soul told him to go into the alleyway. He had only rarely actually felt something like this with his soul, it always led to something important so he didn't question it.
The sight that befell him made him wish he were here sooner. There was a girl sitting against a wall, or rather slumped. She was a bit small, at least she looked it, but she looked to be at least near his age. Her hair looked like it hadn't been cared for in weeks, as did her shabby clothes, but he wasn't paying attention to that. He was gaping, almost horrified, at the long gash across her face. It started above her left eyebrow, brutally cutting down and towards the right side of her face and maiming the eye. It sliced through a bit of the left nostril and made a sharp and jagged drop through the center of her lips. The thing finally ended about an inch under the right side of the lips. That dripping sound, it came from the blood that was steadily oozing down her face and dripping into a pool that coagulated between her legs.
She twitched and, with a wince, looked up at him with blank green eyes. His red ones met them and he felt that spark again. It said, 'Hello', this time.
"H-Hey... are you alright?" Soul asked, crouching down to her. Instead of opening her mouth to speak, she slowly traced words on the ground.
"I... Don't... Know..." Soul read. He looked up at the girl as therian washed the message written in blood away.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Soul asked. The girl replied by pointing towards a grimey, but intact, jar. The lid was secure, but there was a faint red glow seen from between the filth. Soul wiped part of it away with a pass of his hand and nearly fell back in surprise. There was a Kishin egg, a human soul turned evil by consuming other human souls. He knew this because of the DWMA handbook he had received.
Now that he looked, there was a long, sharp metal rod within arm's reach of the girl that was stained with the brown of dried blood. A Kishin soul attacked her, and she killed it? She must be a weapon or something similar.
"Do you have a name?" Soul asked. The girl, who had been nodding off, perked up slightly and again wrote with her own blood in big letters.
"M... A...K...A... Maka?" Soul read. The girl nodded. After a few moments, though, she started breathing heavily and looked like she was going to pass out. This worried Soul, as the wound was still oozing blood. He needed to get her to a hospital, and fast
"Hey, I'm going to take you to a hospital to get you fixed up. I'm going to pick you up now, ready?" Soul asked. After a moment, the girl nodded and Soul picked her up bridal style. Once he had straightened up, the girl surprised him by weakly wrapping her arms around his neck. When he looked at her face to ask her what she was doing, he found she had already passed out.
"Hell, glad I memorized where the nearest hospital was..." Soul said to himself as he quickly jogged off.
-
"42-42... shit... 42-42 uh... 564 that's it." Soul said, remembering the number finally, as he waited in the Hospital waiting room. He had walked up to one of the glass walls and tried to call Lord Death. After a few moments, Death answered.
"Hey Kiddo! How are you liking Death City? Oh, my... It seems you ran into a bit of trouble..." Death said in his happy voice.
"I found this girl in an alleyway when I was walking home a bit ago. She had this huge gash on her face that looked like it happened sometime today. I kind of felt her with my soul, almost. When I got there she was bleeding out and I managed to get her name and a few other things out of her. She wouldn't talk, so she wrote on the ground with her blood. She said her name was Maka and when I asked her what happened, she pointed to this." Soul explained and held up the jar.
"A Kishin egg soul? Well, I'd say you either have a weapon or a meister there. If she didn't eat it, since all weapons have a natural hunger for souls, then I think it's safe to say she's probably a Meister. The name Maka sounds familiar, but I can't think of anything right now. Where is she now?" Death asked.
"I dunno, I took her here to the Hospital and they took her somewhere. I dunno what I'm going to do when they finish, though. If I say I just found her and leave, that'll be that... but... I don't know. There's something about her that makes me think that would be a bad idea." Soul replied.
"Well you could always just say she's a friend. They might make you pay the medical bills, though, so if that happens I'll cover it. As for what you should do beyond that, though... You should probably spend a bit more time with this Maka. You said you felt her with your soul, right?" Death asked.
"Yeah. It was like a tiny spark. At first, it said 'Help' or something... Then when I got there it happened again. It said 'Hello', then." Soul answered.
"Well, you are a weapon and if she is indeed a Meister, you may have intertwined fates. Of course the new city and all that could be getting to you, but in any case you should probably try and get to know more about her before you make your decision. Oh, I've got another call coming in. You can go ahead and have her keep that Kishin soul by the way." Death explained.
"Uh, right. I'll call you back if anything important shows up." Soul said and the image faded. When he turned around, a nurse was standing there.
"So you're the one who brought that girl, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, why?" Soul asked.
"There's just a few things we need to know." The nurse replied.
"I'm sorry, but truthfully I just found her in an alleyway about 8 blocks away. All I know is that her name is Maka and that the injury was inflicted by a now dead Kishin. I just talked with Lord Death and he said he'll cover the expenses and stuff, but if I give you my number can you call me when she stabilizes?... or... whatever." Soul explained.
"Oh I see... Visiting hours are from 8AM to 12AM, as well as 7PM to 10PM. The operation should be done and she should be fine for you to visit her before the first time slot." The nurse said.
"Oh, right. Thanks." Souls said and turned to leave.
"Sir, wait. Do you want us to wash your clothes for you? It might not be best to wash all of that blood off by hand." The nurse said. Soul looked down and saw that his favorite hoodie now had a massive red splotch on the front. Some of it was on his pants, but they were read so it didn't matter too much.
"I've got a machine, I'll be sure to use special cleaning stuff. It's late, though, and I've had a long day. Sleep would be nice..." Soul said.
"Alright, that should be fine I guess. Take car and see you tomorrow possibly." The nurse said. Soul nodded and resumed his previous course.
That night, or rather the next morning as it was going on 1 AM, he managed to fall asleep after throwing his clothes in the washer. The dream he had, though, was strange to say the least. It wasn't some amazing thing or unrealistic thing, it was that girl from before. She didn't have the large gash, though, and there was a poor excuse for a man standing in front of her.
Neither said anything as the man pulled out a wicked looking knife and Maka hefted the sharp metal bar he had seen. It was clean. The man ran the few steps to get to her, but found that she had brought the sharp end forward. He effectively impaled himself, but he was grinning. With what looked like laughter, as he couldn't hear it, he dragged himself forwards along the bar and reached out with the knife.
Maka was backed into the wall and she tried to escape it, but he grabbed her head with his other hand and held her still as he slowly carved the wound into her face. She looked like she wanted to scream, but she never made a noise. At least, he thought she didn't. When he was finished, she glared at him and he aimed the dagger towards her chest. Before he could stab and finish her off, though, a blade appeared from her knee and stabbed him through the head. In an instant, the man's body faded away to reveal the red Kishin egg.
"What the hell?... I guess she's a weapon, then." Soul said to himself. He looked around and noticed that the sun was at it's peak in the sky, so it was around 3 or 4. He found her around 10, which meant she was like this for hours and nobody even noticed. He watched as she soundlessly slumped down the wall and started at the soul for a little bit before shoving it in a jar and throwing it.
-
"Now, she was sleeping a bit ago so if she still is I wouldn't disturb her. Go right on in, though. It doesn't seem like she can speak, though, so don't expect a conversation." A different nurse explained when he arrived at the Hospital a few minutes after visiting hours started.
"Right, thanks." Soul said and entered the room. He didn't have to worry about disturbing her, though, as he saw she was wide away and looking out of the window. She had a blank, yet almost afraid, expression. He noticed the grimey jar was on the nightstand, but it was empty. When he closed the door, she looked at him and he saw that she had been silently crying. She had bandages all around her face, arms and legs, though, so he didn't know if she was feeling pain or something happened. The left side of her face was covered, as well as her mouth. The only part he could see was her right eye.
"What's wrong? Does it hurt?" Soul asked. She shook her head and looked at the empty jar. With a shaky motion, she pulled loose a few of the bandages covering her mouth.
"I... was... so... hungry..." She said so soft he had to strain to hear it. It sounded like she hadn't used her voice in years as it cracked and wavered. "I don't want to be a monster..." She whispered.
Soul was confused for a few moments, but soon realized what she meant.
"Don't worry, eating a Kishin soul only makes you stronger. You become a monster only if you start eating the souls of innocent humans. You remember how that one was all red and stuff? That means it's fine to eat. A human soul is small and blue." Soul explained.
"R-Really?" The girl asked. Soul nodded and, lacking a chair to pull up, sat on the very corner of the bed.
"Trust me, I would know. I'm a weapon so I go through the same thing. I thought you were a Meister, though, someone that uses a weapon." Soul said.
"Meister?... I... I remember that word... My mama... she... said I was... one of those." Maka slowly said. Soul was surprised at that. Maybe it was just a dream what he saw in his sleep, but he could have sworn it was real. She had eaten a soul, too. Meisters can't really do that, they choke and it tastes horrible. Soul personally loved the taste and texture of the things, though he had only had one in his lifetime, but he had spoken to someone in the DWMA and Lord Death himself about a lot of it.
"Can you turn into a weapon?" Soul asked. The girl looked at him for a moment before turning her arm into what looked like a scythe blade, though it was slim and not as curved.
"Only a little bit..." Maka said.
"Hm... Lord Death told me that Meisters can see souls and stuff like that. Well, most of them anyways. Do you feel anything that feels like a soul around here?" Soul asked after a few moments of thought. She was obviously a weapon, but that spark in his soul made him think otherwise.
"I... I don't know... There are tiny lights around here... They're flickering and laughing and crying and mourning..." Maka started. Soul was really surprised. This meant that the girl in front of him was both weapon AND meister. His train of thought was stopped as the girl, unbeknownst to him, crawled down towards him and put her head in his lap.
"I'm... tired..." She whispered before closing her eyes. He looked down to see what she was doing, but found she was already asleep. He looked around, but didn't want to move. He sighed and grabbed a hand mirror from the nightstand with a clever use of a scythe blade and foot reflexes.
"42-42-564... Lord Death?" Soul said after the mirror rippled for a while.
"Hey there! Rather early don't you think? Oh well, how are ya?" The spectre asked happily.
"I don't really know. I came to see that girl and found out that she's a weapon. I also think she's a meister, she can barely sense souls. At least, I think she can from what she said." Soul replied.
"Really now? That certainly is interesting. It's not the most surprising thing if a weapon and meister team get together and have a child. The most I've ever seen in terms of mixing the blood, so to speak, would probably have to be a particular set of weapon sisters being able to use their sibling like a weapon as if they were a meister. This is certainly interesting, I think I might just want her to be in my school! Our infirmary should be able to handle her if she still needs medical attention when school starts up in a few days. When you're able, do me a favor and ask her about it will you?" Death explained, ending by giving an impossible expression of begging on his mask.
"Um... sure, that's cool I guess." Soul said.
"And Soul? Take care of yourself, ok? Being kicked out of your home and immediately being thrown into a new place has to be tough. Even if you think you're fine, you might not be. Try to find some friends that can support you." Death said before hanging up. Soul was speechless for a few minutes before he even realized the Spectre had left. He looked down at the dirty blond head of hair on his lap and sighed.
"I don't know anyone here... Maybe when you're better you'd be my friend? That'd be cool I guess." Soul said to himself. After a while, a nurse came in to tell him it was time to leave. She was surprised to see Maka in her position, but Soul had spaced out and had unsconsciously placed a hand on her head.
"Um, sir? Visiting hours are over." The nurse said. Soul snapped out of it and first looked at the nurse, then his hand.
"Right. She can talk by the way, just not very loudly." Soul said, cautiously getting up as to not disturb Maka. It was in vain, though, as a small hand gently grabbed his arm when he was up. He looked back to those blank eyes and that spark in his soul was back.
"Don't go? But I have to. Tell you what, I'll be back later today and I'll bring something to eat." Soul said with a smile. The girl looked down for a second before letting go and nodding. "Good, I have something to talk to you about anyways." Soul said and started walking out of the door.
"That'll be alright, right?" Soul asked the nurse.
"As long as it isn't something that would aggravate an open cut, like spicy or sour, it should be fine I guess." The nurse shrugged.
"Cool." Soul said and left.
Back at home, he stared at the map and local menus he had picked up on the way. The DWMA started up on the monday of next week, which was five days away, so he had to ration his money a bit if he didn't want to dip into savings. He went to take a shower and decided to take a nap afterwards. He set an alarm for 5PM so he had a chance to wake up, get the food and get there in time.
-
With his bike that was shipped over from England parked outside, he returned to Maka's room later that day to find a sigh that concerned him a bit. There was a man with dreadlocks in the room trying to talk to Maka. The girl was curled up on the bed and looked afraid.
"Hey buddy, you might wanna leave." Soul said. The man turned around and he saw the DWMA headband he wore.
"Oh, you must be Soul then. Don't worry, i'm not trying to scare her. That's not the kind of guy I am. Lord Death sent me over to check some things out, but I can't get anything out of her. She won't even write in a notepad let alone speak." The man explained. "The name's Sid and I'm an instructor at the academy." He continued.
"Oh... Well I guess you are kind of intimidating." Soul said, putting the bag of food on the nightstand. It was Miso soup and plain sushi. He then opened it up, grabbed a food tray from the corner, set it up and put the girl's food on it. She smiled and seemed to forget about the scary man in the back.
"Well you've got ridiculously sharp teeth and red eyes but she's not scared of you..." Sid retorted, folding his arms.
"I kind of also saved her life. Come on Maka, he's not that scary." Soul said, noticing Maka had shrunk a bit at the sound of his voice.
"Well she obviously won't tell me anything so do me a favor and asks her if she remembers anything about her past, her parents. Lord Death has a suspicion about who she might be, but it's only a tiny chance." Sid said. Soul looked at the girl, who had cautiously started on the soup.
"Please? I kinda wanna know who you are too and if you don't he might not leave." Soul said when the girl stayed silent. She waited a few moments before placing the bowl back down and putting her mouth right up to his ear to whisper into it. After a minute or two, she returned to eating her soup and Soul looked a bit disappointed.
"She doesn't remember too much, but she remembers that at least her mother is dead and she hasn't seen her father since she was 6. He left, but she can't remember why, and she can't remember what they looked like or their names." Soul relayed.
"Well, a little bit is more than I had a minute ago... Thanks anyways, we'll see if we can find anything out. Lord Death told me that you found her in an alleyway yesterday, right?" Sid asked. Soul nodded and started eating his sushi. "Well, you seem to be rather close for just meeting. Especially with how she acts towards everyone else." Sid continued.
"Sometimes when I'm near her, something like a spark in my soul happens and I can feel what she wants to say... Lord Death said I should probably spend some time with her, and it's not cool to just leave someone on their own after almost dying." Soul explained.
"That certainly is interesting. I'll be seeing you on Monday, so long until then. Sorry for scaring you, Miss Maka. That's not the kind of guy I am." Sid said before leaving. Soul watched him leave, but quickly looked back when Maka made a noise. She had a face that made him think she ate something bad and she glared at the half-eaten piece of sushi. It had raw salmon on it, but she apparently didn't like it as she took the pieces of fish off and piled them up on her tray.
"Don't like raw fish, eh? More for me I guess." Soul said with a hint of a chuckle as he took the pile and ate it. He loved the stuff. Maka giggled ever so slightly and he grinned. She surprised him again by picking up a piece of his sushi and holding it out for him.
"You know, it really should be me feeding you." Soul said with a smile.
"But you like the fish." Maka said. Soul chuckled and opened his mouth. Maka fed him one and Soul returned the favor with one of hers and this continued until it was all eaten. Soul found this extremely weird, since he was the kind of guy that didn't really do these kinds of things. He was rather withdrawn if there was nobody he knew around. With Maka, though, his soul felt at home.
When it was time to go, he promised he'd visit when he can in the later hours since he prefered sleeping in. She had him come close, as if she was going to whisper something in his ear, but instead she wrapped her arms around his neck for a moment before saying one simple thing.
"Thank you..." She said softly. His soul throbbed at the words and he smiled before putting a hand on her head.
"Of course. You're growing on me, and you're pretty cool. I've got nothing to do, anyways, so coming here every day at the very least gives me something to look forward to." Soul said, turning to walk away.
"No... Thank you..." Maka said again. He nodded again and started walking. There was that spark in his souls again, just as he reached the doorway, that made him freeze.
'For giving me my life again.' The spark said. He looked back at the girl, who was looking at him with a heavy lidded eye, and had no idea what to say.
"Your life... again?" He asked, but the girl had already closed her eyes. He just walked out, trying to think on what that meant.