Title: Autumn Breeze
By: Dark Dreamscape
Author's note: Hey guys, I'm back! Anyone miss me? I'm kidding, I'm not that narcissistic. ...maybe... And surprise, this AN isn't long this time!
To: Amber Masquerade. Happy [verysuperlateoneyearanniversaryandbirthday, iamsosorryiamjustalazyprocrastinator]—yeah, pretty much that. Hope I don't butcher your OTP, right?
Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater, for obvious reasons
Prologue: Because a Circle...
School.
Classes.
Homework.
Interactivity.
Annoying people.
Stupid father.
Rinse and repeat.
'What a dull life.' First in class student Maka Albarn continued her weekday routine methodically, like a robot. Although it sometimes had occasional disturbances, such things could be taken care of with a Maka Chop, though that was hardly an exciting change.
"I'm home," she called out to the emptiness, then paused like she usually did.
Empty. Of course. Was she expecting? 'How foolish,' she thought, shaking away her fantasies. Of a father, who didn't drink and go around with random women, and a mother, who was caring and supportive. Who actually stayed. But she locked that up so it wouldn't get to her, just like she always did. Just like it has been for all the lonely years.
A noise by her window brought her out of her reverie. A quite familiar purple cat, to be precise.
Opening the window, Maka smiled with slight happiness, "Blair! It's been a while since I last saw you," with that, the cat hopped in and nuzzled her head against Maka's hand, "Do you want anything?" she asked. Oddly enough, she didn't feel strange talking to a cat, and that the said cat happened to be her best friend.
As if understanding what she was saying, Blair meowed, then hopped up to curl up on Maka's head.
"Okay then, milk it is!" Maka let out a small laugh, seemingly over her earlier depression.
As the blonde watched Blair lap at the milk happily, she recalled how she first met Blair: small, hungry, and lonely—just like her. Unbeknownst to her, the cat was watching her, too. How she was looking at her fondly to staring into empty space. Something she wasn't happy with.
"Nyaaa~" Blair pawed at Maka's sleeve and meowed, causing her to snap back to reality. Then she noticed a small, folded slip of paper tucked in her collar.
Patting her on the head affectionately, Maka sneakily pulled out the paper and unfolded it, careful not to rip it.
Hi — it said in a messy scrawl placed randomly on the otherwise blank letter paper. Just "Hi" in normal black ink. Though it was a common greeting she heard all the time, it intrigued and confused her to no end. Who was it from? What was it for? Why did Blair have it? Was it even for her?
"Blair, what's this?" she asked, waving the paper in front of her face.
"Nyaa?" Blair tilted her head to the side innocently. Great. She was giving her the look. Maka looked away stubbornly, not willing to give in to such petty things.
"Nya~?" Blair meowed again, pawing at her arm in rapid succession. Without even looking, Maka could tell she was making Puppy Eyes, despite being a cat.
"Hah, Blair! You've done that so many times, it won't work on me!" trying her best to ignore the tickling sensation on her arm, Maka closed her eyes and kept her head turned to the side.
...she gave in. "ARGH!" She stood up suddenly and pulled at her neatly tied pigtails, "Everytime, Blair, everytime!"
"Nyaaa~!" the sly cat jumped onto her shoulder and rubbed her head against her cheek, though if Blair were human, Maka would bet that she would have a very smug expression on her face.
"Hmph!" Maka walked over to hastily grab a lined sheet of paper and a pencil. Slamming it down on the table, Maka turned her head to face the cat, "I hope you're happy now..." she grumbled, and put away the empty plate for milk in the process.
Tapping the pencil against her cheek, Maka paused to think for a minute. What was she going to say? Why was she even saying anything? Blair would give her no answers, obviously. Maybe she would just try the same thing.
Hi — she stopped there, and erased it quickly. She needed to have more...tact. If she was going to have to make conversation, she didn't want an awkward one.
Hello — she stopped again, though not to erase it. 'Should I ask her-his-...should I ask about that, then? Or name?' Maka let her head rest on the table, Blair on top of it as per usual. One of the few days she didn't have homework, she spent writing to a total stranger. It wasn't even close to studying! In a sense, she didn't really need to study, since school had just started its first semester.
Hello — she continued — how are you? — that would have to do for now, she nodded to herself. Nothing important, nothing personal, no risk possible. Folding it up to tuck it in Blair's collar just as she found it, albeit nicer, she rubbed her fur.
"Isn't it uncomfortable?" she asked, though Blair just meowed like she usually did, rubbed her head against Maka one last time, and scampered out the open window to play mailma—...cat...
*thump* *thump*
"Nyaa~" *scratching noises*
"What the—...Blair?" An albino boy got up from his desk, where he was looking at various scattered sheets of paper. He walked over to open the window, "It is you, Blair! Where'd you go? Your real home?" he teased. It was Blair, the purple cat who came to his room every so often. What he found weird was that she wasn't a stray; she had a collar which identified her as Blair. The only problem with that was it had nothing else, no address, phone number, or anything.
...speaking of Blair's collar, the boy, pianist Soul Evans, noticed a lined piece of paper tucked in her collar.
Curious, he took it out and unfolded it.
Hello, how are you? — it said in neat cursive. In any other circumstances, he would throw it away and just brush it off as a prank. But it was in cursive. Neat cursive. Like a girl's. Was someone seriously lonely enough, or bored enough to write to some random stranger? And through a purple cat? ...well, he talked to said purple cat so he didn't have much room to say anything.
"Blair, do you know anything about this?" he waved the note in front of her face. Deja vu.
"Nyaa?" the cat meowed, tilting her head to the other side, probably for variation.
Soul sighed, of course the cat wasn't going to talk back. That'd be just—...he didn't even want to think about it.
*knock* *knock*
"Soul?" a voice asked from the other side of his room door.
"Ah, one second, Wes!" Soul hid the note underneath his music and turned to Blair, who had jumped out the window. Too late. 'Might as well leave the window open,' he thought, walking to open the door.
"Yes?" he asked, leaving his door open with a view to his room, as if saying he had nothing to hide, and as an invitation to enter. Wes accepted, and did so.
"Were you talking earlier?" he asked, getting straight to the point.
"No, but I was...looking through my music." Soul avoided his brother's gaze, not liking that he had to lie to him upfront. Thankfully, Wes interpreted this as embarrassment.
Being the good older brother he was, Wes ruffled the albino's hair and laughed, "No need to be embarrassed, you're doing well. Mom and Dad just—" he stopped, and Soul knew what he was going to say. And why. Because he just wasn't good enough. People didn't think so, but that was because they didn't know anything. His music—"Why's your window open?" Wes asked suddenly.
Soul brought himself back to Earth. "I thought a little air would be nice, and didn't want to cause too much trouble for it," he replied. Lie number two, wasn't he doing so well?
Patting his head one last time, Wes smiled sadly, "That's okay, if you ever need to talk, I'm always here." even though they both knew it would never happen.
"Thanks, Wes," Soul replied nevertheless, waiting for his brother to leave. So he could take care of that note, obviously.
But first priority was that window, since he doubted that Blair would be back anytime so—"Nyaaa~"-...or not...
Pulling the note out from under his sheet music, "Can you explain this, Blair?" 'Screw it.' he thought, 'I don't care anymore if I'm talking to cats or anything.'
Trying again with a sigh, he asked, "So Blair…do you have any explanations for this?" She scratched behind her ear, then jumped down to the floor to nudge his leg repeatedly. "Wha—…? What do you want now, Blair—quit pushing me, I can walk by myself!" By this time, she had moved him right to his desk, with a convenient blank sheet of paper and a pen.
"…You gotta be kidding me," he said into his hands. "Fine, I'll play along with your games." He sat down, with another sigh. What was he, depressed?
'…Yes, very depressed.' He admitted to himself. 'Now…how to start this… Might as well answer the question first," he decided.
Hi. Just thinking… The usual. You? — 'Does that work?' He stared at the reply, which was on a blank piece of letter paper he usually used for music when nobody was looking. Even though the other person sent it on lined paper… It didn't really matter, anyways…and he didn't want to seem too weird. "This is so uncool," he slid back into his chair and ran his hands through his hair.
'Now that I think about it…who is this person?' He looked at Blair stretch out on his desk, until she decided to curl up temporarily. 'Probably knows Blair, too…her owner, maybe?'
Giving up on the thought, Soul straightened, which woke up Blair. "Here's your letter," he drawled, making sure the folded sheet would stay between her fur and collar, but not choke her. "That feel okay, Blair?"
"Nyaa~!" if she were a human, she'd probably be beaming at him, he thought absentmindedly.
Before he could even ask her if she wanted anything, like cream or fish, she had already hopped out his window and onto the streets. "Strange cat," he mumbled and closed the window, though he paused to stare outside. 'What if the person who sent him the note was still outside?' with that thought, he peered out the window for a closer look, but saw nothing suspicious. If there even were a clue, it was probably already too late for him to do anything about it, either way.
Finally breaking away his gaze, Soul plopped down onto his bed with very little noise. 'I wonder when I'll get a reply…if I ever do…' he stared at his ceiling for a while.
'WHY AM I EVEN—ARGH!' flopping around while tugging at his messy hair, Soul found himself facing the wall, "Why do I even care?" he finished his thought aloud.
By the time Blair had: left Maka's kitchen, arrived in Soul's bedroom, then walked all the way back to Maka's room, it was already 5:00 PM.
Just like she always did, Maka welcomed Blair with open arms and let her in through the window. And this time, with another plate of milk ready for her.
"Hey Blair, you're back so quickly?" Maka picked up Blair, intending to carry her to the milk and nuzzle her fur affectionately, but stopped abruptly.
'...is it just me or does Blair smell like...' Maka moved her face closer again and sniffed again, '...she smells like expensive scents...? Maybe I'm just imagining things,' she concluded, because whatever Blair did was her business and Maka respected that.
"Ah!" Maka saw the white note tucked inside Blair's collar.
Hi. Just thinking... The usual. You? — it said. 'That's weird...' Maka thought, looking over the paper, 'So... "Hi" two times?' she stared at it a little more, trying to think of a solution to such a thing, then shrugged it off. Maybe the person just felt like it.
'The person...Should I ask for a name? I probably shouldn't mention my father...' Maka pulled out another sheet of lined paper and pencil while Blair drank her milk gratefully.
Normal life. School, work, problems... — "problems" should work. It explained more but was still vague enough. And everybody had problems, so that was okay too. — What's your name? — Satisfied with the letter, Maka folded up the paper for the second time that day and gave it to Blair. For once, she was somewhat looking forward to something.
After Blair finished the milk and left with the letter, Maka decided to take a closer look at the first two sheets, since her father wasn't home yet.
The first, she noted, was crumpled up before it was folded, while the second was a clean and folded sheet. 'What does that mean?' she thought. When she compared the handwriting, it looked exactly the same; the "Hi," part, at least.
Filing the papers away so her father wouldn't find them, Maka glanced at the clock: almost 6:00 PM. Her father wouldn't be home for a while, if he even came that night. Scowling at the thought, she took out a random book and started reading it, then became immersed in it for the next few hours.
Ironically for Soul, Blair came back to his room just a few hours after leaving.
Trading some of the food he sneaked upstairs for the note, he stared at it, probably thinking about how to answer.
Normal life. School, work, problems...
What's your name? — ...his name? He could bet if he said "Soul" it would be narrowed down to him...and "Evans" was a very famous surname. 'Next best thing,' he thought, already writing down his reply.
School, right... — Should he ask? It was quite a personal question...that could wait. — You can just call me "Eater." What's your name? — There, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Maybe he could even ask for gender next. Though he had a hunch it was a female since the handwriting was so neat and...posh—...Close enough.
"Soul 'Eater' Evans..." he said quietly to himself after Blair left—and with his food, too. "So that means I eat souls now? Sounds cool to me."
It was nighttime, and Maka was still reading her book; the epilogue, to be precise. By then, Blair had come back with the reply she was waiting for.
Deciding Blair shouldn't have more than two servings of milk, if not more than that from the other person, Maka settled with scratching the cat on her lap.
School, right... You can just call me "Eater." What's your name? — "Eater? A name?" Maka scoffed silently, but she was secretly laughing inside. What a joke. Her name? It was only fair, since she'd asked—"MMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ~!" she stuffed the paper into her pile of stuff hastily, hiding it from sight. And Blair, for that matter.
Sighing, she left her room and made sure she closed the door. Hopefully, 'Eater' would wait for the next day. And Blair was probably going to sleep on her stomach again, anyways. "Hi Papa," she said, staring at his distastefully. At least he didn't bring a woman home. He hadn't yet, and she was perfectly happy with that.
"MAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
"CHOP!" out of nowhere, she hit him on the head with her book with the infamous Maka Chop, which stopped him from clinging onto her. "I'm studying, Papa," she said and slammed the door behind her.
Sliding down the door as Blair jumped back into her lap, Maka stared at the solitary photo on her desk. It was her only picture of her and her parents when they were still happy together.
For an unfathomable reason, Maka said the first thing that came to her mind, which shouldn't have in the first place. "Eater..." she whispered to herself, hugging Blair closer to her.
"Because a Circle..." ...what?! WHAT?! EVEN I DON'T KNOW-actually, I do know. Doesn't have a beginning. Or end. :I Silly me. Criticism? Opinions? Anything? Feedback? Even if I say "Please?" Hope you enjoyed~!
~Jydaria