The city had been dimmed by the fall of night, and the temperatures only plummeted from there. It has always been dangerous for a god to travel without a Regalia. The pigtailed god was aware of her circumstances, and skillfully blended herself into the shadows. Watching her breath fade into the air, she recollected releasing her previous Regalia under their request, claiming that she was far too bossy to stand. If Maka hoped to survive, she would have to find a new Regalia for herself.
She stood from behind a few boxes that had conveniently been laid down next to a brick wall. It was easy to forget the eeriness of night when with others, but standing in the open was just uncomfortable. Maka found her way around the darkened town silently, searching for any lost spirits that had a will to keep living. It had only taken a short while before she stumbled upon a small floating light. Rubbing her cold hands together, she could sense that it was a boy, perhaps in his late teens. Although this could pose as a difficult task, the spirit seemed so innocent and honest. Her sympathy consumed her. She had to guide this spirit.
She brought her hand up and began writing the kanji that would be his name.
"You, with nowhere to go and nowhere to return... I grant you a place to belong. My name is Maka. Bearing a posthumous name, you shall remain here. With this name, I make thee my servant. With this name and its alternate, I use my life to make thee a Regalia! Thou art Tamashii! As Regalia, Húnki!" she stated clearly, "Come, Húnki!"
With a flash of light into the brisk air, a sharpened scythe placed itself into the god's hands. Before she could admire its form, memories of the boy's life flooded her mind. From pianos to motorcycles, she could see everything up to his murder. The horror and desperation he felt did nothing but bring tears to her eyes. Blinking the droplets away was not an option at this point. With her sleeve, she quickly wiped them away and gazed upon the scythe that resided in her hands.
Her assumptions proved to be correct. The boy was a pure spirit, and it reflected in his honed blade. She was lucky to have chosen this spirit over the others.
"It's nice to meet you, Tamashii," she greeted, releasing her grip and watching the Regalia return to his human form, "less formally, Tamashiide."
His crimson eyes flickered from various parts of his new found body with interest and surprise. The pigtailed god found herself ingraining every part of his appearance into her memory from his white, messy hair to his shark-like teeth and white robe.
"My name is Maka, and I am your new master," she stated kindly, holding out her hand, "I called to you from the Far Shore, so that you may serve as my Regalia."
The boy slowly looked up at her before grabbing her hand firmly, "Tamashii, eh? Call me Soul, and we've got a deal."
Slightly offended by his distaste in the name she picked out for him, she silently agreed to his request.
After bringing Soul to her apartment, she was able to feed and clothe the boy. He seemed to be at ease by now, seeing as he now slouched around the room and lazily gave passing remarks on the decorations. In fact, he already began to get on her nerves...
With a huff, Maka reciprocated, "As a Regalia, you're supposed to respect me. That includes my 'tacky' décor."
"Look, if I'm gonna live here, I should at least get a say in what the place looks like..."
"I think it looks fine, thank you very much!"
"Whatever. Where am I gonna sleep?"
"The bedroom has two beds. Mine is by the window, yours is by the wall," she explained before adding, "please don't snore."
"You got it, master," Soul replied before casting himself upon the mattress.
The new found Regalia found himself unable to sleep that night, pressed with questions about how he got there. All he could remember was suddenly being in Maka's hand. He knew he died, but many questions remained unanswered, questions that only she could answer.
His crimson eyes trailed to the god in the dark. Watching her chest slowly rise and fall, he found a sense of peacefulness through her deep breathes. Soon, he found himself becoming drowsy, and fell asleep.
The banging of pans brought Soul back to consciousness. It was fairly early in the morning, judging by the fact he could see the soft sunlight seep through the window. With a groan, Soul sat up and pushed himself out of bed.
Once in the kitchen, he found the pigtailed god standing on a chair, reaching desperately for some object hidden by the shadows of the cupboard. Shuffling forward for a better view, he noticed that he could see up her skirt. Soul could feel his face flush in that moment. All of his senses told him to look away, but his eyes seemed to be locked in place.
"Ow!" Maka hissed, grabbing at the nape of her neck.
A sharp glare followed suit. Her emerald eyes pierced through Soul, causing him to step back a couple feet.
Her tone was steadily becoming more dangerous as she spoke, "Soul, what were you just thinking?"
"What'dya mean?" He asked, looking away from her penetrating stare, "It looked like you needed help reaching for somethin'."
"Gods and Regalia share mind and body! I know you just had a bad thought!"
"Could you stop assuming I'm some creep, already? It's annoying..."
With a huff, the god turned back to her duty of cooking breakfast. Would she regret allowing a human boy into her home? She hoped not.
"Do you like eggs?" she asked, not turning to face him.
"Hmm?" Soul lazily stared at the back of her head, "I'm dead, so why should I eat?"
"I don't have to feed you, if that's what you'd like."
"That's not what I meant at all!"
"Eggs and Bacon it is."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the table as the two ate their breakfast. Attempting to analyze one another, neither the god or the Regalia could find a word to say. Soul quickly found that he, despite being from the supposed Far Shore, enjoyed eating immensely. He took pleasure in chewing each bit of bacon with his abnormally sharp teeth, daring not to lock eyes with the god that took him in.
"We need to take jobs today," Maka stated, looking up from her food, "Mostly, students ask me for homework help, so it's nothing intense."
Soul nearly choked on his food. Could he really have been paired with a god this boring? He'd never taken a liking to homework, and refused to start now:"Homework help? So not cool..."
"Soul!" Maka scolded, boring her eyes once more into his skull.
"Right, right. You're the god. Let's get going."
"I wasn't done yet. Now that I have you, more jobs are available. That includes executing phantoms."
"Phantoms?"
"Yeah, they're basically demons. Like you, they come from the Far Shore. The difference is that phantoms influence the living and those on the Near Shore to do evil deeds. For example, they can cause humans to commit suicide."
Soul could feel a shiver run up his spine. Were these spirits really that powerful? Were they just like him? Why would they do such things?
"...So, we're going to kill them?" He asked, focusing on keeping his face relaxed.
Maka stirred the contents in her cup calmly, "Yes, we're going to kill them."
"No questions asked? No attempt to redeem their souls?" He pressed.
She paused and raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant, "What do you mean by 'redeeming' their souls?"
"Tell me, do gods value the lives of those on the Far Shore?"
"Soul, phantoms aren't human anymore. We can't let them go on."
"I'm not human anymore. Would you kill me without hesitation?"
She had never been asked this before. This wasn't something she was used to. Every Regalia she had cared for would answer to her beckon call without a second thought. There was no redemption for such demons, she thought.
"N-no. You aren't like them at all. Phantoms are nothing but demons, you'll see."
Maka stood up from the table and turned to leave before she felt another stabbing sensation in the back of her neck. She reached to grab at it and hissed audibly. Upon looking to Soul, she expected to see a raging child, but found a very aloof look on his face. She could only assume he was concealing his emotions. Maka opened her mouth to berate her foolish Regalia, but couldn't find the words to say. Instead, she grasped one of the notes that had been written to her and set it out for Soul to see.
"Let's just fulfill an easy wish. If you're good, I'll get you something from the store."
Soul's lazy, crimson eyes fell upon the paper. In his anger, he said nothing, but decided on reading the wish. The human who wrote it didn't seem to have it too rough, as it only read "God Maka, I'm terrible at Algebra, but I have a test tomorrow! Please tutor me!"
Maka took his silence as an agreement. She pulled her coat on and waited by the door for Soul.
As expected, Soul found himself to be incredibly bored. The student didn't even seem to notice him, despite his attempts of intimidation. If only the lesson would pass by quicker, he could remove himself from this cramped apartment. The dingy walls, the cluttered piles of cardboard boxes, the tacky cat decorations, and the dull colors all swam around him as he cornered himself by a window. Soul slid his sweaty hands restlessly into the pockets of the jacket his god had given him and watched as she ever so calmly taught the clueless student how to solve algebraic equations. In a way, it was mesmerizing how simple she made everything seem. At the same time, he couldn't trust her. If she could kill those like him without a hitch, how could he? It would be unethical, to say the least.
In that moment, Maka glanced back at Soul, causing him to jump out of his skin. She knew, didn't she? She knew all of his thoughts and he couldn't do a damn thing about it! She'd already caught him looking up her skirt; inner monologues would be no trouble for her to read at all! Soul's heart began to race inside of his chest. His sweaty hands twitched in his pockets as he struggled to remain placid.
She gave a soft smile in his direction before flipping a light pigtail over her shoulder and continuing her work. Soul felt his shoulders droop with relief. There was no way she could read all of his thoughts. It was insane to think so. He released a heavy sigh and waited until she was done with her job. After all, they were going to the store after this. All he had to do was sit and do nothing for a couple hours.