A Promise to Burn
A/N: Hey There! It's been awhile, huh? Anyways, this story is a little different from Even Gods Need Angels. There is some angst, but in a different way. I wrote this on my iPhone. There is this neat app called MyWritingNook, which was created for NaWriMo. It has a simplistic writing interface and I can write my stories and papers wherever I go, without resulting on transferring it to a second/third party site to read it. So, for those FF writers with an iPhone, it's really helpful if you are always away from the computer.
And since it's written on my phone, there might be some mistakes I might of overlooked. So I apologize in advance.
Please no bashing. The paring is alittle weird at first, but after reading with an open mind, it might change your mind about the two of them being together.
More information after the chapter (if you are following EGNA, I have information about that after the chapter too).
Without further adieu, the first chapter of By My Side.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER!
Chapter One: The Promise
Don't Leave My Side
Those words echoed through Maka's mind every time she heard his repulsive name. His vulgar way of speaking, the fierce look in his eye and the gestures far too barbaric to be anywhere near prince charming. Maka never understood why her fellow female students go weak at the knees when they see his serious side. Sure, he might be dead serious about his scar he received from the Sword Saint, but it was something not worth cooing over.
She never understood them, until…
"Oi, Maka," Soul called out to her. "You okay?" Maka snapped out of her daze and looked at her partner, and also her boyfriend.
"Yeah, just thinking about what you said. He is an idiot for doing that!" Maka spat, but smiled at the end as she turned to tend to the vegetables she was cutting up for the curry.
Several Months Earlier
It was early spring and the air hadn't change in Death City. The oasis was always the same constant blue sky, mild breeze now and then, and the kiss of heat from the ever changing mood of the sun. It was nice, but sometimes what went on in the mystical city was heated as much as the air outside the exterior.
"What?" Maka roughly slammed her book shut and glared at the young Shinigami next to her. "When did this happen? Where-?"
"I didn't tell my father about this information yet. I thought it would be appropriate to let you know about it first." Kid explained briefly.
"We need to go to her immediately!" Maka stood up from her seat, catching everyone's attention.
"Why are you raising your voice?" Kid hissed at the scythe meister. "There is no reason to rush into things without setting up a plan."
"But-" Maka was interrupted by Soul grabbing her arm and pulling her down back to her seat.
"Don't get hasty now. You know how you are when you rush into things." Soul sighed. "Wait, until after class. When Professor Stein finds out you are gone, then he would know you found something about Crona."
"Therefore, Crona's location is Medusa's location." Kid finished Soul's statement.
"Don't tell me that." Maka pouted. "I'm not like Black Star."
"What about me?" Black Star and Tsubaki entered the row in front of them.
"None of your business." Maka hissed at the assassin.
"Jeez, what's her problem?" Before Black Star and the others continued, Stein entered the lecture hall and instructed everybody to take their seats (before he dissects them all).
Maka, when she sets her mind to something, there was no stopping her, and Black Star knew that longer than anyone in their group. When she would get greedy, she would become so careless with her actions and always would get her ass into trouble, resulting to him come in the worst, yet best, times to pull her out of it and let him take the beating instead.
She was strong, no doubt, but Black Star knew she couldn't do anything reckless the right way unless he was with her.
"Maka," Black Star called out to her as they rushed out of the room. "Kid told me about Crona."
"So?"
"I want in." Black Star said to Maka. "I encountered her before and I am the only one who can take her on."
"I don't need any help," Maka told him. "You'll just get in the way."
"No, you would get in the way." Black chuckled, but Maka held up one of her textbooks. "Come on, don't be an idiot. You need me." As he said that, the other students in her class exited the lecture hall, hearing his last words. Their eyes and mindless chatter ceased and quickly gazed at them curiously.
"I'll be fine with just Soul." That didn't come out right either. Maka slightly blushed and quickly recovered herself. "I am strong enough to take on that filthy witch. I took out her sister, I can take out Medusa." she didn't know why she was blushing or felt embarrassed when Black Star stared at her.
"Haha, two witch slayings?" Black Star laughed. "You are spoiled, greedy brat!"
"You are the one to talk." Maka pouted.
"You take care of emo, I'll take care of the Witch. I did promise Tsubaki that I will turn her into a Death Scythe." He stared at her with a big smile and she couldn't help but to smile back. Who knew this flaky goof was actually human? Sure, Maka knew he could be considerate and he had a strange way of showing it with his big mouth and clenched fists, but she never thought to actually believe in him as much as she did now.
Or at least for that moment…
"You Idiot!" Maka shouted and throwing rocks, gravel and all kinds of debris from the crash. "Why did you have to jump? Soul and I had a plan and now…" Maka, enraged, begun throwing punches and kicks. "We are separated from our weapons!"
"Would you stop!" He yelled back at her and grabbed her hands. "You have that soul seeing thing, right? Finding them won't be a big deal." She pulled her hands away from his grip and slightly slapped it away as she did so. Damn, girl. "I'll look where we are…" Black Star climbed a tree to the top, leaving Maka by herself.
"If he only let Soul and I take care of that flying pre-kishin, we wouldn't be in this mess." She scowled under her breath. "Stupid Black Star." She didn't waste time and turned on her perception to locate their lost partners.
After gathering information, they both started sprinting northeast towards Bran's Castle. With her soul perception, Maka found Soul and Tsubaki, and it was a long ways to go from where they were. They were in Romania, where Kid had told them about the location of Crona from the clue he had received from his last mission. A little note Crona dropped before she fled away had instructions to head to another Medusa hideout, but it was obviously a trap. In regards to traps, Black Star was the only who could outwit (surprisingly) a trap with ease and his goal and determination to help Maka rescue Crona and slay the witch Medusa. Well, that wasn't going according to Maka's plan.
"Admit it, we're lost!" Maka yelled at Black Star, who was a few paces ahead of her. "We've been running for almost an hour!"
"It's not my fault your slow, so why don't you put your energy from bickering and put it into good use, like running faster." He shouted back, making her even more pissed.
"Again, we wouldn't be in this situation-"
"If I hadn't jump out the plane, I know!" Black Star sighed and continued running. They were irritated, but this wasn't new. They were always like that, constantly fighting, arguing, it was their funny way of getting along. And as much as it was annoying to hear Maka bicker, Black Star couldn't help but to smile.
Though, they are a few things Maka tends to piss him off. And for what its worth, there was no one there to witness or stop them from beating the living out of one another.
"You don't care," Maka added, forcing Black Star to slow down and eventually stop. "You only went for your own means, not for the thought of others."
"I didn't say that." Black Star couldn't help but to give back that same glare she was giving him. Both of them were panting hard from the long distant sprint to the castle, which was visible from where they were standing.
"The real reason you came was to beat Crona since you lost to her the last time you ran into her." That glare was accompanied by a deviant grin. "Isn't that right?"
"To be honest, I beat the crap out if her. Whatever she become wasn't a big deal against me and Tsubaki."
"It's Tsubaki and I!" Maka corrected.
"Whatever," Black Star rolled his eyes. "I had to deal with three other witches too, like it was difficult or anything."
"Then, if it wasn't a big deal," Maka's eyes soften a bit. "Then why didn't you bring her back?" Was it that hard to do so? He brought back the frog witch, but it was her doing that made Crona and the others escape. He was the great Black Star after all, if he set his mind to it, a simple bomb wouldn't stand a chance against his almighty greatness.
"She didn't want to..." Black Star paused. Seeing Crona after a year, seeing what she had become was a shocker, but it wasn't much a surprise considering who her mother was. The more deformed body, fight style and movement was twisted than it was before. If Maka saw her, it would definitely made her cry, and telling her would do the same. "She isn't the same-"
"Yeah, right." Maka chuckled. "Knowing you, you would of scared her away. Who wants to come back with you?"
Or at least in denial...
"You know, believe what you want to believe. Typical Maka, always the bookworm with her head in a book." Black Star laughed.
"What does that have to do with Crona?" Maka hissed.
"You wouldn't understand." Black Star commented once again.
"Whatever, it would be some lame excuse." Make scowled. "I don't know how the others could fall for your words, but I can see right through you. I don't fall for your inconsistent bullshit!" As she said that, Maka stormed off leaving Black Star in the clearing.
"There goes Ms. Pouty." Black Star sighed. What he wanted to tell would make her sad, or at least in the state of denial. Though, he didn't feel right telling Maka the truth, because seeing Maka hurt in the inside wasn't easy. "That idiot..."
At that time, Maka didn't understand.
"Stupid Black Star." Maka continued to pout to herself. "Greedy and selfish. Only thinking of himself." She didn't know how long she could take anymore of this. They've been through a lot together, but it wasn't enough to make up the times they have fought. It was because of their partners, her Papa and fellow meister Kid they would suck it up like grown ups and move on. They did it for their sakes. At least, that was what Maka thought of anyway. If it wasn't for Soul being best friends with Black Star and herself being friends with Tsubaki, her strange friendship wouldn't have last very long upon entering Shibusen.
clack
Maka spotted someone's wavelength, and they weren't sneaky for her to realized they were there. With Soul not being there, all she could do was pull out her dictionary sized, hardcover book from God knows where, as it was her only weapon.
"Who's there?" She shouted. Maka focused on the wavelength in the distance. Black Star was still in the same spot. The other was amongst the forest brush, waiting for the right time to come out. "I know you're there. No use in hiding." She concentrated on the strange, yet familiar wavelength. This aura was somewhat distant to her, like an old memory of some sorts. The cold, isolated feeling of darkness. With that feeling she had before, that darkness was also accompanied by the warm heart of someone trapped in their own prison, in their own hell. It was vaguely familiar, and this wavelength hiding amongst the bushes didn't have that part of it reaching out its hand for her to grab on to and pull her out of the dark ocean.
"Crona?" Maka muttered under her shaking breath. That was it. It was the familiar black blood she was feeling. The same as Crona, only it didn't feel like it was her. "Is that you?" She could of changed over the year. Putting Crona's mother into consideration, Medusa might of done something to Crona and Ragnorok within that year apart.
In the other hand, Maka knew that wavelength wasn't Crona. She wanted to believe it was her, having the heart and strive to find Crona all this time. Maka wanted to bring her back to the place where she belonged, smiling and having the need to be needed by the people around her. Maka wanted to give that back to her when she does find her.
Soon enough, the Crona like wavelength raced out of the rocky brush and attacked Maka, where Maka dodged the dark object. Her green eyes looked back at the creature, having the same black and white characteristics of Ragnorok. The same lifeless eyes, no mouth, it was very much like him, also containing the sinister, insanity induced iron liquid; the black blood.
Then it hit her as she was trying her best to dodge the creature's attack. What if Maka found Crona and she wasn't the same friend she had known a year ago. What if Medusa experimented with her further and brained washed Crona? Would she be able to bring her out of the pool of darkness like she did during the Kishin's resurrection? Would she be able to face the deformities that her eyes lay upon Crona's demented soul? What if she had to...
Her legs became heavy, she started to feel her breathing getting heavier and her heart sank further into the pit of her stomach. And it hurt, thinking about the worse scenario. This wasn't the time to think about it, but the thought of it wouldn't disappear. As her thoughts weighed her down, she fell to the rocky earth beneath her and closed her eyes. No longer dodging the black-blood creature, and as Maka stayed petrified in her state, it swung back its large abnormal arms to make its move.
"Idiot!" Black Star shouted, having Maka to look up to see the assassin standing in front of her. His stance strong, back tall and his wavelength throbbing with the fighting urge, was Black Star ever this cool? "What's wrong with you?" He glanced back, looking down on the trembling scythe meister. Maka looked up ahead to see her enemy was pushed back several feet in front of Black Star.
"Black Star," Maka muttered, loud enough for Black Star to hear. He hated seeing her like that. Scared and petrified, just like a little girl crying for her parents. It was ridiculous to admit, but it was true. He had a soft spot for crying, sad or in this case, over-dramatic cry baby. He rather have an angry Maka, then a baby Maka any day.
"Look, what I said earlier," Black Star sighed, glancing back at the black blood monster in front, slowly getting up. He returned his gaze at the little girl. "It's not that she didn't want to come back. Crona didn't remember neither me and Tsubaki."
"Tsubaki and I." Maka corrected him softly, but he ignored it. So it was true? Crona really wasn't the same. She was probably more messed up now then the second time she fought Crona.
"You're the only one who could knock some sense into her." Black Star chuckled. "I beat the hell out of her and still couldn't get her to snap out of it. But, you can't face her if you are going to be like that."
Maka looked at herself; on the grassy floor, was she crying? If Black Star said was true, could she really face her after a year apart?
"I'll handle the tough part so you don't have to. All of us." Black Star's back was facing her now. Medusa's wacky experiment finally recuperated and stood its ground.
"So all I ask," Black Star's soul was expanding, filling itself with so much unusual spiritual energy, burning into her soul. Such warmth, comfort and all the amenities that of a Hero posses. All his screaming non-sense of being a hero and surpassing God was not a joke of any sort. Even if she believed in him before. Just a little.
"Don't leave my side." Black Star said to her, just before he pounced at the creature and destroyed it easily with his bare hands.
A/N: I seriously love this app. I had this idea a while ago when I was on a plane to Los Angeles, California to see the JYJ Concert. I was listening to their album and other songs when I came up with the prompt. While I was waiting in line for hours to get into the venue, I was typing it up on my phone until the battery meter turned red.
This story is a short one and not as long as EGNA. The next chapter might be the last, or there might be a MAX of three chapters for this one.
Regarding EGNA, I am currently typing chapter nine as we speak. Thanks to this new app, I am finding some spare time to type it up, little by little. It's a short chapter, so it'll be out before you know it. For now, I hope you enjoy this story, though it's a different Maka centric pairing than EGNA.
Don't worry, KidXMaka is still my OTP. To be honest, I prefer PattiXBS any day, it's just I have reasons to make a Black StarXMaka fanfic.
