I just want to say that I can't believe I enjoyed the train wreck that was Soul Eater NOT, but it gave me fanfiction ideas, so hey.
This is less shippy than my last Sid/Naigus fic, but there's some subtle romance in there. This one's a lot more angsty. I'll probably write something that's fluffy at some point, but I like angst. I also need to come up with better titles.
Their eyes only met for a second, yet Mira was sure that Stein could see her face fall. It had been hard for her, having to go through the pain of her own meister, the person she was supposed to protect, die in such a way. Stein would have avoided this situation if he could, but there was no way that he could escape it now.
"Is that-"
"Yes."
Mira stared at it, torn between wanting to look away and seeing it, facing the reality of it with her own eyes. She could see the tip of his fingers protruding from under the sheet, unchanged from his living state, looking as if he could be sleeping, like he would wake up and smile at her, grasp her hand in his and mutter a greeting, and oh God, she wasn't going to cry now, not with Stein here, but it hurt, it hurt so much.
"I'm sorry." Stein's voice was emotionless, no trace of empathy or concern for his colleague- no, his friend, if someone like Stein could even comprehend the concept of 'friendship'. Maybe he did care, but Mira knew, he was just going to use him, use her dear meister Sid to research the witch's toxin. There was a wound, right? In his neck, she had injected her poison. If only she had come here sooner, she could have taken the antidote from Stein and met up with Sid. She could have saved him, but no, she'd left him and now it was staring her in the face and she'd never felt worse in her life. He might not have known, but she loved him, loved him more than anything else, and now he was gone.
"Miss Naigus?"
Mira turned to see one of her agents looking at her intently, concern evident in his confused expression. She took a deep breath in, willing all these feelings back down inside her. She was fine, she was fine, she was fine.
"Go, locate those girls. Make sure they don't run into danger. Check if the EAT students are making any progress while you're at it." She gave the command just as she always did, her voice not faltering once. There was work to be done. This was no time to grieve. The agents obeyed her without question, muttering among themselves as they left the room.
"Naigus, I may not be a psychologist, but I know that it's not good for you to keep working yourself when you're in this state. You need to talk to someone about it."
"I'll just go to see Marie." Did that sound bitter? God, she didn't mean to seem so cold. If Sid were here, he'd roll his eyes at her, grinning, and-
Suddenly she was weak again, and she chocked back a sob, struggling to keep herself upright, because Sid wasn't here and he'd never be here again and she was alone and all she could think about was his smile and how kind he always was, compared to her, because she was just selfish and nothing was ever going to be the the same without him.
Stein didn't make any move to console her, unsurprisingly. In fact, he just ignored her, going back to scribbling something in a small notebook with a look of complete apathy. She leant against the wall to steady herself, pressing a palm to her forehead. She couldn't help but wonder for a fleeting moment if Sid would react in the same way if it had been her who had fallen victim to a witch. Would he cry? Would he want to see her again, even just for a moment? Mira tried to push the thought away, knowing that dwelling on it wouldn't help anything, but an old memory surfaced against her will.
They had to be- what, nineteen? Perhaps even younger. She had been wounded again, insisting that Sid used her to protect himself against a pre-Kishin that they had been ordered to eliminate. He'd protested, telling her that she didn't have to sacrifice herself for him, but she had stood firm, threatening to turn back to human form and protect him like that. She'd expected to be injured, and she told him that. However, that didn't stop him from sitting beside her hospital bed for hours at a time, whispering apologies to her and bringing Black Star in to talk to her.
"I thought you were dead! Mira, please don't die on me, okay? I need you, you are important to me."
That's what he had said, wasn't it? He would be upset if she had died. He would never have left her like he had feared that she would him, but now it had happened, though it hadn't been his fault at all. Sid had been the one who had died on her. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of him being so sweet and caring, but the ache in her chest remained, pressing down on her like a lump of lead. She didn't have time for this, not when there was so much going on.
Regaining her composture, Mira pushed herself back up again, giving Sid's corpse one last, long stare. She wiped the few years that had only just begun to fall, drawing herself up to her full height. That witch was still out there, and was targeting her students. Perhaps she could come to terms with this after the witch had been defeated. Not that she was a particularly vengeful or aggressive woman, but it was her duty to protect the students from this threat, no matter if she had her dear meister beside her or not.
Mira went to leave and check up on the status of the battle before something truly bad happened, but Stein raised a hand to stop her. He didn't look her in the eyes, but she looked at him, desperately trying to decipher that strange expression.
"Maybe you will see him again."
"What is that supposed to mean?" She was beginning to grow impatient now.
"Nothing."
He smiled.