A/N: So, guess what? I'm back! Finally, after taking a long, long, loooooooooooooooooooong break, I have returned! Commence with the applause, and get ready for the most lengthy Author's Note I've ever written!
First of all, yeah, I've been absent from the FF scene for quite some time. There are a ton of reasons for that. The main one being that I'm a senior in high school, and all the crap that people warn you about colleges and scholarships and stuff is actually happening to me. It sucks. My classes for senior year are full and I've got two AP classes, so lots of homework again this year.
The other reason I haven't been present is because I have a lot of new video games to play. Destiny, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Hyrule Warriors to name a few. There are some new games coming, too, that I'm gonna play. Because seriously, if it's between this and video games after a day at school, I'm gonna choose video games. Sorry, but until now, I just didn't really want to put in the time or effort to do this instead.
I also have been trying really, really hard to get this certain girl to like me. In a girlfriend/boyfriend kind of way. It's taking a long time, considering I have my issues and she has... her situation. But I'll stay vague with that topic.
Now, about the story itself. I stick to my original plan: Maka/Soul won't see much action, and Rei/Sam are gonna see a lot. Also, I'm going to focus a little more on some other OCs I've introduced. But that in no way means that Maka and Soul won't get focus!
Okay, I'm done now. If you've read all of this, thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or any other copyrighted thing mentioned in this story. But I do own all my OCs.
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"Soul... my water just broke..."
"Have you decided on any names yet?"
"Yes. Naho and Jacob."
"It's not anything that will affect their health, they'll just be a little... different than other children."
...
Sam, this soul makes 99. If you eat Calypso's...
"We left the school for a reason! So we wouldn't be locked up like prisoners! Don't just throw that all away!"
It looks like you're a death scythe...
"No turning back now..."
Power Shift
Chapter One: Prologue 1 - The Assassin
Maka awakens to the unmistakable sound of a wailing infant.
It's her crying infant, too, else she would have completely tuned it out and gone about her deep, restful, exhaustion-induced sleep. But that cry, the tone, the voice that's producing it, the sincere severity, she can't NOT get up.
Because Naho, her child, needs a glass of water.
Such a simple thing, yet she makes this much of a fuss over it. Maka's brain tell's her to get up, but her body feels like it has a ton of bricks stacked on it. She rolls over to her stomach, out from under Soul's arm, and pushes up off the bed.
She wobbles to the bedroom door an opens it. The crying gets louder, and Maka quickens her pace, letting her footfalls be a little heavier as she moves down the hallway and hoping that Naho would hear and be reassured. But the crying only intensifies as she turns as she opens the door to the former guest room-turned kids' room.
Maka's eyes instantly turn to Naho's crib as the door swings open. Naho's crying subside to whimpers when the sees the faint silhouette of her mother standing in the doorway.
"Mama!" Hearing that word from Naho makes Maka's heart melt.
She quietly sneaks up to Naho's crib, just in case Jacob is still asleep. "What's wrong? You want some water?" Naho didn't say anything, but she could tell by her whimpering slowly dying down that her response was 'yes'.
She picks up her baby, who clings to her mother like a lifeline. The two walk across the hallway to the bathroom. Maka puts the cup under the sink. "You wanna do it?"
"Yeah!" Naho shouts with determination. Maka leans over a little so that Naho's small arms can reach the faucet. She takes the blue colored knob into her grasp and twists with all her might.
"Other way," Maka explains, spinning her free hand in the correct direction. "Righty tighty, lefty loosy, remember?"
Naho twists the knob in the correct direction, and water starts pouring from the faucet. It fills the cup, and Maka smiles at Naho. "We did it!"
Naho giggles gleefully at their success. Maka sets her on the floor and gives her the cup, gently making sure that she doesn't spill as she tilts the cup back. Once she's done, Maka places the cup back on the bathroom counter.
"Ready?" Maka stands, ready to go back to bed, but Naho grabs her leg and lets out a small whimper, revealing her true intentions. "Oh, so that's what you wanted." She picks up her child, waving away a stay strand of silvery white hair from her face.
The two traverse the hallway, back into the bedroom. Maka sighs and scratches the back of her head to keep herself awake. "Let's go get your brother, then." She approaches the other crib carefully, taking note that not a peep has been made from Chris this entire time. Her eyes finally adjust, and...
The crib's wall is down. And Chris is gone.
Maka's eyes widen. Immediatly her mind turns to the worst situations. What if he was taken? What if he is hurt? What if... What if...
Suddenly, a shadow moves in the corner of her eye. She whips her head around to find it's source, and catches it immediately. Its Chris, who has somehow perched himself on top of the large oak dresser that holds their clothes. "Wha... How did... Chris!" His mother's shocked expression makes him giggle with extreme delight. In some way or another, the little monkey had reached far enough to unclasp both of the locks on his crib, climb out of it, then climb all the way up the dresser.
Maka just sighs in relief that nothing bad happened to him, and scoops him up with her other arm. "Lets go sleep in mommy and daddy's bed." She says to them both, placing Chris on the floor so that he can walk beside her. Chris grabs ahold of the side of her pajama pants and Maka uses her now free arm for extra support to hold Naho.
As they walk down the hallway, Maka stops at the window on the wall. She turns and stares into the cold inky black of the moonless desert night. Now, with Kid gone and a new Kishin awakened, she can't help but feel a sense of foreboding. Like these two years have all been a buildup, and any day now these peaceful days will come to a crashing, explosive end.
Her mind wanders far into the blackness as she ponders the past two years. The frantic search for new leadership, and for Lord Death, both of which still consume Death City. The mass exodus of people from the city, both citizens and students. Kishin eggs becoming bolder, stronger, more dangerous all around the world. The madness spreading like crazy. And not to mention Rei's disappearance.
But not all of it was so bad. Having Naho and Jacob, being an obvious one. Maka and her parents have never been closer. All of her friends have decided to stay in Death City, despite the circumstances. And of course, being a family with Soul...
"Maka?" She is knocked out of her trance by Soul, standing in the doorway to their room. "How come you're up?" He asks, referring to the fact that he usually gets up before her to start breakfast. Jacob runs to Soul with open arms, and he lifts him up and greets him, "Hey little guy!" It seems as they got older, Soul became the morning person, and Maka the bed bug.
"What do you mean 'why'?" Maka asks with drooping eyelids. "It's only..." She pauses and looks out the window again to gauge the time. She squints as a faint, steadily brightening light appears over the horizon. "Oh..." She blinks and rubs her eyes, preparing them for the rough day ahead.
As she tries to rub her eyes fully awake, her mind wanders to Rei again. How lost she must be out there in a world like today, no home to return to, always on the run. Constantly being hunted. Was she safe? Was she even alive?
What had become of the little quiet girl, Rei Shijima, after these two years?
On the other side of the world, the sun sets below the horizon, and everything becomes cold. The desert heat that permeated the entire area quickly disappeared, and a freezing, frigid heat replaced it.
In a small village in the desert, a small flame filled the alleyway between a cluster of multi-story houses with light. Shadows danced on the walls of the buildings, cast by the three men crowded around the fire.
It is silent, except for the crackling of the fire and the grumbling of the men as they shiver in the cold, arms folded, trying to keep in the warmth. "This is stupid," The one on the right speaks up. "We could have at least saved one that had a heater."
"And now we're just crowding around this stupid trash fire..." The one on the lest agrees. "It's freezing out here."
"Quiet, both of you," The middle one orders. "I'm tired of your whining."
"I'm just saying, boss-"
"Be quiet!" He turns, irritated at his subordinate. "Have I not provided? Given you an entire village? Given it's people's souls and their useful possessions?!"
"S-sorry! I was just-"
The lead Kishin egg grabs the servant by the shirt and lifts him up with little effort. A cloth falls off his right arm, revealing a large, mangled, almost fleshy sword growing out of his arm. He raises the sword at the terrified Kishin egg. "You are an ungrateful, greedy servant that I no longer have use for!"
Before he brings his blade down, the air around them shifts. They then notice the fourth person casting a shadow, silently warming her hands from the heat of the fire. She has a hood on that casts a shadow over her eyes, and a scarf that covers her mouth. Needles to say, she has no defining features besides her black and red outfit, and the long scarf hanging down from her neck.
A voice, that definitely isn't hers, speaks from out of nowhere. "Rei." The girl looks up at the three Kishin eggs. "Looks like we should come back later. They'll kill each other off sooner or later."
The leader puts the other Kishin down and gives a huge sneer. "Well, what do we have here? A little lost lamb?"
She turns and walks towards the leader, who promptly puts his arm out to stop her. She shoves her hands in her pocket and looks at the floor, a puff of smoke exiting her mouth as she heaves a long, heavy sigh. Then, without stopping her pace, she walks straight through the hand meant to block her.
The Kishin's eyes widen, and he turns on his heels. Now able to see her backside, he notices the large chunk of black, metallic material strapped to her waist. "Ooohhh. I see now. You're a meister, aren't you!"
She continues walking down the alley.
"Why are you running? Weren't you sent to eliminate us?! Hey, I'm talking to you bitch! COWARD!"
She keeps walking.
The Kishin growls in frustration. "WEAKLING!" The word echoes on the walls of the alleyway.
Now, she stops. She raises her head slowly to eye level.
The Kishin cackles. "That's better. Now let's see how well you can 'eliminate' after I stab my blade through your chest!"
Rei slowly reaches to her back, grabbing the thing attached to her back by the hilt. She unlatches it and extends her arm outward. As she reaches out, the weapon itself extends, unfolding and detracting, eventually forming into a full length, black and red sword.
"Just try not to overdo it." Sam speaks up.
"That's a pretty stick you've got!" The Kishin mocks.
"I take it back. Go all out."
She puts her arm down. The sword scrapes the ground. The Kishin sprints towards her, raises his blade, and laughs, "This is what you get! I'll eat your soul little weakling!"
He brings the sword down, but it never meets Rei, instead, it passes through her, as if she were a ghost. Or a hologram. "What the..." He looks around, confused. "Well," He sneers. "Looks like the little coward will revert to cowardly tactics!"
The Kishin hears a light footstep behind him. "THERE YOU ARE!" He swings his blade behind him, hoping to make contact with whoever is there. But instead of slicing right through, he stop suddenly. He turns his head, eyes wide and fearful. He looks into her eyes, and notices they've become piercing red orbs of pure malice.
Her hood blows off, and her mid-length, flowing black hair unfurls from out of her coat. "Wh-who-" He never finishes his sentence, because his sword, along with half of his arm, get sliced right off. Before he can even react, Rei slashes straight down, and he explodes into crimson blood, then morphing into a red, floating soul.
Rei whips around her weapon, quickly throwing off the blood from the Kishin egg. She turns her head, taking notice of his subordinates. She gives them an almost evil half smile.
The complaining Kishin egg's eyes widen, and he stumbles backwards, attempting to run. But he turn and sees Rei standing behind him. She reaches her hand to his chest. The moment her palm makes contact with him, an electric shock runs through his body. He screams for a few seconds until she stops, and all that is left is a burned husk. The dead pre-Kishin falls over, and before he hits the ground, his body morphs into another glowing red soul.
The third Kishin egg shouts in rage. "NOBODY KILLS MY FRIENDS AND LIVES!" He raises an arm with a giant hammer head on the end, but before he can slam it down, Rei appears right in front of him. She raises Sam up to his chest so that the point of the blade touches his skin. She lunges forward, but again, she passes right through him like a ghost.
He pauses for a moment, trying to comprehend the situation. But before he can figure out what happened, her sword runs straight through his back and out his chest. In a last ditch effort, he tries to grasp the blade, but Rei pulls it from his chest and thrusts upwards, so that it now stabs straight out of the crown of his head.
The last of the Kishin eggs morph into a soul before Rei. She closes her eyes and sighs with contempt. She raises up Sam, allowing him to transform. But instead, he shouts, "Rei! Move!" and she jumps back.
In the spot she was standing, a human sized... thing slams down to the ground. It looks like a mannequin with a face that's been sanded over and smoothed, and disgustingly thin limbs. It's head raises up and stares at Rei. She watches as it's mouth opens with crackling noises that sound close to bones snapping. It's teeth are long, like needles, so that when it smiles at the Kishin egg's soul, it almost looks like a prison.
It moves it's mouth forward and gulps down the soul. Then, it grins at Rei, tilting it's head. Rei only narrows her eyes to this gesture, ready for anything to happen with this unknown enemy. She lowers her center of mass, pointing the tip of Sam's blade towards it. The weird mannequin thing continues smiling and tilts it's head further, further, further... Until it spins it's head completely around, all the while making the sickening crackling noise.
Rei's peripheral vision darkens as she focuses solely on this creature. She walks forward slowly, testing it. It closes it's mouth and straightens, as if just noticing her presence.
"Sam..." Rei whispers. He immediately knows what she's thinking.
"Rei, I can't... won't do that." He sighs, knowing it's a futile battle that he's fighting. "You could die!"
She lowers her head. "Sam..." She repeats, this time more intense and urgent.
Sam is silent for a moment, then mumbles, "Ready."
A red and black aura bursts around the sword meister. She breaths a long, heaving breath as she feels the blood in body flowing up to her hands. Her face turns ghostly white and her vision blackens. Her body almost goes limp, but before she can fall over, she feels a surge of energy, and becomes alert again.
The power that she exchanged for her own blood courses through her. She readies herself again, and lunges forward so quickly, the creature can't even react. Rei jumps forward, balling her free hand into a fist as she comes down on it. The moment her fist makes contact with, it's face implodes from the force. A huge crack appears where she hit it, and she uses a foots launch into a backflip away from it. When she lands, she looks up to see it holding it's head. It opens it's mouth again and let's out a terrible, screeching shout. It writhes it's head side to side while it's body stumbles in every which way. It smashes into the side of the building and shrieks again. This time, Rei is forced to cover her ears.
But in the middle of the cry, it suddenly stops. It's whole body goes limp except for its legs and the top of it's back, as if it was being pulled up by some invisible string... A black portal appears below it, and it slowly disappears into the ground. Rei tries to swing her blade at it before it fully vanishes, but it's cracked skull sinks below the street. Rei continues her swing dispute this, and the hard pavement slices open.
Rei stares at the spot where the thing just exited. She feels herself getting weaker, losing the power that she sacrificed for. The blackness engulfs her vision entirely and she falls backwards. "Rei!" Sam exclaims, and quickly transforms back into his human form so that he can catch her. She falls into his arms. Sam looks worriedly at his fainted meister, her breath heavy and shaky, and her face pale as the snow.
She grabs his arm gently with all the strength she can muster and grips it like a lifeline. "Rei... Please, don't make me do that again."
She opens her eyes slowly, Sam noticing that they've returned to their original dark brown color. She replies to his statement but giving a weak smile. She reaches up and her fingers softly touch his cheek. They slide across to the corner of his mouth and swipe away some liquid that he wasn't aware of. She holds it up for him to see her finger red with... her blood. She giggles weakly, a little loopy still from the lack of blood flow to her brain.
"Thirsty?"