Hey, everyone! I'm back~ and with the first chapter. :D

So, originally I was going to post every week but then I decided every other week for this. It gives me plenty of time to work on the later chapters, edit, do the annotated version (available on my dA!), and a bunch of other things.

Stages of Life is still a tangled mess and until I can coax it out of its cage, not much is happening there.

As I mentioned, I did an annotated version of this fic and posted it on my dA (deviantArt). Don't really know if anyone wants to check it out but it's full of interesting comments and notations made by moi. There's a lot of things in there that people might enjoy reading, so I thought: "Why not?" It has its own folder and everything.

Don't forget, I'm on tumblr! I'm "icyandthefrostbites". Check me out! No seriously, check me out. A whole lot of fun going on over there.

Shameless self-promotion, whoo!

Now that that's done...

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

Claimer: Glacia and Galene are my original creations.

Out of the Blue

by iOc

Chapter I

Alone

There are memories
as far as a
fantasy.
A castle of sand near a shore of the ocean,
Days of one gone summer,
One gone summer...
The days of the summer when love began.
There was an old hotel
on some lonely
beach,
Where we felt as the prince and the mermaid
And only the moon saw our secret kiss.
Days of one gone summer,
One gone summer...
Dreams were born and future was new
The summer when love
was young,
And again I felt your smile
on some days no
sun shone.
Again I died for a kiss one night I was alone
And I never dare to forget
the tender kiss
of the little
mermaid.
— "The Mermaid" by Michael Andreas Trimmel

She had done this several times before, and still somehow she was still nervous and very, very frightened. They always left home this early in the morning to make this visit. She loved the sea with a passion but… there was something about it that made her feel uncomfortable.

She clung to her mother's waist, like a barnacle on the hull of a ship. Her toes brushed the water and she felt the familiar sensation of the transformation with each lap of the waves. It tingled as they would after they asleep and were waking up.

Her tiny hands grasped at the necklace that hung around her neck. It was made from a thick shell that had been carved into an ornate hook. Various lines made small wave-like patterns across its relatively smooth, ivory surface. A red string tied the hook to her neck officially. It was very special to her. What it symbolized, though, was a mystery to her innocent mind.

"Mama," she said quietly, "I don't want to go."

"Oh come now, you'll have fun." her mother said in the patronizing, promising way she always did. "There are playmates waiting for you. Don't you want to see them?"

"Why can't I play with human children like Papa wants me to?"

"Maka, darling, you need to learn how to be around others like your other half, your ningyo half (1)."

"But they're mean to me!" she said accusingly. She stomped her bare foot, sending a spray of water and sand up to cling to their pale flesh and swim clothes.

"They don't know you." her mother said, petting the half-girl's blonde hair.

"They swim faster than me and always make me be it when we play tag. It's not fair! It's never fair…"

The woman sighed. She understood her daughter's frustration. She had been born in to this place as a part of two completely different worlds. She would never really fit in with the human children, as they were bound to make fun of her and bully her for being different. She would never really fit in with the ningyo children either, she would be shunned for having human blood flowing through her veins. The half-girl was an innocent caught in a trap of a life that she could not escape. And it was not her fault. She had never asked for such a life, it had been handed to her rather cruelly.

"Maka, just one more time, please?"

"You said that last time." the half-girl said, crossing her arms and pouting.

"And you had fun last time, right?"

"...I guess." she said, muttering.

"Come on, sweetheart."

The little girl followed her mother into the ocean, where she was enveloped by the brine and water. Her legs cramped and tingled as scales began to grow from her skin and her legs fused into one limb. Her arms prickled as shiny scaled shivered up past her pale flesh. A thin webbing grew in between her fingers. The skin on her neck slit in three places on each side, forming gills that enabled her to breathe in the water world.

This form, her ningyo form, was as familiar to her as her human one.

The mother lead the daughter to a small clearing hidden from the human eyes in the reef not too far away from the shoreline, where they lived. The small clearing was the perfect spot for ningyo offspring to play. There were tunnels that created a labyrinth, which only their small bodies could squeeze through, and wound throughout the area in the reef.

Already a group of children were gathered playing various games with one another. None of them rushed to greet Maka. They looked at her and then looked away — uninterested in the half-ningyo hiding behind her mother's tail.

She waited shyly next to her mother, who chatted with some of the ningyo women. They would coo at how lovely the strange, little one's eyes were and how adorable she was. She waited to be invited to play a game with the others.

Time passed and the more she waited, the more she felt alone. It was a tragedy for any child, and Maka felt this way in both the human world and the ningyo world.

She watched quietly, perched on a ledge above her mother's head, as the other children played. They all seemed so happy. Why couldn't she ever feel like that?

After and hour or so more, she decided to go swim around the labyrinth. Perhaps a little adventure was all she needed.

Maka lazily moved through the tunnels. A few children stared at her — one or two had the nerve to hiss as she passed — but, as per usual, the vast majority ignored her, Not that she minded. She was glad for it this time.

She looped in and out, never really running into anyone. When she tired of that, she swam around the main part of the reef.

Something red caught her eye. Fan coral.

Happily, she swam over to the patch and examined it. She would have liked to cut some off, take it home to dry it out, and hang it from her ceiling. It was illegal, she knew, but she just found it to be so pretty…

She shook her head and frowned.

The important thing was that she now knew where to find fan coral, and… Was that a cave?

Looking around, she saw that no one was watching her and, smiling, she dove into the cave. It was much cooler inside than out in the sun-filled reef.

She sat down and looked around. She was happy to see that it wasn't very large — just enough to fit her and maybe two others her size. She could see the shadows pass by, unaware of the secret spot just beyond their sight.

It was perfect.

She had started to doze off when she thought that she had found. The fan coral was brushed aside, and the boy who had found her was one she did not recognize. He seemed to be quite startled as to see her as well.

Without warning, he pushed the both of them into the far corner, shielding her from sight. He covered her mouth with his hand. Gruff voices sounded from outside their hiding spot.

"He has to be around here somewhere." said one voice. "We saw him swim over in this direction."

"If we keep stalling," said a second, "he'll only get farther away. The lady needs him back as soon as possible."

"Fine, come on." another said, grumbling.

When they were gone, he uncovered her mouth and they both let out a breath that neither of them had known that they were holding.

She turned and took a good look at him. He was the most terrifying ningyo child she had ever seen. His hair lacked any sort of color, like a polar bear's. His eyes, like his hair, lacked any sort of melanin so they showed off the red of the blood vessels at the back of the muscles when the light hit them just right, otherwise they looked black or dark brown. His smile was too twisted, too sadistic for someone their age. How could such a terrifying child exist?

"What...? Who...?" Maka began but couldn't seem to find the words to finish. She found that, despite his terrifying features, she did not fear him. She was as intrigued by him as she was the fan coral.

"My mother has guests coming over later." he said simply. "They are always horrid people that talk about each other behind their backs. Even their children are cruel."

"They sound horrible."

"They are. Most of them smell of decay and have missing teeth. And despite that, they all sit around and eat, gossiping as though it was like breathing."

Maka wrinkled her nose, completely understanding. She recalled the dinner that her father had hosted several months ago. She had been forced to wear a dress that was been ironed with starch. Everyone there had smelled of alcohol and had been acting like a bunch of idiots.

"I'm Maka." she said.

"You don't want to be my friend." he said to her, frowning.

"Why not?"

"I'll only bring you trouble."

"No you won't. Trouble is my father, a flirtatious drunk. He's very stupid and claims that he loves me and Mama. He really doesn't. Mama even says so."

"Got you!"

Two large hands reached through the fan coral and grabbed the both of them. Maka cried out in surprise. The ningyo boy trashed and fought for release.

"Well, well, looks like the little Master has a new partner in crime." said one of the ningyo male who had captured them. The ningyo boy roared and bit down on the hand that held him. The male cursed, releasing them both.

The ningyo boy grabbed Maka's hand and pulled her through the labyrinth of the reef. They shot through the tunnels, startling several ningyo children as they went. They fired out of a tunnel in the clearing.

Maka's mother looked at them and frowned.

"What on earth...?" she said as her daughter hid behind her tail, still holding onto the ningyo boy's hand. "Maka —"

"Hand over the young Master." one of the ningyo males said.

The mothers all looked quite shocked to see grown males in this area. Very few dared to enter the reef clearing, it was a spot sacred to women and children twelve years or age and younger. It was almost a taboo for them to do so.

"Be wise, Sister." said one of the other males. "Don't cause any trouble."

"Do you know who I am?" Maka's mother asked. "I am Kami, daughter of Resei of Anuta and Hergod of Treshera. This boy is under my care."

"He escaped from the guards that were supposed to be watching him." the first male said, snarling and barring his teeth. "His mother sent us to look for him?"

"His mother asked me to watch him."

"Do you know who his mother even is? She's Lady Glacia of the Northern Tip."

"If you knew anything about Lady Kami," one of the other mothers said, "you would know that she and Lady Glacia are old friends."

"They grew up together, you moronic fiends." said another mother.

"Lady Kami was asked to bring the boy here so that he could be with others his age. He and Lady Kami's daughter are tied by the red string. Are you blind to not see the way he protects her so?"

The ningyo males froze. Eyeing the children. The ningyo boy, while behind Kami's tail, was defensively positioned in front of Maka. This was something that escaped the little girl's attention until it was mentioned.

"We... apologize, Lady Kami for not... recognizing you earlier." said the third male, bowing slightly.

Maka looked up at her mother, blinking her green eyes innocently. She then looked at the ningyo males, who seemed quite startled by the intensity of the unusual color of eyes for a ningyo.

"Come along, you two." Kami said, grabbing both of their wrists. She looked down at the ningyo boy. "I have to go see your mother anyway, Soul."

She made note that when he got the chance, he wriggled out of her grasp and took Maka's hand as they made their way to the place he lived.

Although this was the first time Maka ever met the infamous Glacia of the Northern Tip, the half-ningyo felt drawn to the beautiful woman instantly. She felt a strange bond between them, as she had with the ningyo boy, Soul.

Glacia huffed a sigh past her full lips to frown upon her son, who was ready to shoot back fierce answers of protest while almost clinging to Maka's hand and hiding behind her tiny frame.

"I expected better of you, Soul." the ningyo female said, sighing. "I expect so much of you. Why can't you be like your brother? He's so good and never causes me any pains or worries like you do."

"Wes is too good!" Soul said loudly. "He loves you too much. You don't deserve big brother's love."

"He really cares for you, you know that, right, Soul?"

"Glacia, dear friend, perhaps your son, Soul, is simply looking for his freedom." Kami said in her calmest of voices. It was a rarity to hear it. "Boys his age do need their independence. We cannot allow them to cling to our bosoms forever, dear friend."

"Kami, sweetest seaweed, you are right. Perhaps I should give my Soul more freedom while your precious gem of a darling is here. Go on, you two, go play. We'll call you when it's time to go. Stay where we can see you, though."

The two children looked at their respective parent and then at each other. Smiling, they raced off to the seaweed maze at the far corner of the large garden.

"Your mama's really pretty." Maka said as they found a shaded spot, far from the view of their mothers. Soul lied back and closed his eyes, as if to nap there.

"She's okay, I guess." he said, muttering.

"You two don't get along?"

"We used to, but then she got strict about a lot of things and told me to start acting my age."

"Mamas do that."

"I guess." Soul said, huffing.

Maka joined him by lying on her back. They looked above the world around them. They could faintly see the sun and the sky filtering through the silty waves of the ocean world. They remained quiet for quite some time before their mothers called to them, asking them to hurry.

Maka and Soul could only gawk at the cacaelia named Galene, who welcomed the four of them into her home (2). The place was colorful and homey, filled with exotic scents and peculiar items.

Galene, in contrast to her home, was intimidating and wrinkled with age. Her lower half wriggled and wreathed together, often looking as if it would tangle and get caught. Neither had ever seen anyone with such an interesting half, especially an octopi half. Her body constantly shifted color as she moved across various stone surfaces. Her hair was long and fanned out behind her, as twisted and tantalizing as her tentacles. Shells and stones that were stringed into the dark strands, glinting in the amber light of the place. Instead of a mouth and a nose, she had a beak of sorts that would click as she spoke.

"Welcome, welcome." she said. "Names, names?"

"Kami, daughter of Resei of Anuta and Hergod of Treshera, and Glacia of the Northern Tip." the golden-haired woman said. "These are our children, Maka and Soul."

"You were going to read them today." the dark-haired woman said, continuing on with what for her friend had started to say. "We contacted you last week, I believe."

Galene eyed them with unblinking, beady eyes. She nodded slowly after a moment or so, recalling their conversation.

"Hold out left hands, hatchlings. Hold out left hands." the cacaelia instructed, her beak lightly clicking.

The two did as they had been told.

Galene snatched their wrists and studied their palms, their fingers, the backs of their hands, and their wrists. Her beak would almost brush their flesh as she did so. She nodded and eventually freed their hands.

"Good sign, good sign." she muttered heading into another room to find something. Maka was amazed at how the shelving units followed the curve up to the ceiling and how the items stayed in place. A spell, perhaps, held them there.

"We were correct then?" Kami said quietly but hopefully. "No mistakes?"

"Yes, yes. Good, smart. No mistakes, none. Much peace and much prosperity. Much, much. But bad times come, bad times. Much darkness, swallows all. Everything gone, gone. Many year pass, many. Watch waves, watch." Her words slowly trailed off, quite dramatically to the listeners.

Kami and Glacia tried to translate what the cacaelia had said as she chose out something that glittered a white-tawny color in the light.

Maka and Soul studied their hands. What was so special about them? They were just hands, there was really nothing unique about them... right?

Galene grabbed both of their wrists again. She placed the blade she had gotten from a shelf in between their palms, angled downwards. She crushed their hands to it and swiped it down, cleanly slicing skin.

The two ningyo children cried out in surprise and in pain, and again when their arms tingled. Their fingers laced with one another to hold their palms together as a euphoric sensation overwhelmed their senses and took over all other thoughts. What on Earth was going on?

Galene ripped their hands apart at the exact moment they thought their bodies would dissolve into sea foam. A thin, red string of blood stretched between their hands, arching up in the water to the ceiling. The Sea Witch caught it in a small vial in one swift movement of her wrist.

"Don't worry, little ones. Don't worry." she said, patting their heads. "Don't worry, don't worry. Rub this on hands, on hands now. It help heal, help heal."

She handed Kami a small jar that caused the blonde ningyo woman to wrinkle her nose in disgust from the scent of the strange potion within it.

Kami and Glacia rubbed in the potion, which went on green but faded into nothing as it was forced into the skin by the constant circular massage. The thin lines from where the two ningyo children had been cut healed over almost immediately.

Maka and Soul studied their palms in amazement and wonder. Their eyes glittered. Small fingers traced over the scars. Smiles dimpled their cheeks with how wide they spread out their faces with glee.

Galene mixed the blood she had caught in with a potion from another jar she gotten out. She slid over to the children. Chanting a language no one else in the room knew, she took a small utensil and drew strange, swirling patterns on the backs of their hands.

A loud bang outside stopped her halfway through the peculiar ceremony. The world around them shook furiously. People outside began to scream and buildings of coral and rock began to crumble.

Galene hurriedly continued what she was doing, her voice raising and quickening but never faltering.

Bang! Bang! Ba-bang!

Kami and Glacia, peeked outside. They gasped and turned back to Galene and their children, silently pleading.

"Done!" Galene said, tossing her hands in the air.

"Lady Sea Witch, is there a safe place where the children can hide?" Glacia said urgently.

The cacaelia nodded and swam over to one of the shelving units. She pulled and clawed at it, grunting as she exposed a hidden tunnel.

"Hatchlings go through tunnel, safe through tunnel." the cacaelia clacked, pointing into the darkness. "They escape, escape! Flee now, now! Darkness coming, darkness coming!"

Maka did not like the way Galene's voice quavered as she spoke. It was terrifying. She had no idea what was going on outside, except that people were fleeing and screaming and things were being destroyed. She could hear the rhythmic bang, bang! of whatever was destroying the reef home of the ningyo. She could hear things crashing to the sandy bottom. She could hear the wails of the injured and the mourning. While she could not physically see any of it, her over-active imagination was conjuring up vivid images of dying ningyo, the destroyed homes and shops, the ferocious creatures attacking.

Attacking? Yes, the reef was under attack.

She was drawn away into the reality of it all by her mother's warm embrace.

"Maka, love," she said, kissing the half-ningyo's forehead and stroking her hair, "I will find you when it's safe again. Soul, please take care of her. Do not leave her side. She needs you to protect her. Promise me?"

"I promise." Soul said, saluting her and pulling Maka to his side.

"Swim fast, fast." Galene said to the two children. "Be safe, be safe."

The two headed down the tunnel. As soon as they were both in, Galene shoved the shelving unit back into place, closing off all of the light from the tunnel. Maka shivered as she was engulfed in the darkness with only Soul's warm hand holding her's to light the way.

Another bang shook the tunnel. Small pebbles and dust were knocked loose. Maka could almost imagine it swirling down before clattering down the slope to the entrance.

Soul tugged her along, swimming quickly to get out of the darkness. Maka swam, but at a much slower pace. The little male often had to pull at her arm to get her to move.

"I'm worried about Mama." she said quietly to him.

"I know." Soul said, squeezing her hand.

She squeezed back.

The tunnel eventually opened up into a cave that looked out onto the reef on the opposite end of the cliff that her house was perched on.

They found a little strip of a beach. It offered the warm light of the panting sun as it slowly made it's decent into the orangey sky and the laughing moon rose.

Soul watched with interest as Maka's tail became two legs. He poked the flesh and found that it was quite soft, unlike the hardness of a ningyo tail.

"Stop." Maka said to him, swatting at his hand. She was quite ticklish and didn't like people touching her. She very much loved her personal space, as it was what it was called, personal. Besides she wasn't in the mood to really be tickled by anyone. Especially Soul.

"I've never seen those before." Soul said to her. "Mother told me about them and how some ningyo, because they trained really hard, were able to walk on them. Is it hard to walk?"

"I don't know. Sometimes it is, but most of the time I don't even think about it. It's like swimming in the reef. You don't think about, you just do it." She didn't want to mention the lump that swelled in her throat at the mention of the reef. Her mind flashed through past memories and the ones that were made today.

"Like swimming, hm? Sounds easy enough."

"...Do you want to walk?"

"I don't know how."

"Then promise me that you'll learn so that we can play on the land some time."

"I promise."

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the shaking on the other side. When it quieted down, Soul said, "I'm going to see if everyone's alright?"

He slid into the water. Maka stood up and grabbed onto his tail. He stopped. It was forbidden to touch another's tail without their permission or if they were bond mates. The water splashed her shins, but no higher. It was cold. She could feel the familiarity of the transformation, battling it off with her mind.

"Please... please don't leave me alone, Soul." she said, pleading. She felt her eyes heat up and burn with salty tears. "You promised Mama. Please..."

"I'll be right back. I promise. I won't leave you alone for very long."

She waited.

He never came back.

1. Ninyo, literally "human fish" in Japanese. They are a mermaid-like race. More information on my version of the ningyo will be provided within the text of later chapters.

2. Cacaelia, "octopus person," were made famous by Disney's The Little Mermaid. In popular fiction, they have been dubbed as "Sea Witches," which is something I carried over into this. Galene is the only cacaelia I have in this story.

Whole lot of fun going on over here. Missed people's birthdays, crickets are going off, I'll be starting school in less than two weeks... And I have YET to get my books. *sigh* I should do that soon.

But I have some good news for you guys. I found all of my old notes! They were all in one place, an old binder I used in junior high. :D Bad news is, they're really crappy notes because I sucked at plotting out a story in its entirety a few years ago.

Most of those side notes are featured in my annotated version on dA. (Seriously, I'm going to keep promoting it until people start checking it out.) It's nicely organized at the moment by chapter, so you can start on the first page with the prologue and work your way to the end. Right now (at this posting) There are only two things up, so don't be left behind. Check it out.

So, yeah... I should get to bed here.

Posted: Friday, August 16, 2013 1.20 AM