A/N: Welcome back to Five-Pointed Devestation! I was pleasantly surprised by the response that I got for Track One! TsuStar isn't a well-loved pairing within the Soul Eater fandom-not nearly as much as SoMa-so I was really happy when I found out that people actually liked what I had written. Thanks to everyone who reviewed: author-144 / chibijac (I love your TsuStar stories by the way; I've read all of them) / and anonymous review Random ReviewerX.

Read, Review and Enjoy!

~Shard of Freedom

Track 2: Don't Got No Fight Left

(Play)

"Do you really think that this is a good idea?"

Death looked up through the holes in his mask. For a long time, he had worn the comical, cartoonish mask in order to raise his son, Death the Kid, around some sort of normalcy, but ever since the war had started over eighteen years ago with the Star Clan, he had resorted back the mask that he had used to wear before the Kishin had occurred.

"What do you mean, Stein?" Death responded in his careful tones. "Is this about Kid's mission?"

Stein shook his head. He had been around this school for a long time. After graduating, he had returned to the old stomping grounds of his youth once the war had started. After all, humans truly being devoured by the basest instincts to become stronger . . . it all just sounded like one good dissection.

"Not about Kid. He'll make a good recovery, I made sure of that when he was brought back. I'm talking about Soul. And Maka. Do you really think that it's smart to pair those two together?"

"Maka is the only one who can help Soul Eater now," Death said crisply. "I can't waste another soldier, especially not a weapon and a meister as skilled as the two of them are."

"You know as well as I do that Soul can fight just as well without a partner as he can fight with one. Even I can feel the effects of his Soul Hack. On my soul. He has truly frightening abilities. He doesn't need a meister to be strong. You're putting Maka in danger."

"How?" Death said callously, leaning his head to side, giving his body a shaky appearance.

Stein threw his cigarette down on the ground of Death's Mirror Room, crushing the ashes under his boot. "You know just as well 'how.' Soul cannot partner with anyone. You understand this just as well as I do."

"Soul-kun is one of our best weapons. He has the ability to fight both alone and with a partner. There's no reason that he shouldn't have been made into a Death Scythe by now."

"Because we all know how dangerous evolution would get for Soul," Stein said. "He's powerful enough as it is. Evolving will cause nothing but destruction."

"But still, that witch soul is just wasting away in our cabinets . . ."

"We both know that Soul partnering with someone shouldn't happen. Why are you pushing this?"

Death paused for a moment. "Medusa."

Stein, who was reaching for another cigarette, allowed his hand to drop back down to his side. "She's back?"

Death nodded. "And with a vengeance. We need the best of the best. Which means that we need the 'Problem Two' to find partners."

"Still. No one should have to partner with Soul. You know his track record."

"Enlighten me."

Stein lit a cigarette and placed it in between his lips before speaking. He breathed out a puff of smoke before tapping the ashes onto the floor.

"Every single person who partners with Soul Eater dies."

UoUoUoUoUoU

"Thanks for saving us back there. We owe you one."

". . . That Grim Reaper. Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah, Professor Stein says that he's going to make a full recovery."

". . . If you say so. What was he thinking, taking on White Star alone?"

"He wanted to protect the people that he cared about. Surely you understand. After all, you rescued him, didn't you?"

"All I did was run away."

"Still, you did save him."

" . . . Don't make me out to be the hero of this story."

"Why not?"

"Because an assassin should stick the shadows."

"What happened to all of your talk about surpassing God?"

" . . . God was surpassed a long time ago. By a man named White Star."

UoUoUoUoUoU

"Um . . . can you stop dragging me now?" Maka said hopefully.

Soul glanced back at her before leading the both of them into an empty classroom and waving a hand to one of the desks.

Maka sat down on the edge of the desk carefully, pulling one of her knees closer to her chest. She took a deep breath and prepared to speak.

"Do you want to be partners with me?"

Soul's smooth voice cut over her unuttered words easily. Maka looked a bit confused at the question.

"What do you mean? I didn't think that we had a choice in who we are partnered with."

"Yeah, but they'll make an exception in my case. As a weapon, I'm not very . . . stable. It's been a long time since I was partnered with anyone, and well, the partnership didn't turn out very well for them. Which is why I'm Stein's lab assistant and resident guinea pig instead of fighting with the rest of the students."

Maka tilted her head to the side. "Don't you want a partner?"

Soul shrugged. "I don't necessarily have to have one. Unlike most weapons, I can fight by myself." Soul paused for a moment before red and black scythe blades grew out of his lower arms. He showed them to Maka before shattering the blades into white light.

"Maka, my soul is broken. There's no need for you to be troubled by this."

Maka grabbed Soul's now unbladed arm. She looked into his cautious red eyes with her fierce green ones. "You don't understand. I have a goal that I need to achieve—and soon. And in order to achieve that, I need a weapon. You're a long-handled scythe, right?"

Hesitantly, with an unreadable look on his face, Soul nodded.

"That's my specialty. I need power to achieve my goals. Which means that I need you to be my weapon. I don't have a choice in the matter. And as far as I'm concerned, neither do you."

Maka was serious. She didn't know who he was or where he came from or what his baggage was, but she needed a weapon. It was the only reason that she had come to DWMA. Professor Stein seemed to think that they had compatible soul wavelengths, and that was good enough for her. She needed a weapon. And soon.

"You really want to be my meister?" Soul asked hesitantly.

"Do you honestly want to be my weapon?" Maka retorted.

Soul looked at her with one eye. "Well, don't say that I didn't warn you when things go sour. I'm definitely not the easiest weapon to handle out there."

Maka placed a hand on her slim hips defiantly. "I'm sure that I can take whatever you can dish out."

"That's what they all said," Soul mumbled underneath his breath.

"What was that?" Maka said sharply.

"Oh, nothing. Let's get to know each other, shall we?"

Maka relaxed for a moment, kicking her feet back and forth in the air, staring at the ground. "Well, my name's Maka Albarn. The current Death Scythe, Spirit, is my father, although I don't really like him that much. I like reading and learning how to do new things. My greatest offensive weapon as a meister is my ability to see souls."

Soul nodded and sat onto of one of the desks, crossing his legs loosely. "Well then, I suppose that it's my turn then. My name's Soul Evans, although here I'm known as Soul Eater, because I don't really like my family, something I guess we have in common. I consider myself to be a pretty cool guy. My best talent is music, although I don't play very much. My best offensive ability as a weapon is my ability to use Noise Cancelling and Soul Hack."

Silence stretched before Soul looked at her nervously. "Are you sure that you want to do this? I mean, seriously? It's not easy being partnered with me."

Maka brushed a hand through the air. "Why do you keep asking me that? I've made up my mind."

Maka gave a small smile. "And when I make up my mind, nothing can change it."

For some strange reason that not even he could explain, Soul smiled back. "Well, then. Looks like you're in for a rough ride."

UoUoUoUoUoU

The world was blurry. And henceforth, unsymmetrical. That alone made Kid get up from his bed. But as he straightened up, the world seemed to tilt and he brought a hand to his head.

"Kid!" A voice said softly, as if in awe.

The young shinigami turned to his right to see one of his partners leaning over the bed with a radiant smile on her face. Liz had gone without the cowboy hat today, tying her hair up in a loose ponytail on the top of her head.

Kid gave his partner a small smile. Hesitantly, Liz wrapped her arms around Kid's body, being careful of his wounds. Kid didn't know what he was supposed to do when he realized that Liz's body was shaking and she was crying into his shoulder.

"Kid, I was so scared that I was going to lose you and Patty. I was going to be alone again in the world. You guys, you mean the world to me, you know? Don't . . . Don't you dare leave me alone like that, okay? Me and Patty will kill you if you do, ya hear me?"

Kid placed a bandaged hand on Liz's back and patted softly before removing the girl from his chest. He paused for a moment as he looked around.

"What about Patty? She made it back, right? I . . . I don't remember much."

Liz exhaled slowly and slumped back in the rigid plastic chair she was sitting in. As Liz adjusted herself, Kid was able to look around long enough to recognize that they were inside the DWMA infirmary.

He must have screwed up royally.

"Don't worry. Patty'll be fine. Professor Stein and Lord Death are with her now, making sure that she has a full recovery. I . . . wasn't allowed in, so I thought that I would stay with you for the time being."

"What happened, Liz?"

"Well, you probably remember our mission, right? Ya know, go and help out Sid's recon team as they scoped out the border territories. Well, we got there and we helped out—since some of the squad was being attacked by Star Clan members—but then things got really bad. There was this guy—he fought like a demon. People said that it was White Star. We got in a fight with him. He injured Patty really bad. After that, you and I lost our focus. I got thrown from your hand. I'm pretty sure that you were going to be killed—and then we were saved."

"By Sid and Nygus?"

Liz shook her head. "No. It was this guy covered in black attire and white bandages. For a moment I thought that it was another assassin to help out White Star. But he just suddenly appeared, stabbed White Star in the hand with a shuriken, grabbed you and Patty and disappeared. A few moments later, Sid came and grabbed me before forcing White Star back."

Kid tilted his head slightly, running a hand through his white and black striped hair. "So you don't know who saved us?"

"Well, the guy brought us back to DWMA, so I'm assuming that it's a student here. There didn't seem to be a weapon on him though, so I couldn't be sure. I mean, there were normal weapons and stuff, but he didn't seem to have a partner. And he definitely wasn't one himself. Sid seemed to be close with him though, so I wasn't that worried about it."

Kid paused for a moment before starting to unwrap the bandages around his hands. "So, how long have I been out?"

"Just two days. Considering the extent of your injuries, it should have been a lot worse," a voice said from behind the white privacy curtains of the infirmary. Holding a clipboard in hand and perched on his typical rolling chair was Professor Stein, looking at the two of them from above the rims of his oval-shaped glasses.

"You guys are really lucky, I hope you know that. If Black hadn't shown up when he did, you guys would have been dead."

Kid sat up slowly. "Black?"

Stein nodded. "That's what he goes by here. Before you ask, Kid, I don't know either. If you want to talk to him, you'll have to find him yourself. He doesn't stick around here much."

Kid dropped back down onto the bed, even the small actions that he had been doing exhausting him. "How bad were our losses?"

"We lost half the team, I won't lie to you about that. But no one thought that White Star was going to join the fray himself. You did good, holding him back for that long."

"Well, I don't have time to be idle. How long until Patty's well again?"

Stein glanced over the rim of his glasses. "Kid, Patty's hurt bad. It'll probably take a few more days to heal, even with Kim working hard to help her. If you're thinking of doing rigorous training, you might want to leave Patty out of your plans for it for at least a week."

Kid scowled. "The war won't wait for a week."

"But you will." Stein blew out a low stream of smoke. "Your father just sent out another team to your location. Your friend, Will, is going as backup."

Liz glanced up at Stein for the first time, moving her eyes away from Kid. "Tsubaki's partner?"

Stein nodded. Seeing the look on Liz's face, he raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Kid placed an arm in front of Liz, placing himself between Liz and Stein. "We're just friends with them, that's all."

Stein's eyebrow remained cocked, but he was silent on the matter.

"Get some rest, Kid. You'll probably be on minor missions until Patty is back in commission, starting tomorrow."

Stein started rolling away, but paused before leaving the infirmary room.

"As well, two things that you should know: Soul has a new partner. She doesn't know about his track records or his . . . issues, so you would be wise not to mention them to her until he decides to come clean about them. The second thing . . ." Stein paused for a good minute as he exhaled smoke. "Your favorite dead witch has been spotted."

Kid's blood went cold as Stein shut the door.

UoUoUoUoUoU

Tsubaki didn't know what to think when it came to Will.

He was her partner, she understood that. He was . . . what, her fifth partner? Will handled her better than most of the others, she could admit that. But still, there was something missing.

There was always something missing, ever since two years ago, back when she was sixteen.

Maybe the hole in her soul would heal with a good partner. Tsubaki thought that every time that she was reassigned because her current partner was inadequate. They were always the same excuses. Always the same lines from the top dogs at DWMA. She had heard them all.

Her meister was better suited towards a weapon that didn't change forms.

He couldn't handle her properly.

He didn't understand the true nature of a battlefield.

But Tsubaki knew the truth. The people who handled her were good meisters, she would admit. Will was a good meister. But they didn't know how to handle her properly. They knew how to use her individual forms, that was true enough. But they didn't know how to handle her, as a whole. She was a fluid weapon. She was meant to change in the middle of a battle, to surprise the opponent. She was a shadow weapon. And they were good warriors, her previous partners . . . but none of them were good enough to handle her.

Will wasn't any different.

He was cold. Compared to the other people who handled her, he was cold. He never made conversation, never tried to understand her as a person and not as a weapon. And in a way, she understood. There was no need for him to get close to her. Both of them knew that Will wasn't permanent. He was DWMA's replacement until they found someone that could maybe handle her. Will recognized that he was only a notch in her belt of masters. Which meant that he had no reason to be nice to her.

He had lasted longer than most of her meisters. Going on six months.

The reason was probably because he didn't get close to her. There was nothing other than their professional relationship. There was no feelings, no friendship. Tsubaki submitted to Will and allowed him to be in charge no matter the situation. Tsubaki didn't particularly like Will as a person, but she was tolerant and caring towards him.

After all, she had never known what it would be like without a meister.

She didn't want to dive into that unknown territory.

But still, something was missing, the way that it always was.

She knew what it was. It was why she never truly got close to her partners.

DWMA knew what it was. It was why they always reassigned her in hopes that she would come across someone who was strong enough to handle it.

Her previous partners knew what it was. It was why they didn't fight their reassignment, why they didn't talk to her in the hallways, why she spent her days in the Academy as a sort of outcast, separate from the rest of them.

Will knew what it was. It was why their relationship never went beyond professional, why he flinched some times what she touched him while she was in human form, why he looked at her in disgust when she transformed.

Not one of her partners had ever touched the Uncanny Sword.

UoUoUoUoU

"Do you have a mission for me?"

"No."

"Then why are you here? You're not Sid, you're not Nygus, so you don't have the right to be here."

"I may not be Sid, but I am the reason that this school exists. I wanted to thank you for saving my son. I know that it must have been difficult for you."

"Not too difficult. Not for the man who's going to surpass God, right?"

A sigh. "You used to accompany that phrase with a larger than life smile. What happened to that child?"

"I grew up. I joined the war effort—on the wrong side, apparently."

"You can't honestly believe that."

"It doesn't matter if I do or I don't. Now, why are you really here?"

". . . Medusa's been spotted. And if she's alive, there's a high chance that Arachne's back as well."

"Told you that they weren't dead. It was far too easy. After all, I wasn't even called in on that mission."

"Well, if we have any hope of outlasting this, now that our two strongest opponents have chosen a different side, we need extra fire power."

" . . . what are you saying?"

"We want you to find a weapon. Soul has found a partner as well."

A short, humorless laugh. "You're sending Soul in there? Against Medusa? Do you want him to die?" The voice was cold.

"Well, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to send him in on that mission. Of course, if you were to find a partner, or have one found for you, I wouldn't have to go to such measures . . ."

"You're blackmailing me with Soul's life. That's low, Death, even for you."

"My son—a Grim Reaper—almost died in a battle against White Star. If we are going to have any chance against him and the witches, we need stronger soldiers."

"You need me."

"Yes. Which is why you're going to find a weapon and start training with him or her—in a classroom, with the rest of the students."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I'll send Soul in your place."

"Damn you."

" . . . All's fair in love and war. I'll take that as a yes."