Chapter 2
"Move, you stupid branch!" Maka grated through her teeth as she struggled, hacking at the thick bark with a machete (one she'd pinched from one of the houses on her way to the forest). The branch groaned beneath the pressure but otherwise remained intact, as sturdy as ever. After long moments and no progress, Maka armed the sweat from her brow and backed off, panting. She scrutinized her efforts.
Nothing—not even a dent.
Shouting her frustration, Maka kicked the tree with all her strength, and the resulting pain had her bouncing on one foot as she clutched the other. "Of all the toad-footed, gnat-infested weasel shits..." she spat. Small birds flew from the nearby bushes at her expletives, rushing past her with their tiny wings and bright feathers.
Something warm splattered against her cheek.
Maka screamed and hit the branch as hard as she could with her blade. It shook twice before stilling, unaffected.
Huffing angrily, she tossed the machete aside and slumped down onto the mossy earth in defeat. The forest was the only place not affected by the mysterious drought that had plagued Death Planet fifty years ago, though no one knew why. For whatever reason, it only ever rained over the eerie woods.
Eyes narrowed on the tree that grew in her path, Maka pulled out the cloaking device Blackstar had given her. It hummed quietly in her hand, the metal warm against her skin. She flicked the flashing red light, the one that supposedly meant it was working—or at least that's what Blackstar had told her.
Maka sighed, stuffing the piece of junk back into her pocket as she looked up through the trees to see the two moons glowing brightly, the third just hidden from view. Before she'd come upon her obstacle, she'd been walking for what felt like hours, stomping through the crude underbrush and prickly thorns of the outland forests to find nothing.
No wisps, no wildlife, not even the supposedly dangerous creatures that wandered these woods.
Just stupid branches and trees that blocked her way.
Maka scrubbed a hand down her face. Perhaps she should try again tomorrow? Even as the idea entered her mind, however, her gut protested. She wouldn't have the time she needed to practice—to get used to fighting with another. If she was going to get a wisp from the forest she needed to get it sooner rather than later. In other words: tonight.
Unconsciously, her hands found the binding bracelets she'd stowed in her bag. She shifted the fabric of her purse so that the shiny gold was visible. The thick metal flashed brightly, even in the faint light of the moons, and the intricately carved shapes twisted and twined around the powerful and unassuming bracer. For a moment she simply stared. How many times, she wondered with a frown, had she seen her father hold these, simply watching them with a far away look in his eyes? Her fingers clenched around the metal. How many times had they gone hungry because of it?
Maka let it go with a quiet breath, and let her head fall in her hands. Things weren't turning out at all like how she'd hoped. She'd almost lost a shoe in a sticky bog, had flies rush her from hidden burrows, and had even very nearly been crushed by a falling tree.
Maka sighed, a great heaving noise in the tittering night. Maybe she should just—
A branch cracked loudly in front of her. Maka jumped, head darting up as she opened her eyes.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a man stared back at her, cloaked in a transparent, smoky white aura.
His hair was a snowy white, floating around his face with otherworldly energy. He blinked at her, the faint red of his eyes reminding her of the rubies the tourists sometimes wore when they visited the planet for the tournaments.
In return, Maka could only gape, frozen in her spot as she stared stupidly at the being before her. She was caught suddenly by how incredibly odd the situation felt—how surreal. She wasn't sure how long they stood staring at one another, though it wasn't a stretch to say she was far more entranced with him than he was with her.
He moved, only the slightest of steps back, but it was enough to jolt Maka from her musings. Wide eyed, she frantically raised a hand to halt him. "Wait!" she cried, clumsily rising from her seat. "Don't go! Please!"
He backed away further, the distrust in his eyes turning to hostility. A second later, so quickly Maka would've missed it had she blinked, the man faded into a ball of smoky light. A silly grin split Maka's lips as she watched him move away, her suspicions confirmed.
It was a wisp.
"Stop!" she called again, frantically picking up the lantern she'd set aside when she'd been fighting with the branch. "Please wait!" Things gathered, Maka took off after the wisp, her heart in her throat as she chased him. Her foot hit a root and she tripped, but hurriedly righted herself and continued chasing the swaying spirit. Her heart was like a drum beneath her ribcage, beating wildly with the prospect of success.
Bugs flew around her face but she merely swatted them away and kept running. The wisp was leading her back the way she'd come, through the faint trail and over shimmering creaks. Twigs and leaves slapped against her face, and Maka began to regret leaving the machete behind.
It began to float through denser forest, up cliffs and over logs. In many instances, she'd only just barely scaled the obstacles in time; any later and she would've lost sight of her wisp. As she jumped over a small moat, Maka wondered idly where the spirit was running to.
A looming cave came into view then, the stalactites like teeth in the mouth of a beast. The image sent shivers down Maka's spine and, normally, she would have given her left foot to avoid the menacing space.
And it was precisely where the wisp was heading.
Typical, Maka thought with a snarl, adjusting her path accordingly.
Her pace slowed to a walk as she hesitantly entered the pitch black cave. It was colder too, icy—in a way the pleasantly cool night air hadn't been. The wisp disappeared around the corner in the distance but Maka swallowed her fear, forcing herself to walk forward. She reached down and turned up the power of her lantern, raising it so it illuminated the walls around her in a bright circle of light.
"You're mine now," she muttered, and whether she was trying to convince herself or the wisp, she wasn't sure. After walking ahead a ways, no glow in sight, she added in a mutter, "I just have to find your glowing butt."
She walked around a corner, lantern first, and froze when she saw it. The wisp had stopped at a fork in the cavern, and seemed to be deciding between two exits. Maka grinned wickedly, creeping slowly forward.
Just as she began to approach, a sizzling net flew by—close enough to her face that she felt the crackling warmth of the electricity coursing through it. Stumbling back in shock, Maka could only watch as the net wrapped tightly around the unexpecting wisp that, caught unaware, immediately fell beneath the weight that trapped it.
A trickle of unease sank down in her gut as Maka examined the struggling being. Slowly, she turned in the direction the net had come, raising her light. Squinting as the faint sound of stomping footsteps grew louder, Maka didn't have to wait long to learn who—or rather, what—it was.
Trolls were rare, even on the diverse planet she lived on. And if any were seen at all, they were usually small, about half the size of a human on average. This one wasn't like that.
The hulking beast stomped into the path, his body almost too large for the space. Veins pulsated on the surface of his muscled flesh, moving beneath the crude apron he wore over his head. An apron with Tobias's mark—which meant the troll was one of his minions. He smiled cruelly as he thumped towards the small spirit, who had started steaming violently at the troll's entrance. "Finally caught you," he said, the troll's words guttural and thickly accented as they passed his slobber-coated lips. He regarded the struggling spirit for a moment. "Seems like the cash I forked over to pay for that enchanting spell was worth it. Look at you, stuck in your little fairy ball form." He cracked his knuckles. "Now I can kill you and get me money."
The words struck Maka as odd. Why would Tobias want to kill a wisp? Especially when he needed them to fight in the ring? She didn't have long to ponder the thought; the troll was closing in.
Maka braced, refusing to move now that she'd found her prize—only to have the troll completely ignore her despite the few scant metres she stood from the beast. Frozen, Maka gaped as he walked passed her—completely oblivious to her presence, though the putrid musk that wafted off his skin nearly made her gag. He moved towards the struggling wisp, the soft tendrils of its body beating wildly under the modified rope.
Maka quickly looked around the cave for something, anything, to stop the troll. The last thing she needed was some stupid minion killing her wisp. She spotted a rock and lunged for it. It was heavy, but her anger made lifting it easy.
Grunting, Maka launched the rock at the troll and it hit his temple with a thunk. He jerked at the force of the blow, but managed to remain upright. When he turned towards her, a confused expression on his wide set face, Maka thought she was done for. But then his gaze slid through her, as though she was invisible.
Because to him she was. The knowledge of it hit her with a jolt and her hand patted the cloaking device in her jacket with a growing smile. It had worked! She could kiss Blackstar!
The troll's eyes slid back in his head then and, after swaying drunkenly for a moment, he fell in a heap to the ground.
Once the dust had settled, Maka picked up her lantern and shone the light over the rope. Her teeth gritted.
The wisp was gone.
Resisting the urge to stomp her feet, Maka paused a moment to think. It couldn't have gotten far, she thought, and even in the confusion she would have noticed it pass her—Maka's eyes rose to the dark path ahead—which meant it was still in the cave.
With that thought, she ran further into the darkness, a scarce hope still burning in her chest. Her dreams were so close she could practically taste them. And when Maka finally accomplished her goals, everyone would notice her—their prejudice gone in the wake of her successes. Her father would stop drinking, stop pining after something long gone, and she would finally be enough for him again.
They wouldn't live in poverty, they wouldn't struggle for every meal, they wouldn't have to steal to survive—
Craaack.
Maka screamed shrilly as the ground beneath her feet crumbled away. Her hands grabbed at the edges as she fell, but it gave way beneath her fingers. She dropped down like a stone into the cool, icy water below.
Liquid pushed into her mouth and nose as Maka clawed at the surface. She couldn't swim, had never needed to learn in her dry desert city, and now her mind was blank with panic as she fought to stay afloat. Her hands found purchase on the wall and Maka gripped it desperately, to the point that her fingers bled. She breathed in deeply as she broke the surface, shaking with fear.
The rocks crumbled and Maka slid deeper into the dark depths with a panicked yelp.
Just when she thought that this might be it for her, that she would die there in the icy waters of the forest, a hand pushed through the water and grasped her own. Maka broke the surface with a gasping cough, pulled by the mysterious hand as she scrambled up the broken wall and back onto the cavern floor.
Coughing the water from her lungs, Maka inhaled raggedly. Through her spiky lashes she could see the glowing face of the wisp she'd followed hovering before her.
He was kneeling, a curious expression on his face. "You need to be more careful," he told her simply, his voice smooth and pleasant to her ears.
Her brows furrowed. "Wha…?"
The wisp helped her to stand, his smoky hands wrapping around her arms and pulling her upward. Maka wobbled on her feet but he steadied her. As she regained her balance with his aid, her eyes slowly rose to meet his, and, for a moment, she felt frozen in time.
Then, before she could second guess herself, Maka's hand dove into the purse at her hip and snatched one binding bracelet in her hand. The wisp's eyes darted to it and he jolted—probablywould have pulled away had she not held his arm in a firm grasp. Maka slid it over his hand.
He pushed her away, but it was too late. The bracer had already tightened around his arm.
Maka slipped the second bracer over her own arm, breathing a sigh of relief as it transformed to fit snuggly around her wrist. The cold ground scraped her knees as she collapsed with relief. She'd done it. She'd finally done it.
She had a wisp.
Screams echoed wildly around the cave, mind numbing in their intensity. Shocked at the sound, Maka quickly looked up to see her wisp clutching his head as he fought the binding. She could see he was trying to take his wisp form, the outline of his body straining to break it's shape—but again, it was too late. Before her very eyes, his skin took on a warm hue as it solidified into true human flesh.
And he was naked. Flushing, Maka deliberately looked anywhere but below his waist. Still, she found it hard to ignore her first penis sighting and, all the while blushing wildly, caught herself stealing a glance or two.
He collapsed to his knees.
"No..." she heard him whisper. His fingers dug into the soil beneath him. "No, no, no, NO!" His head shot up and Maka blinked stupidly at his scathing red eyes and pointed teeth. He pushed himself off the ground, limbs wobbling like a newborn deer, and stumbled over to her.
Maka cleared her throat. "You're my wisp now, you have to help—"
"You've killed me, you bitch."
His hands raised to reach for her and Maka scrambled to her feet, taking a step back. Just as he was about to make contact, he collapsed to his knees with a choked out cry.
Maka looked at him in confusion, but then it also hit her, with such force and intensity that she found herself falling to her knees beside him.
It felt like her entire being was being torn in two, yet at the same time, something was being forced into her. She became angry, afraid, mournful, and it took her a moment to realize these feelings weren't her own.
She looked to her wisp, the awareness of him—of the small bridge that grew out of nowhere and now connected both their minds—was acute.
When it was over, Maka's cheeks were wet with tears. She could scarcely move. She held her hand shakily to her chest, an unexplainable feeling of being whole surrounding her. Like she'd lived her entire life not knowing that this was how she was supposed to feel. Complete.
"I hate you."
Maka looked to see her wisp pushing himself from the ground. The glare he gave her when he turned was stony and cruel, making her wince. Rather than acknowledge it, however, she cleared her throat softly, rubbing her chest. "Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?" she asked.
"What?" he shrilled, and his strange white hair looked a bit like an angry birds' nest.
"I brought you pants," she offered, sniffing and pulling out a pair from her bag. "Cause you're… y'know, naked. They should fit you. I'm also wearing an extra shirt in case you turned out to be a girl." When he only glared, she gently put the pants over his shoulder. Since they were wet, they made a splat against his skin.
He reared back violently, throwing the garment at her face. "Don't touch me!" he spat.
Maka held her hands up in a placating gesture. "Fine, be like that. But in the tournament you have to wear clothes or else we'll be disqualified."
The wisp scoffed, and his tone held a somber bitterness as he said, "You mean the contest where everyone dies? No thank you."
"Hey! Where are you going?!" she demanded, rushing to her feet when he turned on his heel.
"Away from you."
"You can't do that!" she yelled. "If we're apart too long we'll die!"
"And whose fault is that exactly?" he shot back.
"Stop!" Maka cried, hurrying to collect all her belongings (after a moment's pause she grabbed the pants, too) and running after him as he maneuvered out of the cave. "I won you fair and square, you have to help me win the prize money!"
The wisp whirled around and stomped towards her, close enough that her forehead would've bumped his chin had she not been leaning away. "Fair to whom, exactly?" he seethed. "Because it certainly wasn't fair to me." He turned around to leave again.
"You'll die if you go, we'll both die!"
That stopped him. "Unless I kill you," he murmured, his head tilting back to look at her menacingly. Maka met his hate-filled eyes calmly. Even without words they both knew he was lying. Their connection was already in place, already swaying their decisions in regards to the other. It tied them closer and closer together with each passing second.
"Face it, you have no other option," Maka said.
He whirled around. "Do you even have any idea what you've done!?" he cried. "What we've become to each other because of your meddling?!"
"Of course I do," Maka retorted, hands on her hips. "We're partners."
His hands found his hair as he groaned. "You are such an idiot!" her wisp shouted at her, flailing his arms around himself, presumably to prove his point. Maka just thought he looked a bit silly. "You've ruined us both! There will never be one of us without the other! We are forever connected."
"That's the point," Maka stated plainly.
"You are unbelievable," he muttered through clenched teeth, as he looked down at the ground. Sighing, he closed his eyes. The wisp was quiet for a long while as he appeared to think, brows furrowed as though in deep concentration. "Where are we going?" he asked finally, voice coming out husky.
Maka beamed at him, reaching forward to grab his hand. He pulled it back, but she kept her grip firm. "Come with me," she said. "I have a shed I've prepared that you can hide in."
"A shed?"
But Maka was already walking away.
…
The walk back through the outland woods was silent, though Maka felt the bitterness radiate off her wisp like fumes. "I'm Maka, by the way," she called forward to him, her tone deliberately light. "Maka Albarn."
The wisp grunted.
A moment of silence, then, "Do you have a name?"
The wisp stopped, looked back, grated a stiff-lipped "No", and kept walking.
"You must be called something," Maka insisted, chasing after him. When she'd caught up, she tilted her head so she could meet his eye. "A nickname, perhaps?"
He turned to her, like she was a bug, and answered through his teeth, "No." Then a sparkle of something appeared in his eye and his lips twitched. "Although, they do occasionally refer to me as Soul Eater." He paused then, watching her closely, like he was waiting for a some sort of reaction.
He wasn't getting one. "So… your name is Soul?" Maka asked, crossing her arms.
"What?" Soul sputtered, a sneer on his face. "No, are you an idiot? That's just a title."
Maka shrugged. "Well, if you won't give me your name, that's what I'll call you."
"I told you I don't have one!"
"Then Soul it is," Maka said, a triumphant grin on her lips. She raised an eyebrow, daring him to challenge her.
He just growled. "You're so annoying. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Not recently," Maka replied with a ghost of a smile. She ignored his quizzical look and pushed onward, releasing a relieved sigh as they swiftly approached the forest exit. "Oh, thank the gods," she muttered. "This place was giving me the serious creeps."
As if her body knew rest would be available soon, all her joints began to ache, feet stinging with upcoming blisters. "The shack is over there," Maka said, pointing to the small wooden structure in the distance. "It shouldn't be too much further."
Soul's face was carefully blank when she looked at him. "I can see our life together is off to an excellent start," he deadpanned.
Maka snorted. "It's not permanent." She blinked when she noticed him hefting up a large log. "What are you doing?"
He ignored the second and answered her first statement. "I know it won't be."
"Wha—?"
Soul pulled back and swung hard.