Hey every one, sorry for the wait. I sorta dropped off the edge of the world for a while. Anyway, here it is, the third installment of Switch, Im a Weapon? Sorry its long and is kinda a hard read (for me anyway), but I hope some of you out there enjoy it. :)
*******Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater, its characters, names, or locations. This peice for for fun and not for profit.********
Soul's POV
"I really don't like this." I glanced over at Maka. She'd been pulling at her gloves the entire trip back to the Death Room. It would have been cute if I hadn't felt the same way. It was like I wanted to jump out of my skin. But I had to stay calm and cool…for Maka's sake.
But come on, just where the hell was Kid? And this sudden appearance of the Star Clan? Something was seriously wrong.
"Don't worry," Tsubaki chimed in leaning to get a better view of Maka. "Kid's strong, I'm sure that he'll be fine." I saw her cast an uneasy glance at Black Star. So far, the bellowing self-proclaimed god had been silent. I think that scared me the most.
"We're here." Sure enough, we were finally back at the Death Room. And, for once, Maka's old man didn't try anything.
Spirit looked up from his paper that he was reading as we entered. "Kids, we have a lot to talk about."
"Does it have to do with the Star Clan?" I asked shoving my hands in my pockets. Maka gave me an angry glare out of the corner of her eyes and quickly threw a worried glance at Black Star. He caught the exchange.
"Yeesh, I'm fine guys," The ninja said as he walked further into the Death Room. "Let's just hurry up and find Kid so I can kick his ass for getting kidnapped."
Tsubaki followed right behind him tittering over him. He was strangely quiet. It really ticked me off.
"Oi, Black Star, do you think keeping now is going to help anything? You should be jumping from the walls right about now yelling at the top of your lungs 'I AM THE GREAT BACL STAR! FEAR ME AND SUCH' or something!" Black Star, now seated at the low table, shot me a glance that actually chilled me to the bone.
"How would you know what I should be doing? What do you want me to say?" I swear the temperature in the room dropped, but I felt my boiling point blow.
"This isn't the Black Star I know! The Black Star I know would have already tried countless time to have gone after Kid! He wouldn't sit around and wait for details!"
"Soul! We're all stressed here, what we need to do now is assess the information we have gathered and what Papa and the Death Lord have to say." She walked up and grabbed my arm. God damn, why did her eyes have to be so green? I felt some of my tension eases away and slowly, I turned back to Black Star who still stared at me with nearly empty eyes.
"Look, I'm sorry Black Star. I just really want to find Kid." I reached up and scratched my head. "I feel really out of it and I'm a little pissed that you're not." Maka nudged me and I swear I saw a Shakespeare book out of the corner of my eye. "I am sorry…again. Sorry. Man, uncool."
"My, my. What a lovely apology." We all turned to see the Death Lord and Spirit sitting next to each other. The Death Lord was clapping with his enormous hands while Spirit wiped away some tears.
"I didn't know you had that kind of sensitivity. I think I may respect you more." Spirit sniffed.
"Like I need your respect." I yelled out of old habit.
"Any-who." The Death Lord sat and took a sip of tea. "That really was a nice apology, Soul-Kun. Just too bad that Black Star wasn't here the hear it." My eyebrows shot downwards.
I was about to say something when Maka replied, "But Black Star's right there." She pointed at Black Star and in the instant, both Black Star and Tsubaki burst into smoke and were gone.
"What the heck was that?" Liz said. Both she and Patty had been grievingly silent up until now.
"They disappeared! Wow!" Patty so diligently observed rubbing her tear swollen eyes.
"You see," Getting up, the Death Lord stated. "Black Star and Tsubaki-Chan where never here to begin with. They must have used these doubles to take their place while the real Black Star and Tsubaki-Chan headed off to find Kid. So, in a way Soul-Kun, you were entirely right about Black Star's behavior."
"Of course," I smiled and crossed my arms. "That punk's too easy to figure out."
Spirit coughed. "You do realize that Tsubaki and Black Star have already headed out after Kid and the Star Clan, right?"
There was complete silence.
I felt a vein burst.
"YOU DAMN PUNK!WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU?"
Black Star's POV
Outside the Gates of Death City
"Black Star?" I heard Tsubaki. She leaned in and gave me her 'worried' look.
"We'll find him." Was all I said.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? What about the others? I'm sure they'll be worried about us."
I found myself snorting. "They'll follow. I just wanted a head start and some time to think." I could still feel her eyes on me.
"Are you going to be ok?" I turned and gave her my Thousand Star Smile.
"Are you kidding?" I ran ahead of her and threw up my head and yelled. "I, THE GREAT BLACK STAR, CAN HANDLE ANYTHING. A TRAGIC PAST ONLY HELPS IN CREATING A STORY FOR A SUPERM GOD, SUCH AS MYSELF!"
With that, we stared running faster. Towards Kid.
'We're coming Kid. Just hold on.'
Kid's POV
Somewhere further into the Nevada dessert
Again, I felt as if all the skin of my stomach was being burnt off. It took a few second for my mind to register everything that happened, but, being perfectly organized, the memories came quickly.
I was being dragged. By a camel. Lead by two Star Clan members. One of which had amazing symmetry.
'Stop. You can't think about that now. Think about how to get out of this situation.'
After a quick try I knew that getting out of the ropes would prove impossible without a third arm. The knots weren't only tight, they were too thickly wrapped around my wrists and ankles.
'I'd have to get them to release me or somehow find a sharp object when we stop.'
"Oi, Boss, I think the kid's awake again." Crap.
"Mmm. It's about time to stop. The daylight is fading. We'll reach camp tomorrow."
I could see Shooting*Star pump his fist. "The others aren't going to believe this!"
Camp? Others? There was more than these two? But Father said he had wiped out all of the Star Clan, save Black Star. What was going on here?
"This place should do." The Symmetrical Man once again dismounted from his camel and tied the reins to a dried up bush. He then got busy making a fire while Shooting*Star unpacked two blankets and two hunks of bread. My stomach contracted at the sight which earned a glare from both Star Clan members.
"Shooting*Star, give him a good piece. He may be dying soon, but we need him healthy for now."
"But come on, he can be that hungry."
"Shooting*Star," There was a warning note in the older man's voice.
"But Berserk*Star-"
"I said to feed him!"
By now I had managed to get into a uncomfortable sitting position and Shooting*Star came over and dropped a piece of bread on my lap.
"There. Eat." He walked away and sat with his companion. I couldn't stay quiet any longer; I needed to know.
"Why are you doing this? What do you want? I thought the Star Clan had been completely wiped out."
"Well, obviously not." The symmetrical one, Berserk*Star, replied to my last statement. "It takes longer than one night to destroy a clan."
I pushed for more. "I heard all the Star clan members turned into monsters after their ambitions and greed became too great." Shooting*Star shot me a glare.
"Not all of them obviously. Some of us were able to survive. Not thanks to that skull faced father of yours." I clenched teeth. How dare he talk about my Father like that?
"At least I didn't have a clan that turned into soul-eating kishin."
"I said that wasn't all of us." He made a lunge but was topped by Berserk*Star.
"Stop it! And you," he turned to me. "Shut up you weird haired freak."
My hair. My horribly unsymmetrical hair. I curled up into a ball.
"I deserve to die, having such a frightful example of unholyness branded upon my very being." Murmuring, I tried to think of my symmetrical home.
"What the hell, this guy's a freak. You sure he's Death's son? 'Cause we need Death's son for this." Shooting*Star tore a mouthful of bread off his hunk.
"I'm sure," said the symmetrical clan member. "We'll finally be able to do this."
I swiveled my head around. "What are you talking about?"
The two exchanged glances. "Might as well, he'll most likely be dead by the end of tomorrow night." I tried to get as close as I could to the fire. It was cold and I hoped to try and burn some rope as the two spoke.
"It's true," Berserk*Star started. "That Death tried to wipe us out. I say it was none of his damn business. We live for money and power. But, being the nosy body he his, your father came and decided to try and force us to change our ways."
"That was not happening." The sickly eyed boy chimed in.
"So, in our refusal to do what he said, Death tried to clean us out. But by then, the Clan had already grown so powerful, it was impossible to stop it all. So, Death focused on the ones that had gone completely kishin first and locked then away."
Confused, I asked, "Didn't he kill them?"
The Star Clan members smiled. "He killed them alright, but their souls were so power, so full of might that they were practically still alive. Death took the souls of the Star Clan members, some of the most powerful, and locked them in an underground vault that only he could close and open."
"The rest of us were whipped bad and went into hiding. There are only about seven of us left."
"Is that including Black Star?" Shooting*Star seemed to hiss.
"Don't mention that no-good traitor's name. If he was truly a ninja, truly part of the Star Clan, he would be here."
Berserk*Star rubbed his hands together over the fire. "Though, I sure his father would like to see him after we open the gate." My eyebrows rocketed up.
"You mean the gate that holds all the Star Clan kishin souls?" I received another smile from both ninjas and it didn't sit well with me.
"Of course, why do you think we brought you? We know Death can't leave his city, so we went for the next best thing; you."
Suddenly, everything clicked together and I felt like a bucket of icy water had been dumped on my head.
"You're going to use me to open the gate so you can free the souls of the other Star Clan members and build your power again. To go after my Father."
"So, you finally caught on."
'This is bad, this is worse than bad. If that happens…What if the others come and it's too late? I can't do much with my hands tied and without Liz and Patty. I'll just have to stall until they get here. Hopefully they'll make good time. For heaven's sake, Father, what were you thinking?'
The Next Morning
"Rise and shine, lil Death." A solid kick in the stomach assured my awakening.
"Shooting*Star, don't damage him too much. We'll have him walk today. But keep a rope on his ankles."
Soon, I found myself once again behind the two camels. There was a piece a rope about a foot and a half long between my ankles so I couldn't kick or run.
'Damn ninjas. Seem to think of everything.'
We walked for what seemed like an eternity. All the while I tried to use my Soul Perception or something that would give me, or any others, a clue to where I was. But, like the day before, nothing happened.
'It doesn't matter anyway. This heat is killing my slowly.' I looked up and it seemed the sun itself was having a heat stroke.
Finally…
"Serky!" A mass of black clothing seemed to fly into Berserk*Star. He nearly tumbled off his camel but was able to push the scrambling mass onto the sand.
There sat a girl about the same age as Shooting*Star, maybe older, with almond brown eyes, tan skin, and black hair. I could see her star tattoo on her stomach that was revealed by a gray and black half shirt and black pants. She seemed surprisingly energetic despite the heat.
"Damn, Brit*Star, how many times do I have to tell you; stay in camp and don't call me 'Serky'?" It would have been comical if Berserk*Star hadn't had such a killing look in his eyes and was reaching for his knife.
"Brit*Star, there you are." Another boy entered to group. He had blond hair that was plastered against his forehead with sweat. As he wiped the sweat away, I could make out the star tattoo on the back of his right hand. His blue eyes were cold despite the sultriness of everything else. "I told you, we have to practice. No get up, leave Berserk*Star alone."
"Aww, fine. But you're no fun Bust*Star. I'll race you." She gave once glance at me, which was filled with a mixture of curiosity and excitement, and was gone with an angry Bust*Star running after her. I was at a loss.
Wasn't the Star Clan supposed to be filled with greedy, power hungry, blood thirsty ninjas? But that girl could have been any other girl he had seen at the school. If she was my age, she couldn't have been more than a baby when Father set out to purge the world of the Star Clan.
"That girl will be the death of us. Come on, we're going straight to the gate." Berserk*Star pulled on the rope and I followed, helpless.
"You're going to kill me after I open the gate. If I can open the gate." I tried to dig my feet in the sand to slow us down.
"Oh, you'll open the gate alright. And don't worry about one of us killing you. Opening the gate should take care of that. Like I said before, 'Only Death can open the gate'. It has double meaning. You are the son of Death so, in a way, you are Death itself. But, when you die, that's your death that will also open the gate." Berserk*star pulled on the rope again, causing me to stumble. This was not looking good.
'Where are you guys. You better get here soon.'
Well, I hoped ya'll liked it. Oh, this is also a late birthday present. Happy Belated B-Day Brit*Star, you know who you are you narcissistic freakazoid (I say that with all the love and affection in the world). Hope this lived up to your expectations. Comment, reveiw, advise; we're open for business. Thanx again ya'll! 3