AN: Chapter 4! YAAAY! I'm halfway to the perfect symmetry! Anyways, I can't believe it; I've split what was meant to be 1 chapter into 2 and ¼. God knows how long the entire story will be… *dies at the prospect of so much typing* I also forgot to say earlier, this may contain spoilers for the manga. I'm sorry for taking so long; I just discovered how much I suck at writing action. I seriously mean it. It took well over attempts to get out the Soul vs Caliban battle. Yeah, I'm apologising because you guys shouldn't have to wait so long. I know how irritated I get when fanfics take ages to update. I love each and every one of you for reading this!
Disclaimer: ~ Sad as it is to admit
I don't own Soul Eater, not one bit
I suck at writing poetry
So let's get on with the story ~
The scream tore sliced through the air like a knife, sending all on the island into a stunned silence. Everything stood still- the waves, the breeze the people.
It took a few seconds for the world to begin moving again, slowly returning to its steady rhythm. A few seconds later, the group started to unfreeze as well. They murmured to their partners, questioned each other and kept looking around, glancing as if the source would miraculously appear.
There was no time to waste.
She saw the scene below, the girl's death. Everything was going according to plan.
Now all she needed was a window of opportunity…
Once again, he was running. This was different, though. Because Soul was running towards insanity, not away from it. And he didn't stop running, because every second of hesitation would be yet another second he would regret all his life.
He decided to ignore that piercing scream, despite its obvious message. He ignored it in favour of sprinting faster.
Goddammit. Where was Maka? The forest all looked the same. For all he knew, he could be running in completely the wrong direction. But his instincts were screaming to run this way, and Soul had no other indicators.
True, he was being reckless and rash. But he couldn't ignore the unease welling within him, the subconscious knowledge that something terrible had just happened.
Bursting through the treeline, he ground to a halt.
The sky was a powder blue, the sea cerulean. A scattering of wispy clouds danced in the distance, framing the golden sun. A black figure swooped across it- probably a bird. The cliffs descended into flawless white surf, throwing spray into the air every time the water slapped the cliff face.
There was a monstrous figure, whose hulking size blotted out all else.
That creature was holding a soul up to the light, inspecting the delicate flutter of its wings, the shine of its brilliant gold.
It was her soul.
His meister's soul.
Maka's soul.
This… thing, this monster that had torn so many lives apart with its claws of fate didn't deserve it.
Everything seemed insignificant now. Soul was oblivious to the taunts of the demon inside his head, numb to any feeling of tiredness or exhaustion. The world around him seemed to fade into oblivion, leaving only that glowing orb, and the creature holding it. And one, strong, powerful instinct kicked in.
He would kill this thing.
The cold, cruel bloodlust was alien, something out of character for him. Yet now that was his one goal, and he was determined to fulfil it.
With a roar, he transformed his arm into a shining blade and lunged forward. Sensing the danger, Caliban turned, blocking the attack with its arm, releasing her soul to float in midair. Bits of rock chipped off where the scythe had made contact, but he remained otherwise undamaged.
Crap.
Persevering, he lunged again, this time aiming for the shoulder. There was a satisfying thunk as the now dismembered arm dropped to the ground. In his triumph, however, Soul was caught off guard as the other arm collided with his gut, knocking him to the ground. For a second, he struggled to breathe; he only defended in a nick of time when it attacked once again.
Hmm. That girl could do pretty well without you. The voices of his two demons taunted.
Shut. Up. was all he could think of narrowly avoided the blow, standing upright once again. This thing… it was made of rock and metal. How on earth was he supposed to kill it?
Before Soul could register anything, he had instinctively ducked to avoid a deathly swipe, the claw inches away from his face. This creature was deadly- there was a low likelihood of survival.
The shield his bloodlust had enabled him was beginning to waver, as was his murderous intent. He knew that he had to end the battle soon; otherwise he would lose hope completely. And hope was all he seemed to have at the moment.
Unknowingly, he stepped into a routine- block an attack, dart to the side, attempt to hit. Neither party was having much success, the monotonous rhythm fruitless to both.
Goddamn it. He just needed to kill this thing!
In his mind's eye, he could see the crimson, suited demon grinning, jagged teeth glinting in the black room's dim light.
He was at a loss for what to do next. He had lost.
Soul lay on his back and watched the claw's descent towards him, almost eagerly. Now that he expected to die, it was surreal, to say the least. But, then again, everything was odd now.
Just as he had come to terms with the concept of death, a shot was heard, and the creature had fallen temporarily.
What the…?
"Asymmetrical trash." The young shinigami snarled, shooting continuously. The shots paralysed the demon, but they still weren't doing anything to destroy it.
In one final attempt, Soul lunged blindly. As if luck had been simply tormenting him, and the torture was over, his blade travelled through the Kishin egg's gash of a mouth, protruding out the other side easily.
Three seconds later, a red orb was in the air.
Eight seconds after that and three teenagers were walking towards him.
"Hey, Soul?" Liz said. "Where's Ma-" She went silent when she noticed Maka's soul, hands flying to her mouth as tears began to prick at her eyes. "That's not…It can't… this is…" she never finished any of her sentences. Patti looked at it curiously, as if she hadn't quite digested the truth yet. Kid had bowed his head down in respect.
The thud of footsteps and the announcement of a godly presence. Kid turned to glare at the blue haired ninja.
"Shut up." He snapped, eyes filled with fire. Liz pointed with a shaking hand to the soul which floated, oblivious to the misery it was causing.
Tsubaki returned to her human form and began to wail, distraught. Her tears ran in silvery lines down her cheeks, then began to pour in torrents. Black Star was silent…
…And then he burst out laughing.
"SHUT UP!" Liz shrieked, whisking round to see the blue haired ninja laughing his ass off.
Black Star only managed to speak through his chuckles. "Am I… the only… smart… one here? HAHAHA!"
Liz frowned. "What do you mean?"
Having finally managed to reduce his laughing fit to the occasional chortle, he grinned. "Am I the only one godly enough to realise? Maka ain't dead!"
Everyone turned to him, eyes wide. The ninja boy was grinning ear to ear, but… He was plainly in denial.
"P…please, Black Star… just…" Tsubaki tried to plea through her hiccups.
The rest of Spartoi had arrived, all respectfully silent.
"MAKA. AINT. DEAD!"
"SHUT UP!" The scythe roared spontaneously, spinning round on his heel, crimson eyes aflame. He grabbed a hysterical Black Star by the scarf and continued to yell. Kid sprang into action, trying to pull the warring two apart.
"Shush!" Kim hissed, causing them to instantly go silent. They heard it. It was quiet but distinguishable.
"Chi chi chi chi chi…."
Kim yelled "Get down!" They all obeyed as an explosion went off, followed by five more.
The explosions shook the ground, disorientating them. Even when they had stopped, the group spent a few moments gathering their bearings before slowly getting up as the smoke cleared.
"What the heck was that?" Kilik mumbled, wiping his glasses before comforting to two pots.
"It's that mouse witch…" Blair spat, remembering the night of the Kishin's resurrection, and the certain pink haired witch she had started a cat fight with.
Liz frowned. "The one who bombed us on that train? What's she doing here…?"
There was silence until Tsubaki yelled "Look!"
They followed the direction she was pointing in. Nothing.
"Tsubaki, what is it?"
"Maka-chan's s-s-soul." She stuttered. "It was there!"
She was right. Where the glowing gold orb had once been was now an empty space.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Soul screeched, charging forwards, looking around frantically. A hand went on his shoulder, and he turned around to see the eyes of his shinigami friend.
"It's gone. She took it."
Eruka twiddled with the edge of her skirt, pulled on her hat, stomped her feet. What was taking so long? Had something gone wrong?
Medusa had instructed her to wait for Mizune, collect the soul and bring it to her. Simple enough, but waiting on the shingle beach for hours was becoming tedious. It was becoming evening; rhubarb and custard streaks painted the sky, the sun slowly wobbling its way out of sight whilst comically attempting to fend off sleep.
The frog witch hoped her friends were okay. She still felt guilty lying to them about their sister's death, but… she shuddered and moaned at the thought of the snakes inside her.
That reminded her, Medusa was probably becoming impatient.
"Mizuneeee…" she moaned with a ribbit. "Hurry up!"
It was the fifth time she had made that plea to the pebbles around her.
Half an hour later, she spotted a speck on the horizon. She jumped up in excitement, beaming.
They landed in front of her, the front one proudly carrying the soul in its teeth. Eruka praised them as she took, hugging the item protectively to her chest.
"Thank you! You guys can go, I'll take over from here, m'kay?"
With a chorus of chi, the witch family departed. Eruka watched their flight before setting out herself.
She had a long journey ahead of her.
It was dark. If only witches could take public transport- a train would have been convenient round about now.
Eruka groaned as she walked along the twisting country path. It was night now – the sadistic moon grinned murderously at her. The frog witch was glad that the glowing grigori soul shed some light, though she was unnerved by the delicate flutters the wings gave every so often, each movement causing her to clutch it closer in fear that it would fly away.
Her tadpole friend floated beside her, easing her nerves slightly, but she still hated this. Eruka was neither the strongest nor the bravest of witches. She did love destruction, but she was also quick to flee. She'd just been content hiding from Shibusen and feeling pride in her survival. Eruka had never wanted to become involved in this conspiracy.
"Oh really?"
Eruka froze. Had she been talking aloud to herself again? Who was that voice?
Footsteps slowly approached; she was too scared to move.
"Eruka Frog, please hand me the grigori soul."
I can hear the sea.
I think I recognise that sound
What's it called, déjà vu?
I open my eyes, but all there is to greet me is the fire.
It's burning everything- the trees, the shrubbery, me.
I can't stand it. I want to scream, but just breathing makes me want to die, for it to all end.
The smoke is fogging my vision.
I can only vaguely make out the figure in front of me through the tears in my eyes
They hold out a hand.
In desperation, I take it.
AN: Waaah! So short! My sister made me write up a plan and everything, so now my chapters are all going to be shorter than before. Sorry for you fans of longer chapters, but my sister can be scary sometimes.
And seriously, it took me this long to update and this was the best I could do? This chapter is just bleh.
I know, this chapter's all mysterious at the end. If everything was all nice and explained, it would just be boring.
You know what? Instead of crying about how suckish this chapter was, go to my profile and look at the fail whale.
Adios, amigos!
B/R: Hiya! Sorry this took so long, everyone and their moms seems to have technical problems these days… hopefully you enjoyed this chappie enough to Rate and Review? :D [Even though no one rates] Reviews makes writers like us more motivated to write, always remember that.