A/N - Chapter four, chapter four! This chapter is a big shorter than the other chapters, especially compared to the powerhouse that was chapter three. Chapter five will probably be similar. This is also the fastest I have ever written and updated. I wonder if those two facts are connected. You know how we should celebrate this speedy update? With reviews! :D

Notes and translations of the Latin will be at the end of the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: Soul Eater is the intellectual property of Atsushi Ōkubo. I have no intention of monetizing my fanwork, and this is merely an enjoyable passer of time.


Chapter Four - Post Tempestatem - The Mystery Behind the Pharaoh Mission? Part 1


Alecto lay back against the stairs leading up to the Death Weapon Meister Academy, stretching her tights-clad legs and basking in the warmth given off by the cackling sun that hung over the horizon. "Mmmmm," she hummed serenely. "Hey, Tempus, I'm just going to sit out here until it's time to head to class, m'kay?"

"You're weird."

"That wasn't an answer," Alecto retorted

"Fine. I'll be inside. Come find me when you're done being lazy," Tempus teased affectionately. With the quiet shuffling of feet, Alecto heard her weapon continue on his path up to the school. Soon, his footsteps faded out of Alecto's range of hearing, and she allowed herself to relax fully, soaking in the Nevada warmth.

It had been a couple days since the two of them had taken down Hudine. Due to the blow to the head she had received that night, Doctor Medusa had told her to not take on any more missions for the next few days, and it was driving Alecto nuts. The only time she'd really been able to relax was at this point in the morning before classes started, when the sun had just made its way completely into the sky. She closed her eyes, soaking in the sensation of sunlight on her skin and the early morning wind ruffling through her hair. The faint ache in her skull and the tenseness in her muscles that had plagued her throughout the night faded, leaving behind an enjoyable serenity that her consciousness fell into like a pit filled to the brim with freshly fluffed pillows.

An odd metaphor, certainly, but Alecto was too tired to think up a better one.

The young meister wasn't certain how long she rested there… hell, it was possible that she'd dozed off completely on those steps… but she was suddenly jolted from her daze by a solid fist hitting her soundly on the head. She lurched forward, clutching her cranium. "What in the fresh hell, Tempus? I told you I'd be heading up when it was time to get to class!"

"Tempus?!" The voice that responded didn't belong to her weapon, and for the sharpest of seconds Alecto's blood boiled within her veins. Eyes flying open, she whirled around to glower at the quote-unquote "assassin" that had awoken her.

"You," she snarled.

Black Star didn't seem to notice the ire rolling off of her in waves, and continued to talk about the truly important matter at hand: himself. "How could you mistake me for Tempus? I'm like a thousand times bigger than that! I'm surprised my awesome presence didn't wake you up immediately!"

"Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't hear you coming can I go back to sleep now I'd be perfectly happy to miss class it's not like its the first time that sort of thing would happen."

Perhaps the blue-haired meister had selective hearing. Perhaps he was just completely unaware of anything that didn't involve the Great And Powerful Black star in some manner. Regardless, his voice barreled over her own. "However, I won't hold your mistake against you. A big guy such as me wouldn't possibly be brought down by such a tiny insult."

"That's great, really, just completely fantastic what the hell are you doing here?"

A kind, beautiful voice piped up behind the two of them, and Alecto looked behind her - and up a ways - to see Tsubaki standing a few steps away, a rather apologetic smile on her face. "Tempus asked us to get you. He said that you'd probably fallen asleep."

"A-ah! Tsubaki!" Alecto leapt to her feet, her face turning the same shade of pink as her hair. "Mē miseret! I didn't see you there! Oh, gosh, mē miseret!"

"It's all right, Alecto!" Tsubaki waved away Alecto's hastened and Latin apologies. "We really should head back, though. Classes start pretty soon, and I wouldn't want to be late."

"Uh, yeah! Yeah." With an added spring in the heel of her boots, she practically danced up the stairs to join up with the chain scythe. "So, how'd things go with you and Lord Death a few days ago?" she asked. The two of them hadn't really gotten to talk since that day, due to a severe case of "chain to the head." "I've heard that you turned in a hundred Kishin eggs to him, but didn't take any for yourself."

"Yes, that's right," Tsubaki said. "Our original goal was to take down the mob boss Don Alcapone, his mob, and the witch Angela that they were tracking down."

"That's, what, a hundred and one versus you two? Those are some pretty big odds," Alecto saisaid. Stretching and brushing the dirt off of her romper, she started the long walk up the stairs alongside Tsubaki. She could see Black Star run up to roughly match pace with them, and she decided to deliberately ignore him. "What did Alcapone want with a witch?" she asked, directing her question to Tsubaki

"They wanted to kill her and take her soul," Tsubaki explained, thin ponytail swaying back and forth mesmerizingly as she walked. "With it, they would have become immensely powerful, and a real problem for the DWMA."

"Ah. So, how'd the two of you take them all out?"

"Well… we didn't. Not really."

"Eh?"

"They were already all killed off by the time we got to them," Black Star interjected loudly, apparently having decided that the focus of attention had been off of him long enough. "Instead, we had to fight this samurai guy called Mifune."

That name seemed vaguely familiar to Alecto. Had she heard it in a story somewhere? "Mifune?"

"Yeah," Black Star seemed to grow more belligerent the more the topic lingered on this "Mifune" guy.

"So, uh… did you kill him?"

"Nah. Some dumb samurai looking after a bratty kid? He wasn't worth my time."

"Uh-huh." Something told Alecto that that wasn't all there was to it. Then the gears clicked together in her head, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait a minute. A bratty kid? You said that Alcapone was going after a witch for her soul. Where do a samurai and a kid come into play?"

"The witch Angela was a little girl," Tsubaki said.

"A what?" Alecto had never seen a witch in person before; the closest she'd gotten to one of them was looking at the pictures in library books, and none of those pictures had given the impression that witches could be children. She supposed it did made sense. It wasn't as if witches just sprung out of the ground fully grown, pointy hat and all.

At least Alecto hoped they didn't.

"Okay," she said. "You didn't kill the witch, I assume. I can see that." Black Star was as arrogant as they came and kind of terrible at grasping the concepts of "stealth" and "not announcing your presence to everyone within a fifty mile radius," but he wasn't a kid-killer. "But even still, what about the souls? The two of you haven't collected any so far. Surely the thought of taking at least a few crossed your minds."

"Nah!" Black Star said. "After all, I wasn't the one who killed them. A guy like me doesn't need someone else to kill his targets for him."

"Ah, I see." Alecto still had the feeling that she wasn't getting the whole story, but when it boiled down to it, the only way she could possibly get the whole story was if she went back in time and watched the events unfold herself. Her curiosity didn't stretch far enough for her to try ripping apart the fabric of time and haphazardly rearranging it.

After a brief moment of silence, Tsubaki spoke. "What about you, Alecto? How have you been, lately?"

"Well, the good news is that I should be able to start doing missions again in a couple days. The bad news is that I don't think I can take another minute of this. I've just felt so coop up these past few days, and I need to do something. At this point it doesn't even need to be Kishin-hunting, I'll take what I can get. I've rearranged all of the furniture in my apartment three times now out of sheer boredom. Well, most of the furniture. I'm pretty sure Tempus would never forgive me if I tampered with his bookshelves." Shouldering open the door to the school, Alecto stood to the side, keeping the door open while Tsubaki and Black Star entered the school. "Speaking of Tempus, did you know he's told me that if I don't 'take it easy,' he'll take all my tea and hide it where I could never find it? Scelerātum, I told him, but he didn't listen! And another thing, I'm pretty sure there have been mice scurrying about in my walls, I swear that hole in the wall wasn't there when we first moved i-"

Alecto's tirade screeched to halt as she realized that Tsubaki was giving her a weird look. Her cheeks flushed, and she managed to stammer out a confused, "W-what are you looking at me like for?"

Tsubaki gave her a gentle smile in return. "You really do need to get out and do something, don't you?"

Alecto's cheeks turned even redder. "Aw, gee, is it that ob-wious? Uh, obvious."

"A little."

"Ah."

The next few minutes were spent in a rather awkward silence as the three of them made their way through the halls of the DWMA. Alecto's focus flitted away from her surroundings and towards more important matters. I wonder… if I took on a mission and Tempus hid my tea, would I be able to find it? I've rearranged the furniture enough times, I know every nook and cranny our home has. Oh, but what if he hides all of it somewhere outside the apartment? What if he hides it somewhere in the school? I wouldn't be able to find it then. Well, he wouldn't be able to hide it somewhere where I'm restricted from entering, because we're both restricted from the same places… Wait, what if I hid the tea before he could?

It wasn't long before Alecto was lost deep within her thoughts, and she barely noticed that the general hustle and bustle levels around her had increased until Tsubaki asked, "What's going on there?"

Pulling herself away from her plans of tea-based psychological warfare, Alecto focused on the small crowd of students that had gathered around the mission board, murmuring amongst themselves.

"...can't believe someone actually took it…"

"Would've heard…"

"S'posed to be a three-star mission, isn't it…?"

Amidst the crowd, Alecto could see three familiar faces; Maka and Soul Eater, who were standing closest to the mission board, and Tempus, whose considerable height made him easier to spot. Alecto furrowed her brow in confusion. There were always a couple meisters around the mission board looking for new souls to hunt, sure, but never this many. And what was Tempus doing there if the two of them weren't taking on new missions?

"Hey! Soul, Maka!" Black Star called out to the meister and weapon duo. who turned to look over at the three of them as they approached. Tempus glanced over as well, and silently moved to stand by Alecto, giving her a pointed how-was-your-nap look. Alecto shot him a very-good-what-is-happening look. He gave a half-interested shrug.

"Oh, hey, guys! Good morning!" Maka said, a rather friendly smile on her face as was usual this early in the morning. Maka was much more of a morning person than a lot of people Alecto knew, including herself.

"Salvē," Alecto responded, swinging her arms behind her back and clasping her fingers together. She glanced around, trying to pick out the people she recognized amidst the crowd. Kim Dhiel, Kilik Lunge, that one doormat kid everyone picked on… Hero? I think that's his name, she thought. She didn't really know any of them that well, as she only really spoke with Tsubaki and Maka on a quasi-regular basis. And even her relationship with Maka was more of a "friend of a friend" situation than an actual friendship. The thought soured Alecto's mood slightly, and she turned her attention back to the budding conversation at hand.

"'Morning, Maka! Soul!" Tsubaki said cheerfully as Black Star and Soul high fived each other. "What happened? Why is everyone down here?"

Soul raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You mean you haven't heard yet? It's kind of a hot topic around here right now."

Black Star laughed his usual, ham-filled laugh that wouldn't be out of place on a theater stage. Alecto had to give the boy credit, he did know how to project his voice. "Hah hah hah hah! Oh, I get it! Everyone's scared of what a big star I'm becoming, huh!"

Scarlet irises rolled as Soul Eater shook his head slightly. "Not quite, Black Star. It has nothing to do with you."

"Huh?"

"Check it out," Tempus piped up, nodding to the mission board. "Somebody actually took on the Pyramid of Anubis mission."

Alecto's curiosity was piqued, and she examined the mission board closely. "The Pyramid of Anubis? You mean the three-star witch mission in Egypt?" Her coal-black gaze scanned over the mission board as she stood on tiptoe to try and get a better view.

"Do you know any other Pyramid of Anubis?" Soul replied dryly, pointing the the mission card in question. Sure enough, there was the label that declared the mission to be claimed. "So?" he said. "What do you guys think? Anyone else wanna go find out who took on the big mission?"

"Yeah, of course I do!" Black Star declared. "Whoever this guy is, he's a real show-off! He actually thinks he can build a bigger than mine!" His expression was akin to that of an enraged bull, and Alecto considered finding a piece of red cloth to wave in front of him just to see what would happen.

Beside her, Tempus let out a snort. "Why, hello, Mr. Pot, that's a lovely shade of black you're wearing," he muttered, quietly enough so that only Alecto could really hear him.

"Why thank you, Mr. Kettle," she replied in turn, taking satisfaction in the way Tempus clearly fought to contain a smirk. Raising her voice, she cleared her throat slightly. "Actually, I'd like to figure out who this mysterious mission-nabber is. They must be pretty tough if they were approved to take on a three-star mission."

Soul Eater's face fell into a smirk so casually that Alecto had to presume at this point that it was his default facial expression. "'Kay, then let's get going."

With equally mighty shouts, the two boys barrelled down the hallway. "H-hey, wait up!" Alecto shouted, chasing after them. She nudged at her soul wavelength, willing time to desynchronize slightly as she ran, giving her a bit of an edge on speed. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. The ticking was a lot fainter when she did this without Tempus, to the point where she often wondered if her subconscious was merely summoning it up. But it was there, signifying the steady desynchronization and resynchronization of her little bubble of her little bubble of time with the rest of the world.

The desynchronization itself wasn't as powerful without Tempus by her side either, but it was strong enough where it didn't take long before she caught up with Soul and Blackstar, and the three of them raced off in search of answers.


"Hey, wait!" Maka called out, reaching out an arm towards the three would-be sleuths. "Come back, you three!" But they were already gone, running and shouting down the long, high-ceilinged hallway. "Gah, they're going to be late for class!"

"Somehow," Tempus sighed, "I don't think it will bother them that much."


A/N - Before I start with the Latin, let me state three things.

First is that I dread writing Black Star. Not out of any dislike of the character (on the contrary, I enjoy every time he's on screen), but because he's just so hard to write. He's a very specific level of hammy, over-the-top, and self-centered. If I write him as too hammy and egotistical, he becomes a douchey caricature. If I don't write him hammy enough, well what's even the point of writing Black Star? The range of true Black Star-dom is a small range that I constantly fear I'll fall out of when writing.

Second is that Alecto has a total girl crush on Tsubaki. I wanted to state that in the notes for the second chapter, but I forgot, so I'm putting it here. Can you blame her? Tsubaki is amazing.

Third, on my profile I've posted links outfit references for Tempus and Alecto that I made with various dress up dolls from the internet, because I'm aware I'm kind of terrible at describing clothes.

On to the Latin!

Mē miseret: Means "I'm sorry." I'm not sure if this is the correct form of "I'm sorry" (the toughest thing about forgein languages is learning which form of something would be most appropriate for with context), but I'm hoping it did. My research into the wonderful world of a dead language will pay off someday!

Scelerātum: Ah, now here's a tricky one. If what I've learned is correct, than literally, it means "criminal" in an adjective manner. But the base word that it stems from is also used to refer to generally heinous, immoral, and unethical acts. In this context, Alecto is pretty much saying "hiding my tea is an act of unquestionable wickedness." Tea is a big fucking deal.

Salvē: In this context, it means "good morning." In other contexts, it could mean "good evening," or "welcome." Damn you, Latin.

Chapter five will probably be here by Thursday or Friday at the latest. Or maybe tomorrow. We just don't know. (Probably Thursday-ish.) In the meantime, please leave a review and tell me what you think!

- Diana "Nocte."