A/N: Alright, here we go with chapter nine! Thanks for the reassurance on the last one, I feel much better about it now.
Also, I now have an absolutely fantastic new beta for this story. Thanks again doll :)
As promised, here's the extra long (well, for this fic) part two. That's why it took a little longer. Enjoy this folks, the next will probably be another short one.
Oh, and touch wood is the same as knock on wood. Just find the page on wikipedia is you're really confused.
Chapter Nine Electra Heart (Illuminate Part II)
A week. For a week, without fail, the trio had practiced resiliently to try and resonate souls.
Every time they had failed.
As much as he shouldn't have been surprised, Kid couldn't help but feel a bit of frustration. They had made a few small improvements, but nothing significant or groundbreaking. Things seemed to be moving at a very slow pace.
But, he supposed, at least they were moving at all. On day one they couldn't even shoot, much to Patty's amusement and Liz's frustration. They didn't misfire anymore, by the end of day three they'd ensured that. And yet, by the end of day seven, yesterday, the bullets weren't doing very impressive damage. You could shoot someone, and they'd probably struggle to even feel it.
So, resonance wise, progress was slow. But it was happening. Very small successes, one at a time, seemed to be the way to go. Liz still kept her soul very much to herself and her sister, but that was alright, because the barrier she'd put around herself was thinning. As reluctant as she was about it, she was warming to a much easier life – one where she didn't have to fight to find a meal. What she wasn't warming to so quickly was the idea that she had to live with a reaper.
Much to his surprise though, they'd been able to talk quite a bit. He had thought that she would avoid him. But he quickly found she was the type of person that would face things head on, with grit teeth and a forced smile. It always ended up that one of them would ask a question, and another, until they'd been talking for much longer than they'd meant to. It was only at those times that she wasn't so cold to him, that she wouldn't snap at him so easily. When they talked, she started to relax slowly, until their conversation wasn't so chipped. Those were the only times that their souls felt a little bit closer to each other. They didn't last, however. It was as if she would suddenly snap herself out of it, and talk to him again the same way she had on the streets. Other times she tried really too hard to be nice, but those were short-lived.
By some miracle, he'd even been able to teach them a bit of phasmology, just a few very basic things. In turn, the girls had taught him a bit about themselves- just a small insight into who they were. However, those lessons weren't on purpose. Piece by piece, they were warming to him. Everything was so new for all three of them though. And as disorderly as everything was to start, they had begun to form a pattern. After all, for a week together, their relationship wasn't too shabby.
In fact, touch wood, things could be a hell of a lot worse.
Now they were headed to their eighth day of practice together. And Kid had decided that they were ready for something a little different. Things had been going fairly smoothly so far, so maybe it was time to up the pace. There was really no point in wasting time; the best way to keep them interested would be to keep them busy. Eight was a good number, too.
Patty skipped, spring in her step, right beside Kid. Her eyes were wide, drinking in every detail around her, the same way she had when he'd first taken her to the manor. It seemed she was always careful not to wander away too far, though. She always bounced back to her sister and her new meister whenever she dropped behind, or leaped further ahead. He wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to be near them both, or because Liz had trained her to stay close. Either was likely.
The eldest Thompson wasn't having such a grand time. Her arms were crossed over her chest, fingers tapping against her arm. Even if her soul had calmed significantly, it still held some lingering anger from their confrontation. "Why do we have to practice like this?" She grumbled, scuffing her feet heavily along the pavement. "Why can't ya' just... Point and shoot?" As much as he was sure she knew the answer, she asked anyway, in another one of her attempts to get out of the daily grind of their practices. As much as she disliked him, she seemed to hate resonating with him the most.
Kid picked a non-existent piece of dust off his sleeve. "You know that it's more than that." He muttered, turning his head to eye her carefully. She was taller than him by at least a head. Avoiding his look quickly, her tongue darted out over her lip. A light sigh through her nose was all the reply she had.
As a trio, they weren't ready to attempt anything spectacular. He knew, however, that it was worth an attempt to try and shape a more stable and permanent level of resonance.
In doing so, there was a chance that he could snap the last threads that tied them together completely, severing the delicate link entirely. If that happened, it could demolish any hope of a full resonance. Souls were delicate. It was risky. But at this point, he didn't have much of a choice. If they simply stayed where they were, it could have the same effect. Shying away from a stronger connection was not the way forward.
Sure, Liz was right; he was able to fire a few bullets. But he had no control over their intensity. They would be likely to barely even leave a bruise. The power of a pair, or in this case a trio, depended on both the strength of the meister's and the weapon's souls, as well as their resonance rate. The first wasn't a problem at the moment, and wouldn't be for a while. But to find some sort of stable link through all three of them was the more imperative issue.
They could achieve it. They had the ability. It was the will that was the problem. Most pairs wanted desperately to reach a perfect resonance, so they weren't facing the same barrier Kid had when he held Liz. The way she blocked herself off meant he could do nothing. Somehow, he needed to show her that he was trustworthy, that he genuinely wanted the pair to be his weapons.
Easier said than done. And seeing that it was ultimately up to Liz, he didn't have much of an influence on where they ended up. All he could do was pull them together as best he could, and hope for the best.
It wasn't long before they reached the edge of the city. They passed through the clearing which lead them into the forested area, owned mostly by Shibusen. Many students came here to practice, especially if they were having trouble. Even if they visited late in the day, there were always a stray fewhanging around. The presence of souls past and present echoed through the trees. This was a place where resonance was either achieved or failed, so it was only natural. There was a bit of an urban legend among students that if you were having trouble resonating, this was the place to be.
"So... Why do we come here anyway?" Liz asked him, breaking the silence that was between the two, only previously interrupted by Patty's humming. He could tell that despite the way she detested practice, she still seemed to appreciate the usually tranquil area they used.
"This is a place where students of my father's academy come to practice." Kid clarified, glancing through the clearings he could spot. "Since we're usually around pretty late in the day, most students have already left-"
"Wait a sec..." Liz cut him off, an eyebrow raised. "You... Aren't an academy student?" The confusion on her face was clear, but Kid didn't understand it. Sometimes he forgot that there was still so little they knew about each other.
"No, I'm not." He confirmed, and the look on her face implied she'd like him to elaborate. A glance over at Patty confirmed the suspicion that she wasn't listening. Her attention was fixed onto a butterfly, which happened to flutter by. The youngest weapon did have a particularly short attention span.
This was a calming place to be, and though he hadn't visited often, he understood how it could subtly sooth tension between souls. Even if it wasn't true, they could use all the help they could get. The sun sitting low in the sky cast out a deep orange glow, one that had started to stain the clear blue of day to purple. The greenery seemed to glow under the rays. He was distracted for a second, before he turned back to Liz. "As a reaper, my understanding of the curriculum taught at Shibusen is already extensive. Academy matters are not much of my concern, my father assigns me missions that require my specific skills."
"You are a real live god, aren't ya?" She mumbled, her expression briefly losing its snarl. But before Kid could even get his hopes up, she once again turned hostile, scoffing her own comment off. "I mean, you'd have to be, to be such a brat." It was easy to see she was unsure of her own words. Huffing, she pretended to show disinterest. She wasn't as edged as she was when they'd first met, some of the tension had diffused, and yet they were still worlds apart.
Patty bounded back over. Apparently, her ears were a lot more sensitive than he thought. "I wanna meet Kid's dad!" She babbled happily, smile spread across her face. "I never knew mine, so I wanna know what they're like."
He turned, a confused expression on his face. "You never knew your dad?" As soon as he'd said it however, he regretted it, realizing what a stupid question it was. It should have been no surprise. And it was a pretty insensitive thing to say.
Opening his mouth to apologize, Liz cut the conversation there. "H-hey Kid, what're they doing over there?"
She pointed through the trees, to a weapon and meister pair. A blond girl with pigtails gripped tightly onto a scythe, that had blood red and black triangles. Her brow was pinched into a determined frown. Spinning the weapon in her hands, she demonstrated fluidity that suggested a fairly long partnership with it. The blade caught any light, reflecting it in bright white rays running along it. By appearance, they looked fairly advanced.
"Ya' ready, Soul?" The girl asked, bringing the twirling scythe to a stop. Kid caught a glimpse of the weapon's face in the blade, a grin with sharp teeth. A voice vibrated from the scythe, but what it said was unclear. The girl was apparently satisfied with whatever answer it had given. The trio watched as she raised him back behind her head, and both weapon and meister yelled together. "Let's go, soul resonance!" A blue glow washed over them. He felt Patty beside him putting a hand over her brow, leaning in for a closer look.
"The legendary skill of the scythe master, Witch Hunter!" The weapon sparked violently, white and blue, as a second blade almost flickered to life - almost. They were close, but the connection between the two was not right. Sure enough, the aura shattered like glass, the girl dropping to her knees and letting go of her weapon. Those two had a long way to go.
They walked on, hearing the girl yell at the scythe, weapon retaliating. "They were trying to achieve a full resonance in their souls." Kid answered to Liz's question, glancing back to see the scythe returned to his human form. "But that's a fair way off for us yet. Out circumstances right now are different to theirs."
She seemed relieved at that. Looking back at the pair for as long as she could, who were now having a heated argument (something about... fat ankles?), and only lost sight of them when they walked into one of the cleared spaces.
"Girls, please transform, and we'll get started." Kid asked, holding his hands back to where they both stood behind him. His eyes were already closed, ready to once again try to bridge the gaps separating them. If all went well, then they could make large amounts of progress today. A little bit of success might even be enough to soften Liz a bit.
If he could sustain enough of a link, it was possible for him to start shaping the space in between all three of their souls, where they would communicate between their resonance – not through the physical world. It sounded complicated, but it was easy to achieve with a strong enough connection. Just close your eyes, and enter the gap between you and your partners' souls. Reach out to them, close that gap, and achieve a full resonance. In theory, it was doable. But putting it into practice was a different story. It was possible that, for the moment at least, the three of them would only be able to have their own spaces.
They might not even be able to manage that. He couldn't tell. At this point, he wasn't the one in control. Until Liz opened her soul, there was nothing he could do. And that decision would only be hers to make.
A flash of pink, and they'd swirled into the air. Sparks flashed as their human shape morphed and twisted into light. Catching the rosy streams, he spun them quickly, pink light shattering off to reveal the pistols. At least he could feel their wavelengths. It was odd holding them when they weren't yet in full resonance though. Like he was hypersensitive to the fact they were very much alive, two very different personalities, but in identical forms. And, he was very much aware of how much heavier Liz was. They were slipping away from each other, souls falling even more out of sync. Maybe as people they'd become a touch closer, but their souls were as far away as ever.
Kid shook off the thought of the unbalanced weight. To distract himself and to get on with it, he held them both up, aiming at a tree a good twenty meters away. If he was right, then the shots still wouldn't cause too much damage, so using the foliage would do for now. The sisters moved with his movements too, and he felt them hum gently in his hands. Taking a breath through his nose, he squeezed the triggers, two shots in quick succession.
The bullets looked quite impressive. They were the same deep pink that the girls were when they transformed, and were just as bright. A small amount of heat bled off them into the air. But despite being much more to look at than an ordinary bullet, they did a lot less damage. It was as he expected, the trunk of the tree showed barely any sign of the bullets that had hit it. Just like the last three times they'd been here.
A glint of light, and Liz's face appeared on one of the pistols. Her mouth was open in a small 'o' shape, eyebrow raised a notch. "Your... wavelength is so powerful... H-how come we still can't blow that tree to pieces?" she muttered. As if to confirm that she was seeing things right, she craned her neck to look again.
"We aren't in high enough resonance for the bullets to cause any damage." He observed, speaking to himself as much as he was speaking to the weapon. Patty's face sparked in the cool metal a moment later, but her smile was smaller than usual. In fact, her expression almost matched her sisters.
That pretty much settled it. There was no way he could fight with their resonance in this state. The connection between all three of them was weak, and the bullets reflected that. "Liz, Patty, I really need you to focus for a second now. Can you do that?" Kid asked, grip on them tightening slightly.
Liz only nodded slightly, expression dubious. Patty, however, had much more confidence, nodding furiously with a smile on her face. "Sure Kid, what do ya' want us to do?" The younger seemed to pick up on the subtle change in his tone, and was instantly hooked onto his every word. As much as the reaper appreciated her enthusiasm, at this point he would rather hear it from Liz. This was a crucial step towards being able to fight, and if something went wrong it could spell the end of a very short-lived team.
"I am going to try and communicate to you both through the link we have between our souls." He explained, eyes already falling closed. As the meister, it was up to him to do most of the work. Even though he was pretty sure he could do it, it wouldn't work unless they both played their part too. They each had a part to play; every piece had to fit into its place. "Hopefully, we'll be able to meet in the space between our souls, and complete the link that way. Basically, we're meeting each other halfway."
Something seemed to hit a chord with Liz. Her eyes narrowed slightly, head tilting a bit. It was as if she had gained a bit of confidence, was a bit surer of herself. "Okay, let's try it then." She smirked, following Kid's lead and closing her own eyes. Patty did the same, after strongly agreeing with her sister, eyes shut up tight.
With a deep breath, and one last hope that this would work, he fell into an inky black void.
It was dark, oppressively so. As much as it encased him, in a way that under any other circumstance would make him panic, it felt comfortable. There was no temperature or gravity – he didn't even have to breathe. The air wasn't thick, but floating in it felt a bit like swimming through water.
This was inside the gap between their souls.
At least he'd made it here. That showed that the three of them at least had enough of a link to form this space. And beyond that, he could feel that they'd both made it too. A relief indeed. Things were going better than he'd expected at this point, which was a welcome surprise. But there wasn't much to celebrate yet. After all, that was only the first step. Now he had to find them – which could prove difficult, as he wasn't even entirely sure just how large this space was.
His whole body glowed. He hadn't done this before, entering a gap formed by resonance, but he was well aware of how it worked. Flexing his fingers experimentally, holding his hand out in front of him, he could see he was shining in bright golden. Interesting. Quickly reminding himself that he had to find both of the sisters, he called out to them, reaching out to catch their wavelengths. Once they were all together, then they wouldn't be encased in such darkness. That was the goal.
He thought he saw a spark in the corner of his eye. Only a moment later did the presence of another soul strengthen. Faintly, distantly, he felt Patty calling back to him. It was far away, but the distance was closing, the calls growing louder and stronger. He knew that if anything, they would be able to find each other. She was reaching for him, following the guidance of her meister. Their souls were finding one another. Patty had a strong instinct, and an even stronger will, which drew her to him like a magnet. As a weapon and meister should, they searched for one another, reaching through even the suffocating darkness.
He reached his hand out. Fingers outstretched, he thought he saw another light start to spark in the distance. They were so close now, that they couldn't possibly lose each other. Just a little bit further...
Sure enough, as his other arm rose out in front of him, he found both his hands linked with hers. Fingers entwining, they had finally gotten a hold on the other. Her body lit up, blond bangs swirling over her forehead in the lack of gravity.
"Found ya'!" Patty giggled, body encased in a powerful magenta aura. She shone brighter when she'd reached him, glow extending further to illuminate the darkness around them – as did his own. Their resonance was much stronger now that they'd found each other, but that didn't mean it was complete. Eventually, their connection needed to be strong enough to hold while their consciousness was in the physical world. That was leaps and bounds away though. This was a pretty good start, all things considered. Even if they still didn't completely match, didn't fit together absolutely, they were well on their way at this rate.
The weapon's blue eyes were wide, hand gripping tightly to Kid. It was... humbling, in a way. She trusted him completely, taking a belief opposite to her sister. Patty was readily willing to dedicate herself to this, even if she wasn't entirely sure of what exactly she was doing. He took a conscious note to make sure that trust was not misplaced. They'd only known each other for a week, and yet her faith in him was overwhelming. Maybe he was thinking about it much more than she herself was. Still, he thanked her silently. They were so different really, but souls did have an odd way of choosing whom they matched with.
Now they had to find Liz. This connection to Patty, it was a feeling he'd never really experienced before. And all they had to do to complete it was for the eldest to join. She should, she could, but the question was if she would. Would she? Having a link to another soul was a connection that went far in creating a strong bond. It was possible you may only know someone for a few weeks, but if you resonated souls then your relationship may be stronger than a bond between people who'd known each other for years. Souls were very sensitive to one another, after all.
That said, she would have to take a complete leap of faith. There was no 'half' effort in this. And Kid wasn't sure that even if they found her, that she would be willing to trust him enough.
Hell, he didn't really blame her. She had every right to be suspicious. However, even if it was still very early days, a seed of doubt wouldn't take much to grow. The best way forward for them as a team would be this level of resonance.
But that wasn't the only issue. Souls were fragile, and even if he was a reaper he was no exception. In this space emotions were heightened, and any of them could act without thinking first. Worst case scenario, if he became frustrated, or unable to connect when his instinct screamed to, he might retaliate. He wasn't exactly sure what exactly would happen then, but it wouldn't take much to damage their link – and a lot more to fix it. It wasn't likely that would happen, but it was a possibility. He kept it in mind as he glanced around for any sign of the older pistol.
"Hey Kid, Let's go find Liz." Patty was eager, her body glowing in a way even brighter than his own. She was the main beacon in this darkness, as she was the only connection between all three of them. In fact, it wasn't for her, he and Liz would probably have no connection at all.
He hated that. The way they were pushing away from each other so early on. How do you begin to link to someone so different? Patty was the opposite; she was as willing as Kid was. And now he had to find a way for Liz to trust him, to try and show her that he was serious. How long would it take? Would she ever fully have faith in him?
Agreeing, they both cast out their wavelengths to search for her, glow dissipating into the darkness. Since the two of them had connected, the thick black surrounding them had begun to thin. It was possible to see light bouncing of walls, but where exactly they were was hard to say. That was a step in the right direction. The room all three of their subconscious's would form for their resonance was beginning to take shape.
Patty had her eyes shut tight, and he saw her starting to feel something- staring to get a sense of where Liz was. She seemed to be able to get an idea of where to go. Reluctantly letting go of one of Kid's hands, she reached into the dark. He was disappointed that he couldn't feel a thing. Even with the younger weapon leading him, he really didn't know where they were going. And even when Patty started to move faster, swimming through the pitch black towards something unseen, he didn't even get a spark. Not a flicker of resonance with the eldest Thompson. The only thing he did know was that she was here, somewhere.
Still, he couldn't help but get the feeling that they were getting closer to her. Patty seemed to believe that they weren't far off now, and she began to reach forward more fervently. Kid was unable to feel anything concrete, but he couldn't help sensing a few stronger sparks of her wavelength. Then, pink fingers started to reach through the dark. A whole hand inched forward to Patty, who grabbed onto it eagerly. In the moment she did, the presence of Liz's wavelength rocked him like an electric current, hitting him all at one. It wasn't matching his own, so it wasn't very comfortable.
Her whole body appeared, shining in a slightly lighter pink than her little sister. The younger Thompson was grasping tightly to her hand, and the two tones of pink blended together. Patty had a tight link to her; their wavelengths matched with an ease he didn't think he'd seen before. It was unusual for one weapon to be able to wield another, but with their souls so close Kid could see how they managed it so easily.
Unfortunately, the way he matched her was pitiful in comparison. In fact, it was only thanks to his reaper soul that they were able to have any connection whatsoever. He could barely even see her. From Patty's hand, the glow of the sister's bodies merged, but it faded off the farther away she was. Liz's arm was all he could see clearly; the rest of her body was a flickering blur. She hadn't had it in herself to trust him. As much as he wanted to reach out to her, there was no use in it. Biting his lip, the hand not currently held onto the younger balled into a fist as he considered what he was supposed to do next. This was not the problem most teams faced. He'd never heard of it happening before.
Suddenly, there was a blinding flash. A searing, bright white burned his eyes, and a moment after he'd seen it he was hit by it. There was no time even to brace himself. It felt as if an electric charge had ripped through him, throwing him away from the sisters with gut-wrenching force. The wind was completely knocked from his lungs; he didn't even get a chance to cry out in surprise and shock. With a loud 'oof' he landed on his back, blades of grass pricking at his skin.
Kid's whole body was shaking. Every single one of his limbs had pins and needles, and spots of light danced across his eyes. Closing them tightly, he took a gasping, chipped breath in, his whole body completely paralyzed. For a moment, he could do nothing more than lie there in absolute shock. It wasn't that he was in pain; it was just that he was completely stunned. But it was only a moment, because once he'd recollected his thoughts, a wave of anguish washed through him. A sharp intake of air made him choke and he coughed loudly, rolling onto his elbow for support.
He had done this.
It was unbelievable. Kid thought he had it under control; thought that the possibility of his wavelength retaliating like that was unthinkable. Sure, a small amount of frustration was understandable, but that? That was huge. Blinking open his eyes, he scanned the grass for the sisters, who had been thrown away too.
Liz was already on her feet, pulling a dazed Patty up too. At least they were okay. If he'd hurt them, and, God, was it a miracle he didn't, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. No. The fact that it had happened in the first place was enough. A wave of nausea took hold, and he wrapped an arm around his stomach.
"Kid!" Patty yelped, rushing over to where he was sitting. Liz followed quickly after, with a look of shock etched into her features. The younger dropped beside him, shaking his shoulders lightly. "Kid! Are you okay? What happened?"
What was he supposed to say? "I-I..." He started, but he couldn't say anything. His throat had turned to ice, choking him and causing his chest to burn. Everything was blurred. Grabbing a fistful of hair, he fought his voice past his lips. "I am so sorry." Suddenly, a choked sob wracked his body. Words tumbled from his mouth, disjointed and incomplete. "Useless! Worthless! Trash!" His eyes had begun to sting and he closed them tightly, voice becoming more and more strangled. "Pathetic! I'm garbage!"
The sisters seemed alarmed with the sudden outburst. Liz especially. Patting him awkwardly on the back, she crouched down next to Patty. "H-hey, c'mon, it's not that big of a deal..."
He barely even heard her. More self-loathing was the only response she got. "I-I, can't do anything right... It's all wrong! And unbalanced! I should just die!"
For a moment, Patty looked as if she might've laughed. Liz cast her a very dirty look at that. But she just smiled and pat him on the shoulder. "C'mon Kid! Y'know that stuff's not true. Let's just try again. We'll get it right next time!"
But the oldest blonde just put a hand on her sister's shoulder, casting one last glance to the crumpled boy beside her. "Maybe we should just... leave it for today..."
Liz felt sick. A sour taste sat in the back of her throat, fingers twitching for a cigarette. Even if she had no problem bending the law, she'd always taken it upon herself not to harm anyone if it wasn't necessary. She did what she had to in order to survive – going beyond that was a whole new level she refused to sink to. So back then... What had come over her? What did she think she had to gain? She never expected anything like that to happen.
I'm sorry, Kid.
A/N: The first breakdown everyone! I'm sorry Kiddo...
I'm going to have a few cameos from other Soul Eater characters. Yes, Soul and Maka everyone!
And man, I just realized that this story had a whole lot of my headcanons, especially when it comes to stuff about resonance. I hope y'all don't mind. Aaaand I made Kid's soul gold. So sue me, it suits him better than red.
Remember, that this story runs of feedback, so if ya' wanna see more you've gotta review! Even if you don't, thanks for sticking with me this far, dear readers. Till next time!
