The four parents stood in the doorway of Elsa's room, looking at the two still sleeping children.
"How did he get here?" Stein asked in a hushed voice.
"He must have walked." Spirit answered. "We didn't even know he was gone until Marie called- he climbed out his window."
"It's so cute." Marie giggled, taking a picture.
"We can't allow this behavior to continue, though." Azusa said quietly, looking at her son. "They're far too old for this."
"They're eight and ten, Azusa! Even if he is my son I don't think we have anything to worry about quite yet!" Spirit gasped out, moving away from the door as the laughter broke through. Azusa planted her foot against his butt as he bent over and gave him a good shove. He stumbled down the hall a bit, but didn't fall.
James became aware of their parents before Elsa woke up. He could feel all of their presences behind him. He remained still, keeping his breathing neutral. It wouldn't be the first time that he'd fooled his parents into thinking he was asleep when he wasn't. That was then… this time one of the presences from behind him seemed to be boring straight into his soul.
Which was quite truthfully what was happening. Stein was staring at James, reading his soul wavelength; learning everything he could about the boy's soul. "James." Stein called out in a low voice. "I can tell you're awake and nervous about being found away from home. Get up, don't wake Elsa."
James looked down at the sleeping girl. She was laying on one of his arms, her small frame cradled against his. He bit his lip, unsure how to move without waking her, but not wanting to anger her father any more than it was obvious that he had already. He slid his arm out from under her head, breathing a sigh of relief as she just curled up instead of waking. Grabbing his shoes he stepped into the hallway, Stein closing her door behind him.
James felt a flash of anxiety as the door shut, and he couldn't see her. He smiled slightly as he realized that he could still feel her presence on the other side of the door and relaxed a bit until he saw Stein's face. He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry for breaking into your home, sir." He said meekly.
The tall man seemed to loom over him, the light glinting off his glasses. "I am not angry that you entered my home uninvited." He said. "I am angry that I found you in bed with my daughter." Even Spirit gulped. "If this ever happens again I will take you apart, piece by piece." Spirit paled and Azusa shot Stein a look.
James shuddered. He knew a promise when he heard one. "I'm sorry, sir. I won't sleep with your daughter again." Spirit suppressed the chuckle, knowing that he and his son were thinking of two entirely different things, and then blanched a bit when he remembered how old the children were.
'Dirty old pervert indeed!' He thought to himself. 'I guess no matter how hard you scrub, you never get the stains off old sheets!'
Azusa and Spirit took James home and Marie and Stein sat in the kitchen waiting on Elsa to wake up.
"Why do you think he did that, Stein?" Marie asked, one hand propping up her chin, the other absent mindedly stirring her coffee.
Stein just shrugged, not caring. He'd made his point and he believed James would keep the promise he had made.
"You were terrifying, by the way." She said suddenly, and then went back to stirring her coffee and daydreaming. "If they were older that would have been so romantic. Slipping away after a huge fight to comfort her." She sighed wistfully.
Stein chuckled. "You don't know anything about romance, Franken!" He dodged as she flung a creamer at his head.
There was an eep from the door and they turned to see Elsa looking at her night shirt that now had left over creamer on it. "Mother, why did you throw that at me?" She asked in a very tired, confused voice.
"I was throwing it at your daddy, sweetheart. Come here though, we have to talk to you." Elsa padded over to Marie, climbing up in her lap and resting her head on Marie's shoulder, yawning.
"Elsa, what happened last night?" Stein asked. Elsa didn't know that James had spent the night, and she opened her mouth to tell him that nothing had happened when she caught the look in his eyes.
"I went to bed, then I woke up and James was there. He was scared and tired and he was hurting so I let him lay down with me while we talked. I fell asleep while he was talking and when I woke up he was gone." She said, rushing the words out. "Are… are you mad, daddy?"
"Your mother and I are both a bit upset, Elsa. James' parents didn't know where he was. They could have been very worried if your mother hadn't checked on you this morning and found the two of you." Stein's tone was far more gentle than it had been while dealing with James.
"I'm sorry…" Elsa trailed off.
"If that ever happens again, Elsa, you come and get one of us immediately." Stein said.
"You come and get me immediately." Marie corrected, smirking.
"Why?" Elsa asked.
The two adults shared a look and Marie broke up laughing. "Because we don't want anything to happen to your little boyfriend, now do we Elsa?"
Elsa's fair skin turned almost beat red. "He's not my boyfriend!" She exclaimed, sliding off her mother's lap. She went over to her father and pulled a chair close to him. "Daddy knows that he's not."
Stein couldn't resist, the sadistic part of him flaring to life momentarily. "Really, Elsa? Normally if you sleep with a boy you're either dating him or married to him."
"HE HAS COOTIES!" She shouted as she darted away from the table. Both adults laughed.
James sat in his room, in more trouble than he had been when he went along with Elsa's plan to run away. He sighed, looking around. His books were all gone, his toys gone, even pen and paper was gone. He had nothing to do and they told him it would be like that for the next two weeks.
"James, you have to understand. What you did was incredibly, incredibly dangerous. You could have gotten yourself killed. Someone could have kidnapped you. Anything could have happened." Spirit had admonished him on the ride back.
"Your father doesn't want to punish you, James. Or rather, he doesn't believe in spanking a child." She pushed her glasses up. "As a result, you'll be grounded, in your room, for the rest of the day and for the next two weeks."
He had just sighed, knowing better than to argue. As he sat in his room he felt something strange pass near his window, and not understanding the burgeoning ability he was discovering, he moved over to it and opened the window, looking out. He felt it briefly, a large presence, hovering in the tree near him, but it winked out quicker than he could focus on it, and he shut his window, shuddering as something told him locking it wouldn't keep whatever that was out if it wanted to get in.
James tossed and turned for hours, unable to sleep. Finally he grabbed his pillow and curled up around it; his body exhausted from the long trek the night before and the enforced boredom earlier in the day. He managed to dose off only to jerk himself awake when he heard a scratching sound on his window. Standing he walked to it, examining it without touching it. In the corner of the window he found the source of the scratching sound.
In the bottom of the window there was a long scratch, as if made from a claw. It ran along the entirety of the bottom of the window, and had been close to making it through the glass. James trembled, feeling fear rise up in him, but he fought it down, grabbing his pillow and blanket and curling up in his closet instead.
Elsa stood in her special room, tapping her foot. She'd been here for hours it felt like, and she still hadn't seen James.
"Maybe he's too scared to come back…" She said to herself. "Maybe he got into a lot of trouble." Her face crumpled imagining James getting into trouble over her and she sighed, fighting the tears. She stepped over to the operating table, looking up at the bare bulb that hung over it. She tried to imagine what James had said she had done, but couldn't. She had made a promise. A very important promise. She would never cut a person up like that. She had promised her daddy.
She felt James' presence before he said anything and she grinned. "It took you long enough, onii-chan!" She giggled, turning to face him. She couldn't help but gasp. "You look horrible!" She exclaimed, tears in her eyes.
James looked down. He wasn't in the surgeon's outfit like he had been last time. This time he was in his normal clothing, but they were ripped to pieces and barely hanging on him. He could feel the pain from the cuts that had made the slashes in his clothing then, but looking at his skin he realized that there was nothing there.
"I… I don't know why, Elsa. This is your place, not mine. Can't you change it?" He asked. She gave him an odd look then smiled, tilting her head again.
"I bet that I can! It's the same thing that daddy's been teaching me!" She closed her eyes, concentrating and James felt the oddest sensation wash over him. It was like when he was in weapon form, but it was different. He closed his eyes until it was over and felt the grin grow when he realized that he was back in the surgeon's outfit.
"That's awesome, Elsa!" He said. "Why are we here, though? We should be asleep, not here talking."
"We are asleep, silly. That's why it took you so long to get here I bet!" She smiled at him.
"There was a scratch mark on my window tonight, Elsa." He watched as she reached down to touch her leg. "Yeah, it looked like that. I'm asleep in my closet." He said in something close to a whisper.
They talked for hours, and even this part of them started to become tired. James yawned and sat down against the wall, his eyes widening as Elsa snuggled up against him. She just smiled sweetly at him and he didn't say anything. The last thing he heard as he drifted off to sleep was her whisper. "Mommy called you my boyfriend and do did Daddy."
His voice was low and tired as he replied, "Then I guess you're my girlfriend." She giggled.
"James!" He heard his father yell. He opened the closet door and looked blearily at his father.
"Dad, I'm in here." He said. Spirit turned to look at the closet.
"Why were you in the closet?!" Spirit demanded. James just pointed at the window. The scratch in the glass was still there from last night. "What the-" Spirit started, curtailing the last word as he remembered he was supposed to watch his language around James. "Take your shower and get ready in the bathroom, James. I'll deal with this messed up window." James just nodded.
He arrived at school a few minutes before Elsa did and waited around outside for her, the memory of his scratched up window running constantly through his mind. He couldn't pay attention all day, and even Elsa couldn't get him to.
When recess came, he followed Elsa robotically to the playground, listening only halfheartedly to her, subconsciously tuning out all the presences around them.
A pair of greyish-purple eyes followed those two particular little ones like she had all day. A scent hit her and she lifted her head, briefly brushing straight black hair out of her eyes. 'So familiar…' She thought to herself as she walked along, following the scent. It was close. And so familiar.
Sylvia stayed in the bushes, hiding the entire recess, trying to place that familiar smell. She nearly left the bushes once though, but caution kept her in them.
James was lost in his own world when Elsa gave a strangled shriek and buried her face in his shirt.
"Elsa? Elsa, what's wrong? Are you alright?" He asked, looking down at her.
"She's here." She whispered in a small, terrified voice.
"Who, Elsa?" James asked, giving her a quick hug.
"The... the witch!" She squeaked out. "I saw her soul she's here, she's just hiding!" James looked up, focusing on the presences that he could feel around himself.
"Elsa, I can't feel her anywhere." As the words left his mouth he realized that he hadn't told Elsa that he could feel people's presences yet.
"You can feel other people?" She asked, her terror momentarily forgotten.
He opened his mouth to answer when he felt it flare up, and Elsa flattened herself against him, shaking. "Elsa, I think that we need to go home. We'll be safer there."
She looked up at him, and even in her fear he could see a kernel of bravery, stubbornness, and something else he couldn't make out. "If we go home, then we're still just kids… we have to be brave like our parents or they'll never send us to the DWMA." She said firmly. He just nodded, knowing how stubborn she was.
They went back to class when the bell rang; both of them fidgeting and when the second recess came they kept away from the other students, near the tree line, talking about what they would do if they had to face the witch. Elsa tried to boast, but they both knew there was nothing they could really do.
Sylvia sniffed the air again, catching that same scent, and this time she placed it, following along behind it until she realized that it was leading up the tree that James and Elsa were sitting at. "She's come back after the little ones!" Sylvia's mind spun in circles, and she realized that if the witch were to attack so many of the other little ones would die. "What do I do? I can't do it all on my own. How do I tell them without letting the witch know?" Sylvia closed her eyes, focusing as hard as she could and was rewarded when she heard the fire alarm go off inside the school.
As soon as the alarm went off, James was on his feet, grabbing Elsa's sleeve, pulling her along with him. "No, no, no!" Sylvia thought desperately, sad for what she had to do. "I'm sorry." She whispered, a small wall of flame jumping up in front of the two little ones, James pushing Elsa behind him as she shrieked at the sudden appearance of the flames. When it died down it had left the words:
"Friend. Help you. Need your help. Witch coming. Distract until parents come. Please."
James took a step and addressed the open air. "Why don't you just show yourself?" He demanded.
"Aww, what a cute little kitten." Said a silky voice as a black panther leapt easily from a tree branch to the ground. "Were you talking to me, little kitten?"
Elsa threw her hand out to James and in an instant he was in weapon form, Elsa bringing the weapon up and firing a shot. There was no one left on the playground to see the panther easily jump to the side, transforming into a tall Egyptian woman as it landed, completely dodging Elsa's wild shot.
"And just when I thought that I had found a kitten I could take home and make all mine, you have to ruin the moment and try to shoot me." She said, a pout on her lips.
Something inside Elsa snapped. "You hurt my daddy!" She screamed, charging the witch. The witch laughed, back handing Elsa. The force through Elsa twenty feet away and she lost her grip on James. He landed almost fifteen feet away from her, sliding to his feet as his momentum stopped. Elsa shook her head, trying to clear it.
"I would have treated you just like one of my own little kits. Tsk, tsk. Now you're just too much of a nuisance, little kitten." She smiled sweetly. "Black Panther Dark Fang!"
James could only scream, too far away from his imouto to get to her and push her out of the way, though he was trying his best to. Elsa sat frozen, watching the magic streak towards her. Her voice rose into a thin, high pitched scream and she raised her arms to cover her face.
Then there was a rush of heat and Elsa was looking at the back of a girl maybe a little older than her, a wall of fire now between her and the witch. A pale face turned and screamed something at her, Elsa too much in shock to realize what it was, but she felt James grab her arm and drag her to her feet. The black haired girl then leapt straight through the flames, fire running up and down her hands as she managed to score a direct hit on the witch.
The witch took the full force of the attack, screaming out in rage. The fire wall burned down and they were all left staring at the claw shaped burn etched into the witch's stomach. "And what type of kitten are you?! What was that?!" She demanded of the empty air, coughing blood, the girl already gone.
Her eyes turned onto James and Elsa. "Oh well, I still have you two kittens here." She grinned sweetly, it was incredibly unnerving. "Why don't you two just come and be good little kittens, we can still be friends."
Elsa shook in fear, staring at the sheer size of the witch's soul, but she could also, off in her peripheral vision, see another soul. This one was larger than any of the other children's had been, and was blood red with… horns. It was as terrifying as the witch's soul. James grabbed her shoulder as she took a hesitant step towards the witch's outstretched arms. She just held her hand out to him. He transformed quickly, and she held onto his handle as if it were a lifeline.
Jerkily she stepped towards the witch who was smiling. "I… I don't want to fight." Elsa whispered.
"Elsa?!" James screamed in her head.
"I don't want to be afraid of you. You seem so nice." Elsa said in a singsong voice, closing the distance to the witch.
"You don't have to be afraid of me little kitten, I'll treat you just like one of my own little kits!" The witch's smile was large.
Elsa stepped into the circle of the witch's arms, and then buried James' blade into the witch's already burned stomach. The witch screamed in pain, backhanding Elsa again and sending her flying. Elsa slammed into a tree, blood gushing from her mouth with a loud snap. With a whimper, she tried to stand but couldn't.
James was left buried in the witch's stomach, and she pulled the weapon out of her slowly. A blast hit her in the back and she whirled, facing the blast and a very determined looking Sylvia, one arm a pure black dragon shaped canon. Even as the witch laughed, another gout of fire escaped the canon and knocked her back.
The witch took a step towards Sylvia, and then stopped, laughing. "What resourceful kittens you three are!" They all heard the crack as they watched her tighten her grip on James' weapon form, Elsa screaming, and suddenly the ten year old boy was hanging from her hand, clawing at his throat, struggling for breath.
The witch laughed again and took a step when a shot rang out, the witch's head jerking to the side. A second later a tall figure wielding a hammer slammed into her, and James fell to the ground.
A/N: So, Fall-chan has a lot of credit due for this chapter, she helped with the proof-reading, and large sections of the story were also her idea. Sylvia is her OC, and Fall-chan wrote outlines for a lot of what she does. I love working with her, so give her stories a look!
I don't own Soul Eater, but James, Elsa, and the panther are all mine :)
I hope that you all enjoy this. Two chapters in less than eight hours /gasp! Love you all :)
Thanks for the reviews, PMs, and encouragement :D