Maka

I awoke from sleep drenched in sweat, alone, and in an unfamiliar room. It was black with blood red accents and a large piano in the center. A chilling silence filled the air as I shifted in the tight silk dress wrapped around my body, almost like a second skin. The bodice made is difficult to breathe, but once it hit my hips the fabric splayed out into a formal gown. High heeled shoes adorned my feet and I tried to pry them off but the buckles wouldn't unfasten no matter how long I fiddled with them. Once I finally gave up I studied the room more thoroughly. No doors or windows, just expensive furniture painted crimson red against a black backdrop. I stood, wobbly on the heels as I trekked to the piano, letting my fingers just barely glide over the glossy keys. They were the only white thing in the room, inter-spaced with the black keys that signified most sharp or flat notes. For a moment I prided myself for the little information I had learned from my music lessons at a young age. I was tone deaf and couldn't keep a beat so eventually my father took me out of the classes. I smiled at myself as I sat at the bench, my fingers so light on the keys. I pressed one down and a horrible noise emitted from the instrument. I cringed backwards as a door that hadn't been there before opened and Soul walked in looking ravaging in a pinstripe suit and blood red tie. He eyed me suspiciously as he walked around the piano.

Something felt off about him.

My eyes followed him, studied the way his hands were in his pockets, the slouch of his back and the now lazy grin adorning his face. Everything looked so Soul, but nothing felt right. This dress was too tight, these shoes weren't comfortable, and something very wrong was pulsating from Soul. I tried to look at him with my Grigori vision, but nothing happened. Did that ability not apply to dreams?

Or was there nothing to see?

"Dance with me," Not-Soul smiled, offering me his hand. I wanted to scream and run but the only exit had disappeared once Not-Soul had shut the door. I nodded once, steeling my resolve to figure out what was going on in this weird nightmare. Not-Soul took my hand gently, confidence exuding from every pore as he whisked me away and we began dancing at a slow tempo to a soundless room. It felt like there was a spotlight on us, making me nervous. I stepped on Soul's feet more than once. He didn't flinch or growl like I expected. All he did was smile.

"You look as beautiful as ever," his voice was smooth, void of the usual gravely undertone he added whenever he gave compliments. I nodded, not trusting my voice. "Talk to me Maka. It's your dream after all."

"How can this be my dream?" I said more calmly than I felt. My heart was erratic in my chest, pounding one second and tightening the next. "You don't seem right," I frowned.

"I'm exactly as you want me to be," he shrugged, his red eyes studying me.

"You're not Soul," I repeated my statement in different words, trying to force some kind of information out of the thing dancing with me. All I got was a chuckle, his red eyes just not the right shade. They seemed dull. Lifeless.

"You're right and you're wrong." He tsked, his voice changing but his face remaining impassive as he continued to move me around the room. "You see I'm him, and I'm you. I'm what you have in common. And eventually you'll both be mine," Not-Soul leaned his face closer to mine and I broke his hold on me, stepping away cautiously.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, doing my best to sound intimidating.

"There's a price to power, and I have a feeling you two are going to have to pay in full," a demented laugh escaped Soul's mouth in a voice that wasn't his. It was deeper and smoother and distorted in a way that made it sound far away and very close.

"Leave him out of this," I responded as he was shrouded in shadow, slowly fading from sight.

"No, you leave him out of this little Grigori. I can promise madness isn't fun." Soul was gone, leaving only the voice and its words.

I screamed, sitting up in the quiet room. Once again I had fallen asleep in the new dress room, only this time my only guest was a frowning Soul. The (now half?) Vampire was alert next to me in a second, his head wiping around to try and spot any obvious source of concern. When he found none I became the target of his gaze. Carefully, questioningly, he place a hand on my shoulder as I breathed heavily, taking in air like I had been suffocated. The gentle pulse of his soul calmed me. The little white wisp of smoke was now tinged with something darker.

It bothered me. It was an anomaly. I tried not to dwell on it.

Sun was streaming in through the windows and comforting silence stretched between us as I calmed down. Was it just a dream? A nightmare? Could I talk to him about this? Questions began buzzing through my head and I didn't have immediate answers for any of them. What was I supposed to do?

"Maybe food will make you feel better?" Soul finally spoke, easing some of the tension in my shoulders. It was his voice, calming and just the right amount of gravel. I nodded, pushing the covers off of me. Soul lead me through the house and I followed, too spooked to pay attention to the routes we walked or the furnishings. Soul began babbling about one of the parties his brother got to attend, something to do with swinging and playing music while lip locked with a brunette, when I froze. We had traveled these halls for a week, going down new hallways and poking into empty rooms between training and studying but never had we taken this particular route. We were in front of a room, door wide open, that resembled the room from my nightmare down to the black dress laid out across the red settee.

I had a minor shut down over the dress. Going catatonic until Soul had to drag me to his old house. I don't remember most of what happened, just a lot of poking from Stein and what sounded like muffled shouts between my father and Soul. Papa had a bruise on his exposed arm, indicative of some kind of fist fight. I ignored him and my mother after coming to my senses.

Now I was on the floor of the library with Soul and Stein, breathing in through my nose and out from my slightly open mouth. Stein was smoking again, making it a little difficult to breathe through the clouds of noxious fumes he blew at Soul. An amused smile tugged at his lips.

"You're not bonded yet," Stein finally spoke after a long silence filled with the occasional cough. He often points out odd things, like bad form or Soul's usual lack of manners. Some of his questions are invasive and uncomfortable, and always out of the realm of normal context which he never provides. This was another of those prodding moments that felt far too personal, but something he would probably not let go until he received some kind of response.

"Why would we be," I asked defensively.

"You're young, irrational decisions are what young people make," Stein put out a cigarette only to replace it with a new one. I frowned and watched the flick of his wrist as he brought a flame to life at the end of his lighter.

"The better question is why you would care," Soul asked lazily.

"You two being bonded would bother Spirit, and that would be fun," Stein smiled, the fire from his lighter casting glare on his glasses.

"You're a little crazy," I muttered and he nodded without pause as if I stated an irrefutable fact.

"The price of Grigori magic is a little bit of your sanity." Stein shrugged. Then he turned to Soul, a serious expression on his face. He seemed thoughtful for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and opening his mouth to speak. My words seemed a tad bit faster than his, however.

"Wait," my mouth began without permission from my brain, "if you're so crazy from being a Grigori yourself then why are my parents so normal?"

"Have you met your parents," Soul started before Stein could open his mouth.

"Well I mean Papa's a little eccentric sometimes…" I tried not to think of Kidd locking us in that room for hours yesterday. Of the yelling and the screaming and tears. Of the realization that my parents were far more off kilter than I had originally thought, but nowhere near as bonkers as Stein.

"I am very old and have had a lot of time to build up this Madness. Besides, Maka, using the Grigori powers isn't guaranteed to make you as crazy as I am, but there's a chance. Regardless, however, if you choose to do nothing Asura will unleash a wave of madness that makes me look sane," Stein frowned as if the thought was insulting to himself. Soul snorted and turned to face me fully.

"I don't mind going a little nuts if it helps keep you safe," Soul's eyes were burning into the side of my face. I shook my head at the thought, deciding that turning to look at him would be a bad idea.

"What if it's worse for you than Stein." I didn't delve into how it would be my fault if Soul went mad, that I would rather fight alone than have Soul lose any part of his sanity. A bit late for that now that the ceremony has been completed, but still. Maybe if he continues to be exceptionally bad at training he'll be left behind and I won't have to worry about the Madness taking him.

"You know," Stein began, taking another drag from his cigarette, "Some Grigori souls actually have the ability to nullify the madness caused by using their own magic. It's a rare ability, but it happens."

"How does one even know if they have such a gift?" I asked, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach at the thought of Soul having the same faraway look Stein sometimes wears if he's been without his cigarettes, the way his fingers twitch and he mutters to himself about taking us all apart.

"I have an inkling that you may possess it. The boy seems to be a magnet for Madness, when you leave him he twitches and his soul goes dark, and then you bump into him and it's like wiping a dusty window clean, quite fascinating to watch."

"What- I don't quite follow?" I furrowed my brow, studying Stein carefully, trying to gage if he was in his right mind or not.

"I know you have the sight, I witnessed as much in your Awakening ceremony. That darkness you see in the soul, that is the Madness building within a person. In Soul it seems to crescendo until you make some sort of contact and it wipes itself clean once again. I feel if we can get you two to resonate you might have a chance to actively try it instead of it happening on accident and it doesn't seem to react unconsciously in the same way when you interact with your parents."

"Is that why we were locked in that room yesterday?" A nod was my response as he exhaled more of that smoke. His words bounced around in my head a moment before my brain seemed to latch onto something. "What's resonating," I perked up, ready to devour the information. Stein was so careful with his books that he wouldn't let me read them, worried I was going to try to skip ahead.

"Essentially it's bouncing soul wavelengths back and forth between two or more souls until a solid connection is formed. It allows for better strategies as you can hear all participant's thoughts and in special cases share abilities like soul perception or that special healing wavelength that is basically a madness cure." Soul was frowning while Stein blew out another lungful of smoke.

"What exactly do you have to do to resonate?"

"Have a very deep connection with the person you're resonating with," My mother's voice cut through Stein's attempt at answering. She strolled into the now mostly empty library like she owned the place, her sharp eyes darting around, studying everything. Is this what I'll be like after years of fighting monsters? Or was she paranoid due to some hidden madness she wasn't sharing with us. I crossed my arms as she stopped between Soul and I. It was difficult to crane my neck up to see her since I was still sitting down. "Or in Stein's case have a very adaptive soul."

"What brings you here Kami," Stein asked, his tone neutral but his expression was bordering on bored.

"I would like to speak to my daughter alone." I sighed before pushing myself up and leaving the dusty library of the crumbling manor behind. I followed mother out to the courtyard garden, trying to keep my thoughts neutral as there could be a million things she could want to 'talk' to me about.

"What can i-"

"Do you love him?" Mother's voice was a growl in the quiet midday air. I can confused for a moment before sighing.

"Between you and father being far too overprotective and everything else that's going on I hardly have time to worry about romance, let alone contemplate feelings." I rolled my eyes at her.

"Having feelings for him at all could be dangerous for you. And you are to important to-"

"You don't get to tell me how to feel or what to do, especially when you can barely feel yourself," I hissed at her, feeling my vague ire turn into rage. Every cold instance with this woman and barbed conversation came to mind only fueling the fire. "If i want to love him I will. And if i want to hate you, well, you've hardly given me reason not to. I'll kindly ask you to keep your love advice to yourself."

"You're father ruined my ability to show compassion. He destroyed me." my mother broke, actual tears forming in her cold emerald eyes. The truth of her words palpable in the air. But it was an excuse.

"Papa may be a lot of things, but he did what he did to keep me safe from your single minded mania. If anyone destroyed you you should look in the mirror." I left her behind as I stomped back into the manor to rejoin Soul and Stein in the library.