A/N - Did you know that yesterday, February 12th, is Alecto Bellatore's birthday? I'd actually forgotten that until I check a few days ago. I'd intended to upload this chapter yesterday as a sort of celebration of the fact. But my sister and my mom went out to see Frozen, and my sister was like "DIANA YOU HAVE TO COME SEE FROZEN." Of course, I was like "But fanfictiooooon" and then my sister was like "But Disneeeey." It was a flawless argument on her behalf. So I ended up going and seeing that movie. It was very good. Played on my expectations a lot. Fuck Hans. Seriously, fuck that guy. In any case, I wasn't able to finish and upload this chapter until today. A shame.

Still, happy belated birthday, Alecto Bellatore, you bilingual little badass.

I'd like to thank Lurking Pheonix, Shape Without Form, and SmolderingBlackRose for reviewing! To Lurking Phoenix, I say that I'm glad you like how I introduced Alecto and Tempus. I did want to start out with a little introductory "prologue" arc, similar to the first three episodes of the anime itself. I also have to admit that I did orignally intend for a sort of-kind of love triangle to occur, with Tempus being mad crushing on Alecto. But then I stood back and realized, Wait a minute. This subplot is trite, doesn't add to the story or the character arcs, and has been completely overdone in literally everything ever." So I scrapped it a few dozen thousand words ago. There are still hints of it in the first few chapters, but there's a lot of weirdness in the first few chapters because I was still trying to find my footing as a fanfic author.

To Shape Without Form, I'm glad you liked Tempus's weapon form, because his entire existence was tricky to figure out. Alecto was easy to conceptualize; pink-haired girl to had a strong devotion to her duty and bizarre abilities similar to teleportation. It was the hows and the whys of Alecto that took me a bit longer to figure out? Tempus? He was tricky little bastard. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I originally planned Alecto's partner to be a shotgun (back when Alecto's name was Kane [kah-neh]), but decided against it in favor of his current self. I'm glad that people like Tempus.

To SmolderingBlackRose, I confess that when I saw your review I grinned for way longer than I probably should have. It's good that people are shipping Alecto and Kid long before they actually start being all romantic tension-y with each other in droves. It means that there's chemistry there, which is important in writing a romance between characters. (And I do mean long before. This is gonna be a real whopper of a fic by the time I'm done.)

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

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

Chapter Twenty-One - Curiosity Claimed the Meisters - Seeking Out the Fabled Sword Excalibur, Part 2

"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"The book says that the holy sword is somewhere in this region, so yes, I am."

"But we've been walking for so long! Why did the sword decide to stick itself in some cave in the middle of nowhere?"

"Perhaps this was the sword's way of narrowing worthy prospects. Only those who truly wish to find Excalibur have the resolve necessary to find it."

Taking a sip out of her thermos and focusing her gaze sharply on the path in front of her, Alecto tried to drown out the exchange of words taking place between Black Star and Kid a few meters behind her. While she didn't feel any semblance of exhaustion (she was used to long walks like this), she did have to admit that she was eager to get to Excalibur already. Just because she wasn't tired didn't mean she wasn't bored. Plus, she was almost out of tea, and what she had left had cooled to a lukewarm state that left her rather dissatisfied.

Hey eyes focused on a large, hazy something in the distance. I hope that's what I think it is. Raising her voice, she called to the two boys behind her, "Hey, you two. I see something up ahead. I'm going to go up ahead and see if its the cave, okay?"

"Okay," Kid replied.

Tick. Alecto moved forward, her patient walk turning into a light run as she made her way forward. Above her, the sky was a rich orange peppered by the greyish, nearly-opaque bodies of the occasional passing clouds. The sun hovered just over the edge of the horizon, its snoring face temporally frozen in a hideous and kind of funny grimace, it's mouth wide open and drool dripping down its round chin.

Drooling celestial bodies aside, Alecto had never really realized just how pretty the sky could get at sunset until just now. There was a certain comfort brought on by the calm warmth of the rusty vermillions and dusky blues, a certain serenity that was strangely absent from the rest of the day. Perhaps sunset was so calming because of the colors, perhaps it was because the sunset heralded the arrival of nighttime. Alecto didn't know.

Raising one hand to shield her eyes from the light of the sun, she stopped running and squinted to get a better look at whatever it was in the distance. She couldn't see many details from this distance, but she was sure that what she was looking at was some sort of rocky, hilly area. The tallest part of the area had a dark spot on it that looked like it could definitely be an entrance to a cave. Tock. Alecto let out a sigh of relief as she realized that her suspicions had been confirmed. Finally, they were almost there.

Tick. With a considerable spring in her step and a small smile on her face, Alecto turned on her heel and returned to Kid and Black Star. Tock. "I'm back," she said, falling in line next to them and matching their pace. "Good news, we're almost there. It won't be long before we reach the sword!"

"Woo-hoo!" Black Star exclaimed jubilantly. "It's about time!" He ran on ahead, leaving the other two meisters behind as he raced toward their distant destination.

"Speaking of time," Kid said, looking up from the book in his hand and turning his amber gaze towards Alecto, "you said before that you were a time meister, Alecto?"

"Ita," Alecto replied. She probably should have expected this. The ability to use one's soul wavelength to distort time wasn't a skill that was unique to her and Tempus by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't exactly a common ability either. It was kind of like the soul perception ability that Maka and Stein had, only rarer and with more practical applications in everyday life. In any case, it was perfectly reasonable that Kid would be curious about her abilities.

"I didn't know that there were any time meisters currently studying at the Academy," Kid remarked, curiosity filling his sharp voice.

"Well, me and Tempus are the only ones currently at the Academy, as far as I know," Alecto said. Not counting her partner in battle, she had never met another time meister. She knew that there were others out there; the probability of her being one of only two people alive capable of distorting time were impossibly slim. "Which made learning how to utilize our wavelengths an… interesting venture, let me tell you. We basically had to teach ourselves how to desynchronize time."

"You taught yourselves?" Kid repeated, his eyes widening.

"Yep!" Alecto said, taking a sip of her tea and thinking back to when she was younger. Her and Tempus's early days as weapon partners had been rather chaotic. While each had managed to desynchronize time slightly on their own before joining the DWMA, trying to do it together had led to consistently disastrous results. Perhaps it had been their age and lack of experience, perhaps it had been that they hadn't managed to correctly identify each other's soul wavelengths yet, but they just couldn't manage to do it for more than a second. But they'd kept working at it, and now it was as natural as blinking an eye.

"There was a lot of trial and error involved," she continued, "and even now we're not masters at it or anything. But we've come a long way since when we started." She glanced over at him. "I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner. You saw me desynchronize time the day we met, remember?" She hadn't exactly made any great effort to draw attention to her actions at the time, but she still distinctly recalled that he had noticed it.

"I had my suspicions," Kid admitted. "Between that and watching the fight with Dr. Stein, I knew that you were doing something more than just simply moving quickly. I didn't connect it to temporal desynchronization until you brought it up earlier."

"Oh, well-" Alecto stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait. You were watching our fight with Dr. Stein? And Sid?"

"Yes," Kid said. "Dad and I were both watching through his mirror in the Death room."

"Oh. I… see." Alecto recalled how she hadn't exactly performed at her best during that particular remedial lesson. If she remembered correctly, she had barely done any substantial damage, she'd taken a gravestone to the ribcage, and had practically fallen into despair during the latter half of their fight against Stein. Vae. Suddenly she felt very embarrassed at the idea that his only concrete knowledge of her skills as a meister was from one of her weaker performances. "Y-you should probably know that I was not at my best during that fight. I'd been doing a lot of work, hadn't been getting much sleep, I'd just gotten back from a real mess of a mission. Without all that, I consider myself a sufficiently decent fighter." She was vaguely aware that she was beginning to ramble about something that didn't even matter (it wasn't like Kid had cast any harsh judgements on her fighting) but she couldn't stop herself. "And even if I wasn't, desynchronization gives me and Tempus a huge advantage in combat. If you'd seen how my last mission turned out, you'd see."

"Really?" Kid sounded more interested than Alecto had expected.

"Mm-hmm." Alecto didn't say anything further for a few seconds, letting the silence take hold of the air around them once more. Then, before she even really realized what she was about to say, she said, "Vis ire…"

"Hey!" Black Star's voice cut through her sentence. "What are you two still doing all the way back there? Jeez, you guys are slow! I bet I could get to the mountain and back twice before either of you, easily!"

Oh, really now, Alecto thought. Tick. She sprinted forward, reaching Black Star with swift ease. Without breaking stride, she maneuvered so that she was standing behind him and sharply drove her elbow into the center of his back with a pointed tock. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," she said casually as she did so.

Taken by surprise by Alecto's sudden relocation, Black Star was pushed off his feet by the force of the blow and fell to the ground. "Hey," he said, voice strained and muffled by the dirt he was currently sprawled face-down in, "that's not fair. Time stopping doesn't count."

"Sure it doesn't," Alecto said. "Thanks for the reminder, though, we really should be hurrying up. The sun's going to be completely gone soon, and I don't fancy heading back to the Academy in the middle of the night."

Glancing back in the direction of the Academy, Alecto couldn't help but wonder how Tempus was getting along.

If there was a heaven, Tempus was in it.

Alright, so this section has all first-level books that cover the history of the DWMA, with this stack covering notable clashes between the DWMA and its foes, and this stack covering the educational history. This section deals with various combat methods and soul techniques, split between ranged and melee combat. This section is an extensive encyclopedia of various Kishin Eggs, both notable and not. And this section is devoted to fiction. It's much larger than the others.

Each stack is organized bottom-to-top by appropriate placing on respective shelves based off of the library's current system of organization… which is completely backwards. Why is the section on witches right next to the section on weapons? Surely it would be more appropriate to place witches near Kishin, considering that both are noted enemies of the Academy… Ah, well.

Tempus stood back and admired his handiwork. When he'd taken over the exhilarating task of organizing the mess in the middle of the library, all of these books were completely disorderly, thrown on top of each other haphazardly without any appreciation for the proper care of literature. Now, with his sharp eye and talent for this exact thing, The books had been arranged into neat, easily manageable stacks. All he had to do was put them back on their shelves, and then he was done.

He had to admit, he couldn't help but feel a little downcast at the idea that his work here was almost over. Then again, he thought, there are surely other parts of the library that need cleaning…

Behind him, the library door creaked loudly, heralding the arrival of someone. Tempus looked over his shoulder sharply, his butterscotch blond brow furrowing in an expression of curiosity and mild hopefulness, only to see that it was just Tsubaki.

Not that he disliked seeing Tsubaki, mind. He'd just been hoping for Alecto. "Hey," he said, offering a short wave in response to the statuesque girl. "If you're looking to check out a book, I'd appreciated it if you waited until I'm done putting all of these up." He gestures to the stacks. "I want to make sure everything's where it should be."

"Oh, all right," Tsubaki said. "Do you need any help?"

"Uh…" Tempus hesitated. "Yeah, sure. These stacks of books over here need to go on the opposite side of the library, so I want to get these out of the way first. I won't say no to help carrying them." He knelt down and picked up one of the stacks, letting out a slight grunt as he heaved it up into his arms and underneath his chin. He loved sorting books, but he was happy to admit that he did not enjoy carrying thirty pounds worth of textbooks across a library.

Beside him, Tsubaki picked up another one of the stacks. "I'm really sorry about all this," she said. "I know that Black Star was supposed to be the one doing all of this, he shouldn't have just shoved it off on you."

Tempus snorted. "Why are you apologizing? This is the most fun I've had in ages." That was probably an exaggeration, but he didn't care. "Besides, it was Ally's idea to have me cover for Black Star in the first place. She knows me so well, I swear."

"Really?" Tsubaki asked, disbelief coloring her voice. "Alecto asked you to do this?"

"Yup." Tempus wasn't remotely surprised by Tsubaki's skepticism; While she probably didn't know just how much Alecto disliked Black Star, and she probably didn't know that she was one of the reasons for said dislike, but Tsubaki definitely knew that Alecto had some sort of beef with the blue-haired boy. The way she'd cheered Death the Kid on during the fight a while ago was proof enough. "Believe me, I was surprised, too. But I think it's just one of those 'means to an end' sort of things. She wants to check out Excalibur, and if it means giving someone she'd not fond of helping hand, well, I figure that she sees that as a worthy sacrifice."

"Oh." Tsubaki's demeanor shifted and the mention of the holy sword, her shoulders sagging slightly and her indigo gaze downcast. Tempus pondered for a few seconds as they walked why she would act in such a manner before the gears in his head clicked together and he realized.

"You're worried that Black Star is going to replace you with some legendary sword, aren't you?" he asked.

The expression on Tsubaki's face indicated that was exactly what had her suddenly so glum. "Oh course not!" she said a little too quickly and a little too loudly. "I don't even know how you could come to that conclusion. That would never happen!"

Tempus raised a dubious eyebrow, staring at Tsubaki evenly. "Uh huh."

Tsubaki shifted the books in her hands, frowning a little. "Aren't you worried?" she asked. "About Alecto?"

"Nah. I mean, I was at first, but she promised me that her interest in Excalibur has nothing to do with actually wanting to wield it." The two of them had reached the appropriate bookshelves, and Tempus stopped in his tracks, turning to more fully face Tsubaki. "And really, could you imagine Ally as a sword meister?"

"No," Tsubaki admitted. "The fighting style you two have is really unique. I don't think that would translate to swordsmanship very well."

"Exactly. Besides..." Tempus glanced over his shoulder to make sure that no one was around to overhear what he was about to confide. He hadn't wanted to admit to himself that he thought what he was thinking, but there it was. "I don't think she'll be able to pull the sword out of the ground."

Tsubaki's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Tempus sighed and began to put the books in his arms into the shelf, taking care to keep them in order. "Well, the fact of the matter is, the sword can only be wielded by a great hero, strong of heart and mind and with a resolve that would make regular people cower in comparison. Ally's got the 'resolve' part down, but everything else… I love her dearly, I really do, and she's a good person, but she's not some flawless hero by any stretch of the imagination. She's reckless. You saw during our remedial lesson with Sid. She rushes in and only thinks of a plan after she's been tossed around like a toddler's favorite doll. She ignores her own safety and limitations, and puts herself at risk because she's terrified of losing. Do those sound like the kind of qualities that Excalibur is looking for in a meister?"

Tsubaki didn't answer.

"As for Black Star, I wouldn't worry about him, either. Even if he can pull the sword from the ground, he'd not going to stop being your partner. You two work well together when you need to." Tempus didn't say it, but he knew that Black Star cared about Tsubaki, regardless of what Alecto thought. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "So don't go getting all sad because he wants to pull some fancy sword out of the ground, okay?"

Tsubaki smiled at him. "Okay."

"Great." Tempus put the rest of the books in his hands into the shelves, looking over them quickly to make sure that they were all in the right place. As he appraised his handiwork, he couldn't help but wonder how Alecto was getting along.

Nothing's ever easy, is it.

Alecto glowered up at the rocky cliff face that towered above her, Black Star, and Kid. It wasn't particularly tall, but it was very steep, and figuring out a way around it wasn't easy. The small waterfall cascaded down across the rocks probably wasn't going to help. Maybe we won't have to climb it, she thought. Maybe we'll just have to double back and find some sort of secret path only revealed to true heroes or something. Okay, that sounded pretty lame when she thought about it, but it was a lot more appealing than having to climb.

Kid spoke. "This is it," he said, his amber gaze scanning the words written in the book in his hands.

"Ya-hoo!" Black Star exclaimed. "Excalibur's up there waiting for me."

"Yes," Kid said, clearly in disbelief about the idea that any holy sword of legend would be waiting for Black Star, of all people. "According to this, we'll have to climb up there and find the cave the sword is in."

Alecto winced. "Tu certus? Non volō ascendo quod," she groaned.

Kid didn't answer, though Alecto wasn't sure if it was because of language barriers or simply a lack of interest in responding to the question. Instead, he simply held his hand out, his palm facing downward, and Alecto found herself taking an involuntary step back as his hand started to glow, dark energy shooting out of it. It was the same dark wavelength energy that had appeared during his duel with Black Star and Soul. The dark energy turned purple and joined together, coalescing into the form of a black skateboard. After Alecto got over the initial surprise, she began to wonder how a skateboard could possibly help them climb up the side of the cliff.

Then he stepped onto the skateboard, and it began to levitate, the wheels rotating to press against the bottom of the skateboard and propelling him upwards and out of sight.

He has a magical rocket skateboard, Alecto thought flatly. Quid infernum.

"Hey, no fair!" Black Star snapped, running forward and leaping onto the cliff face. "Damn it! Spoiled rich kids have all the best toys, don't they?" He began the long climb up at a speed that Alecto didn't even realize was possible. "You're not leaving me behind!"

Alecto was now the only one at the bottom of the cliff, and it was now she realized she was at a bit of a disadvantage, lacking Black Star's raw strength and Kid's… rocket skateboard. Seriously, quid infernum. She shoved time out of sync as far as she could with a resolute tick and ran her gaze over the rocky, steep obstacle in front of her. "Vae," she hissed. She could find a way up, given time (which she had plenty of), but climbing would require the use of both her hands, and she was still carrying her thermos of tea. And she wasn't going to leave the tea behind.

Hm… She deliberated for a second before biting down on the lid of the thermos, securing it firmly between her teeth. Not a particularly comfortable move, but it would get the job done. Then she began to climb, taking care to stay away from the rocks that had been soaked by the waterfall.

Tock. Several minutes, three separate desynchronizations, and two near-falls later, Alecto had managed to get to the top of the cliff and hauled herself over the side, landing solidly next to a wide stretch of shallow water coming out of a large cave. Dropping the thermos back into her hands and wiping the lid clean, she looked around. Black Star was standing knee-deep in the water, looking around with a confused expression on his face, but there was no sign of the third member of their little party. "Where's Kid?" she asked, jumping into the water and flinching as the cold liquid hit her knees. Thank goodness she was wearing boots.

Black Star shrugged, turning to face Alecto, and she could tell that he was thinking the same thing. "In there, maybe?" he replied, clearly referring to the cave in front of them.

Alecto couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed at the idea that Kid would just leave the two of them behind (after all, for all she knew the cave inside was a labyrinth that could only be navigated with the help of the book that he had) but before she could properly voice her agitation, a voice piped up above the two of them. "Alecto, Black Star?"

Alecto turned and looked up to see Kid clinging to a formation of rock that was jutting out of the side of the mountain. "Kid, what are you doing up there?" she asked, raising a brow in unimpressed befuddlement. "Come on down already so we can go inside."

"I can't," Kid said. "There's water. My pants are going to get wet."

Alecto looked down at the water rippling around her legs and flowing down the cliffside. It was cold, sure, but it wasn't deadly acid or anything. She didn't understand what the deal was.

"What are you talking about?" Black Star demanded, echoing her thoughts. "Just jump down."

"I can't," Kid repeated. "One of you two is going to have to carry me."

"Yeah, right," Black Star scoffed. "You can stay there." The blue-haired boy turned and began to make his way into the cave.

"Such a terrible obstacle so early in the quest," Kid grumbled.

Alecto considered following Black Star and leaving Kid to his own devices. After all, if he was so worried about the water, then he could deal with it himself. But, she told herself, he was the reason that they were on this quest in the first place. If he hadn't been in the library doing his research, it was unlikely that either Alecto or Black Star would have heard of Excalibur or its whereabouts. Speaking of which, he still had the book, which was yet another reason to not leave him.

Besides, she rather liked Kid's company. She liked him a whole lot more than she did Black Star, at any rate. "Oh, for the love of… Black Star, wait up a second!" she called, placing her thermos of tea on the bank of the stream, just outside the mouth of the cave. As black Star stopped and turned to look at her, Alecto waded through the water to stand right under Kid, holding her arms out. "Come on. I'll carry you."

Kid shot her an apprehensive look. "You're not going to drop me, are you?"

Alecto's even star turned into an irate glare. "Kid, I may not be as strong as Black Star, but I can still carry you. Now hurry up, before I change my mind and leave you there."

Kid nodded and let go of the jutting-out rock, dropping into Alecto's arms squarely. She let out an "oof" and stumbled, nearly falling back into the water. She managed to regain her balance, though, and righted herself so that she was standing firmly upright, carrying Kid bridal style in her arms. "Pro di immortales, you are heavier than I thought you would be," she grumbled, wading back through the water towards the cave. As she entered the grotto, Black Star gave a highly amused snort in her general direction. She shot a glare at him in return.

"Thank you," Kid said.

"Right," Alecto replied. "You're welcome, sure. Just… don't mention this to Tempus when we get back, all right? He'd never let me hear the end of it."

A/N - Oh, Kid.

You know, reading back over the fights with Sid and Stein, I doubt Alecto would be so embarrassed about her despair-induced breakdown during said fight with Stein if she knew that while it was happening, Kid was having a crisis over whether he folded the toilet paper properly. Oh, Kid.

This chapter is pretty filler-y for something that was supposed to be uploaded on Alecto's birthday. The biggest part of it, in my opinion, is the part from Tempus's POV. It's been a while since we had a chapter or scene from his viewpoint. I think the last time was all the way back in Chapter 15. Also, he's right. Alecto is pretty reckless. (I wonder what the Latin equivalent to the phrase "fools rush in" is...)

The second biggest part of this is, of course, the fact that Alecto is carrying Kid into Excalibur's grotto, as opposed to the original canon in which Black Star carried him. Why this change? Why not this change? Besides, it should lead to some fun interaction next chapter.

Speaking of Alecto, here's the translations for her Latin.

Ita: "Yes"

Vis ire…: "Do you want to..." I wonder what the final part of the sentence would have been. I supposed we'll find out soon enough.

Tu certus? Non volō ascendo quod: "Are you sure? I don't want to climb up that." At least, that's what it should mean. I had to craft this sentence form hand, so the grammar may be a little (or a lot) off.

Quid infernum: "What the hell"

Pro di immortales: "By the Gods"

Chapter 22 will be up whenever it's up. Honestly, I've given up trying to figure out a stable update schedule. In the meantime, feel free to favorite and leave a review telling me what you think!

- Diana "Nocte"