"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
― Kahlil Gibran
Chasing after evil souls was something Julian enjoyed immensely. The thrill of battle, watching as Ellis' blade tore through skin. The splash of blood on his face and clothes. The bright light of a soul, and the feeling of a job well done.
The meister grinned as he pumped his legs, trying to catch up with his target, the Angel of Death killer Bev Alleet. "I won't let you get away!" he called out, jumping up into the trees.
He could hear a growl and a hiss as something whizzed past him. Keeping his balance on a thick tree branch, Julian closed his eyes, trying to sense his prey.
"Where are you…"
"Julian, watch out!" Ellis called as the hairs on the back of Julian's neck stood up.
The boy jumped out of the tree, landing on the ground harshly. He whirled around, bringing up the pole of his weapon to defend himself from the sudden onslaught the Angel of Death brought upon the team with her knife.
"You can't stop me!" she shrieked. "I will help all those poor children that are hurting!"
"Your way of helping is abhorrent, Alleet!" Julian shot back, pushing his opponent with all the strength he could muster.
With a little personal space gained, Julian twirled Ellis in his right hand, aiming their black and green blades at Alleet.
"And we're going to collect your soul so you can never do it again!" Ellis added.
"Never!" she screamed, lunging for the pair. Julian took his chance when he saw an opening, thrusting his blade forward and through the Angel of Death.
There was a gasp as blood dribbled from the wound the meister had made. He pulled his halberd back, smirking with a mouth full of sharp, shark-like teeth.
"Your reign of terror is over."
There was an explosion of light as Alleet disappeared, leaving behind a floating soul.
"Bon appetit, Ellis," Julian joked, giving his partner space to transform.
The black-haired punk smiled, stepping out of their weapon form. "Good, I was getting hungry," they said as they picked up the soul and swallowed it in one gulp.
"So that's, what, fifty souls now?" Julian leaned against a tree, giving the best bored expression he could.
"Just about, yeah," Ellis stretched, brushing a strand of green highlighted hair out of their face. "We're on track to reach ninety-nine soon enough, as long as we work hard enough."
"Right, right," the white-haired teen sighed. "You think we'll be able to take a witch when it's time?"
Ellis put a hand on their meister's shoulder. "We'll prepare so much that the witch won't know what's coming. You'll make your own legacy as a meister, I promise."
He chuckled, pulling his partner close. "Yeah, thanks Ell."
"No prob, F."
It took them a few moments to start walking back to the little town they had stopped in, and the walk was mostly quiet. The two were content to just walk and listen to the birds chirp. The sounds of the forest were relaxing.
"Hey, Ell, do you think that a witch could ever be… good?" Julian asked, frowning slightly.
"I mean, it's possible?" Ellis replied, looking thoughtful. "There are good and bad humans, why not good and bad witches?" They paused. "There's a saying that only the winners write history. So a lot of it is biased towards the winners. Just because everyone says witches are evil doesn't mean all of them have to be. They're probably just… rare, is all."
"Yeah… rare…" the meister looked at the ground. "What if you… found one of those rare good witches?"
"I dunno," they replied. "I mean, there's a lot to consider for that situation. I'd like to say that I would be nice to them and talk to them, but it would be a lie to say that would actually happen, y'know?"
"Yeah, I guess…" Julian refused to look at his partner, kicking a rock rather harshly. He took a breath and stopped. "... What if I told you I was a witch?"
"Then I'd say I'm happy you can share your secret with me, Julian," Ellis replied, turning to look at their meister. "Witch or not, you're an amazing person—quirks and all. It doesn't matter to me what you are."
Julian looked up and smiled. He released his soul protect for a moment, using his magic to make a twig levitate. "Well… Surprise?"
Ellis smiled, hugging Julian close. "Thank you, for trusting me."
Wrapping his soul up in his soul protect once more, Julian grinned with a newfound energy. "Right, let's get back to the—" Something darted out of the corner of his eye and he frowned. "... wait. We have to go check that out. I don't have a good feeling about it."
"Check what out?" Ellis frowned, looking at where Julian was staring. There was nothing there.
"I saw something. It's gone now, but we should follow it," he said, reaching out for Ellis.
The weapon nodded and transformed in Julian's hands. "Let's go."
Julian darted forward, going deeper into the forest in search of whatever he had seen. He activated his soul perception many times, but only ever sensed the animals around him.
"I can't… I know I saw something, Ellis," he said as he ran. "But I can't find anything."
"I believe ya, but maybe they're hiding their soul."
"Maybe…"
He kept running, even though he had no idea which way the thing he saw had gone.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…" he mumbled as he finally stopped, the hairs on his neck going ramrod straight.
Something wasn't right.
There was a growl, and a thick bush rustled, causing Julian to turn and narrow his eyes. A large bear appeared from the brambles, seemingly out of nowhere. Julian's eyes widened in shock.
"Bear!" he yelled, stumbling back. "What the fuck do we do, Ell?"
"Fucking run!"
The bear reared up on its hind legs and growled lowly. "Why were you following me, little witch?" Its voice was gruff and gravelly. "Don't you realize you are not welcome here?"
"... It talked. The bear fucking talked, Ell!"
"Answer!" The bear pinned Julian down, claws sinking deep into the teen's arms.
He cried out. "Okay, okay!" Julian tried to keep Ellis tight in his grasp. "I saw you out of the corner of my eye! I didn't have a good feeling about it! I–I needed to see what was going on!"
With a flash of light, the bear turned into a muscular, brown-haired man and stood up. A powerful feeling washed over Julian. He knew the feeling well. A witch's soul.
"Don't mess with the Kitsunetsuki, little witch," he growled, his hand glowing with magic as he released his soul protect. He aimed his magic at Julian's chest. With a scoff, he added, "A witch, working for Shinigami-san, how pitiful. You're his slave, don't you realize that?"
"I'm no one's slave!"
Julian, now free, brought Ellis forward and swiped at the man. Using the quick distraction, the meister got up and bolted. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, making him forget all about the puncture wounds in his arms.
He needed to find the path, he needed to get back to the town.
What was the Kitsunetsuki? Some sort of witch clan, perhaps? But what were they doing?
Maybe his father would know, or Shinigami-sama.
He quickly shook his head. Either way, he needed to find a mirror, and a phone. He needed to contact the school.
"Julian!" Ellis called, trying to snap their meister out of whatever world he was in.
"I–I'm fine, Ell, I'm just… Trying to think of what to do," he said as he ran. "Maybe we're not ready to face a witch just yet."
"Yeah, alright, but you're running the opposite way of the town," Ellis pointed out.
The town was deserted when Julian and Ellis returned. Not a soul remained, Julian had checked. Three times.
Something was very wrong. The town had been bustling when they left, and now it was filled with silence. Could it have something to do with that witch? Most likely.
It was the only logical explanation Julian could think of.
"This is wrong," he mumbled to Ellis, walking up to a storefront. "We need to report to Shinigami-sama," he breathed a fog onto the glass of the window, writing out the numbers 42-42-564.
Ellis rubbed their arms, standing close to Julian as they looked around. "Something doesn't feel right, F," they mumbled.
The call went through before the meister could reply.
"Hello, hello!"
"Shinigami-sama, this is halberd meister Julian," the boy bowed his head slightly.
"How goes the mission?" the Death God asked cheerfully.
"Ellis and I were able to retrieve the soul of Bev Alleet, but we ran into a problem on our way back to town," Julian frowned.
"We ran into a witch on the way back," Ellis continued. "He was talking about something called the Kitsunetsuki."
"And the town is empty, I can't sense any human souls in the area. It wasn't this way when we arrived."
"Hmm…" Shinigami-sama hummed. "That is worrying. For now, just focus on getting back safely. I'll send someone to investigate the missing townsfolk and the witch."
"... Right," Julian sighed and nodded.
Being back in Death City provided Julian with a calming feeling. Even though he was a young witch hiding in a city full of people who probably wanted him dead, nothing screamed safe more than his home, Patchwork Laboratory.
Pushing the front gate open, Julian frowned as he saw his father fighting some kids. Academy students, the meister reasoned.
He recognized Maka, she was his best friend, of course he would recognize her. The blue-haired boy was a mystery, though. He recognized him, yes, but Julian didn't pay attention to most of his classmates. So the boy's name was beyond him.
"In that case, I'll…" his father knelt menacingly over the boy Julian knew as Soul Eater, Maka's partner, "give you a passing grade. The extra lesson is over."
"Heh?" Soul breathed, looking at the elder Stein with confusion.
His father smiled. "Protecting your meister with your own body. That's really quite good."
"I'll ask again… Heh?"
"I was asked by Shinigami-sama to take charge of your friends' extra lessons," Stein explained.
Soul pointed at the blue-haired boy. "But didn't you kill Black Star?"
Julian facepalmed, groaning. "What the fuck, Dad?" He made his way to the entrance of the lab. "Don't answer that, I'm going to bed. Today's already been too much of a clusterfuck."
The younger Stein escaped into the darkness, leaving everyone quiet for a moment. Thankfully, as he got to his bedroom, he couldn't hear if they started talking again.
He sat on his bed, hugging his knees close. The room was silent for the longest time except for his breathing, and he was calmed by that.
"What the hell could cause something like that…" Julian asked quietly. "They were all just… gone… not even their souls were left. That's not right. It doesn't make sense…"
"What doesn't make sense, little monster?" He felt a weight next to him on the bed and looked up. Only one person called him that, and it was his father.
"Ellis and I were on a mission today, dad," he said softly. "We got to the town and everyone was there, everything was fine. But we went after the killer, we managed to get her. When we got back to the town, everyone was just… gone."
"Did you tell Shinigami-sama?"
"We told him as soon as we got to the town," Julian nodded. "But there's… one other thing. We ran into a witch." He rubbed his bandaged arms, frowning. "Shinigami-sama knows about that, too. I'm just… worried that the disappearances have something to do with this witch. And that maybe Ellis and I could've saved the townspeople if we had fought harder. I just… I ran, dad. I felt his soul without soul protect and I ran, like a coward."
"It's okay to feel fear, Julian," the elder Stein rested a hand on his son's shoulder. "It's normal to feel fear. You ran to protect yourself and Ellis, which was the best thing you could have done. Shibusen will find out what happened to those people, and what's going on with that witch you saw. It'll be alright."
The teen sighed, leaning against his father. "I… I guess."
Franken stood up. "You should get some rest. We have to get to the academy tomorrow."
"We?"
"Yes. Shinigami-sama offered me a teaching position at the school again. I accepted this time. I'm going to be your homeroom teacher, little monster," he grinned as he moved to close the bedroom door behind him. "Good night."