Sorry this took so long. Big chapter here and I kept checking it over so it would be fine. I got too excited I guess.


Asura regretted not bothering to get food after he'd run from the weapon/Meister pair that night. Mostly because he probably could have used the extra energy for what he was about to do. He was currently standing at the bottom of a tall cliff, holding the cloak's hood in place as he craned his neck to see the top. And yet again he cursed his collar for restricting his ability to fly, among countless other things he could do before.

Instead of doing the sensible thing he'd set out to do that night, namely eating, he'd taken off to find either Excalibur or the boy who'd gone off to find him. He'd found the later, who tried to warn him away from the sword, but gave in after some uncharacteristic persistence. He wasn't sure, but Asura thought he'd heard the boy mutter something about him being chased off by Excalibur's personality. Asura was sure he'd be fine though, he grew up with the ex-warlord so he was somewhat used to his...eccentricities.

Asura shrugged and shook his head, clearing the memories that tried to claw their way into his head. He'd have to avoid that damn cane he liked to swing around though. Now with his head clear, he reached out to the cliff face and felt around for some kind of a hand hold. Once he'd found one, he quickly found another one and soon he was off the ground, carefully making his way up so as to not slip and fall to his death. Logically he knew he wouldn't really die, but he'd rather not experience having his head split open, it hurt enough the last time.

As the day wore on, he was glad he'd found the place in the morning. There was enough light to see by and he didn't have to search long for hand or foot holds. And he didnt have to suffer through the midday heat. Though about halfway up he'd run out of them and had to jump to the next one. Honestly, he was sure he saw his life flash before his eyes for a second there, and he'd panicked. But he was fine, he'd made it. And now he was up at the top. He felt like he knew the place...perhaps he'd been there before? It could have been different back before he...

Anyway, Asura was glad he'd chosen to climb somewhere away from that waterfall. He most likely would have slipped on the wet rocks and fallen to his death long before hand. Now, stretched out before him was a lot of muddy ground, but he didn't mind as he began to trudge through the thick mud. He'd had worse, having to trek through copious amounts of bloody muck and occasionally whatever gore was left over after a battle.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Asura reached the cave entrance where the stones formed pillar-like structures and the water flowed through. The young shinigami wanted to sit, rest before going on his way. He couldn't though, if he sat down now, he might just fall asleep and he had to find his father before Vajra found him. Even if he hadn't seen Vajra in a while, maybe something was just occupying the weapon's time and he'd eventually sort it out.

It was that thought that helped him drag his feet through the caves, all while repeating those last thoughts in his head. It was no surprise then, that he'd been so distracted that he'd tripped on the raised edge of a stone platform. He felt his body pitch forward and threw his hands out to stop his fall. Even though it had helped break his fall, it still hurt and he'd instinctively used his free hand to check the wound still there from the last time he'd failed an escape. In retrospect, he guessed he probably should have waited until he'd heal more so it didn't reopen, but it was too late for that now.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, the boy glanced around,. He was sitting on a large stone platform, in the middle of a cavern filled with pillar-like structures made, seemingly naturally, from the cave walls. There was a gaping hole in the ceiling where sunlight poured in from, and embedded in the center of the platform was a golden sword. It looked like it crashed in through the ceiling. He recognized it immediately and quickly stood, stumbling over to it and dropping to his knees in front of the weapon.

"...Excalibur?" He called out the weapon's name softly, reaching out to carefully touch the sword's blade warily. Asura was fully aware that the other could transform and probably try to smack him with that cane of his. It seemed he was right to be on guard as the sword was engulfed in golden light and Asura had just barely ducked the pure white cane that sailed over his head.

He quickly scrambled back out of swinging distance as the light faded to reveal the short, white...thing that Excalibur was. Wow, he'd forgotten how horrifyingly uncomfortable the creature looked with his eerie, bulbous eyes and pointed face. It always looked painful to Asura, but the weapon never showed any sign of distress.

"FOOL!" The weapon shouted. "Did I give you permission to touch me?!" Asura was caught off guard for just a second while the ex-warlord regarded him carefully. He must have sensed something was off, but quickly regained his previous composure. "Ah, well perhaps you came to see if you could wield me!"

"Wha...no, Excalibur. I'm here to-"

"Nonsense! All who come here wish to wield I, the great Excalibur!" The creature prattled on, turning his back to the young shinigami. Asura only half listened with a confused look as Excalibur went on, beginning to list some kind of requirements to be his Meister.

It was strangely familiar to hear him chatter, and he'd have loved to listen more just for the comfort the familiarity provided. However, Asura really needed to get Excalibur to shut up and listen. He needed help, and right now, the conceited weapon was his best option. And...now the weapon was going on about having a wife? And kids? Huh. Asura would bet that that didn't last very long.

As the weapon turned around to face him, he quickly pulled his hood down. Maybe he was gone long enough that seeing him would shut up the babbling weapon. "Now you see, my story began in the twelfth cen-" It seemed to work since the ex-warlord had stopped mid sentence and was now staring at the boy in disbelief.

"...h-hello? It's been a while Excalibur." Asura's voice faltered slightly as he offered what he hoped was a sincere smile. Excalibur didn't respond right away, scrutinizing the boy.

When he finally did speak, there was a trace of anger under his usual voice. "Is this some kind of a sick joke?" Asura was thrown off by it, and even afraid. He'd never heard the weapon sound like that. "Who sent you brat? A witch?"

The boy was appalled by that accusation, voice raised slightly in shock as he said, "No! It's me! Asura! We used to fight together under my father!" That only seemed to anger him more though.

"Do you take me for a fool?! ASURA. IS. DEAD!" The white creature shouted, lashing out with his cane. The blow barely missed the boy's face when he flinched away from the attack. It sent him toppling over with a yelp of surprise. "Asura's been dead for eight hundred years..."

Asura carefully brought his one arm up defensively and curled into himself, shivering while Excalibur paced back and forth angrily. Eight hundred years? He'd been gone for that long? ...And Excalibur just said he was dead, but that wasn't right. "But...I can't...can't die. I'm a shinigami, a death God..."

At this, Excalibur froze. He turned his attention back to the boy and Asura gulped, shying away from the ex-warlord. "Please, please, please try to calm down! I'm sorry I made you mad!" He tugged his cloak tighter around his body and buried his face in his old scarves, as if he thought they would protect him from any harm. And as pathetic as is was, Asura couldn't stop shaking.

He was expecting another shout, another yell, but instead he heard the weapon sigh. "You have my forgiveness! Appreciate it, for only those few who truly deserve it receive such from me!" Taking a step closer, the short creature added in an unusually quiet voice, "And I apologize for scaring you, fool. Now! You claim to be the dead Asura? Tell me something from eight hundred years ago that only Asura would know!"

"W-wha?! Um...o-okay..." The young shinigami stammered out, afraid of being yelled at again. He shuffled back a bit more before he actually answered, just in case Excalibur wasn't happy with his answer. "Um, it took father a whole week to pick my name because he wanted to just call me 'kid' and Eibon had to talk him out of it." He saw Excalibur's eyes widen slightly, but they quickly narrowed again.

"Tell me something else." Excalibur demanded, and on seeing the confused look on the boy's face, he added, "I need to be sure it wasn't a fluke fool. Something else." Excalibur waved his cane lazily in Asura's direction, making him flinch again.

"Y-yeah! Um, do...do you remember when...Vajra taught me to use the 'Blast' rune and we blew the doors off the manor? And then father forbade rune practice inside the house because he didn't want us razing it to the ground?" The boy stated, smiling fondly at the memory. When Excalibur nodded again Asura uncurled himself some, smiling a bit.

"Shinigami was furious. More so at you than Vajra, which was unfair since it was his job to keep you from doing something like that. He was teaching you after all." The weapon mused. After that the two lapsed onto a comfortable silence for a while. Or Excalibur did, Asura just felt awkward and tried not to flee from Excalibur. He wasn't usually one to stay after being yelled at in fear of it happening again, but the weapon was his fastest way home.

Then, as if it had just occurred to him, Excalibur shouted, "Where have you been?! Do you realize how much grief you've put us through?! Especially your father! He was worried sick when you and Vajra had disappeared! We looked all over for you." The weapon regretted saying Vajra's name the second he saw Asura cringe away from him.

The boy's thoughts drifted to the few brief glimpses he saw of the old temple and he quietly answered, " I don't know where I've been. As soon as I was free, I ran..."

"Why haven't you gone home yet Asura? You should have been able to find your father by now and flown home. Unless...ah yes of course! You wished to see I, the great Excalibur before you did!" For a brief moment, Asura thought he was kidding but then, Excalibur never really joked about himself. His hand strayed to the metal band under his scarves.

"I...can't."

"Can't? Of course you can! Your father would be ecstatic to see you! Not to mention you have a little brother now and I bet he would love you too." The weapon reassured happily, risking another step closer to the now calmer boy. When he didn't immediately bolt away, the ex-warlord carefully patted his shoulder.

"N-no. That's not the problem... I...this...l-look," the young shinigami carefully pulled the scarves away just enough for Excalibur to just barely see the metal. The reaction was instantaneous, the weapon's grip tightened on both his shoulder and the cane in his other hand, his voice surprisingly blank as he stared at the bit he could see.

"What's that Asura?" He watched the boy shuffle nervously under his gaze. The weapon himself wasn't one to showcase many emotions, especially anger, the Madness wavelength he presides over. However, this was a special case, one of the rare few where he would actually let himself get angry. Here was Asura, the long lost son of his old leader and friend, wounded, scared, and most of all alive.

When the boy shook his head, more scared to answer than not knowing the answer, Excalibur tried again. "So, Asura! What can I, the Great Excalibur, help you with?" While his old comrade gathered his thoughts, the weapon took the time to really look at him. He seemed paler and thinner than the ex-warlord remembered, and his old, multi layered outfit was now just the red blazer and the extra long pants he always wore. What was left of the once white scarves was piled around his neck and trailing along behind him. And the cloak was one of Shinigami's older ones, more sharp and jagged looking than the one he and his youngest wore now.

"I want to go home...before Vajra realizes I'm gone." It was the quietest response he'd gotten yet from Asura, and his first response was to scoff at the boy. It sounded pretty ridiculous to him, knowing that Vajra had long been sealed away by Shinigami. However, he realized his mistake. Asura had no way of knowing that Vajra was gone, the look of fear in his eyes escalated to one of shear terror. Still he remained outwardly calm, probably afraid of making the weapon angry again.

"Fool! Vajra's long gone! Your father had taken care of him eight hundred years ago! There is no reason to worry!" The ex-warlord stated loudly, waving his cane around again, but this time actually being sure to keep it away from Asura's face. Not that one could tell he tried. "Still! I should take you back to Shinigami...But! First you must rest boy! You look like you might pass out!"

"But..."

"You cannot go see your father like this fool! I doubt you would make it very far anyways once we arrived! You see, Shinigami had built a school for weapons and their technicians, it's large and easy to get lost in if you have never been there before. So go on and sleep boy! I'll tell you my tale while you try to sleep!" Asura made to argue, but Excalibur had already begun loudly talking about his tale. "Now then! My story began in the twelfth century!"

And even though it wasn't the most comfortable place to try to sleep, Asura hardly had any problems drifting off. Despite his fears and doubts, Asura would gladly admit he felt the safest in the others presence that he'd ever felt in a while.


Night fell quickly over Shibusen and the sky was soon alight with fireworks. The DWMA Anniversary party had already begun and the students were milling about among their peers, too busy with their friends to notice the rift opening on the roof above the school. Asura carefully stepped through, a golden sword in hand as he adjusted his footing for the steep roof. However, being a sensible person, or so he believed, Asura tossed Excalibur back through the rift.

Excalibur would definitely draw a crowd the second someone saw him. Or he'd cause a scene for the attention. Either way, Asura would be crowded with him instead of being able to hide around the edges and he did not want that. He hated crowds.

Just as he was about to drop from the roof, he caught sight of a boy with spiked, white hair dressed in a black suit. He felt a brief swell of panic that he'd been noticed, but the boy just stood there. Asura had to remind himself again that the boy worked for his father so even if he did see him, it would be okay.

(OuO)

Soul 'Eater' didn't like parties. They reminded him of before he learned he was a weapon. That and parties got stuffy real quick. People packed in and chattering and eating and whatever else. So no, Soul admitted, "I really don't like parties." Surprisingly, he heard a quiet chuckle and a 'Me neither.' But before he could investigate, a new voice piped up.

"Soul!" it was Maka, carrying a plate of food.

"Ah, it's you Maka?" He asked and the girl nodded, holding out the plate a bit to show him.

"Yeah. So, don't you want to try these delicious foods?" She asked, setting the plate down and leaning on the balcony railing.

"I hate waiting to get food, and I can't eat well while standing..." Soul stated, the mysterious voice momentarily forgotten. He would deal with it when Maka left.

"What a waste." The girl stated.

"Hmph, then give me your plate." Soul said, pointing at it. Maka held it away from him with a shout of, 'No way!' And he responded with, "Selfish."

Then suddenly, Maka said, "Say Soul...is there something worrying you?"

"Ah?! Why would you ask that?!" Right away Soul remembered the voice he'd heard. He couldn't mention it though, Maka would worry. Besides, he wasn't sure he had actually heard anything yet. It could have been his imagination.

She offered him a reassuring smile, "You can talk about it if you want!"

"There's nothing to talk about..." He argued back. When she sent a scathing, wholely unconvinced glare, he sputtered out, "Wh-what?"

"Am I really that undependable of a partner?" She questioned, and he couldn't help but laugh. Apparently the other voice from earlier found it funny too. Or maybe that really was his imagination, since Maka hadn't heard it.

"Gyahaha! What's the matter with you?" He asked, loudly. Maka pouted angrily for a second and then chose to smack him for that. Then, doing a total flip, she was staring into space, looking back towards the party. Soul took the chance to sink to the floor.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, his Meister shouted, "Hey! You wanna dance?" Now she leaned over to see his face. A big grin stretched across his face, because seriously, what was with her today? Maka was acting pretty funny. However, his smile dropped into a grimace as he realized what she said.

"Ugh! No way, I hate that!"

"That's okay, I know you dance well. You can take the lead." The blonde girl argued, hands on her hips. "Besides, dancing is like adjusting 'soul waves' so it'll be alright." She grabbed Soul's arm and tried to tug him to his feet, but he remained on the ground.

Before Soul could reply though, a red haired man stepped out on the balcony and shouted "Wait!" They both looked up at the man, however Soul caught a flash of white in the corner of his eye. But the man he knew as Spirit, his Meister's father, grabbed his attention again when he made an overly exaggerated dancer pose and shouted, "Dance with Daddy!"

"No way." Maka deadpanned and again he heard that quiet laugh. Risking a glance upwards, Soul spotted the cloaked figure on the rooftop. The long white scarf was pulled up and gripped tightly in one hand, the other covering his mouth. His eye were red like Soul's own, but they seemed to glow faintly in the dark. He wasn't sure why the guy was there, but he couldn't let Maka get hurt because of him.

Soul grabbed Maka's shoulders and pushed her towards her father. "That's perfect! Physical contact is important. Go dance."

"Wha- wait!" Maka tried to argue, but her father excitedly grabbed her hand and began to drag her away.

"Soul's right! Let's go, let's go Maka~!"

"Soul! Watch my plate!" The girl called over her shoulder.

Soul sighed as he watched her go. "Watch her food...she really is a glutton..." He cast a quick glance to the boy on the roof, who seemed to have inched a bit closer to the edge, and turned to the plate. "Ah? She doesn't like raw fish, so why did she take salmon?" He fell quiet for a moment, mind drifting to Maka's behavior. "Ah, I understand...you didn't have to do that idiot. Thanks."

Now that that was solved he was reminded of the red eyed stranger. He didn't usually care much for Shibusen's rumor mill, but after learning his friends had also encountered the stranger he and Maka met...he just wanted to know a bit more. And he did learn. The guy was known to fight pre-kishins and seemed to be everywhere at once. He tried to avoid DWMA students and he'd heard the boy expressed a fear of some of the weapons he'd met, but nobody knew why. Even Shinigami had taken an interest in the stranger, or so they say.

And now the stranger was here. What he was doing on the roof was lost on Soul, but so far he hadn't tried anything. Plus he seemed to be fighting the same things they were. Maybe he'd finally worked up the nerve to come here? But that didn't explain why he was on the roof. Well, the guy was probably waiting for him to leave so he could come down so...

Taking the plate of food and walking just out of sight, Soul leaned against the wall. A few minutes of waiting and his patience was rewarded with a dull thud from the empty balcony. Turning to face the stranger who had his back turned to him, Soul spoke up, "Hey stranger, finally felt like joining the party?" Almost immediately the guy jumped a foot in the air, spinning to face him only to slip on one of the long scarves he'd let fall. Soul winced as he watched the older boy land back first on the railing. "Geez, calm down buddy. I'm not gonna hurt you, even if you were spying on my Meister and me. What was with that anyway?"

From the moment the albino first spoke to him, Asura was utterly horrified. Someone saw him. Someone saw him. He shied away from the boy when he took a step closer, mind jumping to the worst possible scenarios as usual. What if he was in the wrong place? What if this boy tried to hurt him? He had to remind himself to breathe. There was no way this kid would hurt him, he worked for his father so he wouldn't dare, right? But he doesn't know... And what if...what if...

'What if father doesn't care? What if he was happy I was gone?' Asura squeaked in fear, scared by the pale boy when he came closer still. His back pressed against the railing in and attempt to get away, and when that failed he curled in on himself, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping the cloak around him. There was a shuffling sound in front of him and he risked a glance at it. The other boy had sat down cross-legged and set the plate in his lap.

"Wow, you okay? You're shaking. Sorry for scaring you, it wasn't very cool to do." Soul was genuinely concerned about him, and it showed in his voice. "Um, I'm Soul. What's your name?"

Eyeing the teen warily, Asura mumbled his named under his breath so all Soul caught was a quiet, "...Asu..." Still the boy smiled.

"Asu?" When the other nodded, his grin widened. "Cool, cool. It's a nice name. Say, you hungry? My partner brought me this and it's good. I don't mind sharing though, you look hungry." Soul held the plate out and watched as the strange boy reached out cautiously and took it from him. He seemed to inspect it closely for a few moments before he uncurled himself and set the plate in his own lap.

The shinigami boy ate slowly, not entirely trusting the other but highly doubting that it was poisoned since the albino was just eating it too. And before him was that other girl. "Thank you..." They stayed that way with Soul chatting about this and that while Asura nodded politely. Slowly he found himself relaxing and when Soul announced that he had to go find his Meister, Asura figured he could follow. If Soul had turned out to be okay, surely this 'Maka' girl would be a decent person too? He hoped so, because then he wouldn't have to be as scared.

He tried to be sure to stick close to Soul, but as soon as he set foot inside, he saw the one person he was looking for. Shinigami, standing there above everyone on a platform. Asura almost didn't realize it was his father at first, the cloak he wore now was less jagged than his old one and the old mask was replaced by a simple and - dare he say?- childish one. He was chatting with a couple people, who he assumed were teachers here and even his voice held a more playful tone. It was shocking to say the least and the boy found himself stuck staring for a long while.

When he finally came back to his senses, all of his anxieties he'd been trying to ignore slammed into him again. What if Shinigami was mad at him? What if he was disappointed that he was captured? He'd failed to stop the rising Kishin. What if Shinigami decided he was to blame? Would he be imprisoned? Tortured? Killed?! What if he was sent away? What if, what if, what if!

A shout ripped him from his thoughts before he could entirely break down. "STEIN! QUICK! GET OUT OF HERE!" Turning towards the sound, Asura spotted the albino boy with the blonde girl from earlier.

Quietly, he murmured, "Soul..." He followed the two to where others were gathering and among them were the blue haired boy who claimed he'd surpass God and his little brother. The blue haired boy looked the most concerned for the man who'd arrived injured. It was the blue skin that tipped Asura off to the fact that the man was a zombie. He carefully skirted around the group closer to Soul, because that was the person he sort of encountered earlier and the one he felt even remotely calm around.

There was a man too, in a white coat, who was checking over the zombie. He suddenly swung around and said, "Where's Medusa?!" The words made Asura's blood run cold. He knew Medusa, he fought her, hell, he'd fought all the Gorgon sisters at some point he was sure. If she was here...oh God, what was going on?! He quickened his pace as three new souls made themselves known, two witches and one immortal with a witchy feel to their soul.

He came up behind Soul as the ground shook and the air became saturated with the heavy feel of strong magic. "What's happening?!" The albino shouted.

"What's going on?" His partner said at the same time. The man in the white coat spoke up.

"Space is being deformed! They mean to trap us!" Oh...oh no. No, no, no, no, no! Trapped? Asura didn't like the sound of that. He'd rather fight Medusa powerless as he was than be trapped again!

"I'M GOING!" The zombie shouted, the knife in his hand transforming into something Asura didn't get to see.

In a panic he rushed forward, hoping maybe Soul knew what was wrong. "S-soul?!" The boy's head whipped around at the sound of the familiar, panicked voice.

"Asu! Wha-?!"

"COMPULSIVE BURIAL!"

The ground disappeared under Soul's feet as a stone coffin rose from the ground. Frightened by the sudden change, the albino reach out to grab something, anything to stop his fall. His hand met cloth but the body attached to it toppled over at the sudden change in gravity.

The last thing Asura registered before he was free falling as the spell completed, was a large, white gloved hand reaching out to catch him.