Chivalrous
Chapter 3: Impressive Display
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or any character involved except Lucas and Mira.
Lucas and Mira arrived for their classes that day. They sat in their seats and waited for Professor Stein.
"Lucas, Mira," Maka shouted to them.
The pair turned to see Maka and Soul approaching them.
"Hello," Lucas said raising a hand.
"We were wondering if you wanted to come shopping with us," Maka said.
"Really?" Mira asked.
"Yeah, we heard about your mission and wanted to congratulate you," Maka said with a smile, "we thought that a home-cooked meal was a good way of saying 'good job', so we wanted you to come along and pick out what you wanted to eat," Maka explained.
"Sounds good,"
"Alright, meet us by the stairs in front of the school after class," Maka led Soul to their seats.
"This'll be fun," Lucas leaned back into his chair, holding his head in his hands.
"Yeah," Mira's gaze seemed to fade as she imagined what the event would be like.
Stein appeared in the doorway moments later, he called role and then began to teach. Lucas was dutifully taking notes while Mira watched Stein's illustrations on the board intently, after class she would re-create them in Lucas' notes so they had a full review of the class. When the bell rang Stein stopped, put down his chalk and strode out of the class, without even looking at the students. Lucas finished writing down the last of Stein's lecture as Mira made sure she had the images drawn correctly. They shut their notebooks and went out the door to meet Maka and Soul.
Soon they were standing at the top of the stairs and found not only Maka and Soul, but Black Star, Tsubaki, Kidd, Liz, and Patty.
"Are they coming to?" Lucas asked.
Maka nodded, "Yep, we're all going to be eating so it's only fair we all go shopping,"
The large group proceeded down the stairs and made their way to the store. The building was large, cubical and had "Death Mart" written on the front in big white letters, the skull image of Death's mask hung inbetween the words.
Maka led the way inside and when they passed the doorway she turned to the group.
"Kid, I'm trusting you get side-dishes, Tsubaki you go with him. Black Star, and Soul: You two are in charge of desert, I'll get the main meal,"
"What about Mira, Liz, Patti and I?" Lucas asked.
"Oh, that's a surprise, they already know what to do," Maka indicated the twin pistols who were grinning.
"Ok…" Lucas had a note of concern in his voice.
The group split up into their assigned teams. Liz and Patti led the way through the store until they arrived in the clothing department.
"What are we doing here?" Lucas asked.
"You two need an outfit change, something flashier than what you've got now," Liz explained.
"Why?"
"The DWMA is known for their extravagant students, and you two look so ordinary,"
"So, you're going to help us?" Mira asked.
"Yep!" Patti called with a grin as she grabbed armfuls of clothes.
Lucas looked around before spotting something that caught his eye. He took it off the rack and slid it over his white-tank top.
"What do you think?" he asked Mira.
He had spotted a brown leather jacket. With his white shirt and cargo pants, along with his boots he looked thuggish, like he'd come straight out of a biker movie.
"I like it," Mira said with a smile.
"Good, now it's your turn," Liz grabbed her wrist and drug her through the trees of clothing stands to a dressing room.
She threw Mira inside and before she could try to escape a mountain of clothes came in after her.
"Don't come back out until you've changed into something," Liz said as she closed the door.
Mira stepped out wearing a maid dress and curtseyed to the girls and Lucas. Liz and Patti put their arms as X's and stuck their tongues out. Next she came out dressed as a cheerleader, she gave a half-hearted 'go team' before the girls repeated their previous answer. Another outfit was a noble-woman from Victorian London, the same result.
"This is taking forever," Lucas said as he dropped to a sitting position on the floor.
The door opened again and he looked, which made his jaw drop.
Mira, who had formerly looked conservative in her robe now wore a hot-pink skirt over a pair of black, biking shorts. White socks came to mid-shin and a pair of simple black shoes covered her feet, a red shirt with a white hourglass shape in the middle, a pair of black, fingerless gloves with gold 'studs' on the knuckles covered her hands. Her hair, which normally ran down to her shoulders freely was ruffled, but a small braid was hidden in the folds as it came out like a sort of tail.
"Wow," Lucas said
"Do you like it?" She asked.
"You look great, come on!" Liz said grabbing Mira's hand and Lucas' arm as she drug them to the cashier.
They paid for the clothes and left when the others checked out, heading to Maka's house. The party went well into the evening, the group enjoyed their time together as friends and classmates, telling stories of their daring exploits and spreading the local word around town. When the party began to die down, and some took their leave, Lucas and Mira were the last to go.
"It was fun Maka, we should do this again sometime," Lucas told her as he and Mira stood in their doorway.
"Yeah, next time you treat us ok?" Soul said with a grin.
"You got it," Lucas and Soul fist bumped before they turned and left, the door closed behind them.
The pair continued into the dark city, eventually arriving home and sleeping away the weariness from the party.
The next morning Lucas and Mira awoke, dressed, handled their morning chores, and went to school. As they topped the staircase leading to the academy they noticed two figures surrounded by students.
One was a young man with dark blue hair, his clothes looked ratty and torn, like he had been wearing the same thing for months, the second was a young girl, about 6 six years old by the size of her, she had bright green hair and similar clothes.
"What's going on?" Lucas asked a nearby student.
"Two newcomers who want to join the school, nobody knows anything about them except that they've been standing here since late last night,"
Lucas looked up at the man as he swayed in the wind, he was thin, and the way he moved made Lucas think the wind could blow him over.
"Excuse me friend, you won't get anywhere standing out here," Lucas pushed his way to the front of the crowd as he spoke.
He went to touch the man's arm but the girl stopped him. Mira had arrived as she did.
"Don't touch him," She told Lucas.
"I only wish to help,"
"Good, then you can help by leaving us alone, we won't move until Death comes and talks to us,"
"But, he won't leave the Death Room, not for two students who don't have any kind of history that just show up demanding to be accepted," Lucas explained.
"So, what would get us in then?" The girl asked.
"A demonstration of skills would be a good start," Stein had made his way to the front of the crowd, adjusting the screw in his head he looked at Lucas.
"Lucas, Mira, you two will be the testers, I'll oversee the match as a member of the faculty,"
"Yes sir," Lucas looked to Mira who seemed reluctant, but transformed anyway.
She appeared in the stones as a longsword and shield. Lucas took up his arms and waited for the newcomers.
"Jack, are you ready?"
The man who'd been standing still this entire time finally moved. He looked to the girl and nodded. She leapt into the air and transformed in a flash of light. Appearing as a longbow that fell to Jack's hands. He lifted the weapon and took aim at Lucas, an arrow of a pulsating blue light appeared on the string as Jack drew it back.
"Ready…" Stein lifted his hand above his head, "Begin,"
He dropped his hand in a swiping motion and Lucas was off, he rushed at Jack who released an arrow that deflected off of Lucas' raised shield. He quickly closed the distance and swung a light blow across Jack's right side, however the newcomer dodged the attack easily, leaping a few feet backwords, the bow began to glow before it changed into a pair of shortswords.
"Another multi-form weapon?" Mira asked.
"It doesn't matter how many forms it comes in, we'll defeat it," Lucas told her.
Jack rushed forward now, in a flurry of blows that immediately put Lucas on the defensive. An overhead slash from the right, then a waist chop from the left, Lucas blocked the right strike with his shield and deflected the left with his own blade, but as he recovered the right blade was coming up across his chest. Slashing through his shirt and his chest, Lucas let out a groan as the wound was created. He staggered backwards and dropped Mira's sword point first in the dirt.
"Mira, step back," He said.
"Lucas, what are you-?"
"I said step back," He was getting angrier.
"Al-alright," Mira transformed back into her human form and retreated to the crowd.
"How are you going to fight without a weapon?" The girl asked from across the arena. Jack stood perfectly still, waiting for Lucas to signal he was ready to continue.
"I don't need a weapon," Lucas' wound closed as his skin took on a reddish hue. He rushed forward in a blur of motion.
"Whoa!" The girl shouted as Jack barely dodged the uppercut Lucas delivered, "He's faster now Jack, watch out,"
Lucas gave them no reprieve as he delivered blow after blow, attempting to find an opening in Jack's defenses, but the thinner boy was able to dodge every attack, knowing that he would have broken bones if he failed. He didn't have any time to counter though, which gave Lucas all of the momentum. Lucas kept this up for a solid five minutes before Jack began to tire, with one blow Lucas delivered a powerful uppercut to Jack's jaw that lifted him a few feet off the ground before he landed on his back a few feet away.
The girl transformed and cradled Jack's head, "Jack! Are you alright?"
Lucas lowered his hand and relaxed his stance, his skin returned to its fair color and he collapsed on the ground.
"I think we've seen enough," Stein said as he walked over to the trio.
"Meet me in the Death Room when your friend regains consciousness,"
"Yes sir," The girl replied.
Mira rushed over to Lucas and tried to lift his head, but yelped as his skin burned her.
"Lucas, what's going on?" She asked.
"I'm sorry Mira, but… I forgot to tell you something about me," Lucas smiled to her as he opened his eyes.
"What?"
"My family, we're an ancient clan of skill martial artists, but our style we developed doesn't suit a meister very well, we throw off our wavelengths by letting our anger and emotions take control. It may be a bit before you and I are able to fight again,"
"You should've told me about this," She said.
"I just couldn't find the right time, you know?" Lucas smiled up at her, and Mira smiled back.
"No more secrets ok?"
"Ok, no more secrets," Lucas finally passed out from exhaustion, and Mira had to ask Black Star and Soul to carry him back to their apartment.