Not sure if I've done the disclaimer or not, so it's pretty obvious that I don't own Soul Eater. Also, this chapter is an entry for the StitchedArt contest by DoctorStein, for those who found this story that way. This should be the second to last of the introductory chapters. Next chapter is where there begins some plot development, but I swear, it will get good! Cross my heart.
xxx
"Meister Maka Albarn and her partner to the Death Room," a masculine voice rang out through the school's intercom, cutting through Sid's lecture in the Crescent Moon classroom. The rather burly man looked up from his diagram on the chalkboard and nodded to the pair, dismissing them, and continued on with his lesson. Maka huffed softly, pouting. She hated it when her Papa called her out of class, even if it was for official business.
She turned to Tsubaki. "Can you finish taking notes for me?" she asked the other girl quietly. Tsubaki nodded and smiled, happy to help her friend. Maka picked up her things and hurried down the steps as the lecture continued and walked past Soul, who was slouched against the door, holding it open, and out into the hall.
Soul Eater Evans had to jog briskly to keep up with his meister's brisk pace, though once he caught up to her he relaxed his posture to appear as though he wasn't phased; being outpaced wouldn't be cool at all. "What's up with your dad refusing to say my name?" he mused aloud, voicing his thoughts.
Maka cocked her head, looking over at him. "Who knows why Papa does anything?" there was a note of bitterness to her words, and Soul had crossed this minefield enough enough to know to leave well enough alone. The rest of the short walk to the Death Room was spent in relative silence, with only the occasional chatter of students passing by in the halls to break the quiet. The pair walked down the guillotine lined path that lead into the central chamber where Lord Death stood, waiting for them with a more somber disposition than usual.
"Good morning Lord Death." Maka bowed, pigtails swinging forward as she dipped her head. Soul nodded his greeting, much to Maka's annoyance but before she could yell, Lord Death was already speaking.
"Soul, Maka, I have an assignment for you." The Reaper launched right into the discussion, his usual boisterous and jovial nature somewhat subdued; Maka perked up at the mention of a special assignment from Lord Death himself, and didn't note the change. "In Southern Montana, there has been a spike in disturbing soul wavelengths that have been reported. We cannot find anything in any of the archives that would explain the types of wavelengths we have been sensing, nor why they are acting so strangely. You are one of our best young weapon/meister pairs, please go investigate the cause of all of this for me, ok?" By the end of his speech, Lord Death's tone had seemed lose a bit of the seriousness and return to its usual levity, and he flashed the two a peace sign. Maka was flushing bright pink at being called one of the best young meisters, and even Soul was trying to maintain his cool; they didn't notice Lord Death's seriousness, or if they did, they only chalked it up to his usual ectrenctisities.
"Of course, Lord Death. We can leave immediately," Maka spoke for the pair, as she usually did; Soul didn't appear to mind.
"Good, good!" the Reper clapped his hands together and bounced up as though his entire form was just a robe draped over a spring. "I'm glad that's your attitude, because you're set to leave in about 15 minutes from one of the mirrors in the missions office. I'll have your absences cleared with the rest of your classes today, so don't worry." Lord Death turned away from the pair, evidently done with his audience with them
"You kids better hurry up," Lord Death called back to them, "You don't want to miss your mirror."
Maka straightened, determined to live up to Lord Death's praise.
"Of course not, sir!" she replied, nearly dragging Soul out by his arm.
"Ow! Hey, watch it, Maka! Cut it out!" Soul's protests could be heard as the two disappeared back down the guillotine lined hallway, leaving the Reaper alone to stare blankly into the mirror.
As soon as he was certain the meister and weapon were well on their way across the school, Lord Death began chanting in a long forgotten language, gesturing to the mirror. The reflective glass shimmered and swirled, changing to show a rather rustic foyer. This was the closest mirror that Lord Death could find to the epicenter of the strange soul waves, but it didn't give him much of a vantage point of to what was happening.
Suddenly, the front door slammed open and two frightened children rushed in, ushered through by a maimed older woman, her eyes wild. The two children cowered back into a corner, whimpering and shaking in fright. None of them saw him. The spell he had used to observe the area was such that only he could see out; they could not see in. This meant that he was privy though when a dark shape, too looming and twisted to be human, blocked out the light streaming in from the door and stepped inside. The petite form was silhouetted by the bright sunlight outside, but the blood dripping from their hands and the mass looming above their shoulders mitigated any assumptions that they may be an easy opponent. The woman stepped forward, drawing the attention of the creature standing in the doorway.
"Leave the pups out of this," the woman commanded, breath labored from the slash wound in her side.
The figure in the doorway stepped forward, but it no longer had the bulging mass growing out of its shoulder blades; instead, in their hand was grasped a long hand and a half sword, the hilt studded in spikes. The woman shifted her stance but held firm; to back down now would not only cost her own life, but the lives of the pups behind her as well. Without giving the creature in front of her the chance to react, she leapt forward, transforming partially so that her teeth were sharp and strong enough to break through bone. As she leapt toward the jugular, her opponent brought the sword up in a low arc, cutting into her shoulder and knocking her off course and into a wall. Behind her, the pups whined, terrified, but there was nothing she could do. She was bleeding out, beaten. Her pack lay beyond the door, slaughtered like animals. Her opponent closed the distance and raised the sword, plunging it deep into her sternum.
Lord Death watched as the figure fed the sword the lycanthrope soul, and then moved on and quickly slaughtered the children and fed it their souls too. He turned from the mirror, disturbed, and ended the connection.
"Oh dear," he quietly mused to himself, "perhaps I should have sent a two or three-star meister weapon to look into this. I didn't think there would be conflict."
Across and down the halls of the DWMA, Maka was still dragging Soul, though her exuberance had lessened and her grip had become looser as they traveled. When Auntie's window for missions had finally come into view, Maka picked up her pace again, still holding tightly to Soul's hand, half dragging him behind her in her haste. When the pair reached the front of the little window, they stopped and bowed respectfully to the rather short woman sitting behind the counter.
"Hello Auntie," Maka bowed, smiling at the grandmother figure of the school. Soul waved his hand in recognition, but even he had a small smile on his face.
"Hello dear," the older woman replied. "I hear Lord Death has a special extra curricular assignment planned for you?"
Maka nodded, a smile still on her face. "Yep! Something about unknown soul waves up in the Northern U.S. that he wanted us to look into."
Auntie hmmmed as she rifled through her files, looking for the correct form. She pulled out a simple sheet of paper and slid the form to the pair, handing them a pen. "I just need the usual. Initial and sign like normal, then you can come through to the back where we have one of the personal transport mirrors already set up for you to go."
Soul quickly scratched his name out while Maka took slightly longer to make sure her signature looked neat, and then the two of them pushed through an unassuming door just off the side of the little window and into the back, where Auntie had already hopped off of her chair and was waiting to lead them to the correct mirror.
The little woman strode to the back with Maka and Soul in tow, weaving through full to bursting file cabinets and the looming shapes of mirrors with sheets thrown over them, waiting for use. The trio made their way to the back of the office space, where any of the noises floating in from the halls were muffled completely by the thick stacks of paperwork and student files. Standing near the center of the back was a full length mirror, large enough for two or three people to step through simultaneously. The mirror didn't reflect the weapon and meister pair and their escort; instead it undulated softly, a rather rustic looking grand hall greeting them from beneath the pulsing glass.
"One of Shibusen's Northern outposts," Auntie explained briefly, not bothering to glance back at either Maka or Soul. "It'll be about a four mile hike from there to your destination. It's the closest we could safely place you to the anomaly."
Soul grunted his understanding while Maka nodded, stepping forward and placing her hand flush against the mirror as she had done on so many extracurricular trips before. The mirror stopped its shifting and held the image of the grand hall steady while Maka looked back at her partner.
"The portal is open. Ready, Soul?"
The scythe flashed his infamous shark-toothed grin as he stepped up beside his meister. "It wouldn't be very cool of us to keep Lord Death waiting on the results of whatever the hell this is, right?"
And with that, the two plunged through the mirror's surface, the cold chill of Reaper magic surrounding them for only a moment before they breached the other side, stepping across and into the grand yet homely front room, only to find it vacant.
"Huh," Maka wondered aloud, "I wonder if everyone else is out on missions…"
Soul just shrugged. "Not our problem. We gotta get moving if we're gonna make it to the source of those waves at any reasonable time. Come on, tiny tits." Soul ducked and dashed out through what he presumed to be the front doors-they were large and sturdy looking after all- to avoid a leather-bound hardback that Maka had pulled from who knows where, with the angry girl hot on his heels. Angry shouts and teasing laughs cut short by startled cries of indignation and pain echoed through the deepening forest, bouncing off the trees only to be absorbed into the soft pine litter and misty air. Soul always managed to keep a slight lead on his meister, enough to give himself the time to dodge one of her flying Maka Chops, but never far enough away that he couldn't transform in a flash if danger arose.
He was right to give in to his protective nature, as he soon discovered. The jog had flown by in their lighthearted chase, and although the uneven terrain had slowed them somewhat, it had still taken them a little under an hour to reach the edge of the soul disturbance.
Maka slowed as she felt the uncomfortable slide of soul taint brush against her awareness. She shuddered as she realized that if she wasn't even using her Soul Perception and the disturbance was this strong, how powerful it must be at the epicenter. Soul, who lacked any sort of sixth sense, turned back to his meister when he noticed her footsteps no longer pounded behind him. The second he caught the look on her face, something between fear, disgust, and sadness, he willed himself to transform, falling with familiarity into Maka's grasp. She spun him around once, holding his stabilizing weight to center herself in this chaos.
She could feel his soul probe hers, asking wordlessly if she was alright. Maka sent back a short affirmative before she continued on, sometimes relying on Soul when the disturbance became too much for her to process, other times trying to puzzle out what could have caused it on her own.
As they reached a clearing in the dense foliage, Maka's heart dropped through the bottom of her shoes, while her stomach fought valiantly to exit out of her mouth. Even Soul, reflected in the blade of his scythe form, looked horrified at the carnage they had come across. The bodies were strewn everywhere, limbs bent at awkward angles where their owners had been flung back. The states of each of the people, neither meister or weapon were quite sure what exactly to classify them as, varied from form to form; some of the bodies were completely human, others looked like some sort of bizarre fusion between a dog and man. And still other bodies were strewn about, the bodies of large dogs, sharing the same glaring characteristic as all of the others; the large hole in their sternum, with jagged bits of flesh first piercing inward, then exploding outward.
Maka felt her body's urge to retch, to empty itself of the early breakfast she consumed, but she tramped it down and cautiously moved forward, eyes scanning for any movement that could signal the return of whatever had done this-if it had even left. Maka gulped and shivered but pressed on, stepping lightly over the bodies that lay in dark pools of blood; the carnage seemed to intensify towards a small grouping of buildings, and so that was were Maka set her path. Over and around the corpses she trod, wincing and flinching every time she misplaced a step and a bone cracked underfoot, until she was finally at what looked like the very worst of things. The cabin itself looked rather unscathed; there were no bloodstains on its walls or porch, nor were there any bodies in the immediate vicinity. But still, Maka could feel the wretchedness that emanated off of the building.
Maka… Soul didn't need to say much more, although the call of her name did snap the girl out of her reverie. Both knew however terrible the cabin seemed to loom before them, they needed to investigate inside to complete their mission. With soft, careful footsteps Maka tread forward, crossing the small strip of land that surrounded the cabin, erie in its lack of carnage. When she finally reached the front stoop and came to the door, Maka softly tapped it with the end of Soul and it easily swung open, having never been properly closed in the first place. A wave of nausea hit Maka as she saw what lay beyond; two children, not possibly older than seven, lay crumpled together against a back corner, locked forever in a terrified cower. And just in front of them lay a battered older woman, her chest ripped open like all the rest. She slumped against a wall, a slash mark cutting from rib to shoulder appearing to be the wound that had crippled her into submission. It was obvious that she had tried to protect the children; her mouth was twisted in a snarl and fierce canines were prominent, as if still seeking blood in death.
Maka spotted a blood flecked mirror off to the right of the hall, and moved to call Lord Death on it to report their findings. Before she could take more than a step, her progress was halted by an unearthly wail, filled with pain and anger and sorrow.
Maka! Soul urged, his face appearing in the blade of his scythe, We have to move, now. If whatever slaughtered these things here is back now, we need the element of surprise.
The meister nodded quickly and nearly scrambled from the cabin, happy to be away from the smell of inclosed carnage. She quickly found a suitable hiding spot behind a large evergreen, far enough away that she would have a notice if something came after her, but close enough to attack at any moment. Both Soul and Maka watched with shallow, uneven breath as the figure of a young girl stepped into view. She looked so confused, standing in the middle of all of the destruction, numb to anything and everything around her, that Maka started to shift in her hiding place, ready to confront her and perhaps comfort her.
What the hell are you doing? Soul hissed softly, We don't know if that's who killed everyone here or not. It's stupid to just approach her.
The figure had already entered the cabin when Maka replied, "I don't think it is, Soul. I think she, whatever she is, is one of them." Maka stood fully then, releasing some of the tension from her crouched position, "But don't transform back. We need to go into this ready for a fight." Soul just nodded soberly and steadied himself, mentally preparing to fight.
Maka left their hiding place then, her grip on her partner tight, and started to slowly make her way back into the clearing and to the cabin. The wind ruffled her pigtails softly, drawing them forward in a slow, teasing manner. The wind died down into nothing, leaving the air strangely quiet; there were no chitters or chirps of wild animals to add their sound, so all that either of them could hear was Maka's soft footsteps, dulled against hard packed dirt.
Suddenly, the figure of the girl reappeared in the doorway, eyes glowing dark amber, skin tanned and feet soaked in blood.
Maka blushed as Soul coughed and looked away; in the midst of their squabbling, they had missed a very important fact-she was naked. Maka opened her mouth to try to speak to the girl, but the other spoke first, her voice far too deep and gravelly for any girl.
You come here and slaughter my pack, she angrily growled, stepping slowly down the porch steps, leaving bloody footprints in her wake. You killed the pups, the Alpha, everyone. But you have misstepped; your death will come from my my fangs. She lept at the final word and the pair watched in horrified fascination as her skin began to pull and twist, her bones reshaping themselves into something new. When she stood not seven feet from them, the young girl had now become some sort of beast; her mouth had become elongated and filled with sharp canines, while her spine hunched over, bringing her head down to squarely lock gazes with them. She still stood on two legs, but her hind legs weren't human, they bent and flexed wrong, almost as if they were part dog.
Before either Maka or Soul could consider much more than that, the beast-girl was on them, swinging her claw tipped arms with a blind rage. Maka blocked easily, but was buffeted back by the sheer intensity of the blow.
We have to end this, quickly! Soul shouted, noting the preparation for a second attack. Maka nodded, watching for an opening to strike. Her opportunity came quickly, as she was charged head on by the beast-girl. She managed to smash the flat of Soul's blade into her muzzle, which disoriented her. Maka watched her stagger around, barely catching herself from falling to the ground with a front claw. The beast-girl managed to right herself enough for another charge at the weapon meister pair, but this time they were more than a match for her disoriented state. As her opponent passed, Maka slammed the back of Soul's handle into the base of her skull, knocking her unconscious and sending her crumpling to the ground.
Maka panted softly, her breath coming out in soft gasps, as her adrenaline filled fight instincts began to drain out of her. Soul transformed back, coming to stand just behind her left shoulder.
"What should we do with it?" he wondered aloud, absentmindedly kicking a clod of soft dirt towards the prone form. It didn't stirr.
"Lord Death didn't send us here to kill anyone; I doubt her name's on the list." Maka reasoned, mostly trying to puzzle out an answer for herself. She turned to Soul. "I saw a mirror hanging in the entryway of that cabin; we can call Lord Death and ask him what he wants us to do next."
Soul nodded in affirmative and the two returned to the cabin, both keeping a close eye on the unconscious body for any sudden movements. With none forthcoming, the pair struggled to retrieve the mirror from the front hall and out into the open air, away from the cloying scent of blood. After wiping down the worst of the stains from the mirror, Maka puffed out her breath, clouding the surface of the mirror.
"42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door," Maka muttered under her breath, tracing out the number with her finger. The mirror shimmered softly and the connection went through, showing a steadily clearing image of the Death Room.
"Hi, heya, hello!" Death bounced into view, his form swaying in the mirror's view. "How's the mission going?"
"Well sir, that's what we were contacting you about," Maka gestured helplessly behind her, to the scene of death and blood and an unconscious thing, words failing to describe her situation. Where Maka's extensive vocabulary failed her, Soul's concise one stepped in to fill Lord Death in on the horror scene they found. The Reaper nodded as the story unfolded, seeming unfazed until he heard about the young girl they had encountered.
"Oh-ho? Well, that is unusual," he mussed, bringing an overly large hand to an approximate of where his chin would be, rubbing thoughtfully. Suddenly, a thought struck him as he raised his hand in triumph, curling the hand into a fist and dropping it onto the other.
"That's what we'll do!" he cried out excitedly, much to the confusion of the two was the first to speak.
"What is it, sir? What will we do?" she asked, not following his train of thought.
The Reaper reached out and tapped the glass in front of him, changing the spell so that Maka and Soul could no longer see the Death Room through the shimmering opacity of the glass, but so that it was now ready for travel. "Why, bring her here of course!" his voice came through across the connection even though they couldn't see his body. "I've connected that mirror there with this one here in the Death Room. All you need to do is get her through and we'll question here back here; you two have done a good job there, but it seems that you've exhausted all of your options in the field." He paused for a moment, and Soul opened his mouth to say something to Maka, only to be cut off by Death's final instructions. "I'd assume she isn't going to be unconscious for long. You two should hurry before she wakes up."
With that, the mirror went completely silent, leaving Maka and Soul alone with an unconscious beast-girl. Soul just glanced over to his meister and shrugged, walking over to the prone form and hefting it; she was heavy enough, but it wouldn't be cool if he couldn't carry a girl, even if she was some sort of animal thing, Soul thought absently. Maka watched closely, ready to move in an instant as her partner carried the dangerously unpredictable beast-girl to the mirror. Still, she didn't stir. As Maka watched Soul step through the mirror, Maka breathed a sigh of relief and followed quickly after. Another mission down...