Maka couldn't breathe.

It had been two weeks since she had first aligned her soul wavelength with her Weapon and she had excelled at everything – Soul Theory, PE, English, Combat Skills, Math and First Aid. She had excelled so much that Lord Death had decided that she was ready for her first mission, something that was completely unprecedented for a student so young, so untrained …

Hadn't she just been thrilled to accept such an honourable mission, hadn't she just been so eager to prove herself and – oh God, she couldn't breathe -

Her mind was filled with nothing and everything, swirls of panic and despair and surreal, disjointed thoughts about how the tag on her skirt was starting to itch on her back after her shirt had become untucked and how it was actually quite a nice day, really, if she weren't paralysed with fear in front of a three-metre tall monster.

She hated herself at this moment, for being so weak and pathetic, for having scoffed at stories involving Meisters who had just given up without fighting, who had met their deaths in the most cowardly way imaginable, huddled up and crying weakly, but now she was learning the hard way that reading about something in a book and experiencing it in real life were two very, very different things. She could smell the beast, the foul odour coming from places she didn't want to think about, the iron smell of blood and flesh dripping off its claws and the dried saliva caked over its slavering maws, its physical presence dominating her, suffocating her. She could see its chest muscles ripple with every guttural, growling breath, it was so close, it was so real –

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Soul's voice came warped from the weapon held in her hands, but also from a place inside her mind, a sensation that she still was not quite used to. His sounded angry – no, furious. 'Don't just stand there, move! You're gonna get yourself killed!'

Didn't he understand? She couldn't move, because there was no point in moving. She was just small, weak Maka, and the monster Lord Death had oh-so-wisely chosen for them to tackle was huge and powerful. Her best bet was to just stand as still as possible and hope that the thing would mistake her for a tree or some very long grass. At least, that's what her instincts were telling her to do and really, who was she to argue with them? They'd evolved alongside humans for millions of years and if they failed her, well, that's just natural selection, she guessed, no fault of her own and – oh God, the monster was so close now –

'Maka!' The sound of her name jerked her back into reality. Soul's voice was still angry, but tinged with panicked desperation. 'Friggin' move, now! D'you wanna die on your first mission? Jesus!'

'I can't.' Her voice sounded feeble in her ears - a reflection on her own personal state of being, she thought hysterically. It was closer than ever, its breath tickling her nose and neck, flecks of saliva hitting her cheeks. Its eyes glinted and it raised a shimmering limb -

'Shit!'

A flash of blue light and Maka could feel rough hands grabbing her arm, pulling her out of the way as a claw tore up the empty air in which she had been standing moments before. She stumbled after Soul, who was leading her roughly through the heavily wooded area which surrounded them, something that she realised she should have done earlier, because, due to the its immense size, it would take a while for the creature to follow them.

After a while, Soul stopped abruptly and, panting, asked 'Are you … insane?'

Breathing loudly, Maka couldn't do anything but shake her head.

'Of all the people …' Soul apparently couldn't finish his sentence, because he put his palms to his forehead and rubbed. Hard.

'I'm sorry.' Maka's feelings were generously allowing her to feel completely mortified about her actions, as well as terrified and hysterical. As her heart's thudding faded, Maka was left feeling incredibly tired. She wanted to go home, she wanted to curl up in her bed and never leave. She was tired and bruised and cold and hungry and everything ached. 'I guess I just … I just … I don't know.' Ashamed and defeated, she crumpled to the ground.

'Crap –' eyes rapidly filling with tears, Maka could only just make out Soul's figure half-crouching near her, hands held out in front of him, unsure of what to do.

'I'm sorry,' She repeated, looking down at the ground 'we should report back to Shibusen, tell them about my failure. You can find a new partner after they send someone else out to deal with all this.'

'Um, ok … ' Maka could tell that Soul still didn't quite know how to react.

'The month-long trial period is almost up, and we probably won't be called out for any missions before then.' She looked up at him crouching over her and smiled weakly, 'You don't have to worry.'

CRASH.

'Shit!' Soul sprung up, facing the direction of the noise. 'Looks like it's found us again!'

'What?' Maka got up gingerly, eyes frantically searching through the trees. 'I thought we'd gotten away from it!'

'Guess we didn't run far enough.' Soul growled.

Like a clamp being snapped over her stomach, Maka's overwhelming fear resurfaced. Limbs shaking, sweating, she felt sick. She was going to throw up, oh God, she was going to throw up –

'Maka! I'm gonna transform now, ok?'

'Wait -!' She squawked, but there was already a flash of blue light, and she could feel the cool metal of Soul's shaft in her hands, murkily sense the quiet thrumming of his soul.

'I-I can't do this!' She felt close to tears again, the sound of trees being slashed in half growing louder and louder.

'Sure you can!' Soul's face appeared on his blade, voice strainingly cheerful 'Just thinks of it as training!'

'You can't get killed in training!'

'I dunno, Sid looks like he can get pretty nasty.'

But Maka wasn't listening – she couldn't listen, because the only thing that registered with her was the beast, the creature, the monster, the death of her, the thing she had been training for two long weeks to combat but was still going crush her like a bug and now she could actually see its hunched-over figure hulking through the trees –

One of the loudest crashes yet sounded from the huge silhouette and a spike of unfamiliar fear tore through Maka, sending her reeling. Some external force squashed it down as quickly as it had appeared, but Maka still felt it clearly. Confused, she looked for its source.

Her eyes fell on Soul, clutched in her sweaty gloves.

''S cool,' his face appeared in the blade, 'I'm fine.'

But it wasn't cool, and he wasn't fine. Now that Maka thought to look for it, she could feel his fear – no, his abject terror – pulsing through his soul. Concentrating harder, she could also feel his anger at his terror and his clumsy attempts to hide his panic from her so as not to scare her more, clumsy attempts which had worked, because she had been just so caught up in herself, hadn't she? She hadn't thought to wonder at how her Weapon and partner was doing.

She was such an idiot.

Realization stole over her. It didn't matter that she was scared and it didn't matter that she was weak. What mattered was that there was someone depending on her, someone she had to keep safe. There was, quite literally, a life in her hands, and if she failed the consequences wouldn't just affect her. For Soul's sake, she had to defeat this enemy.

A roar alerted her to the fact that, whilst she had been contemplating her duties as a Meister, the beast had cleared the trees around them. Filled with new resolve, she assumed an offensive position and looked the monster right in the eyes.

As a shining claw cut through the air towards her, Maka lifted her scythe and blocked it, surprised at how easily she could fend it off. Howling miserably, the creature tripped backwards, and now Maka could see that, despite its flashing eyes and long talons, the monster itself wasn't particularly strong. Its bones were brittle and its arms looked weak.

Hardly daring to believe it, Maka curved Soul in an elegant arc towards the beast, towards the chest that it had left completely unprotected in its surprise at Maka's fighting back, and found almost no resistance. Before her eyes, the creature dissolved into black smoke, leaving behind an angry red orb that she supposed must be his soul.

Wait a second.

She had just defeated her first kishin egg.

She had just collected her first soul.

It had been so easy, so ridiculously easy.

Staring at the glowing, red mass dangling in mid-air, Maka began to laugh weakly with relief. Of course. Of course Lord Death wouldn't send new students out to face high-level creatures. The thing she had just faced had been all show and no substance. She had forgotten the first lesson that Sid had taught them – the size and shape is not important, but the soul. Some A+ student she was, Maka thought, laughing louder.

A flash of blue light and Soul transformed back into his human body, facing away from her, hunched over himself, hands on his stomach. Grabbing a hold of his shoulders, Maka swung him round to hug him or kiss him or congratulate him, she didn't know, she didn't care, she was just so deliriously happy at completing her first mission and at both of them being alive.

Soul gave her an apologetic look and threw up all down the front of her black coat.