CHAPTER 3:

AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE

A few weeks later, they were in Florence, Italy, having caught wind of a serial killer called Sonson-J, the infamous Killer of Emerald Lake. They found the man on a roof, clutching a knife. The bulky man wore a shirt with '13th' on it, and a sack over his head with eyeholes. He glared at them. "A Weapon and a Meister?! How come you guys get to kill how many people you want?!"

"We don't. We just kill people like you," Harry said, before transforming into his Weapon form.

"Soul Resonance," Crona intoned, before she thrummed with power. As the killer leapt at them desperately, Crona dashed forward, swinging the sword. "Ultimate Weapon Technique: The Soul Reaver!" she cried.

Almost instantly, Sonson-J burst into shards of shadow, his soul sucked into the flame-bladed sword Harry had become. But as Crona landed, she heard a voice say, "Hey, that was ours, you killstealing idiots!"

Crona looked up, and Harry, whose image peered out from a reflection on his blade, followed her gaze. A girl about their age, dressed in what seemed like a formal school uniform, was looking down at them, frowning. Her blonde hair was done in twin pigtails. She was wielding a scythe, and poking from the blade was the head and shoulders of a white-haired boy with a headband and a mouth full of sharp teeth, clearly a Weapon partially transformed.

"Oh, crap," Harry muttered. "I think they're DWMA."

"There's only two of them…" The girl muttered. "Why can I sense three?" Louder, she said, "Who are you? Are you DWMA students?"

"Harry…can you do the talking? I'm not sure how to deal with this," Crona said.

Harry sighed. "Fine." He then transformed back into human form.

"Harry? Are you the rogue Meister and Weapon duo reported by Black Star?" the girl asked.

"I dunno. Crona, are we rogues?" Harry said, looking at Crona, who shrugged, looking around anxiously, fidgeting. "Well, we're not with the DWMA, if that's what you mean. But we're trying not to piss off Lord Death, either."

"You're pissing me off, stealing our kills!" the white-haired boy yelled.

"Soul!" the girl rebuked her Weapon.

"Another loud boy with a calm girl?" Crona asked. "I don't know how to deal with this."

"I'm not sure I want to deal with this," Harry sighed. "Look, did that killer have a sign over his head saying he was yours? No? He was a Kishin Egg, therefore, he was fair game to any Weapon. Anyway, you know our names, so what are yours?"

"Maka Albarn. And this is Soul Eater Evans."

"Anyway, we're not taking anyone other than Kishin Eggs. So, I think you should let us go."

Maka frowned. "Wait. Your full name…was it Harry Potter?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"The Thompson Sisters spoke of you after they heard about Black Star's mission against Mifune and Angela," Maka mused.

"Wait, the Thompson Sisters are with the DWMA now?" Harry couldn't believe it. They were the most independent people he knew. "Who're they with?"

"Death the Kid. Lord Death's son."

Harry and Crona looked at each other. Then, Harry, who was still the spokesperson of the pair, said, "Look, is this going to be one of those bits where we fight to the death over a misunderstanding or something?"

"It was no misunderstanding, you stole our kill!" Soul snarled. "We're here on an extra assignment!"

"Whereas you two are acting without authorisation." The voice was soft, lazy, and nasal, but carried an unmistakeable ring of quiet authority. It came from behind them. Harry and Crona turned to find a man wearing a lab coat, and wielding a scythe. The man looked like he had been stitched together hastily, as if he had had a bad accident, and the surgeons had been hurried. A massive screw went through the side of his head, while he peered at them curiously from behind glasses. "Lord Death has heard of an independent Meister and Weapon duo for some years now, even before the Thompson Sisters joined us. He has tolerated your activities, as you seem to only target those with Kishin Eggs for souls. But when we heard you were in Florence at the same time as one of our own teams…I was sent by Lord Death. If your intentions were malign, then I was going to deal with you. But your intentions seem benign. I can see your souls. Despite your Witch-like wavelength, Harry, you don't suffer from the Pull of Magic, and you haven't been eating anything other than Kishin Eggs. So Lord Death has asked me to bring you to him. We can begin your formal education at the DWMA."

"Even though I'm a Witch?"

"Our issue is with Witches who have succumbed to the Pull of Magic. Black Star was an idiot who didn't want to stick around for Lord Death's full explanation. And Death thought that it'd be a good lesson. Unfortunately, he forgot who he was talking to." The man paused to twist the screw a couple of times, the action having the air of someone winding up a toy. "Anyway, we're here to recruit you into the Academy."

"And what if we refuse?" Harry asked.

"I never said refusal was an option. I am Three-Star Meister Franken Stein, and this Weapon I'm wielding is Spirit Albarn, Lord Death's personal Death Scythe. You may refuse to join the Academy, true, but refusing to come with us and talk to Lord Death before then is another matter entirely."

"Harry, I've never seen a man with a screw in his head before. I don't know how to deal with that," Crona murmured, shivering.

"Can you at least put the scythe down?" Harry asked. "Crona gets a bit skittish."

"Fine. Spirit?"

The Death Scythe transformed into a red-haired man in a suit. He put his hands up. "Sorry if we're scaring you, Crona, but orders are orders from Lord Death. Actually, he's most interested in you, Harry."

"Me? Why me?"

"Well, your Weapon form for one. It's apparently a thing of legend. Plus, a Sorcerer who's also a Weapon is astounding enough. Look, like Stein said, all you have to do is come back to the DWMA with us, and talk to Lord Death. After that, if he's satisfied, then you'll be free to leave, or even join the Academy."

Harry wasn't sure he wanted to. While it didn't smell of a trick, he wasn't sure whether he should go quietly. But if Stein wasn't bragging, then Harry knew he would be in trouble. He wasn't sure of his own ranking, save that he was probably a Two-Star rating at most. Against one like Stein, he had little chance. "Okay, but don't pull anything."

The trip back to the DWMA was surprisingly quick, given that it was in the Nevada Desert, but the Meisters could, at times, use portals that went back and forth. This was one of those times.

The DWMA was a spectacular castle, both goofy and imposing. They were soon led down corridors inside the building, before coming to a door marked 'Death's Door'. Stein opened it, and the three Meisters and three Weapons made their way through. It was a surreal landscape that was somehow indoors, and they moved along a path over which guillotines hung, while a blue sky filled with clouds was overhead.

Eventually, they came to a raised platform, dominated by two features: a large mirror, and a large chair. Lounging in this chair was a boy, a little older than them, with spiky black hair with a trio of horizontal white streaks on the right side (or his left) of the hair. His yellow eyes peered at them curiously.

Flanking the boy, however, were a pair of familiar faces. "Crona! Harry!" Liz Thompson said, the long-haired girl smiling. Her shorter-haired, more energetic (and psychotic) sister was grinning. "You two are okay."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah. And you two joined the DWMA."

"Hey, it's fun. Besides, our Meister here is the son of Lord Death."

"Nice to meet you," the boy said politely. "I am Death the Kid. And you must be Harry and Crona."

"Yep! That's who they are!"

This last was a cheerful, high pitched voice that seemed innocuous coming from the bizarre figure near the mirror. At first glance, he seemed to be wearing a pitch black robe, and wearing a goofy, skull-like mask. But the robe seemed to be, on closer examination, more of a ragged gash in the very air itself, and Harry knew who it was. "Lord Death, I presume?"

"Yep, that's me! Hi, guys! It's good to meet you!"

Lord Death was certainly…different to what Harry had thought. He had thought of someone more ominous and dark. He wasn't expecting this goofy, bouncing thing with the clowny voice. "Death is talking to me," Crona murmured. "I don't know how to deal with this."

"Oh dear. I think it's a getting bit crowded. Stein? Spirit? Maka? Soul? You may leave us," Death said. "And Maka? Soul? You got two of the assigned Kishin Egg souls, so don't worry about not taking Sonson-J's soul. Outside interference will not affect your grades, and in any case, a horrible killer is off our books either way!" He clapped together a pair of bone-white hands that looked like massive foam hands cheerfully.

Soon, the other four left, and Death turned to the newcomers. "Now then, Harry, would you please turn into your Weapon form?"

Harry did so, albeit somewhat puzzled. After he did so, though, Death clapped his hands together again. "As I thought! Harry, did you ever learn the maiden name of your mother?"

Harry, transforming back, said, "Well, no, but her sister…my aunt, she once said something about her father being an Evans."

"Ah! Indeed! I believe that you are distantly related to young Soul, who just left. But before I explain any more, would you be so kind as to tell me your lives? Your eyes are far too old for those so young."

Death was so damned nice that Harry and Crona, albeit hesitantly, began to give Death the history of their respective lives. His goofy demeanour became subdued, though, when he learned of how appalling those lives were, and Harry didn't fail to notice Death the Kid's eyes narrowing. Patty and Liz offered anecdotes from the two years Harry and Crona lived with them. Eventually, after describing their escape, Death called a halt to the explanation. "I believe we came across Medusa's laboratory shortly after your escape, as we felt the soul of a powerful Witch suddenly appear, and then disappear. Your attack must have caused her to drop her Soul Protect spell. However, there was no sign of her body. Witches are hardy, but even such a wound would have been mortal, given enough time. It's possible that she deliberately self-destructed, in order to prevent her soul from being harvested. Or it's possible that she had a back-up plan that would allow her to survive. Witches are tenacious, after all, especially the evil ones, and they'd view death without accomplishing their goals as utter defeat."

"But Father, how did these two get a mental link in the first place?" Death the Kid asked.

"I don't know. It may be that their souls, hurt by their respective guardians, reached out across the void that divides the worlds, and found each other. Even I, the Grim Reaper himself, cannot claim to know everything about the soul. In any case, it seems that Medusa's insane plan to create a Kishin has been delayed, if not outright scuppered. True, you still have the Black Blood within you, Crona, as well as the Demon Sword Ragnarok, but you haven't been feeding it the souls of anything but Kishin Eggs, and the effects of the Black Blood have been minimised by your association with Harry, it seems. That merely makes you dangerous, but not evil. It's something to be thankful for, especially as you've walked down the path of one of my Weapon Meister teams, even without actually being one." His attention then turned to Harry. "Now, I mentioned that you are one of the Evans family. In truth, I believe that you are heir to one of their most extraordinary powers. The Thompson Twins spoke to me of the Soul Reaver technique you have used. It is probably one of the most powerful techniques of any Weapon Meister, more powerful even than the Hunt-Slash techniques. It allows one to slay an enemy and consume their soul in the same action, and is unique to your Weapon form, Harry, the Soul Reaver."

"So this sword I change into is called the Soul Reaver?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Indeed. It is sometimes called the Legacy of Kain, after one of the earliest Meisters in this world. Over a thousand years ago, long before I formed the Eight Warlords who preceded the DWMA, a portal to another world, distinct from both this one, and the one you came from, Harry, opened. Through this portal, a man bearing a massive sword came through. No, both more and less than a man, for he was a vampire of incredible age and power by the name of Kain. He had been forced to flee his own world, despite fighting against his own fate. His Weapon had once, long ago, been one of his lieutenants, Raziel. They had both been fighting against an entity who had usurped my own place in that world. I will not recount their complicated adventures now. Kain, reluctantly, agreed to settle here. I used my power to grant Raziel the ability to change freely from the sword to his body, and also ridding himself of both his vampirism, as well as his condition as a wraith. It was Raziel, now once more a mortal man, who founded what would become the Evans line. Eventually, the two opted to return to their world for a final effort to overcome their nemesis. Whether they succeeded or not, I don't know. But the Legacy of Kain lives on in you. Once every few generations, an Evans becomes a Soul Reaver. It seems that you are the latest."

"…So, what happens now?" Harry asked.

"Well, up to you, really. I'd prefer you here under my aegis at the DWMA. But you've been really good kids so far, and as long as you stayed on the straight and narrow, I wouldn't send anyone after you. But the truth is, an independent Meister and Weapon will be a target for Witches even more than those from the DWMA."

Harry and Crona looked at each other, before Harry said, "I'm considering joining, but on one big condition."

"Which is?"

"Mifune and Angela…I'm worried about them. Would the DWMA have any objection to harbouring a Witch, even a really young one?"

"Of course not. It's the Witches who are destructive I take issue with. Unfortunately, Black Star didn't grasp the meaning of what I sent him to do, and I underestimated his power. I tried to tell him how old Angela was, but he ran off with only half an explanation. Frankly, I expected the experience to humble him. It backfired somewhat. Of course, the big question is whether Mifune and Angela will consent to the DWMA's protection. In any case, I believe Soul and Maka have a flat adjacent to their own vacant. Or, as long as you're tidy, there are rooms in our mansion you could live in. They just need to be kept tidy for my son's sake."

"He's got OCD," Liz whispered loudly.

Kid scowled. "It is NOT OCD to have high standards, and a love of the perfection of symmetry."

"Yeah, Kid, whatever you say," Liz said, winking at Harry and Crona.

"As long as we don't have to live near the loud ninja wannabe, I don't mind," Harry said.

"I don't know how to deal with loud people," Crona agreed. "I like it quiet."

"You dealt with Patty for a long time," Liz pointed out.

"Yeah!" cheered the other Thompson sister.

"You were our friends anyway," Crona said. She turned to Death. "If you don't mind, Lord D-Death, may we stay in your mansion? I w-would like to be with friends."

"No trouble at all! Mi casa es tu casa, and all that! So, you agree to stay at the DWMA?"

Harry looked at Crona, before saying, "If you can overlook me being a Sorcerer, and Crona being the daughter of a Witch, not to mention helping out Angela and Mifune, then I will. But I'm not going to be caged again, and neither will she."

"Harry, I have no such intention at all. Better to make sure a Witch or Sorcerer is no threat through kindness, rather than have to kill them."

It took some persuading, but Mifune and Angela did eventually move from Demon Cinder Castle, though Mifune wasn't really enamoured with Death. Even so, the bodyguard, with some persuasion, accepted a job as a teacher at the DWMA, teaching combat techniques. Angela, meanwhile, was ecstatic to be reunited with her big brother and big sister, as well as getting some more siblings into the bargain, courtesy of the Thompson Sisters, Death the Kid, Maka and Soul. She hated Black Star still, and was a bit stand-offish towards the good-natured Tsubaki.

Harry and Crona didn't know it, though, but a pair of eyes had marked their arrival. A pair of golden, ophidian eyes that would have been very familiar to Crona…the eyes of Medusa Gorgon.

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry and Crona have joined the DWMA. And Medusa, despite the divergence from canon, has still managed to infiltrate the DWMA.

So here's the link to Legacy of Kain that you guys have probably seen coming. It's just one of those weird ideas that popped into my head. Kain and Raziel won't appear, though, in all likelihood. It's more to do with the backstory of Harry's Weapon form. Hope you liked it, regardless.