"DAMMIT. DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!" Soul's awareness was vaguely returning. Black Star was smashing the cliff off in the distance with his fist. His gaze remained fixed on his broken meister. This was some kind of cruel trick… this was Asura's madness at work, it had to be. Maka couldn't be dead. She was too strong. She couldn't be struck down by something as insignificant as a reanimated skeleton.
"Soul," Kid said softly, still behind Soul, a hand on his shoulder. "We should… we should take her back to Death City. We need to get out of here." Soul reached out to her face. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. His eyes widened as her body began to emanate a faint glow.
"Kid?" Soul turned questioningly to the shinigami. Kid looked just as astonished. The glow became brighter, until it peaked in a great flash, forcing the two young men to stagger backwards. Soul looked back as his eyes recovered. The body was gone. Vanished. Nothing but her blood stain remained. Suddenly, something tugged at Soul's heart. Kid's head whipped around, and the two looked at each other for a second with telling glances.
"You felt that too, didn't you?" Soul asked. "That wasn't just me, was it?"
"No, I felt her too." Kid extended a hand, and the enchanted Beelzebub, his flying skateboard, shot forth. He stepped on and held a hand out to Soul. "I assume you're coming?"
"Kid, what's going on?" Liz asked from his right hand. "What happened to Maka's body?"
"We're about to find out," Kid answered as Soul wrapped an arm around Kid's waist. Beelzebub shot like a rocket, past Tsubaki, who was embracing her boyfriend from behind, face in the back of his neck. The two whipped their heads around as the board shot past. "Black Star, follow us!" Kid yelled back. "Now!"
Wiping a dried tear away, the ninja wrestled himself free from his girlfriend's grasp, who looked up at him with watery eyes. She wordlessly acknowledged Kid's order, and transformed into a tanto. Black Star grabbed her and leaped after the vapor trail left by Kid and Soul.
Soul closed his eyes as he hung on for dear life on Beelzebub. He could feel her nearby. Just as suddenly as she'd vanished, he could feel her presence nearby. He just couldn't pinpoint it. He felt out with his own soul, but she was elusive, as if there was something interfering. Suddenly, Soul felt as though something was tugging his from behind his stomach as Kid turned into a nosedive. As it halted, Soul opened his eyes. Elizabeth and Patty Thompson transformed by Kid's side. They were just past the old chapel. There was a cleared path, a circle paved over with stone. In the middle roared a great fire, at least ten meters high, and a few in diameter. Inside, Soul could see the outline of a human form. A female. With familiar, characteristic pigtails, and a long, white coat. The flame danced and writhed. Soul vaguely recognized Black Star landing behind him, with Tsubaki materializing by his side.
With a quiet "thump", the figure was shot gracelessly onto the paved ground face first. There before her friends lay Maka Albarn. She groaned slightly, and reached up and rubbed the back of her head. With a grunt, she sat back up and cracked her neck. And gave a blank look as her friends greeted her with a mixture of gasps and a couple short screams.
Soul was baffled. He could feel her soul. It was hers, just as it always had been; he could just as always now that she was out of the flames. She still had her pigtails and jacket, and her eyes were the same olive green. But… "M-Maka?" he stuttered out, unable to help himself from pointing. Maka's eyes widened, as if something finally clicked into place, and she lunged forward and gave Soul a suffocating hug, burying herself into his chest. Soul, still shocked, kept his arms stiffly at his side.
"Soul! What happened? When we were in the black room? We were talking, and you vanished, and then I blacked out, and- Soul?" She looked up at him, his gaze unwilling to meet hers. "Soul, what's wrong?"
"Hehehe… reckon the lad's never seen a hollow before, that's what," came a voice from the other side of the fire. In the attention paid to Maka, the group had failed to notice a sallow-faced soldier in chain mail sitting on a bench, a sword and shield placed by his side. "Not sure why though. You'd think you'd all have seen an undead before."
Maka let Soul go and her head whipped around to the man, a confused and sour look on her face. "What are you talking about? I'm a human, you jerk!"
"Maka… Soul interrupted. "You- you're skin… it's…" he finished lamely, unable to finish. Maka looked down at her legs peeking out from her skirt and looked mortified. Her skin was withered, darkened, wrinkled. She looked back to her friends, starting to tear up.
"Is- is everything?" she asked. Knowing what she referred to, the group just nodded solemnly. Maka stood on the spot, breathing heavily, trying to contain the combination of panic and confusion she felt at the revelation. It quickly spiraled into hyperventilation.
"Oh, it's not so bad. Don't fret too much. Just… use some of your humanity, and you'll be good as new. Just like me," the warrior smirked. "Just don't get yourself killed too much, or you'll go hollow. Then again… maybe being hollow would be an improvement."
"Hey, shut up!" Soul yelled at the man, indignant over the indifference to his meister's plight.
"Indeed, good fellow! Show some support for these travelers!" A second man came up behind a well-hidden staircase that seemed to spiral down the edge of the cliff. Apparently a warrior as well, the man wore an iron bucket helm and was donned in chainmail with a vest embroidered with a bright sun on a white coat. "Why, it warms my heart to see so many travelling together, it's been such a great time since last!"
"Oh quiet, sunshine," the grumpy warrior returned back. "If they don't even know what an undead is, they're not long for this land anyways. They don't even know how to deal with themselves," he said, gesturing to the group as a whole.
"All the greater reason for us to work together!" the second warrior responded, marching with an almost noble air to him up to the group. "Greetings, travelers! I am Knight Solaire. It is a great pleasure to see a team so large together. It pleases me like the rays of the morning sun!" The man held a hand out to Maka, who was positioned closest. "You all look quite able- will you join me in a bit of jolly cooperation? I seek to find my own sun, courtesy of the great Lord of Sunlight. What do you say?"
Maka hesitated for just a moment before grasping his hand in return. She was trying to peer at the man's soul, but was finding nothing, unlike the other, more negative warrior. Still his cheerfulness and warmth were… invigorating.
"Hello, Solaire. I'm Maka Albarn, and these are my friends," she said, gesturing to the group. "This is Soul," she elbowed Soul, who grudgingly offered a hand to the man. "Um, not to offend, but we should probably be leaving this place. We're just supposed to investigate, and get out of here. But, if you know something to help with, uh, this," she said, touching a gloved hand to her withered face."
"I see. That might not be wise, fair Maka. Tell me, are you and your friends from beyond the barrier surrounding Lordran? You seem unfamiliar with things we have known for ages here."
"Well, yeah. The barrier was apparently impenetrable, but weakened to the point that we could enter it. We were sent to investigate why the barrier was there in the first place."
"Well, Maka, I'm afraid you now know why. The curse of undeath ravaged Lordran. The Lord of Sunlight, Gwyn, sacrificed his freedom to the flame to create and anchor a barrier around Lordran, to prevent it from spreading. If you leave, you and your friends will spread it elsewhere. The undead all eventually lose themselves to madness and become hollow, attacking anyone and everyone for their soul to take their humanity. It must be contained, or the entire world shall descend into dark. This… is my task. In finding my sun, I will repair the damage to the lord's barrier, and preserve the light of the world."
"Wait, are you saying we have this curse that Maka has?" Liz shrieked.
"Yes, I can sense the curse on all of you. You all bear the dark sign except… you," Solaire said, tilting his helmet oddly, staring at Kid. "Very odd that you would be immune to the curse. I have yet to encounter a mortal who was immune to it."
"Well, that's probably because I'm not a mortal, I'm a shinigami," Kid responded coolly. "What is this darksign? Is it the circular mark on Maka's neck?"
"Yes, that is the darksign, the brand of undeath. Now, you are a what?" Solaire responded as Liz, Tsubaki, Black Star, and Soul began searching themselves over for the mark.
"My father is Lord Death, the Grim Reaper, whatever you wish to call him."
"So you are a god… fascinating! Very good! So, will you assist me in sealing back the lord's barrier? It truly is a task of great importance!"
"Wait, isn't there something we can do to cure this curse?" Soul asked him. "Or, we could communicate with Lord Death, and see if he can do something!"
"Well, I suppose it's not impossible, but nobody ever found a cure, and the curse has run rampant for over two thousand years. And we would all be remiss in our duties to allow the madness of undeath to spread past Lordran, would we not?"
"I… I guess," Soul said, in a defeated tone, looking guiltily back at Maka. "Can you help Maka at least? You know, get back to being… normal?"
"I told you half-wits," the chain-mailed warrior piped up, having observed the conversation in quiet up to now. "Just find a bit of humanity… and… use it. Besides, I'm sure you can find some hollows running around Lordran that don't need it."
"What do you mean, humanity?" Maka asked. "You mean their soul?"
"Well, more or less. You just, well, I guess eat it, and you'll be fine in no time. Just bask in the light of the fire like me after eating it, and you'll be good as new… well, until the curse drives you mad anyway! Hehehe…"
"I'm not eating someone's soul!" Maka stamped her foot, marching over to the smirking warrior, who looked up, unimpressed.
"Fine," he responded simply. "Let your soul rot in your hollowed body, and you'll go mad in no time, just like all the others. And like I said, maybe for you, it would be an improvement. Quieter, at least."
"A sound soul resides in a sound body…" Maka whispered to herself. He was right. If she let herself stay like this, her soul would reject her body and even she would go mad under the strain. She turned to Solaire. "Is he telling the truth, Solaire? Will… eating someone's soul make me normal again?"
"Finally, the lass gets it," the warrior mumbled.
"For a time, yes, consuming a soul will restore an undead's humanity after they perished. But after a point, consuming excess humanity drives them mad with greed for souls, and they become no better than the hollowed. But it is a much slower process than allowing the soul to rot in a hollowed body."
"To hell with you!" The group turned to Black Star, who'd remained implausibly quiet so far. "I'm going to beat this curse! And people will know that it was the great Black Star who became so big that he got better by conquering immortality!" His partner gave him a demure smile, appreciative of the ninja's confidence in a time of incredible confusion. "We'll find something that'll fix this curse and Solaire here won't even need to fix the barrier. How about THAT, Solaire?"
"Haha!" Solaire chuckled. "I like you! You radiate confidence like an iridescent sun! Nothing would please me more than to break the curse of undeath. If you wish to accompany me in the hopes of discovering such a cure, then I welcome you with open arms! But, if I must, I will restore the Sunlight Lord's barrier."
"No problem, we'll have this curse fixed before you know how to fix the stupid barrier anyways!"
"We should find a mirror," Kid spoke up. "We should speak to my father back in Death City, and see if he knows anything that might be able to help us. "
"Why not go back yourself, Kid? You're not cursed," Soul asked. "You could help find a cure back in Death City."
"I'm not leaving Liz and Patty here," Kid said bluntly.
"Aww, thanks Kid," Liz said, giving him a grateful smile.
"Of course he's not leaving, we're a team!" Patty poked in, grabbing the two and pulling them into an awkward group hug. "Besides, then he'd miss out on smoochy time!"
"PATTY!" the other two yelled at her, frantically pulling away from the embrace.
"Excellent!" Solaire piped up. "Shall we set off, then, companions? I am seeking the first bell of awakening, in Lordran's Church of Fina. It is not far, but it is likely infested with hollowed undead. Are you all able to fight?"
"Hah! Can we fight? I'm the greatest fighter in all of Death City!" Black Star proclaimed. "And, I guess Kid and Maka aren't bad," he said, giving Maka a challenging smirk. Solaire looked back to Maka, who was sitting back on the ground, looking sullen, ignoring Black Star's obvious attempt to cheer her up.
"Come, Maka Albarn! Fret not; we will have your humanity restored in no time at all!"
She looked up at Solaire, and looked back to Soul, who was pointedly staring off in the distance. She shook her head. She wasn't going to let this hold her back. "Right, let's go!" she said, donning a smirk. She grabbed Soul's arm and tugged at it, causing him to whip around. Even in a withered, marred state, her confident smile shone through. Soul couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth turn upwards, if for a second.
"Excellent! Follow me, to our own suns!"
As the group marched to a staircase climbing up the nearby cliff, the crestfallen warrior remained on the bench, giving them an off glance. "Well, good luck!" he called out to the group. "Don't all go hollow at once!"
A/N: Hiya again. Pretty much diving into the plot right away. Sorry that some of the characters haven't gotten a lot of screen time yet (cough Tsubaki), but everyone's going to get their turn. For those who've played Dark Souls, there will be a few other twists to the main plot, hopefully they'll make sense. Anyways, as always, feedback is welcome.
I don't own Soul Eater or Dark Souls, they are the property of Atsushi Ōkubo and and Namco Bandai, respectively. Please don't sue me, there's not much to take anyways.