4

Promise

In my earliest memories, I was too young to be of use. So I was kept in a small locked room, with a single bed and a barred window too high for me to reach.

Sid would visit sometimes, and tell me stories and rumours of the outside world. I started realizing how important some of these facts were, and listened the best I could. I had dreams about escaping and going to DWMA. Finally being safe, and reunited with my long lost family. Of course I knew that it was a fantasy that could never happen. But it was still nice to dream.

Eventually, the day came when a young girl, also a Death Weapon, was kept in the same space as me. At the beginning she wouldn't talk to me, but eventually, I got her to say her name. She was Tsubaki.

At first I was just happy that I wouldn't be locked in that room alone anymore. But then I learned more of her story.

One night she woke to a sound she didn't recognize, and realized the house had been set on fire. She'd run outside, trying to find her parents, her older brother, or anyone else. She was quickly captured, and when they realized she was a Death Weapon, they brought her here. For the longest time she thought her family was dead, then Sid brought news that her brother was alive.

Seeing her sadness made me want to do anything to get her back to her older brother. So I made her a promise. Saying that I would get her out, and take her to her brother... or die trying.

It wasn't very long after that we were old enough to be used. When they told me to go into weapon form, so they could put the collar on, I refused. They put it on anyway, and what I experienced was a hot, searing pain that seemed to burn my skin. I'd collapsed and screamed in agony, slowly being morphed into my scythe self. When the transformation was compete, the pain ebbed away. And then they turned to Tsubaki.

I wanted to warn her to listen to them, so she didn't have to suffer the same way, but found myself unable to talk, unable to move, unable to do anything.

To my horror, she also rebelled, and I had to watch her wither around, the collar slowly forcing the transformation on her. After that, we were stuck in the cellar, and it didn't take me long to figure out all the weapons down there were people, in the same situation as us.

I didn't forget the promise. I couldn't. But as time went on, I knew I'd never be able to fulfil it. Yet now, I finally have the chance. And I would take it.

I didn't tell Maka all of this, and she didn't pry. The same silence returned, only broken by the occasional crackle of the fire.

"Soul," Kid walked up to us, the Thompson pistols in his hands, and Tsubaki following. "How did you do that Soul Resonance thing?"

"You have to match your wavelengths perfectly. Even more than what you're doing now. Then you have to hold it that way for the entire time." I explained briefly.

"Yeah, but how do we do that?" Liz asked, her voice echoing slightly, as it came from inside the gun.

I glanced at Maka, a little unsure of how to explain. When we did it, it came naturally. If their souls were a good match, it should be the same for them. In the end, all I could do was shrug. It was probably harder, with three souls trying to match.

Kid's eyes closed in concentration, and I knew his weapons were doing the same. Nothing happened for a few long seconds, then the pistols began to glow.

As I watched, they grew wider, longer, and more powerful. The glow diminished, and the result was cool. Kid's hands were inside of the guns. They weren't pistols any more, they were bigger and looked more deadly. I noticed three black spikes were coming out of Kid's arms on either side, but they didn't look like they hurt.

His eyes widened with sort of pleasure, that I assumed came from the fact that they were still symmetrical. "This is insane!" Liz was in awe, I could tell. "Resonance factor stable. Noise, 0.4 %. Black needle soul wavelength charge complete. Five seconds to feedback." She sounded like she had this rehearsed, and Kid seemed to know what this meant. "4, 3, 2, 1, 0."

"You're free to fire!" Patti stated cheerfully.

Kid swung them around, aiming at a boulder a little ways off. I could feel the energy being gathered. Then, two glowing orbs were fired, and raced toward the stone. Instantly, the entire thing exploded, leaving nothing but rubble behind.

I could only stare. That might be even more powerful than our Soul Resonance. In that second, their concentration broke, and Liz and Patti switched back into their pistol form.

"What was that?" Maka asked, awe clear in her voice.

"Death Cannon..." Kid mumbled the words under his breath, and I almost didn't hear them. Was that like our Witch Hunter? Where the name suddenly just popped into your head?

Everything had fallen into a complete silence. All the animals had been scared away from the loud, rattling blasts that had just occurred. These moves were so powerful. And all it took was a Meister and Demon Weapon.

I couldn't get why they put those magic collars on us, and hid away such power. But then something told me, that maybe, it hadn't always been this way.

...

The next day was clear and free of clouds, but despite the bright sun, there was still a chilly wind. I knew we had to get out of these mountains. The cold would kill us eventually. I was even starting to miss the warmth of the basement in the tavern.

I felt kinda bad for Tsubaki. All us Weapons had Meisters, and were doing cool moves, that left regular fighting far behind. Maybe she'd be able to do the same thing, if she managed to find a Meister at DWMA.

I could tell Maka wanted to wield me some more, but was iffy about the number of times I'd let her get away with the I-saved-you-so-you-owe-me excuse. Despite wanting to try Witch Hunter again, I didn't want to go to weapon form quite yet. My muscles were still sore from years of not being used.

But in reality, it felt like my life spent locked up in the cellar was nothing but a horrible nightmare. There was still a chance that they'd find us, and bring us back. But at the moment, that was the least of my worries. What I was really worried about was Tsubaki. What if something had happened to her brother? What if he'd been killed? I wouldn't be able to stand her tears.

I sighed, and looked ahead of us. We'd been walking in a deep valley between to mountains, that were slowly becoming closer together. Ahead, the two sides grew incredibly steep, and were only about ten or so meters apart. The top of the cliffs were a long ways up, too high to climb.

As we entered into the narrow passage, I glanced up, and for a split second, thought I saw something moving across the top on the gorge. But when I blinked, it was gone. Deciding it was some sort of animal, I focused on what was ahead of us.

The trail went straight for a while, before slowly turning right, leaving the rest hidden from view. I'm no expert, but from just looking, I could tell this was the perfect place for an ambush. The only problem was, there was no road or paths leading here, and we'd just come upon it by sheer dumb luck. Anyone who'd come through here, let alone worth robbing, would be very few.

It was when we passed under a slight overhang of pointed stone, did a loud, slightly obnoxious voice echo through the gorge. "Yahoo!"

As a brief notice, I might end up posting chapters every other week instead of every week. There's just so many stories I'm trying to work on at once.

Hope you enjoyed!

-Falconface