Chapter 8 – Lovely Trickster

Death the Kid

Standing on the balcony with her, something began to bother me. I wasn't sure I wanted the answer, but I felt the need to ask. Her frankness might have been rubbing off on me already.

I looked to my right. "Why do you look so much like Soul if you're second cousins? You have different parents so how can you both have red eyes and white hair?" I probed.

Sai didn't look at me but I caught a slight hint of a smile on her lips. "You're perceptive. I don't know how many people would have put that together."

"Hmm. I wasn't thinking that hard about it, really." I lied. It even sounded like a lie to me. I shifted my weight, let me hands rest in my pockets, and looked over the city.

She cocked her hard to the right, put her left arm across her abdomen, and looked up to the sky. "The ability to change into a Weapon form in our family picks certain people – it's like a genetic trait, but spread over a massive amount of our genetic code. And no matter who it selects has red eyes and white hair. Visually it's like an albino trait, but it runs deeper than that. It's more dominant in our genes." She paused and crossed her arms across her chest. "So technically Soul is closer to being my brother than my second cousin."

I thought on that for a moment and eyed her, but her gaze did not meet mine. I couldn't be sure if she was even seeing me at that moment. "But unlike Soul you don't need a Meister to be functional."

The light breeze blew her hair. "I can function without one, but I am only at my full potential with one."

"Don't complain, you got the best of both sides in the deal." I heard from behind us.

Soul stood behind us with his hands in his pockets, looked more subdued than the last time I saw him. He no longer seemed angry. Being around her was apparently placating for people; for I included.

Sai half-turned on the step, with her arms still crossed. "Hey Soul. You look a little less irritated."

He ran his right hand through his white hair. "Yeah. I didn't mean to push it back there."

She snorted and smirked. "If I wasn't me, you wouldn't like me, right?"

"Heh. Probably not. Because then you'd be like me." He lightly smacked himself in the chest with his right palm and grinned.

It was then that I realized something else was bothering me. "Eh, Soul, how did you find this place?"

Spirit stepped out of the end of the hallway, on cue. I felt my face my fall, but Sai picked up the cue. She stepped down from the ledge and walked half-way across the balcony, swinging her arms. "You!" She stopped and scowled at him. "Are you trying to fold 'annoying Sai' into your new lesson plans?"

I was surprised at her gall in her talking to him like that, but he seemed to take it in stride and smiled stupidly. "Now that you've said that I will have to make a go at that."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever."

But Spirit seemed excited about something and bypassed her attitutde. "So, I heard you talking…"

Sai and Soul both eyed him in irritation.

I tried to steer the conversation towards something safe. "We were discussing the needing of a Meister by a Weapon."

And I abruptly failed on that account as Spirit seemed to have advance knowledge of the subject at hand. "Ooh, show Kid one of your tricks!"

That seemed to rub her the wrong way. "Don't call our abilities 'tricks'. That's rude." She told him curtly, trying to snub him.

I tried again to direct the conversation. "What does needing a Meister have to do with this 'ability'?"

"Eh…" She raised an eyebrow; explaining the subject in words must have been more complicated than she expected. "Soul?" She looked at him in mild confusion.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. You can't do much more to injure me than you've already done." He strolled across the balcony and they stood no more than two feet apart. She held out her right hand and Soul grabbed it with his right.

"Meister Release." I heard her say quietly, and I watched her soul warp in space. The colors shifted and it grew bluer, overpowering the magenta. Soul's physical form then shifted with a spark, warping him into his scythe form. It wasn't quite the same form I was used to. From the top, a foot wide silver ring hung. It clinked with Sai's first movement, which was to swing Soul wide behind her. The eye of scythe was also blue and not red as I had usually seen him, but there was no question is was Soul.

Sai had no problems shifting him in space; someone looking at her wouldn't have known she wasn't his regular Meister partner. She even had grace in her movement. The bright colors of the scythe's blade were a striking contract to her black ensemble and white hair, and I thought she would have frightened many an enemy. Her movements were light as she brought him head-down, with blade down and turned out, to a seat next to her.

Spirit gave a light clap. "Impressive. The ability to give up one's Weapon ability to use another Weapon. Very useful trick."

She scowled at the work trick again.

"Hey!" Soul's voice emanated in the air and the scythe wiggled on its own. "We done?"

"Ooh, sorry." Sai let go of Soul's staff and he rematerialized next to her.

He gave me a nod and Soul ran his hand through his hair again.

I watched a grin spread across Spirit's face. "Show Kid the other one."

Sai made a perturbed face in response. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Spirit rocked his head back and forth. "Well, ya know…"

Something seemed to spark in Sai's face and she inhaled with noise. "You're grading me on this, aren't you! That's why you showed Soul how to get here."

He grinned and showed his teeth. "Soul missed lecture as well, so he did have to do the assignment. So he got a grade on this little exercise and passed. I also need your contribution for the assignment. You seem to have forgotten my lectures deal with Weapon shape-shifting practices."

Sai's face fell. "Darn you, Death Scythe." I heard her mutter. "But I don't have a standard physical form." Then she smirked. "How do you know if I'm doing it right then?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

Spirit shrugged and smiled. "I don't. That just makes it more interesting to watch."

She rolled her eyes.

I wanted to laugh quietly, but I thought it too early for that.

Sai sauntered over to me, and looked at me with her big ruby eyes. "Will you do me a favor?" She bit her lip.

I could feel the curious look on my face. "S-sure. What do I have to do?"

She held out her right hand and smiled. "Give me your hand."

I heard my heart thump in my chest as I obliged her. I found her hand warm and soft in mine. She gave me a nod. "And you've got to trust me, okay?"

It wasn't really a question so much as a statement. It was too late to object. I just stared, too preoccupied with my heart thundering in my ears. I saw her soul spin it's blue away and it glowed a brilliant magenta this time. I heard her whisper "Weapon Release."

And then she was gone from in front of me. Not like she was gone, but like she had never been there at all. The place she had been standing felt empty.

I looked up at Soul and then Spirit. Neither seemed confused by her sudden disappearance. Unlike me.

"Kid!" I heard her call.

I looked to my left and right, trying to grasp the situation.

"Kid!"

I could hear her, but not see her. Where was I supposed to be looking?

Sai groaned. "Ugh…stop moving, would you? You're messing with my sight." She sounded perhaps nauseous.

I brought myself to a stop and held still for a moment. I couldn't hear her voice.

"You're inside my head, aren't you?" I questioned, grasping at concepts I had never experienced myself.

"Um…technically, I'm sitting inside your soul, but since you can't see your own soul, so you can't see me."

I realized I must look like an imbecile talking to myself then. But there were suddenly questions I needed answers to. This was something I had never even read about, and the interaction was somewhat elating. I could still hear my heart pounding; this time in my chest.

"Sounds logical. So if someone else could see my soul right now, could they see you?" I asked skeptically. I wasn't sure anything was logical about this exercise.

"Hmm. I believe so. I was once told that someone who can see souls would see me as specter of sorts in your soul's range of affect. I have no confirmation of that though."

"So how is my moving changing your vision?"

"I'm borrowing your eyes to see."

I chewed on the thought. "Hmm."

Her voice was ethereal in my ears. "To see outside of your soul I borrow your vision. If you move, I see movement as well. But there's a bit a lag, so my vision takes longer to focus. You move fast; my vision turns blurry. It becomes nauseating after a period of time."

I pursed my lips and crossed my arms across my chest. "Hmm."

"And I can also only see what you see. Nothing else. No special visual tricks or anything."

I paused. "And if I you don't use my eyes?"

"I can only see you and your movements; and the inside of your soul, which is essentially just darkness. There's no frame of reference. But if I can't see, what good am I as a Weapon?"

I was feeling somewhat elated. This was something so new. "That's very interesting. Could you borrow the rest of my existence?"

There was silence. "I don't know." She finally said, but I wasn't sure I believed her.

My curiosity was getting the better of me. "And can you hear my thoughts like this?"

"No." There was then several moments of silence.

She didn't seem interested in giving me more details, so I decided not to push the issue.

"You know, I didn't think you'd be so interested in the mechanics of this. It's not much different than what Regular Weapons do." She continued.

"But you don't exist as a Weapon right now. Someone like Soul makes an actual object out of himself."

Her voice hummed. "Hmm. I can try to explain, but I'm not sure if it makes complete sense. There's so little work that's been done in detailing what actually happens so I can only give you my ideas – wrong or otherwise."

I shrugged.

"I can make an object of myself as well, but it requires an extra step. That's because my actual Weapon ability is different as an Independent Weapon. Earlier I created the Weapon in my human form by warping my own soul in space and time. The staff I created wasn't a real object, you might say. My weapon is my soul. And as a result only I or someone my soul is entrenched with can use it. You know as a Meister that I can't just hand you my soul to use as an independent object – at least not while I'm alive. It exists only to you right now because I am within the confines of your soul and I am willing it's abilities to you. And If I wasn't inside of your soul I might stop existing while I'm at my full potential. Or maybe I would be stuck as a weapon permanently. Your soul is my protection from those things."

Her final comment stuck me as emotionally engaging, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her. If she was picking up on my emotions, she didn't let on.

She paused. "Also, what you saw last time was a scaled down version. Nothing more than a mere percentage of myself. I can't achieve full potential without using up almost all of my soul. So that gives us two problems: I can't be physical enough to use my own weapon because so much of my soul is in use, and I have to be connected to someone in order to be functional. So I have to have a willing victim…err, partner."

The word 'victim' rung in my ears. "How does it exist to me right now?"

I heard her laugh ring in my ears. "Put out your right arm."

I did as she asked, not exactly sure what was coming.

She continued. "Your father refers to me as a Meister, and not a Weapon. But like I said, my full potential is reached only when in conjunction with another Meister. Essentially, it's because I have to give up being physical to do it. I can warp my entire existence into a weapon like Soul, but then I need an intermediary to keep me from blinking out of existence because that weapon isn't something I can pick up off of the ground and hand to you."

I could feel my hand start to warm.

"The greatest sacrifice a Regular Weapon makes while in weapon form is giving up some level of physical control to the Meister. An Independent Weapon loses control over both their body and the their soul during this time period. I will over my soul's powers, and I am trapped within your existence. It is the complete antithesis of independence."

Something was heavy in my hand, but nothing seemed to exist there.

Her voiced sounded like wind chimes. "But the results can be worth it."

There was a sudden spark, and my hand was weighted down by a full size version of Sai's shakujo. No regular human could have held it with its length and its top-heavy qualities.

"You're obviously aware of the other problem by this point. At nearly eleven feet in length and a head of almost four feet wide, I'm somewhat unwieldy for your average-sized Meister. And this is without a Resonance size increase."

My brow furrored. "Unwieldy might be an understatement."

"Like all Weapons though, the better the attunement, the easier the use." She paused, and the staff jingled on its own. "But I did manage to give you your eight rings this time." Each brass-colored ring was nearly a foot in diameter.

My mind was wandering despite my interest in the subject at hand. I was wishing there were two five-foot staves instead of one ten-foot one. One for each hand. And maybe eight rings on each…

"I am picking up your agitation, by the way. I'd appreciate it if you could cease and desist with those thoughts."

I could feel the agitation physically, causing me to shake in my place. The shakujo's rings jiggled. "I am making a conscious effort to not think about it."

"And you're failing. Put me down on the ground, thanks."

I obliged her without complaint.

There was a magenta flash, and Sai was standing where the staff had been. She gave me a slight bow. "Thank you for your support."

I opened my mouth to tell her something…anything, but I didn't get a chance to respond.

Spirit gave a light clap and walked in our direction. "I am happy to see you have such a good grasp on the core concepts. You get a full pass on the exercise."

Sait turned to him and gave a nod.

Spirit waved it off. "Now get out of here, this is a restricted area. Staff only."

She bit her lip and walked towards the entrance way. Soul met her and put his left arm around her shoulders. I knew she was in no position to argue with a teacher – even if it was Spirit – so I couldn't voice a legitimate complaint about her leaving.

"Oh!" She suddenly turned about and looked at me, surprised. "I still have your suit coat on." She started to try and unbutton it.

I waved it off. "I'll get it back from you later. Don't worry about it."

She gave me a nod, and I watched Soul lead her out.

I stood there for a few moments, trying to grasp the last several minutes. It was a lot of information to index in my head.

I then caught a movement in my peripheral vision. Spirit had come within a foot of me and stared at me intently. And I hadn't even noticed his movement or his proximity.

He bent down slightly, bringing his head level with mine. He gave me a crooked grin. "Don't worry, I promise I won't tell her."

I felt my face fall and my eyes turn wide.

He giggled. "You try real hard though, I must admit. I wasn't sure until almost the very end."

I wanted to rattle off profanities at him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Spirit patted me on the left shoulder with a light smack, and backed away. He wandered back to the hallway.

"Get to class, you have another lecture today." I heard him call back. "And your tie is crooked."

I adjusted my white silk tie, but I had originally written off going to class for the day. If I had to go, I doubt I would pay much attention.

And then it occurred to me I had let Sai take my coat. People were going to notice that I wasn't wearing it. There would be questions. But if I didn't go to class, my father would find out I was skipping out on lecture.

"Damn." I muttered aloud, scratching my head with my right hand. "Now what do I do?"