I'll spare you the remarks since this is one annoyingly long~ chapter. Plus it's quite late for Halloween.
Ma: But I gotta tell them something.
Can't you wait just one chapter?
Ma: (pouts) Fine.
All songs are not mine except "One Shot" and "Soul 2 Soul", I wrote those. And for the sake of clarity, this sign: / in the middle of a line means it's poetry and that they've gone to the next line in a stanza. Oh, and one more thing, I translated "Black Diamond" myself so no stealing it!
Got it? Ok then….
Music is well said to be the speech of angels.
~Thomas Carlyle
Chapter 9: Going Dancing- A Halloween Reunion to Remember?
* Six Years Earlier*
"Sweetest love, I do not go/ For weariness of thee,"read Wes, sitting comfortably in the mushy leather lounging chair in the Evans' library. Next to him sat little Sarah as he read from his Literature textbook he had brought from school. "Nor in hope the world can show/ A fitter love for me;"
Unfortunately, during Wes' reading, Soul had decided that he wanted to partake of the scene as well. He tried to squeeze into the space between Sarah and the chair. At first he seemed to settle down, but it was very short-lived.
Beside her, Soul began to squirm. This interrupted the reading, sadly.
"Move your butt Soul!"
"Why don't you make me, Curly Fries?"
"Are you two going to keep on carrying on like this?"
"Well, no. But did Soul have to sit here of all places? There's a perfectly good spot on the other side of you, Wes."
She had a point; the seat on his left was strikingly vacant, for his brother could have sat there instead of disrupting the entire moment. Though, if Wes thought about it, that could have been his plan from the start.
"Oh, bite me," said Little Soul. He sniffed, rubbing his nose and frowning.
"Maybe I will." Sarah gave him a mini death-glare for his comment.
Wes, however, was not amused. He gave the duo a reproving look, hints of something masked by boredom present in his red eyes.
"Do you want to listen or not, Mister and Misses Soul Eater Evans?" he quipped.
The mention of them referred to in that context caused both children to shoot Wes a look of unconcealed contempt, with a little bit of disgust thrown in.
"Oh, YUCK. I'll listen as long as you don't call us that." Soul punched Wes in the arm, and the older boy flinched.
"You'll never see me marry this dummy!" said Sarah, pointing at Soul.
The subject of the insult pouted and folded his arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Children?" Wes pointed to the book.
"Fine," said the terrible twosome in unison.
After reading for a quite a while, nearly an hour to be exact, Wes closed his book. It made a small thud when he did, but he wasn't concerned. Nothing beside him stirred fro that small disturbance. Leaning on his arm was a small round face, Sarah's to be exact. He watched for a while as her eyelids fluttered while she dreamed—his brother leaning on her shoulder, immersed in sleep as well. He had gotten up to leave them to nap, but something heavy brought down one end of his sweater vest.
Looking down, Wes noticed that it was Sarah's fist clutched tightly to his clothes.
"Wes?" she mumbled. Her eyes weren't open, and her voice was barely a whisper, but he answered anyway.
"Yes? What is it?"
"You weren't serious about me marrying Soul, right?"
Wes chuckled, patting her on the head. "Of course."
There was a heavy silence for a few seconds.
"Promise me something?"
"Sure, anything," said Wes without thinking at all. It was probably something little, like—
"When I grow up, will you marry me?"
Immediately his eyes darted off to the side, he rummaged his brain trying to come up with something to take back his comment. Well, when I said anything, he thought. No, no, I can'y say that… After a few more seconds he gave up, sighing mentally.
"Sure."
After he said that, Wes was sure the grip on his sweater vest got even tighter.
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
And at that, she released him, drifting back to the impossible mirage of her future wedding.
*Present Day*
"Hah~" Sarah sighed. "This is really nice, huh?" Maka and Daniel had woken up earlier and left for school without them, getting a ride from Liz, Patty and Kid. Soul allowed himself to smile a little. They weren't late, but still—with Maka gone, Sarah was the one riding on the motorcycle behind him.
He admitted to himself that it wasn't that bad.
Sarah had wrapped her arms around his waist, and Soul tried to keep his mind on the road, aware of the blood trickling down his lip. Now, he knew he shouldn't have been thinking those kinds of thoughts about Maka's cousin, but what could he do? She was a girl and he was a guy, and they were uncomfortably close. Her presence certainly hadn't helped his fantasies with Maka to stop. In fact, she had become a part of them. Yeah, he would admit that he was a pervert, but at least he had the decency to keep his thoughts to himself…most of the time at least.
Despite her past, there was a natural innocence about her soul wavelength, something tender and unthreatening.
Soul simply revved the engine and kept on driving; there was nothing he could do about it now, and frankly they had quite a few years left to resolve things of that nature.
Thank goodness it wasn't a long trip to the Academy.
Both arrived to Phasmology without much ceremony, slipping into their seats with about ten minutes to spare before the bell. Maka, Kid and the rest had been having an interesting conversation about the upcoming holidays. Around Death City, celebrating Halloween was the closest most citizens came to having a religion. It was partially due to the name of the metropolis they lived in, but it was also because Lord Death personally backed the public festivities every year.
"So, Kid, what do you have planned?" asked Zelda. If her tail had been visible, it would have been wagging furiously in anticipation.
The Shinigami-boy shrugged. He knew it was a hallowed day for all Witches as well as Shinigami, so he could understand her excitement. However, due to the fact that it was also his birthday, the holiday totally overshadowed his yearly milestone.
"Come on, Kid," said Maka while she batt her eyelashes much like a certain fox witch. "There must me something planned?" She pouted and leaned in close to the young reaper. Kid smiled nervously and leaned back slightly. Maka leaned forward some more. Kid leaned back even more. Eventually the contest ended when Kid fell backwards out of his chair and banged his head on the desk behind him. Everyone in the vicinity of their conversation had been reduced to giggle fits, and everyone laughed as Kid picked up his chair.
"Sure, why not?" he mumbled. "I'll ask father if I can throw a party at the manor."
"A costume party?" said Zelda, insisting on this one stipulation. The Witch shot a slightly irritated look at Maka, who ignored the wave of spite sent her way.
"Y-yeah," said Kid quickly. Ever since Zelda had arrived, every single girl surrounding him had suddenly taken notice to him, which wasn't beneficial for his sanity. For one, with the sheer amount of Estrogen surrounding him, he had been distracted by the very well-staged instances of panty-shots and accidental collisions. On occasion, he had been chased, mauled, and even (unfortunately) stripped, which made all the boys in his class even more jealous, due to the fact that he and his friends(Soul and Black*Star) were already "Mr. Fanservice and His Merry Band of Bishounen Boys".
Zelda was no better, though he had to admit she was more subtle, so at least he could give her that.
"Hey, it's alsom Ane's—," began Daniel, but Sarah quickly covered his mouth with her hand.
"They don't need to know," she said.
"Know what?" said Kid.
Daniel licked her hand, and she withdrew it to wipe away the drool.
"YUCK!"
"It's," he announced, his arms wide. "Her birthday! She's gonna be 13!"
Everyone fell silent. Thirteen? Thirteen? That girl did not look like she was twelve years old; that was not possible.
"Hey," said Kim, trying to remove the awkward silence. "You got any ideas for entertainment?"
Well, that was unexpected from the pink haired girl. Usually she and her friends didn't talk much with what everyone called "The Nonsensical Nine", but once everyone had gotten grouped into teams, the sixteen of them had formed a strange bond of sorts, and would converse regularly before and after classes.
"Not really?" said Kid, scratching the back of his head.
"Then I volunteer myself and Jackie," said Kim.
Kilik nodded. "I could help as well. How about you, Sarah?"
"Me?" she pointed to herself as if everyone was oblivious to who she was.
"Yeah, I heard you and Danny play instruments," said Jackie. She normally didn't say much, but today she was getting into it just like everyone else. "I play the piano and xylophone as well, you know."
"You do?" said Maka; everyone seemed to have musical talents except for her, and it was frustrating.
The tall brunette nodded, her cheeks becoming pink.
"Then it's settled," said Kid, a tiny smile growing on his face, "you all can figure out what to do for entertainment. That sounds alight?"
**festivitate**
Halloween. A sacred day, a blessed day, a hallowed day. A day for sweets and surprises.
Oh, who were they kidding? Everyone was in it for the candy, of course! And the parties, who could forget the glorious parties? Begging strangers for delectables and terrorizing the town, who could ask for more?
"Candy! Candy!" chanted the two young boys. Daniel and Lucifer were arm and arm marching down the street in front of their babysitters. Behind the two, Soul and Maka stifled laughter. It had been some time since they'd gone trick or treating, and these boys gave them an excuse to do so. Maka had figured that her cousin would want to accompany them, but she had kept her costume under-wraps. And besides that she had to help prepare for the party.
It was getting dark around 5, so they set out to reap as much sweets as they could before the celebration at Kid's house at 7.
Other than the fact that he was ten years old, Danny was a total sugar addict it appeared, so he was looking forward to the event. Not only would he and Lucifer try to swindle the citizens of Death City into giving them tons of sweets, but he would try to hoard as much treats as he could while at Kid's house.
He had the perfect costume for it anyway.
Soul was surprised when Daniel not only got permission from his older sister but Maka as well, to dress the way he did tonight. The youngster was wearing a long, blood red wig and a forest green sailor top with four buttons on the front with the matching skirt to compete the uniform. He also had black stockings and brown loafers to boot. Not to mention, pumpkin panties to discourage the ever-dreaded panty-shot seekers.
'An unusual costume choice, indeed,' would be an understatement.
At least one could say he made a beautiful little girl.
Going along with Daniel's choices, Lucifer had worn a complimentary costume so that the two would be a pair. The young half-warlock dyed his hair brown for the night, and combed it a little spikier than usual. He had only a plain white collared short-sleeve shirt and a pair of dressy ebony slacks.
Tonight Soul had combed his white spiky hair so that it was much flatter and appeared longer than usual. It still reached the nape of his neck, though, but it did complete his costume. He was in an all-black uniform, with white (was it embroidered?) lines and patterns on the jacket portion. He kept the jacket open son that the white collared shirt and loose red tie were visible. One of the Thompsons (Liz, actually) was in his pocket, connected to a long silver chain attached to one of the loops on his pants.
Maka had given it her all as well. She was in a super-short, light pink tennis skirt, with a long thin ribbon tied into a bow around her waist. For a shirt she wore a matching light pink tank top, short enough to show her midriff, and lining the edge of it was a row of regular pink ruffles. Her hair was tied into one bid pigtail-mass and hung off to the side, pinned by a gigantic red heart. On her head was also a tennis-visor, and around her arms were red bands with one pink heart on each of them, lined by ruffles as well. To top it off she had another red ribbon tied around her neck similar to the one on her waist, and two pompoms of the same color as her skirt.
Now they were ready to hustle everyone with their cutesy charm. As the company paused to receive their orders, Daniel whipped out a map of Death City and held it before his troops.
"We are going to cover it all!" he announced proudly. Last night Sarah had helped him to plan it out, and he was pumped for the event. This was the first time since he and William had left home that he had a chance to celebrate Halloween.
"Really?" said Maka, "in just two hours?"
"It'll be easier than you think!" Lucifer folded his arms and grinned, one tiny tiger tooth poking from his upper lip.
"Maka and Lucifer are going to cover the East neighborhoods. Most of the houses have teenage boys handing out candy."
"How do you know?" said Soul.
"Research." Said Daniel, hand-waving the question. His eyes filled with an insatiable, bloodthirsty greed. "Anyway, once they get a good look at Maka and her outfit they'll hand over a lot. For the ones where teenage girls are, Lucifer will reel them in." A sparkle appeared near his eye for effect.
Soul and Maka couldn't follow his insane troll logic.
"Why are teenagers at the doors, now?" asked the red-eyed boy.
Daniel wagged his finger like a scolding parent and closed his eyes like a detective when he wants to prove a point. He pulled out stacks of papers from somewhere in hammerspace and handed them to the teenagers.
"One, most of the DWMA lives in the eastern and southern parts of the city, and they're mostly teens. Two, for the regular people there, it comprises mostly of families with both young children and teenagers. Naturally the adults will go trick or treating with the kids and leave the teens at home to hand out candy."
"That actually has some sense to it," muttered Maka in disbelief.
Daniel and Soul would be going to the northern and western neighborhoods, but especially the northern part. That was where the Kid's house was, and because of that, the neighborhoods were more upscale. It was because of this that they gave out not only more, but better treats. Surely the old rich people who lived there would fall victim to his charms, and Soul as an accessory (a handsome accessory) would only add to his effect.
Soul agreed with the boy. It was an ingenious plan. Besides, he was already making a few girls swoon, and to work his magic on adults would be much easier to pull off.
After all, he had done it for years while he was at home.
.
.
Meanwhile…
Just like Kim had requested, Sarah had gone to help set up the instruments and sound equipment. Zelda was helping put up the decorations, so she was working close to the girl as she did the sound check for the microphone. She was nearly finished with the streamers and other accessories, thanks to a little magic, and they had plenty of time left before the event. Most of the speakers were already in place thanks to Kilik and Kid, so there was only a bit more to do.
Speaking of Kid, where was he? Zelda knew he had gone to check up on the progress of the catering service they had hired, but it shouldn't have taken this long. He's been gone for nearly an hour.
The Witch-girl wondered if he had gone to change into his "super-secret" costume. She was already clad in a dark purple skirt-suit, with dark tights. Her light lavender hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and the fake glasses that she had secretly conjured were very realistic. Hanging from a brown leather strap slung across her shoulder, was an emerald and gold spellbook.
When the Zelda saw the jolly bouncing figure of Lord Death tread across the ballroom floor to the stage, her lips, painted red with lipstick, curved into a smile.
"Lord Death!" she said, standing upright to greet him. Since she began living with the real-life personification of Death, the 'young' girl had less to fear. If Death was on her side, then fighting her aunt would be much easier.
'Lord Death' wiggled once like a giant black worm.
"Zelda-chan," he piped, "good to see ya! How's the preparations?"
"Great!" she said. "We're finishing up right now."
His two white hands clapped together. "Oh, goodie!"
'Oh, goodie?' thought Zelda. Should a god of death really say such a thing?
"Are you feeling ok, Lord Death?" she paused. "I mean…"
"Whatever do you mean?" responded 'Lord Death' in that same squeaky voice. It broke a little near the end, sounding a bit deeper than his usual tone.
Zelda stared at the Shinigami for a few seconds with question marks near her head.
"Kid?" she asked cautiously, donning a confused look.
'Lord Death' dropped his arms and sighed. The skull mask was lifted and a smiling, blushing Death the Kid was revealed. From behind Zelda, Sarah gasped and pointed to Kid. "You look just like Kid, Lord Death!" she shouted.
The Witch and Shinigami rolled their eyes and ignored her. Kid was about to speak again, in his normal voice this time, but he was stopped by a large, very familiar hand that smashed into his face. The teen fell to the ground face-first, though he had a very strong feeling who had hit him.
"Reaper Chop~" sung the real Lord Death , who had arrived on the scene before anyone even noticed his presence. "Kid-kun shouldn't dress up like his father jut yet~!'
"Chichiue~" groaned Kid, still on the floor. He hadn't been punished by his father in a while by one of those, so he had forgotten how much it really did hurt. "Why?"
"Because I bought this adorable costume to wear for your and Sarah's birthday!"
The two supernatural teenagers beheld the outfit that Lord Death had on the hangar and shuddered simultaneously. Zelda was grateful her mother would never (bless her resting soul) have subjected her to such an embarrassment.
Kid tried hard not to cry out in anguish.
.
Several hours later…
"Enjoyed your nap?" said Soul, looking at Liz as she transformed into a human and stretched.
"Yup!" she said quickly, smiling at Daniel and his partner in crime.
"Good, then we're here." The young man lead the way through the front door of Kid's mansion as if he owned the place, and quickly spotted Maka and Lucifer mingling with their classmates and friends in the middle of the ballroom. Everyone had time enough to leave their spoils at home, so that they could split the rewards amongst themselves and trade for candies they preferred more.
Liz quickly excused herself and scurried off somewhere to do who knows what. Soul and Daniel wondered what that was all about, but they quickly forgot about her.
When the venue was finished, it was like stepping into one of those typical Halloween movies where the main characters go to a party and have crazy mini-adventures. Like Hocus Pocus or something. Although in this story there were only six people of Witch heritage at the party and as a whole they weren't interested in causing the partygoers to dance until they died.
"Hey, Soul!" said Lucifer, waving them through.
"We saw the haul you guys had pulled," said Daniel, recalling the four bags of candy left at the apartment before they arrived. "Impressive."
The compliment was met with embarrassed blushes and thank yous.
"How much did you guys get?" said Maka.
"Six bags," said Daniel, without even flinching once. He smirked and then went into the pose that helped him get those bags. The boy rocked on his heels and put a curious finger on his lips; his eyes seemed to sparkle even in the low light, and the other three could only stop and stare.
Curiously enough, there was a ringing sound, similar to the bell at school. A heavy ding, dong, dead, dong, that caused the room to fall silent.
The lights grew dimmer, and the children looked around.
"Oh, it's going to start!" Maka heard a nearby party guest whisper. She, Soul, Luci and Danny looked to the far end of the room, where there was the most light in the room.
The stage of course.
Smoke rolled off the stage, giving the already dark venue an eerie look. There was one faint spotlight trained on the misty area, and the five-no, seven still silhouettes merely waited. The light became brighter, bringing the shadows into focus, and revealing the band.
Soul nudged Maka gently in the side. "So this was the big surprise you and your cousins were keeping from me?"
The Meister lifted her pompoms and giggled.
"You'll see," said Maka. A smile bigger than Soul's appetite was on her face, but it only discouraged him further. He grumbled under his breath and folded his arms. The Weapon would just have to wait.
At the keyboard was Jackie, in an all-white dress, with black ribbons and trim. It was cut Victorian style and stopped above her knees. Bedside the Lantern Weapon was a set of metal chimes. Across from her was Kim, who played the bass. She had an all-pink outfit as well, in a similar style, but she had a pair of red bows on the backs of her red shoes, on the dress, the wrists of her short white gloves, and even a pair in her hair, which was tied into fluffy pigtails.
Harvar was a very grumpy-looking werewolf, and he was stationed on the drums at the back.
Kilik was dressed as himself, actually. He was going to play the second guitar.
Up front next to Kilik was Sarah. She was playing lead guitar. Her hair was tied into two high pigtails by a huge pair of golden diamond-shaped hairclips, with a large black headband for extra measure. The outfit was mostly black, and the top was slightly cape-like, ruffling down at the sides, and the underside of the fabric was golden as well. It opened up like a suit, though there were no sleeves, and had a huge hole in the back the shape of a diamond. Starting at her upper arms, there were two semi-transparent black gloves, and for bottoms she wore black short-shorts.
Jackie raised her two mallets and struck the chimes, hanging xylophone rather, and the clear ringing sound echoed over the place, an eerie simple tune.
Dun-dun dun-dun dananana
Bum-bum bum-bum lalalala
Din-din-din-din-da-nee-na-noo
Bum-bum-bum-bum-ban-na-le-loo
The guitar joined in with a dark resonance to the light tune. Harvar smashed the drumsticks against the cymbals in time with the guitar, and Kim strummed the bass, playing the same bouncing melody as the xylophone.
Va-va-va-vava Va-va-va-vava Va-va-va-vava Denenenenenneeeee
Sarah's grin was filled with a positively wicked glee as she stepped up to the mic and looked round the room. "Boys and girls of every age," she caroled, "Wouldn't you like to see something strange?"
From a second kickstand off to the side, Liz and Patty joined in, their voices light and bellike. "Come with us and you will see. This, our town of Halloween."
Everyone on stage gave a mighty, frightening harmonized shout of "This is Halloween, this is Halloween!"
Patty grabbed Liz and shook her right there on stage. "Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!"
"This is Halloween, everybody make a scene!" the whole band chanted.
"Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright~" Again, Patty used her best goblin voice to sing one of the creepier lines. Afterward, the rest of the band would sing the next two lines.
"It's our town, everybody scream! In this town of Halloween~"
With a mischievous look in her eye, the twelve, now thirteen year old girl leaned toward the mic again. "I am the one hiding under your bed, Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red."
"I am the one hiding under yours stairs," said Patty, wiggling her fingers like serpents, "Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair."
Everyone did their usual declaration of the holiday, with the crowd even joining in this time, synched perfectly to the familiar song.
Again, Sarah and Patty did their thing, acting silly and scary all at once, singing stanza after stanza. When Patty yelled "scream" and pounced on Liz, her older sister shrieked a bloodcurling cry.
"Aren't you scared?!" said Liz, holding a hand over her thumping heart. Her eyes darted around quickly to watch for specters in the shadows.
"Well, that's just fine," said Sarah. "Say it once, say it twice, Take a chance and roll the dice, Ride with the moon in the dead of night."
"Everybody scream! Everybody scream!" ordered Patty, raising her hands and pointing toward the crowd.
"In our town of Halloween!"
Tugging at her green maid outfit, Patty skipped across the stage to sing from Sarah's microphone. Her giant clover hairclip was shining in the spotlight. "I am the clown with the tear-away face, Here in a flash and gone without a trace!" By the time she said 'gone', she hid behind Sarah and giggled at the show they were putting on.
With a breezy hollow voice, Liz sung the next two lines with her hands clasped together: "I am the 'who' when you call, 'Who's there' I am the wind blowing through your hair."
Their dark lead guitarist was enjoying her job too much. "I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright!"
Again, everyone joined in the reiteration of the holiday name.
"In this town, don't we love it now?" screamed Kim from the background. The audience was rocking to the catchy lyrics and this only pleased the band-goers even more. "Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back, and scream like a banshee, make you jump out of your skin!"
Patty and Liz were midstage now, having taken the mic with them, but still, from beyond the stage, a dark shadow was creeping up on the band from the mist.
"This is Halloween, everyone scream," sang Patty and Liz, holding their arms as if welcoming someone behind them, "Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy?"
Lord Death himself popped up from the ground out of nowhere, and the audience was frozen for a second, but the music helped them to regain their courage.
"Our man jack is King of the Pumpkin patch. Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!"
The crowd cheered for the reaper as he joined in dancing to the song which was reaching its end.
"In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song."
By the time they reached the final "lalalas" they belted out a few more powerful chords, and confetti exploded from the ceiling to rain on everyone below.
Soul decided it was an alright concert.
.
Hanging upside down from one of the (evidently very strong) party streamers swaying above the food station, Handel yawned. This party wasn't to his taste after all. He wasn't exactly dressed for it, but it didn't matter as long as Gorosha used her special ability to keep them hidden. It had its mundane uses, of course, like causing people to ignore them long enough for the three uninvited guests to slip in unnoticed.
For the most part at least. Marty and Erik had noticed them once the three had snuck in. Gorosha and Shinei were in their Weapon forms, and the strange wolf-like boy tiptoed inside as if he were on the lam. His clothes were basically shreds, and he looked bone-thin, so they either assumed he was dressed as a zombie or homeless and hungry.
The Meisters and their partners watched with rapt attention as he used the streamer like a bungee cord to grab a handful of popcorn and stuff it into his mouth. All while hanging upside down from the streamer by his knees, mind you.
"That kid is weird," said Shadow, popping out of nowhere from behind the four onlookers. "Is he from the DWMA?"
"Um..." Minora glanced at him from beneath the short purple paige-boy wig she was wearing. The bangs were dry long, and she could see only a bit I his face, but she could recognize him at all. "N-no, I don't think he is?"
Hannah adjusted her glasses and peered through the admittedly messy hair. Like Lucifer, she had dyed her hair, but hers was dark green and fluffed out loose around her. She was wearing an outfit identical to Minora's. Both had red plaid skirts and wine-colored vests over their white uniform shirts. Around their collars hung ribbons where ties usually were placed, and each had plain brown loafers similar to the ones Daniel was wearing.
"You don't recognize him either, do you, Marty?" said Hannah.
Marty shook his head in the negative with the scowl from this morning still lingering on his face. He had not expected Hannah to dye his hair while he slept, with help of Minnora of course, so Marty had no choice but to mope all day. It was a vivid canary color that would rival even Death Scythe's striking hair, so he clearly wasn't happy about being a walking stop sign all day long. She had even hidden all his clothes and left out a specific outfit for him to wear!
The indignity. Wearing that light blue suit around all day was uncomfortable and itchy in all the wrong places. This was Meister Abuse; he could testify to that.
Handel retrieved something from his pocket, a small silver flask. He had lifted it from this old drunkard while wandering around Death City and it seemed like now was a good time to enjoy his spoils.
Unfortunately he'd forgotten he wasn't standing upright. Handel hung like this all the time so he barely noticed gravity sometimes. Quicker than a monkey eating bananas, every last drop of the light brown liquid drained into the inconveniently placed punch bowl.
"Damn it," he muttered to himself, trying to shake at least one drop out of the container.
From Doritos to Sprit Cola to butterscotch ice cream and roast beef, with the variety of food that was presented it appeared as if the catering company had outdone itself. Actually it resembled Christmas dinner with several important stylistic elements of Halloween, with a little bit of buffet food and flair to balance it out.
In short, it looked like a monster made of all types of food imaginable decided to take a nap on five large black tables. There were several stations: one for beverages that included an open punch bowl, another for snack items like chips and such, the next was more like dinner food and included mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, and the station that took up two tables was the most important because it held the desserts and sweets.
Stacked on a tiered display were Black cupcakes with bat shaped sugar cookies on them, and next to the. In a large bowl were marshmallow cats and ghosts sprinkled with sugar, it was all there. Sarah couldn't wait till they finished playing so she could pig out, and she felt slightly envious that Maka, Daniel and Soul were free to nosh as they pleased.
There was even a chocolate waterfall! With cake on a stick that you could dip into it on the side!
Jealouuuus~ read the word floating in hiragana over her head. A small drool mark was in the corner of her mouth, and Patty had to nudge her to bring the girl's mind back to the stage instead of over at the food.
Meanwhile, Soul munched on a few little cubes of cheddar, wondering where Maka had gone and what had been taking her so long with that punch. She told him that her part in the entertainment was over, but here she was making him wait again. Off to his far left, Daniel was talking to a couple of boys Soul didn't recognize, so he didn't want to interrupt their conversation. Kid was hiding behind Zelda and Lucifer, trying to remain nondescript, but it obviously wasn't working.
His father had unfortunately made him wear a catgirl outfit, and the poor boy was nearly unrecognizable while wearing it. What a way to spend a birthday. He had red high heels, a collar with a giant bell, two brown cat ears, and a long black wig. Not only that, but he was in a red miniskirt with a long brown cat tail and a cream tank top with ribbons tied around his waist.
Still staring at Kid, Soul held his plate of food and sighed.
The evening had passed by quickly. Too quickly in fact, that Soul was beginning to feel stressed. Where had all the time went? All he had done really was listen to Kim and her band play a few songs that strangely bore a striking similarity to his own life, but really what had been doing?
Eating. That's what.
He looked to the plate he was holding and decided to finish it off so that he could get more sooner.
The songs were interesting though, he had to remember that part. "So Scandalous" was really fun to sing, he decided, recalling the lyrics. But "So Crazy" sounded like a very familiar story that he had heard before. Liz and Patty had sung near the end, in high clear voices, but Kilik and Sarah had dominated those songs for the most part. But mostly Kilik.
After, there were a few original pieces like "One Shot" and "Soul 2 Soul", which were a couple alternative rock songs that wouldn't be out of place on a Paramore album. Still, the night wasn't over just yet. There was once more performance left, and it would be one that Soul wouldn't forget anytime soon.
.
~X amount of years in the past~
"Johnathan?"
"Yes, Yuuka?"
"We'll be together forever?"
He looked into the distance, toward the setting sun.
"I genuinely hope so, my raven."
.
Present Day
Soul was about to go and search for Maka when he saw Sarah walk to front stage again, where the mike stand was. She was holding some dark instrument in her hand, and he couldn't tell what it was from this distance. It wasn't a guitar, he knew that for sure.
"This song is for somebody that I used to know," she said. Onstage, Sarah lifted the ebony instrument to her chin and held the bow near to its strings. Her father's violin—the only thing she had to remember him by aside from a box of photos. A tear threatened to escape her eye, but she sucked it up and began to play. There was a quick low note, followed by an ear-shatteringly high one in comparison. A pause. The bow glided over the strings from the higher notes into a lower register in a matter of seconds, and then wavered on a single smooth tone.
Music was a language, one they shared without even trying. He heard the first few notes as they resonated with his soul, and filled him with an onrush of conflicting emotions. The memories were unraveling, and tumbling over one another like building blocks.
The sound of that lone violin echoed into the silent ballroom for only a mere three seconds when the bass, second guitar, and drum kit all jumped in, allowing Sarah to sing.
"Whisper in my ear, your greatest Wish,
Don't worry the music drowns it out
Try singing in a loud voice, above the noise,
What is it you desire?"
Soul gripped his head, a pain started to spread through his body, ebbing from his scar and settling in his consciousness. Beautiful and horrifying, her voice was caressing his soul itself and feeding him the truth from within his own mind. What was the truth, though? What was she trying to tell him?
"So what? What is it that you seek?
What is it that you'll find?
The shining brilliance from your palm,
Extinguished out the night,
Became atarnished jewel,
Kuroi Diamondo, Black Diamond"
He remembered only blurred impressions, flickering after-images of a broken childhood. A piano, a violin, a duet, a recital. A birthday? What was happening to him? His mind was draining away. A little girl only a bit younger than himself, asking him to play.
.
.So.
["Pretty please? "]
["I may not like you curly fries, but I'll protect ya."]
["I love you, Wes!"]
…
What the—? Why did that stab him in the heart so much?
"Before the sun, does set
(Where will this, world begin?)
The shadow dance in the light,
Take my hand, it'll be alright!"
A clumsy handwritten valentine, handed to him with a blush on her face. He couldn't see her eyes beneath the curly bangs, but her voice gave her away.
["It's not because I like you or anything," she said, in that same stubborn voice that she saved especially for him.]
…
Then came the violin's solo in the middle of the song. Nothing but the violin was playing and through it he could hear her thoughts, the rhapsody of her soul laid bare for him to listen.
It was a quick yet mellow little violin interlude, but the message was clear:
(Look at me) (Please remember)
"Forget...me...?" whispered Soul.
-You have to forget me, okay? But just for a little while...-
"With two folded hands, this I do pray
Hoping to find you again
Like a puppet on a string
You danced to their tune
"(I can't let these tears flow)" Sarah's teeth clenched slightly at the end of the verse but she nevertheless turned to the mic and continued the dark melody.
"So what, what is that you sing?
What is it that you feel?
(Don't think, you'll be confused)
The shining brilliance from your palm
What is it that you can change?
Kuroi Diamondo, Black Diamond!"
That last note drew on for a while, and she finished it off with a flurry of notes on her violin.
For about half a minute the room was silent and still, as if no one was there and she was standing on the stage of her soul. Her eyes met with Soul's and stayed there, an emptiness he could not comprehend growing in his chest because of those pleading brown eyes.
"Not," mouthed Sarah before bowing shallowly and walking away from the microphone.
What was it she was trying to say? wondered Soul.
.
For those of you who were wondering where my songs were, I didn't want to put them in the story so here they are:
.
"This is a little song I call 'One Shot', okay?"
.
How many shots do you think you have in this world?
Fight through the tears and blood, though they may burn.
Burn your hands, grind your teeth,
though you can't hold your weapon now,
but you try and fight,
though your soul waves are sli~pping.
You've got one shot, one shot,
one shot, one shot.
You think there's more than one opening,
but there's not, there's not.
You've only got one shot.
How many chances do you really have?
Fail and fail as much as you can,
there are tons.
"Let's go!" you say
Cause you can't stay away
from the fight, you yell 'cause it's all right!
And you will now know,
Soul-waves converging.
You've got one shot, one shot,
one shot, one shot.
You think there's more than one opening,
but there's not there's not.
You've only got one shot.
.
Soul 2 Soul
You think you know me well,
can you see the character of my soul?
Hey! Hey!
[Ding Dong Dead Dong]
It's the morning bell.
So what? Can you reach your goal?
So many try and fail,
to become the very best,
how do you measure on the scale,
are you better than the rest?
Soul 2 Soul,
How do you measure up to me,
Soul 2 Soul,
Are you stronger?
We'll just see,
Ready, set, go,
OK? 1, 2,3!
Through those glasses, do you see?
Through that ego, can you beat me?
Through that pain, can you fight?
Path of demon, or path of light?
Soul 2 Soul,
How do you measure up to me,
Soul 2 Soul,
Are you stronger?
We'll just see,
Ready, set, go,
OK? 1, 2,3!
.
For those who were wondering, the party happened a few weeks after they discussed it. I had to translate Black Diamond myself so that it also rhymed, so she really was singing in english. Whomever can guess who the characters were dressed as will get my undying love! Please R&R!