Bernkastel awoke the next morning in a soft bed in the guest bedroom. She stretched languidly, floating out of bed and over to the mirror. She snapped her fingers, folding the edges of the comforters with her magic. A hairbrush appeared out of nowhere and floated over to her tangled blue locks. With another wave of her hand, she was fully dressed from her lopsided hat to her white socks. She walked out of her room and down the hallway, glancing into Kid's bedroom. He was sound asleep, whilst his two partners slept at the foot of his bed. Bernkastel smiled to herself and made her way to the kitchen quietly.
Kid, Liz, and Patti awoke half an hour later, each getting ready for the day and then going downstairs for breakfast. Kid paused, a little surprised when he saw Bernkastel surrounded by floating objects. The witch glanced at him and waved. The dishes went into the sink and the food was served at the set table.
"You made breakfast for us?" Kid asked.
"Yay! Waffles!" Patti cheered, sitting down immediately.
"That smells good, Bernkastel," Liz agreed, taking a seat next to her sister.
"I thought it would be nice to cook breakfast for you since you let me stay here," Bernkastel explained, smiling her still, soft Cheshire-cat grin.
"Bernkastel, please," Kid sighed. "Stop it. We have enough debt to pay off."
"I have a feeling," she said, winking slyly. Her blue hair twitched as if it was alive. "That your father has it all figured out."
Kid blinked, confused, but Bernkastel only laughed.
New Lodgings; Will Maka Trust A Witch?
"I told you to get some sleep, Maka," Soul told his Meister as they ascended the concrete steps of the DWMA. He was concerned for Maka; she hadn't slept, she wasn't eating. It was clear she was really worried about Kid.
"Hey, Soul," Blackstar greeted quietly. "What's up with Maka? She looks kind of… scary today."
"I know," Soul said. "She hasn't gotten any sleep. Just don't tell her we have that test today."
"It's alright," Tsubaki tried to cheer her friend up. "I'm sure he'll come back."
"What if he doesn't?" Maka whispered. "Lord Death can't just give up the school."
"There you four are," Kid greeted them. Liz and Patti followed behind him casually. "I was beginning to think you were all skipping. Quite out of character for Maka; I was really worried."
The others were frozen in place, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. Kid was here, unharmed, and making jokes about Maka skipping school? What the heck happened? Maka didn't care; she ran forward and wrapped her arms around Kid in a bone-crushing hug.
"What happened?" Soul asked, stepping closer to Kid as well.
"Did Lord Death really give up the academy?!" Maka demanded instantly, pulling away.
"In short, Medusa is dead now," Kid said, smiling reassuringly. "Come on, we should get to class. Did you study for the important test we have today?"
Maka stopped in her tracks. "No… I completely forgot. I was so worried about you that I didn't think about the test."
It was a good thing that Maka had practically memorized the entire textbook; she had little trouble on the test. Afterwards, she pulled a book out of her bag to pass the free time. Her eyes lingered over the words, not really reading them. She tried making sense of the events that had happened in the past week. Kid disappeared on Monday, Medusa contacted them on Tuesday, and now, on Friday, Medusa was dead and Kid was home without a scratch? It just seemed too good to be true.
Maka was going to dig deeper, but stopped short when she felt an intense energy within the core of the school. She inhaled sharply and looked up from her book; she recognized the energy as a witch's soul. It could have been Medusa, but this soul was much more powerful than anything Maka had ever felt before. She didn't realize that she was trembling with fear.
"Maka, Soul, Lord Death would like to see you in the Death Room," Professor Stein said suddenly. He gave Maka a meaningful look. "You've been excused from class."
"What does he want to see us for?" Soul thought. He glanced at Maka, who nodded to Stein. They clearly knew more than Soul did in regards to their soul-seeing abilities.
In the Death Room, Lord Death was talking with Bernkastel.
"I have an idea. Since you want to stay here so badly, how about I make arrangements for you to stay with Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul? I think it will be interesting for you."
Bernkastel lowered her head in a single nod, giggling quietly.
Soul and Maka walked into the room and tensed when they saw Lord Death having tea with a girl. She couldn't have been older than them, and, by her appearance, their first thought was that she was a witch. She looked at them with unnaturally teal eyes. Her blue hair framing her child-like face rippled once, like the ears of an animal tweaking at a sudden sound.
"Ah, Soul, Maka, glad you're here," Lord Death greeted them with a spontaneous wave. "Will you join us?"
"Um… okay?" Maka replied uncertainly, kneeling by the table. Soul silently followed her example, eyeing the witch suspiciously.
"So, I guess you've seen that Kid is back safe and sound? Did he tell you anything else?"
"He told us that Medusa was dead," Soul said. "So, what did you want to see us for?"
"This is the Endless Witch Bernkastel," Lord Death introduced them. "She'll be staying with you from now on."
"Seriously?" Maka gasped. "Uh, Lord Death, are you sure you thought this out right?"
"I'm positive," he answered. "Didn't Kid tell you that after saving his life and killing Medusa, Bernkastel healed his wounds and brought him home safely? In return, she wants to stay in Death City."
"Yeah, but why does she have to stay with us?" Soul asked. "Can't she live with Kid or something?"
"She saved Kid?" Maka thought, observing the witch. Beyond the black and white Gothic Lolita dress and blue bowtie, the witch's soul burned brightly. "She doesn't have the same dark energy as most witches, but she seems so much more powerful. I wonder if Lord Death is just testing us."
"Her soul wavelength feels much stronger than any other witch I've encountered," Maka noted, ignoring her partner momentarily. She wasn't worried about offending Bernkastel because the girl didn't seem to be paying attention to them.
"That's because she is an Endless Witch, very powerful," Lord Death explained.
"Well, now I know why I can't say no," Maka and Soul thought in unison.
"But if this troubles you too much, I'd understand," the Grim Reaper continued.
"Oh, no, not at all, Lord Death!" Maka said at once, shaking her head. Beside her, Soul put his palm against his forehead.
"Well then, I'll leave you three to it, then, I hope you get settled together."
Before they could argue, they were out in the hallway again.
"I'm Maka," the meister said, putting her hand forward. "This is Soul."
"Hi," she replied, waving. It was clear that she didn't want to shake hands yet.
"So, you're an Endless witch?" Soul asked. "That's cool."
"We have an hour of class left," Maka said. "You can stay in the library until then. We'll come get you after class, okay?"
"Okay, Maka," Bernkastel said, nodding her head and walking in the general direction of the library.
"I have a strange feeling about this, Soul," Maka admitted once the witch was out of hearing range. "Why would Lord Death trust a witch?"
"Well, I think she deserves it," Soul said. "Maka, she saved Kid's life and took Medusa's soul. I don't think Lord Death wants to be on her bad side. For now, let's just go with it."
Soul Eater
After class, Maka and Soul went to the library, but couldn't find Bernkastel.
"She's in Stein's office," the librarian told them without as much as a glance. The two nodded and turned to leave. Maka grasped at the possibility that Stein was confronting the witch, but found it unlikely anyway. Soul wasn't concerned at all. However, when they reached Stein's office, Bernkastel was sitting on the bed, Stein kneeling at her feet.
"Let me see," the professor said, taking her ankle.
"What happened?" Maka asked uncertainly, taking in the sight.
"She fell down in the library. It looks like she broke her ankle," Stein glanced up at them.
"I'm fine, really," Bernkastel argued, trying to get up.
"You should really stay off your feet until it heals," Maka cautioned. Soul bit his tongue to keep from laughing. Even though Maka was skeptical, she did care about the witch.
Bernkastel laughed through her teeth, making Maka look up. The witch raised her hand, and a binding of teal light, the bones in her ankle knitted together again; the blue and black bruises faded away, as if it was a documented time lapse of the healing process.
"I forgot how fragile my human body can be," she said as she got to her feet.
"Lord Death told us you could control life and death, but I never thought he meant it literally," Maka said, staring at Bernkastel's ankle.
"She can do more than just mend injuries, didn't Lord Death tell you?" Stein asked, turning the screw in his head.
"He said she was an Endless Witch," Maka replied. "But I'm not quite sure what it means. She had a lot of power, correct?"
"Anything she imagines can become real."
"Cool," Soul breathed.
"So, this is our apartment," Maka said as she opened the front door. She showed the witch in, followed by Soul. She glanced at the purple cat sitting on the couch. "That's Blair; she lives with us, for some reason."
"Morning, Maka," the cat yawned, stretching.
"It's about time you got up," Soul muttered. "It's almost four. We're back from school already."
"Who's this?" Blair looked at the witch and transformed in a cloud of mauve smoke. "A witch?"
"Bernkastel," Maka said. "She'll be staying here for a while."
"Aren't you old-fashioned," Blair noted with a grin. "I'm glad you'll be staying here; it will be nice having some company around. It's so boring when I'm all alone here."
"She's not your new plaything, Blair," Soul chided.
"Aw, Soul," Blair meowed. "You treat me like a child. Would you like to have some fun with me?"
"No! Leave me alone, you stupid cat!" he stuttered, running up the stairs.
"Oh, come back, my little scythe-boy!" Blair cried, bounding after him.
"There's a free bedroom at the end of the hall," Maka told Bernkastel. "You can make yourself at home. I have to make dinner."
Bernkastel nodded and went up the stairs. Maka was a little tenser than Bernkastel had anticipated; it would take an extra mile to get her to trust a witch. Soul wasn't as tense as Maka, but he still held some dislike for witches. Bernkastel didn't blame them at all; they had had such bad experiences with witches, so it was natural for them to have a chip on their shoulder. Bernkastel sighed.
"Broom, take a note," she commanded. The broom stood upright and a feather quill and parchment floated around it as if it had invisible arms. It scrawled the words on the paper as Bernkastel spoke them. "Dear Kanon, after saving the Grim Reaper's son, Death the Kid, I have been offered lodgings in Death City, Nevada. I've already made some friends, so I think I will stay here for a while. I hope you can find me, wherever you are. Your bad apple, Bernkastel."
Yay! Nother chapter! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Just so you know, the name Kanon did come from Umineko no Naku Koro ni, but it's just a reference. I'm not going to make this a crossover, I'm just taking a lot of character names and development from Umineko/ Higurashi. I think I put some mysteries in this chapter, and all will be answered soon, I promise! Stay classy and read on, my minions!