Rated K+ as there isn't much foul language involved.
Disclaimer: All rights of Soul a Eater belongs to it's rightful owner!
Chapter 14: E.A.T. Class
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."
- Helen Keller, The Open Door
"Come on Soul, you can do this." A familiar voice spoke as rough slender fingers brushed across his hand before gripping it, giving him a sense of safety. He tightened his hold as another wave of pain surged through him, the cut on his chest hurting even further.
'Now Soul, why don't you let me take over and all will be over soon?'
'No way in hell.' Soul grunted. He could see that the red demon mocking him, dancing along to a jazz music that was constantly skipping after one rotation. With such a large head and horns protruding, he wondered how he even managed to support it with his small body size.
'Allowing me to take over would grant you unlimited power to protect. To fight. Isn't that all you ever wanted?' It cooed, its size shrinking and growing rapidly like his resolve to not submit to him. He knew the potency of darkness in that small ogre and he was frankly afraid to embrace it.
'Not the kind that you give.' He spat, as he clutched onto his chest. The black blood was going of control, and slowly, as he lost some of his colors, the red demon gained.
'The worst place to fight is in this shitty room with a tacky piano and walls with photo frames devoid of photographs. But it's still MY domain.' He roared, mustering his strength and throwing the ogre crashing into the piano all while he was cackling.
And that peeved him so much.
'If I'm going to need the power to protect, I'll do it by my own means. I refuse to stoop down to Madness's level to obtain it. I believe that whoever will partner with me will have the same ideals and we'll grow and improve together.' He said confidently, glaring at the other inner being that resided in him.
'You can't defeat yourself.' The demon cooed, enjoying the fact that he was riling up his victim. ' After all, I was injected into you without you knowing and it's where I'll stay for the rest of eternity, even if you decay and cease to exist. Right down to the bones.'
'Surely you haven't forgotten the yellow eyes that haunted you ever since your first experimentation have you?' The ogre said casually, smiling devilishly as his influence dug even deeper into Soul.
Maka looked tortured as she continue to see Soul letting out hoarse screams one after another, his chest jerking up despite the amount of restraints. "Gods, please help Soul." She whispered, trying to soothe him with her warm touch.
"Have a little faith in him Maka." The bluenette patted her shoulder. "Even your god believes that he will make it out alive. If Soul could be described with a word, it would that he is a fighter."
"You'd think that after him seeing him suffer from so many after-effects of his experimentations would make me worry less." She laughed darkly, clutching onto Soul like he was her personal lifeline. "It never does. I'm always haunted by the fact he might not survive the next."
"Believe in him. That's all we can do now." Black*Star affirmed.
"That's easy for you to say, being the SECOND person who got through the change, Mr. Meister." Maka teased.
"Shut up. You just have better adaptability." He muttered.
The ash-blonde girl rolled her eyes at his failed attempt of trying to cover himself before she looked at Soul's writhing form seriously.
"I swear to the Shinigami Soul Eater Evans, if you don't get out of this alive, I'll make sure I'll shake you awake and I'll book you to death."
As those words reached Soul, he couldn't help but let out a strangled chuckle before he turned towards the demon. 'Ya hear that? I can't just die here yet. I have 6 people waiting for me to get through this hell hole.'
'Does that really matter?' The demon chuckled, feeling cautious about his vessel's sudden spurt of determination.
Soul gave him his signature grin, dusting himself off all while ignoring the pain. 'It does. They are people who I want to protect and never fail, and I'm determined to keep that streak. This fight will be my victory because I'm going to speed things up.'
He walked casually towards the figure as the colors in his pin-striped suit returned. He picked the red ogre up and tossed it promptly into his own mouth. 'No point fighting a part of me, I realized because without you, I wouldn't make it this far. It doesn't mean I'll let you control me either little guy.'
The albino felt the demon's word echo through him from his stomach. 'Just because you've accepted me doesn't mean I can't overpower you. When your guard is down, I will strike.'
'And I'll be waiting.'
The colors of red returned to his room and so did the photographs, making Soul grin.
It was his victory this time after all.
Maka smiled as she felt Soul relax, her eyes searching the room to ask the rest to come forth. The last member of their troop had finally awoken, and they would all be there to see his reaction. Getting a signal that she was allowed to undo the straps of his restrains, she carefully pried it open to not cause the red-eyed boy pain.
"Welcome back to Earth Soul." She said dryly just as his eyes fluttered open.
His head turned swiftly to the source of sound before he let out a panicked cry, suddenly seeing an illusion of his old experimenter. Instinctively his arm transformed into a curved blade, intending to strike at the woman before him.
Going against her better gut feelings, she caught the blade instead of dodging it, wincing slightly as it cut into her skin. "Soul, I know you won't hurt me intentionally, this isn't like you."
His vision focused as he retracted his blade, making the center of his interest turning his blade back to human arms.
Across the room, Stein watched with keen interest at the pair, watching the crackling of connection between them appear and grow strong. 'They'd make a great pair.' He noted, nodding to himself.
'But it's up to them if they pair up. They probably will, I assume.'
"Well that confirms you're a weapon, neh?" Patty giggled, suddenly swinging right in front of his line of view, except that she was upside down.
"Patty, for the love of God, get down from the ceiling light and behave." Liz sighed, her arms outstretched, ready to catch her little sister.
"Spoilsport." Patty pouted, landing swiftly onto the floor on her own. "Anyways, you're the same as me and sissy and Tsubaki!" She exclaimed, tugging onto the tag that had been pasted on her shirt.
'PATRICIA THOMPSON. WEAPON, E.A.T. CLASS.'
"So you're a meister then Maka?" He looked at her, impressed.
She quirked her eyebrow at the albino. "Of course, don't expect anything less from me."
"Your god will make a more superior meister though." Black*Star bragged, jabbing her in the ribcage and only to earn a stank eye from her.
"You wouldn't know that until future training." The teacher's voice intruded. "I'd like if you stop hindering Soul from getting checked up on his aptitude although it has been proven what he is."
Stein motioned for Soul to follow him to his lab but not before telling the rest to leave his premises and rest such that they would be prepared for tomorrow.
"You're rather fast on the intake of changing forms, I noticed. Your weapon is sharp although most people start with blunt ones."
Soul listened tentatively as Stein took his blood sample and administered it, along with muttering it when he discovered something that made him different from the rest.
"Soul, who would you see as a potential partner among all the people here?" Stein asked absent-mindedly.
"By name or personality?" He quizzed back.
"You can have your own variation."
"Someone who is willing to deal with my paranoia and isn't afraid to voice out their displeasure in order to make me improve. Someone who treats me as an equal and that will ensure a good relationship of improving one another."
Stein smiled slightly behind his computer screen, knowing that the puzzle pieces fitted perfectly. Maka Albarn was indeed the best match and he would see to it.
"Sounds fair." Stein muttered, feigning nonchalance as he pasted a tag.
'SOUL 'EATER' EVANS. WEAPON, E.A.T. CLASS.'
"I'll see you tomorrow in class. I bid you farewell for now."
Chatter filled the class as everyone strolled in, excited to see that some of their friends had made it to the Especially Advanced Talent Class. The gang looked unfazed as they took the second and third rows, murmuring comparisons of the previous class.
Certainly, the class numbers are smaller, having half of them being split.
As if it was a repetition of the first day they entered DWMA, Stein swerved into the room suddenly and tripped over the gap, before he slid to the middle of the room. His assistant came in a few seconds later, heaving.
"Stein, can you stop coming in the classroom in such a manner? It's doesn't leave a good impression!" Marie scolded, her heels meeting his face.
Stein sighed as he made his chair go back to its proper position, before addressing the class.
"Welcome to the E.A.T. Class, where it is a level different from N.O.T class. You may have showed signs of Soul Perception, able to switch into different variation of weapons, or already being able to change at will. Perhaps the things that had came along with the Gentic Change may not be mentioned, but there is something about you, being physical or internal makes you being worth in the class."
"However, if you intend to overestimate yourself that you are capable enough to go for high ranking missions, step out of the class." Stein said sternly. "You may be advantaged, but that does not mean you defeat people with years of experience."
The students in the class gulped audibly at the harsh tone, making Stein smile internally in satisfaction.
"First of all, meisters will go under me. Do not expect the course to becoming a full-fledged meister or weapons to be easy. You will have sparring and defense classes to make sure you are capable of fighting well and of course classes to further learn about the dangers that you may face."
Marie stepped up, her eyes meeting every single person with the weapon tag. "Weapons will be under me. You are like a radar for your meister, one that warns them of danger when they are otherwise occupied. You will not be spared from the strenuous activities to ensure you are skilled enough when it comes to hand combat. We'll polish your skills to enable quick change and ensure that you can be independent on your own."
"But, what we want the most is this." Stein motioned Marie to go into her weapon form for him. "To enable you to have good synergy not only with your partner, but as a group. The road to comparability is even harder as minor problems may affect it. When a bond develops and breaks, it can be extremely painful for both meister and weapon."
"After all, the Death City Assocation treasures the skill of working together a lot as it's been proven to have more success when one is not alone and with company that could cover their backs." The blonde teacher added.
Maka's eyes grew wide as she watched Stein's soul expand when he fused together with Marie. It amazed her to see how much one could strengthen another, being independent upon themselves to be strong and dependent on another to make sure they get even stronger.
'Could I ever find something like that?' She thought wistfully before she snapped out of her reverie and gave her teachers her full attention.
"This might take up to years to complete, however, we, as your mentors will try and help you as much as we can until you graduate and help the Death City Association in bigger projects where the things learnt here will be definitely necessary."
"But please do not be disheartened by that." Marie said softly with her message strong while she changed back to her human form.
"Your privileges as the E.A.T. Class includes going on minor missions that will train you further in experience, but if you die, it's on your hands since you've chosen it. There are many missions to choose from and if you chose that specific one, you pay the price. And I ensure you that I do not suffer for fools." Stein said coldly.
"It's either you meet the standards of being in an advanced class -"
"Or you'll be dropping out. You have the choice right now to step out of this room and unseen the things you've just been told." Stein finished coldly.
"But if you choose to stay, even after the lengthy introduction, I welcome you to E.A.T. Class, or more specifically, your definition of Hell from this day onwards."
Here's another chapter for you to indulge in! I'm not going to lie, I'm happy things are getting lighter, but I want you to know that this story barely has any light shed upon it. There will be even darker moments, and it hope you'll be there with me, graciously lending me your support ;)
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