A whole 1512 words! Woohoo! And the original creator of this concept, Electric Plum, makes a cameo in this chapter as well! Thanks for letting me work with your idea, hun! I don't own Soul Eater.
Her ears were ringing and her eyes were sore. That had to have been the fifth guy to touch her butt on purpose that night. Karma's eye twitched in irritation. The music was too loud for her taste and was not really her cup of tea anyway. She had always preferred jazz to any dubstep or whatever else teenagers were into nowadays. Colorful lights were flashing every direction, too bright and not quite synced with the timing of the music blaring. And quite frankly, she could do without the grinding, although it did not take too much to chase away unwanted guys on the dance floor. Just a sinister, toothy grin flashed their way would do the trick. Blue Moon wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, but she had been forced into going, in a tiny, skanky, neon pink tube dress no less! All because her meister was bored, she was sure.
Somehow she'd managed to get herself separated from her so-called-friends in all the club's confusion. Standing on tiptoe, Karma searched for her meister first. Just as she suspected, the girl was surrounded by guys offering to buy her a drink despite the fact she was underage. The scythe shook her head in disappointment and happened to notice Michael outside the circle of men, dutifully watching out for the blue-haired girl and ready to jump in if one of the men decided to get a little grabby. Karma couldn't help but smile at the sight. He was Sayuri's guardian angel, even if she wasn't aware of it.
The scythe continued scanning the club for Tatsuya and finally found him in the middle of his own crowd. Trapped within the large group of females, he was able to make eye contact with Karma briefly before his line of sight was interrupted by the same girl from that morning. Jealousy sunk in, and Karma turned away, not noticing Tatsuya stretch a hand out to her.
Her friends were obviously too busy enjoying themselves to even care about the bet Karma had lost or the fact that they had dragged her to a night club against her will. Jealous and lonely, the scythe slunk out of the club.
The night air chilled her bare skin. Even in the Nevada heat, Karma always wore her black jacket. It was something she had just grown accustom to. So when the wind picked up slightly, she decided heading indoors would be best. But where to go? Somewhere her "friends" wouldn't find her. She needed to stay away from them for a while, or else someone might get hurt.
But as she struggled to make a decision, the sweet sound of a piano found its way to her ears. She closed her eyes and let the faint, jazzy melody whisk her away, forgetting about the cold breeze around her. Would her "friends" be able to find her in a jazz club? Most likely. But if the expert pianist accompanying the sweet, soulful voice of the soloist kept up the good work, Karma figured she would be calm by the time they figured out she was gone and went searching for her.
She followed the sound to a little jazz club called Cloud Nine. Only a few customers lingered, taking in the same music that drew Karma there. It must have been close to closing time. She found herself a booth a far corner of the club and waited for a waitress to make her way over.
"What'll it be, hun?" the young woman asked in a, most likely fake, cheery tone. No one was that chipper so late at night. Or maybe this Eileen (at least that's what her name-tag said) was one of those people. The kind of person who is ridiculously cheerful all the time even when any normal person would be as least a little grumpy.
Karma tried to hide her scowl. "Coffee. Black," the scythe answered, turning her attention to the stage. Eileen gave her a slightly weirded out look then went back to the kitchen to retrieve Karma's order.
Of course it was the weapon's luck that the massive piano blocked her view of the master playing it. Sure the woman swaying to the tempo had pipes, but Karma was more interested in the pianist. She remembered the baby grand sitting in it's own room at her mother's home. She had spent many an afternoon plinking out chords all by herself on the instrument, hoping that she, too, could create beautiful music. However, one can only do so much without proper training.
"I see you're pretty into the music, huh?" Eileen's voice startled the scythe back to the present. The waitress set down a coffee before her. "We're pretty lucky to have Mr. Evans here to play for us. Our last pianists were... okay... But Mr. Evans is a real musical genius! I've heard rumors that he might be related to the famous violinist, Wes Evans! Wouldn't that be crazy if it was true?"
The weapon only paid attention to every other word Eileen said. Wes Evans... she was very familiar with that name. Wouldn't it be crazy if the rumor was true...?
Finally, the song came to an end, and Karma watched as the soloist took a seat at a table near the stage. It must have been her last number for the night. Eileen raced over, praising the woman and asking if she could get her anything. The singer shook her head with a smile and motioned for the waitress to take a seat across from her. Eileen gladly sat down and began gushing about the playlist for the next night's performance.
Suddenly, Karma's attention was captured by the pianist stepping away from his instrument. For the first time, she was able to see the face of the musician. Something seemed oddly familiar about the man. Shock of white hair, dark red eyes... Wouldn't it be crazy if the rumor was true...?
Mr. Evans, too, took at seat near the stage, only at a different table than the women. He chuckled a bit at Eileen, her hands flailing as she spoke to the singer. He then turned his attention to the last few customers leaving and raised a hand in a sort of wave goodbye to them. Scanning the room to see if everyone was now gone, his eyes fell on Karma. The scythe felt drawn to him, despite the slight discomfort of her scar, and so left her coffee at her booth and walked toward the man.
"Mind if I take a seat?" she asked, pulling out a chair across from him. He nodded. She took her seat and stared at her hands in her lap for a bit. Finally mustering up the courage, she looked at him and said, "Your playing was beautiful."
"Thank you."
So he wasn't a chatterbox like Little Miss Sunshine the next table over. Somehow that relaxed Karma a bit. "I was... going for a walk when I heard the music. You play every night?"
"Not every," Mr. Evans replied. "Mondays, Wednesdays, then Fridays and Saturdays back-to-back. Gotta take a break every once in a while." Karma nodded in agreement. "You play?"
"Nah, just mess around a little. I could never be that good."
"Why not?"
"Just don't have the talent, I guess."
"It might be in your blood," the pianist said cryptically. Karma stared at him in confusion. What could this man possibly know about her...? "You have your mother's eyes," he continued. The scythe's eyes widened further. How did he know her mother? Mr. Evans stood up. "Well, better hit the hay. You too, young lady. I bet you have school tomorrow." He climbed up on stage to retrieve his sheet music. Taking a quick look at the cover, he immediately threw the pages to Karma who clambered to catch them. "For practice," he explained. With one final wave, Mr. Evans walked out of the little club and into the cool Nevada night.
Karma stood there, dumbfounded. The master had just passed on his music to her. She smiled a bit. Her instincts had been completely wrong. He wasn't who she had thought he was. How could someone so kind and talented be him? The scythe couldn't wait to get home to practice her new music. She completely forgot what time it was, but knowing probably wouldn't have stopped her anyway.
She raced home as Mr. Evans walked in the opposite direction. He stopped and turned to watch her run away, sadness and loneliness etched into his features. "You've done such a good job, Maka, raising our daughter..." He murmured. "She looks so much like you... Wish I'd been there to see her grow up... Michael, too..." He glanced up at the grinning moon. "Maybe I should finally come out of hiding..." he thought out loud to himself. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he continued on his way to his apartment, a lone figured guided by the light of the moon.