Four chapters done over Winter Break! Woohoo! A whopping 1,522 words this time. Plus we meet some of the antagonists and get a bit of backstory. I don't own Soul Eater. Karma, Michael, and Evelyn belong to me, Sayuri and Tatsuya belong to Electric Plum, Naomi belongs to my sister, and Centehua belongs to a friend of mine.

She nuzzled her head deeper into her crossed arms, trying to block out the voice of her teacher. Karma had stayed up all night working on the pieces Mr. Evans had given her the night before. She had been so excited to learn the music, sleep evaded her. She could feel someone attempting to yank her arm out from under her head. Probably Sayuri. Sleepily, the scythe picked her head up and looked over to her meister who smiled at her and jerked a thumb towards her father, as if to say "pay attention, no more detention". With a yawn, Karma nodded her head. Her mother would nag her incessantly if she got another detention.

But her thoughts were far from the lesson. They were back at Cloud Nine, with the man who looked so familiar. Although she knew he could not have been him, she was reminded of him. She thought of her brother next. Leaning forward slightly and looking past Sayuri, she saw Michael quickly jotting down every word Black Star spoke. She sighed and leaned back into her seat. "Guess it's unavoidable..." she whispered.

The scythe flipped open her notebook and scribbled a half-legible note on the page. Ripping the page out of the notebook, she nudged Sayuri. "Pass this to Michael," she ordered quietly then returned to trying to pay attention to the lesson without another word.

Sayuri gave her an inquisitive look before handing the note over to the younger Evans who blushed furiously. Fantasies filled his head of the note being a love letter from her dearest. Or even a note asking to meet outside after class where they would confess their love for each other and - "Shit!" Michael exclaimed after seeing Karma's signature.

Black Star turned away from the chalkboard mid-word. "Something you wanna share with the class?" he asked. "Not really like you to disrupt class, Michael."

The boy blushed an even darker shade of red. "Uh... no, nothing..."

Karma placed a hand over her mouth to hide the small smile forming on her mouth. But the smile disappeared not long after. It was going to be an emotionally exhausting day...

…

A small girl giggled as she ran down the dark hallways. She threw a glance over her shoulder, searching for her pursuer. Turning her head to look ahead of her, she saw a flash of orange and black before being tackled to the ground. The little girl laughed even louder as a tiger kept her pinned to the ground and licked her face. "Yue, you found me! Guess I'm it!" she giggled.

"Naomi!" a voice called, concern in her voice. A crimson-haired woman ran towards the girl, out of breath. "You shouldn't play here in this part of the coven. Haven't I told you that before?"

"Kay. We'll go home right away, Evelyn," Naomi replied, picking herself off the floor. "C'mon! We gotta head home, Yue!" The girl and her tiger ran down the hallways and out of sight, leaving Evelyn standing there shaking her head.

"What am I going to do with that girl...?" the witch asked herself aloud.

"Why is she even here?"

Evelyn spun around to face the owner of the voice. A woman dressed in Native attire stepped into the light given off by a single torch on the wall. "For the same reason you are, Centehua. She is a member of Zoida, the tiger specifically."

"Oh, that is precious," Centehua chuckled. "She looks so weak and pathetic. It must have taken a lot of coaxing to get her to do something big enough to impress Mabaa."

Evelyn hung her head slightly. "It did... But she managed to join Zoida, and that's all that matters."

"Unbelievable..." Centehua muttered, shaking her head. "So, what's her story? Why is it so hard for her to show her powers to Mabaa?"

Evelyn turned toward the torch on the wall and sighed. "I don't know her whole story. Naomi hasn't told me much. She has no family. I think she was separated from them somehow. I met her in Japan on my travels. She was lost and crying, her tiger curled up next to her to comfort her. She said she'd killed a little boy. She had been so scared, she didn't know what to do. I think she is afraid to hurt anyone again..."

"Then why bring her to Zoida?"

"Protection." The witch stared intensely into the flames. "She is only a child, she needs someone to look after her. I took her in. She thinks of me as an older sister or a mother. When Mabaa wanted me to join Zoida, I couldn't just abandon Naomi."

"The world is a cruel place," Centehua stated. "You can't hold her hand all the time. If she is going to be of any use to Zoida, she needs to toughen up. I learned to be strong at an even younger age than her."

"Is that so? What is your story then, Dragon?" Evelyn asked, turning to face the woman.

Centehua smiled. "My father named me. 'The only one'. My mother bore stillborns all before me. She died giving birth to her only child. My father was a witch and a member of the upper class during Moctezuma's reign. We lived in Tenochtitlan at the time the Spaniards began their colonization. Moctezuma's court held a celebration of Toxcatl, a festival for one of our main gods." Anger etched into the witch's features. "But humans are greedy. We were wealthy, our clothing decorated in jade and gold. In order to take it all for themselves, the Spaniards decided to slaughter everyone in the temple. My father hid me in a closet and placed a powerful shielding spell on the door to protect me from the murderers...

"There was screaming. Men, women, children... it didn't matter... They all died because of human greed. Eventually the temple was silent. I went looking for my father. I remember being sick, the stench of blood was so bad. I never found my father, but I knew he was among the dead. I knew more Spaniards would arrive to steal all they could, so I fled. I lived in the jungle nearby for a while. My familiar was all the company I had. I became stronger and thought I could go back and see what became of my home. But when I came back... other tribes had invaded. They stole what the Spaniards had left behind as a few of them set fire to the temple. That day, I swore an oath of vengeance...

"I wasn't strong enough to save my people or take back my home. Someday... I will come back... I will take back my home and avenge my father's death. I figured that by joining Zoida I could help my people fight any fight necessary to destroy the human race."

"But weren't there humans in your city?" Evelyn inquired.

"Yes. And that is what makes humans even worse." Centehua clenched her fists tightly. "They murder their own for personal gain. Anything to get ahead of each other. It would take a lot for me to kill one of our own, and that is what makes us different from humans. They are despicable... They deserve to die..."

Evelyn thought back to Mabaa and the organization Zoida. "You do know that Mabaa set up Zoida to fight for witches' rights, correct?"

"You think humans will give us a right to life? Humans can not accept the differences in their own kind, why should they accept us and give us rights? They already have rights set up to protect their own, but does that stop the killing? Anyone who believes in such a thing as 'witches' rights' is silly and naïve."

Centehua's words hit Evelyn hard. Had she been naïve to believe the witches could earn rights? Not all witches were as evil as Shibusen would lead its students to believe. The Sway of Magic was shifting, giving rise to witches with powers that healed rather than destroyed. Could Shibusen see that and stop the killing...?

"I think the Snake had the right idea," the dragon witch stated.

Anger welled up inside Evelyn. "You agree with the Snake? The same who sided with that werewolf who stole Lady Mabaa's eye?"

"Start an all-out war with the humans. It is what Shibusen has been practically asking for all these years."

"If we start on a killing rampage of the humans, they will only have more reason to hunt us!"

"If we wipe them all out, there will be none left to hunt us!"

"There are more of them than us!"

"You are all cowards!" Centehua shrieked, throwing a punch towards Evelyn who dodged gracefully. "The humans have no doubt hurt you and your family, too! You won't avenge them? What about your parents? Siblings? Other witches close to you?"

Evelyn turned toward the end of the hallway Naomi went down. "I'm working on it..." she stated before walking away.