A/N - Oh, wow, I am just churning these out, aren't I? I think I've submitted 18k words in about the span of a week. Seriously, someone stop me. Actually, don't stop me at all, this is fun. You know what you should do? Leave me reviews.
Speaking of reviews, thank you to TM58 and Carolinefdq for reviewing! At TM58's request, I've provided a link to a visual reference for Tempus's weapon form on my profile. I do apologize for the poor quality of the artwork. The greatest artist of our generation, I am not.
To Carolinefdq, I want to say that I really appreciate the review, and I'm relieved to know that I haven't botched up the canon characters too badly!
Notes and translations of the Latin will be at the end of the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: Soul Eater is the intellectual property of Atsushi Ōkubo. I have no intention of monetizing my fanwork, and this is merely an enjoyable passer of time.
Chapter Five - Post Tempestatem - The Mystery Behind the Pharaoh Mission? Part 2
Tempus had never heard two people sigh in sync before.
Burnished gold eyes flitted over to look at the two girls sitting together by the nearby desk. When placed side by side, their differences became very apparent; the tall and statuesque Tsubaki's long, jet-black hair tied into a single ponytail and gentle dark blue eyes were heavily contrasted against the rather short and thin Maka's light-brown twin pigtails and eyes that were a cat's-eye-green and held a permanently faded and unfocused look to them - probably a result of Maka's ability to see souls, Tempus figured.
They dressed differently, too; Maka wore a traditional DWMA uniform, while Tsubaki wore a long, sleeveless beige dress and a dark scarf. She also wore a stocking on one leg but not the other, which was something that Tempus was always curious about but could never bring himself to ask. (Seriously, how do you say to someone "Hey, I've spent an inappropriate time staring at your legs and noticed that your only wear a stocking on one leg, why is that?")
And yet, for all their physical differences, the two of them had identical expressions of resigned weariness, and Tempus could bet every book in his collection that he knew exactly why they looked that way.
With a voice as weary as her expression, Maka spoke, confirming his suspicions. "Where do you suppose those idiots have run off to now?" she asked, quietly enough where the teacher wouldn't notice.
"Ah, they're not idiots," Tempus countered just as quietly, leaning back and propping his feet up on his desk. "Well, okay, Black Star's not exactly a tactical mastermind. And Soul Eater can be kind of ridiculous with his cool guy schtick. And Alecto's 'plan' for defeating Hudine pretty much guaranteed that she'd sustain cranial trauma of some sort. Okay, you know one, point withdrawn. As for where they currently are, they're probably still within the school grounds. Probably. Though I suppose that doesn't really narrow it down." The DWMA was a pretty big place.
Maka let out a huff. "I can't believe that they would just run off like that!"
"I can," Tempus said.
"It doesn't even really matter who took the Pyramid of Anubis mission, does it? Not enough to skip class over it."
"Aw, come on, Albarn," Tempus said, sweeping his bangs away from his eyes so that he could get a better look at the meister. "You can't tell me you're not a little curious." He certainly was. Three-star missions were incredibly dangerous, and were limited to only the most skilled of meisters, usually teachers and other staff at the academy. But there wasn't any news about any teacher taking the mission, which there should have been if that was the case. And Tempus couldn't name a single three-star meister who was a student. So that ruled those possibilities out.
Tsubaki spoke up, echoing Tempus's thoughts. "It is pretty strange… only three-star meisters are allowed to take that sort of mission. Unless there was some sort of mistake?"
"What, you mean like someone accidentally let a lower-ranking meister take the mission?" Maka asked. "I don't think so. They're pretty strict about that sort of thing."
"Yeah." Tempus leaned back further, balancing his chair precariously on its back legs. "I've got a theory on who it is."
"Oh?" Tsubaki said.
"Yep! You know that one kid who became a Death Scythe all on his own at age thirteen, without the help of a Meister? The one put in charge of the DWMA's European division? The one who's pretty much a role model to every weapon out there? Hm, what was his name… Jason? No, that's not it, that's a terrible name…uh..."
"Justin Law?" Maka supplied.
"Yeah, that kid. I think he's the one who took on the mission."
"It couldn't be him, though," the young meister pointed out, leaning. "If he's the head of the European division, he's probably got work of his own to handle. And if he'd come to the DWMA, we'd probably have heard about it."
Tempus scowled. "You and your logic. I never said it was a foolproof theory. I just think it'd be cool, that's all."
From the front of the class, the teacher spoke directly to Tempus. "Feet on the floor, Mister Giles. And I'll remind you to stop distracting Miss Albarn and Miss Nakatsukasa."
Resisting the urge to point out that "Miss Albarn" had been the one to initiate the hushed discussion in the first place, Tempus swept his feet off the desk and back onto the floor, allowing his chair to fall back on all floor with a loud clack. He leaned forward and folded his arms across the desk, pretending to be very interested in the discussion at hand. But his attention was still focused elsewhere.
He was curious as to the whereabout of Alecto, and by extension Soul and Black Star. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of them since they had run off in search of answers. While he wasn't really concerned about her - she wasn't the greatest combatant, but her limited desynchronization abilities would probably grant her enough of an edge to keep herself too far out of sticky situations - he'd at least like to have some idea of where his meister was. In case some wicked force ever came crashing through the roof or something.
Okay, granted, that was unlikely, but he'd like to be prepare just in case.
Tempus was also insatiably curious about the Pharaoh mission, to the point where he was starting to regret not skipping class along with the other three. He still wanted to believe his "Justin Law" theory, because frankly he'd love to one day meet the legendary weapon that had fulfilled his quota and became a death scythe without the aid of a meister, but the more he went over Maka's logic in his head, the more he had to admit that it was pretty unlikely. He still wanted it to be correct, though.
He wondered if the other three were having more success solving this little puzzle.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The determined screams of the two spiky-haired boys echoed within the high, arched ceilings and came crashing back down to the ears of anyone who was unlucky enough to still be in the hallways when they came barrelling through. A few feet behind Black Star and Soul ran Alecto, who was struggling to keep up even with her time desynchronization powers. Tick tock tick tock.
Despite all appearances to the contrary, Alecto wasn't actually that fast of a runner. Any apparent "speed" of hers was merely a result of the temporal desynchronization her soul wavelength could create. And, as another result of said desynchronization, Alecto had been running for longer. It didn't help that the desynchronization was as powerful or as long-lasting without Tempus's soul wavelength aiding hers. As such, the muscles in her legs burned as she ran, fighting to keep herself from falling behind.
Tick tock. "Could you two -" Tick tock. "- possibly do me a favor and -" Tick tock. "- slow down?" she panted, her throat aching as she struggled to form the words. And I thought running the track was painful, she thought. At least with track she could run at her own pace. With these two it was like trying to race against sunlight. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.
Luckily, she didn't have to run for much longer. With the turn of a corner, the towering door to the Death Room came into view. The stylized skull emblazoned upon the upper third of the door regarded the sprinting teenagers with a blank expression. Mercifully, Soul Eater and Black Star finally stopped just in front of the door, and Alecto allowed herself to stop, stumbling to her knees as her legs finally gave out. Gasping for air, she stopped her desynchronization, her heart pounding rhythmically in her chest as she caught her breath. She was beginning to regret not staying with Tempus, Tsubaki and Maka.
While she was busy trying to bring her heart rate down to a manageable level, Soul and Black Star grabbed the knocker in unison and slammed it against the metal door once, twice, thrice.
A few seconds went by with no response. They tried again, once, twice, thrice. Still nothing.
"Maybe he's out," Alecto joked, still kneeling on the floor. It was an impossibility, of course; it was common knowledge that Lord Death never left the DWMA. Hell, most of the time, he never even left the Death Room.
Soul Eater let out a tch as he stepped back. "So much for 'whenever you want him, just knock on Death's door,'" he said. "Do you think he can't hear us, or is he just ignoring us?"
"What's the point of having a knocker on your big giant if you can't hear it? Those things are supposed to amplify the sound of someone's knock, aren't they?" Alecto pointed out, finally standing up. "He's probably busy being, you know, Lord Death, along with whatever responsibilities that entails. Besides, we're technically not even supposed to be here right now. We should be in classes, remember?"
"Maybe he just doesn't realize who's knocking!" Blackstar suggested loudly, because Blackstar did everything loudly. "I'm sure that he'll open right up when he realizes that I'm here!" He took a deep breath, and started shouting. "HEY, LORD DEATH! IT'S ME, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL BLACK STAR! OPEN UP!"
Nothing. In fact, the door looked even more solidly closed than before, if such a thing were possible.
"Well, this is a dead end," Soul said. "Anyone have any ideas?"
A few moments passed before the metaphorical light bulb flickered to life, illuminating an idea that had bloomed in Alecto's thoughts. "What about the Death Scythe?" she suggested. "If he's on school grounds, we should be able to ask, right? And if anyone would know about who got what mission, it's one of Lord Death's personal weapons." The key word there was if. The Death Scythe that resided at the DWMA was notorious for spending his days and nights at Chupa Cabra's, the local cabaret.
Soul and Black star shot each other a mutual look of determination. Then, before Alecto really had the time to process the situation, they were off again, barreling past her and down the hall, screaming all the way.
"Oh, come on," she moaned, staggering to her feet. "Couldn't we at least take a two-minute break? No?" Letting out a sigh of exhaustion, she started running. Tick tock tick tock.
Spirit Albarn, the Death Scythe that resided within Death City, was absolutely no help whatsoever. The crimson-haired man was within the school grounds instead of the cabaret, but he'd completely brushed off their questions, essentially telling them to get lost. Though, he did add that if Soul messed with "his Maka" there would be seven different kinds of hell to pay.
So, the three students took their question to the person who they probably should have taken their question to in the first place; the receptionist. Tick tock. "You know," Alecto wheezed as she ran, her accent slipping back into its natural state as she focused less on her words and more on where her feet were landing. "we probably... should hawe done this... in the first place." Tick. She was surprised that the muscles in her legs hadn't completely turned to jelly. Perhaps all those extra laps she and Tempus had to run when they had been caught cheating with their join ability had paid off in the long run. Tock.
"Yeah," Soul said. "But it's no use thinking about it now." Despite the steadiness of his words, she could tell that he was starting to wear himself out as well. Hell, even the still-screaming Black Star was starting to slow a bit, though not as much. The white-haired boy grinned, baring each of his sharp, sharp teeth. "After all, it's totally not cool to cry over spilled milk."
Alecto would have scoffed if she had the breath to spare. "Yeah…" she said between gasps, "but all those tears shed ower the milk will remind us not to spill it next time or… something. Man, prowerbs are so much easier when they're in Latin."
"You're doing that weird thing with your v's again," Soul pointed out as he skidded to a halt at the front of the reception desk alongside Black Star. Alecto was far less graceful, pretty much just falling over against the ivory-colored wall with a solid thump.
The mission receptionist, a round-faced woman with pink cheeks and curly blonde hair, looked startled for a second before her face fell back into its typical friendly smile. "Shouldn't you three be in class?" she asked. "I know the three of you don't have any missions. Especially you, Miss Bellatore, I know you're still under doctor's orders," she added, looking pointedly at Alecto, whose only response was an exhausted "Phrrh."
Soul placed his hands on the reception ledge to brace himself while he caught his breath. "We want to know who took on the Pyramid of Anubis mission," Soul said.
The receptionist immediately shook her head. "No can do, dearie. That's a three-star mission. I'm not allowed to give information about it to one-star meisters like you three. Now, back off to class for you!"
"Wait!" Black Star exclaimed, and with a flourish he pulled out a piece of paper from… somewhere. Maybe the same magic dimension that Maka kept that book of hers. "I'll totally give you my autograph if you tell us about the Anubis mission!" he offered, giving a thumbs up and a grin as he proffered the sheet of paper that no doubt had his signature on it.
If it was possible for a person to look more unimpressed than the receptionist did in the split second after Black Star made his offer, Alecto hadn't know of it. However, the expression only lasted for a few seconds before her polite smile was back; this woman had honed the control of her facial muscles to an art form, it seemed. "Sorry, young man, but rules are rules! Only three-star meisters are allowed to know the details of this mission."
"So we need to find a three-star meister, then!" Black Star said.
"Well, no," the receptionist replied. "What you need to do is head back to class."
"There's gotta be some teacher who's willing to tell us," Soul pointed out, the two boys completely ignoring the receptionist.
"You're all going to end up getting in trouble…"
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Black Star demanded. "Let's go!"
The two boys started running again, their screams ringing in Alecto's ears. As the distance between her and them increased, the receptionist turned to her, raising a blonde brow in an are-you-going-to-follow-them manner."Give me a second, I'm sure I'll catch up to them," Alecto said in response, clutching her chest and taking deep breaths. "At this rate, my lungs are going to implode before I even get any answers."
"Well, you take care of yourself, dearie. And do me a favor and make sure that you three get to classes, all right? You lot are mischief makers as it is, you don't need to be running about in halls during class hours."
"Y-yeah," Alecto said. Taking a deep breath, she ran a hand through her hair, yanking out the ribbon that had come loose and re-tying it. She knew that Tempus was probably sitting in class mulling over the enigma in his head, combing through every possibility and putting together the most logical theory he could.
Please be Justin Law, please be Justin Law, I don't care how unlikely it is, please be Justin Law…
Yes, that was almost certainly what he was doing. Alect only hoped he was having better success solving this little puzzle than they were.
Despite the fact that she had followed and caught up with Black Star and Soul as soon as she'd caught her breath (and it was a little easier to catch up this time, as they were starting to get exhausted too), Alecto hadn't actually expected to run into a teacher or other three-star meister. So she was a little bit surprised when the three of them ran into Sid Barett.
Well, it was less "ran into" and more "practically crash into the landing just above him" The dark-skinned, cornrow-haired man turned around to face the trio, who were all pretty much worn out by that point. Soul was practically leaning on Black Star for support, and Alecto had pretty much just given up at this point and was just sprawled on the floor wheezing, her hair a complete mess.
Sid stared at the three of them in confusion, his brow furrowing in confusion underneath his headband. "What are you three doing here?" he asked. "The bell rang a while ago, classes have already started.
"What are we doing? What about you? You're a teacher, right? Shouldn't you be at class, too?" He spoke to Sid as if the older man were a family member and not an instructor.
"I have other things to take care of right now," Sid said, smirking ever so slightly. "I'm a teacher and a busy man. You all should move along." He turned his back
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alecto said from the floor. "We didn't go dashing about the entire school just for the heck of it. At least I didn't. We're most certainly here for a reason."
"Yeah," Soul said. "We'll go, but before we get going, there's something we need you to tell us about first."
"We wanna know about the Pyramid of Anubis," Black Star added. "Who signed up to take the mission?"
"Ah," Sid said knowingly. "That mission wasn't taken by a student from our school. It's much too difficult for one of you." The way he said it would have made Alecto feel pretty insulted, if she didn't happen to agree with him. She hadn't figured the mystery person to be a student, anyway.
"If not one of us, then who took it?" Black Star asked.
"It was taken," Sid explained, "by Lord Death's son."
Lord Death's what now. "Quid?!" Alecto exclaimed. She'd never heard anything about any offspring of Lord Death's. Trying to visualize that only brought to mind mental images of a smaller version of Lord Death.
"Lord Death has a son?" Black Star exclaimed, clearly as confused as she was.
"Well, I'll be damned," Soul said. "Really?"
"Yes, really." Sid turned to face them again. "I'm not a man to tell a lie. He's a Grim Reaper, just like his father. His name is Death the Kid."
A real crowning achievement in name-based originality, to be sure, Alecto thought, her internal words laced with sarcasm. Despite the answers Sid had just imparted, she found that her curiosity had only been further piqued. She wanted to know more about this "Death the Kid" fellow. As a Grim Reaper, it was very unlikely that he needed to collect Kishin eggs himself, so why'd he take the mission?
"That's all I've got to tell you. You really should be heading back to classes," Sid said.
"Yeah, we will. Thanks," Soul said. Alecto didn't move as she watched Black Star and Soul head back up the stairs to the floor that class Crescent Moon was located. She would get up in a minute, but right now she was just going to let her heart rate return back to where it was supposed to be. Right now she was pretty sure that it was going fast enough to match tempo with Ride of the Valkyries.
After a few seconds, she heard Sid's voice again. "You need to work on your cardio."
"Please no."
"I'll talk to Nygus and see if we can have extra laps added to your P.E routine."
Alecto groaned.
A/N - And now what have the answer to the greatest mystery of them all: part of Tempus's real name. Wait, what do you mean that wasn't the great mystery? Ah, well. Yeah, Tempus's last name is Giles. What's his first name? Well, it certainly isn't fucking "Tempus," that's for sure.
Fun little anecdote: I was watching episode three for about the hundred thousandth time to get the dialogue for this chapter when my sister (who was watching with me) suddenly turned to me and said "That patch on Soul's headband says 'Soul.'" My response was, "Uh, yeah, that's his name." Then, she got really seriously, and in a hushed voice said "It's a soul patch."
It's been five hours. I'm still mad about that pun.
So, Latin!
Quid: Means "What." That's it, that's the Latin lesson for today.
At the rate I'm going, next chapter will probably be posted tomorrow. I would not be surprised if that were actually the case. While I'm writing that chapter, why don't you favorite and leave a review? That would be super awesome!
- Diana "Nocte"
