Yay, new arc! This one is pretty straightforward, and it probably going to only be two or three chapters long. And by probably, I mean hopefully, because the next arc is going to be all kinds of fun that I want to get on that.
So let's get on that and cut to the chase by getting straight to the chapter because I don't really have anything else to say in this author's note, except that since this marks the 10th episode of the anime, we're officially 20% through the canon episodes. Over the course of 28 chapters and nearly 125,000 words. This is going to be one hell of a doorstopper by the time I'm done, isn't it? Ah, hell. (Speaking of numbers, 50 people have favorited this fanfiction. That's as many as five tens. And thats oh wait I think I did this joke already.)
Also, this is the biggest chapter I've written for this story so far. Of course it's centered around the guy with the biggest ego.
Thank you to SmolderingBlackRose, peace love and books, Drachegirl14, Lady Silverfrost, little101, and WeirdySpeck for reviewing!
To SmolderingBlackRose: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Re: Nadia's twin, I can say with complete certainty that I wouldn't create a mysterious twin brother who is also a student at the Academy if I didn't intend on using him for anything. He'll have his role to play in this tale, don't you worry.
To peace love and books: Oh, thank you! I've always been a big believer in the natural development of relationships. Not even in the "will-they-won't-they" sense, I mean, we all know that they will. Just, in the way that relationships work. Love at first sight is totes overrated.
To Drachegirl14: Oh, man, the downtime episodes in Soul Eater are all my favorite. Especially epsiode 6. I'm really glad that you liked the chapter, it was a fun write for me and it's really nice to see that others enjoy it! ^_^
To Lady Silverfrost: Thank you! And thanks for pointing out the typos. Those are the worst kind, because my spell checker doesn't pick them up. Curse you, spell checker!
To little101: Oh, no doubt about that. I don't think Kid was particularly threatened by Tempus, though, given that the former is both a Grim Reaper and a highly competent meister. That'd be like a football linebacker feeling threatened by an particularly overprotective puppy. A puppy that can turn the laws of temporal relativity on their head, but a puppy nonetheless.
To WeirdySpeck: Oh, thank you! ^_^ As the author, I'd say that it's perfectly fine for you to love this story already, but that might just be me being a little biased.
Notes and translations of the Latin will be at the end of the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: Soul Eater is the intellectual property Atsushi Ōkubo. I have no intention of monetizing my fanwork, and this is merely an enjoyable passer of time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight - A Blooming Flower - Through the Looking Glass We Watch, Part 1
Thirteen-year-old Alecto Bellatore didn't know when she had gotten lost, but it had most certainly happened. Clinging to the letter in her hand like it was a lifeline, she wandered about the large halls on shaky feet. All of the hallways looked the same; she couldn't tell one side of the school for another. For all she knew, she wasn't even on the right floor. "Oh, non…" she murmured. Where the hell was Lord Death's Death Room?
She ran a hand through her short, curly black hair, pushing it away from her eyes so that she could see better. She needed to find a hairband or something to keep her hair away from her eyes; even short as it was it was a pain in the butt. And maybe start dying it again; she'd had it a lighter brown before, but maybe she would try a different color? Wait, why was she worrying about her hair when there were other, more important things to worry about
"Quid ego faciō?" she whimpered to herself, slipping into the language that felt more comfortable to her tongue as she looked around her. There were people in the hall that she could ask for directions, but she didn't know any of them. How was she supposed to just go up and ask "hey, where's the Death Room?" What if she messed up? What if she got nervous and accidentally spoke in Latin instead of English, and people thought she was weird? Pre-emptive mortification crept into her heart, and Alecto found herself frozen, standing in the middle of the hallway like an idiot.
She stood there for a couple minutes before a light hand rested on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" a gentle voice asked.
Part of Alecto knew that there was nothing to really worry about, but that part of her was quickly overwhelmed by that part of her that was already in Panic Mode. She yelped and jerked out of the stranger's grip, whirling to face whoever it was that had approached her. Standing there was a beautiful, statuesque Japanese girl, with long black hair tied back into a thin ponytail and soft indigo eyes, and Alecto found her tongue completely tied as she stammered out, "B-bonum sum! Uh, I mean… I'm fine, I'm wer...very fine!"
"Sorry," the soft-eyed girl said, giving the nervous shorter girl a reassuring smile. "I didn't mean to startle you. It's just that you seemed lost, and I thought I might be able to help. Are you new here, too?"
Alecto couldn't speak, so she just nodded, her cheeks turning pink. Had she really been that obvious? She'd hoped to fly under the radars of the other students, at least until she figured out why Lord Death had personally summoned her to his Death Room on her first day.
"I'm Tsubaki Nakatsukasa," the tall girl said, holding a single pale hand out. "I'm a new weapon here, at the DWMA. What's your name?"
"Uh! M-my name is Alecto. A-Alecto Bellatore. I… I'm supposed to be a meister here. It's my first day, and Lord Death wanted me to report to his Death Room, but I don't know why. All he sent was a message, he didn't even include directions from the front of the school to this Death Room, here, see?" She held out the letter in her hand, and Tsubaki took it, reading over the missive with pursed lips.
"Strange," she said. "Lord Death didn't summon me to the Death Room on my first day." Noticing the blood draining from Alecto's face, Tsubaki hurriedly continued. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Maybe he just has a special partner assignment for you? I did meet a boy on my first day here who was having difficulties finding a meister…"
"Oh." Alecto couldn't help but feel a wave of relief crash over her. For a moment, she'd been terrified that she had done something wrong. She cleared her throat a little, wringing her hands together. "Um, if it's not too much trouble… do you think that you could show me where the Death Room is? I mean, you definitely don't have to if you don't want to, I'm sure you're very busy and ha-we, uh, have much better things to do than show me around."
"Oh, no, it's fine!" Tsubaki said. "I'd be happy to help. Come on, the Death Room is this way." Lightly tugging on Alecto's wrist, the tall girl began to lead her through the halls, with the shorter girl's heart pounding against her ribcage the whole time.
Spiced green was not a flavor of tea that Alecto usually drank; while she enjoyed most if not all flavors, she was far more partial to sweet teas with fruit flavorings, as opposed to those with a sharper bite. But when it came to waking oneself up, this particular flavor of tea did the job excellently. The cinnamon and clove spices provided a refreshing zest without overpowering the senses. As Alecto took a delicate sip from her thermos, she noted that it made an excellent tea for winter. Or, rather, it would, if the winters in Death City were anything like the winters that she had grown used to. Still, a nice tea was a nice tea.
Alecto had no worries about technically having beverages where beverages were not allowed. Her worries had never been that pronounced anyway, since Dr. Stein never seemed to really care. But now, even if Dr. Stein did care she wouldn't be worried, because Dr. Stein wasn't in the room. Nor was any other teacher, for that matter. Dr. Stein had, in an unexpected move, canceled that day's classes, leaving a room full of students with nothing to do.
As expected, the class had quickly found ways to occupy itself. Many of the students were talking among themselves, discussing recent mission and whatever gossip was being spread throughout the school. Ox Ford and his partner Harvar D. were engaged in a contest to see who could fly a paper airplane the farthest, while Kilik Rung's young weapon partners Fire and Thunder watched in fascination. Tempus had pulled a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four out of nowhere and had ducked under the desk for some "quality reading time." Alecto simply sat in her chair and enjoyed her tea.
A row in front of her, Maka Albarn sat with her elbow propped on the table and her chin in her hand. "Huh," the scythe-meister said. "I wonder what Professor Stein is up to, cancelling class like this." She looked over at Soul, who was leaning back in his shain with his arms behind his head and feet propped up on the table. "Think he's skipping so he can dissect something?"
Alecto wasn't certain if that was the answer. Dr. Stein was a crazy bastard, but in all fairness, he was a pretty decent teacher. It was just that a good chunk of his lessons came in the form of dissecting frogs and cow hearts, lessons that would be much more useful if animals could even become Kishin Eggs. In any case, he didn't strike Alecto as the type of man to cancel class for his own gain. Then again, she'd been wrong before when it came to people.
Soul shrugged. "There's no telling with that guy," he said, grinning a shark-toothed grin.
But don't worry about it. Today'll be cool."
Tempus spoke up from his position under the desk, his voice slightly muffled by the wood. "Especially without a certain hothead around."
"I'm guessing you mean Black Star," Maka said. She leaned over the desk slightly and looked around, her cat-green gaze scouring the classroom. "Hey, Tsubaki isn't here, either."
Alecto had noticed that it'd been unusually quiet, but she hadn't made the connection until Maka brought it up. Looking around, she did notice that there was a startling lack of cyan hair or vociferous boasting about "conquering the gods." Huh. "Did they go on a mission?" she asked.
Her question was answered not by Maka or Soul, but by the two brunette girls sitting to Maka's left. Alecto didn't know their names, but she'd seen them in class every day and had walked past them in the hallways several times. "Oh, haven't you two heard?" the girl with shorter hair and teal eyes asked.
"Huh?" Maka asked. "Heard what?"
"It's all over school," the girl with the twin braids and plum-purple eyes said. "Someone overheard the teachers talking in the faculty room earlier. "Apparently Black Star and Tsubaki went off to collect to soul of the enchanted sword Masamune."
"Enchanted sword?" Maka repeated, standing up from her seat.
Next to Alecto, there was a yelp of surprise and a loud thmp, and Tempus came scrambling out from under the desk, rubbing at his head and staring wide-eyed at the two brunette girls. "Masamune?" he exclaimed. "But one-star meisters aren't allowed to even think about taking that mission on. Black Star and Tsubaki haven't even collected a single soul, so how'd they convince Lord Death to let them go after that guy?"
The girl with braids shrugged. "I don't know, but I hope they're okay."
"It's gotta be tough," he short-haired friend agreed. "They say the sword is on the verge of becoming a Kishin."
Alecto's heart plummeted. She'd seen the mission placard for the enchanted sword, hanging on the mission board and looming over the other placards with its reputation alone. She never gave it too much thought, figuring that Sid and Nygus would take the mission on. From what little Alecto could gather, those two were the ones who took on the more dangerous mission like this nowadays.
Black Star and Tsubaki were the last duo that Alecto would have chosen. Not because of Tsubaki; she had utter faith in the kusarigama's combat skills. No, it was Black Star's competency that Alecto doubted, and so she worried. Could the would-be assassin really take on such an allegedly dangerous foe?
Maka's expression darkened, and she exchanged a momentary glance with Soul before moving away from the desk and towards the center aisle leading down and out of the classroom. Tempus shifted and leaned forward a bit, brows knitted together. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked.
"I'm going to Lord Death," Maka asked, truly sounding like a woman on a mission. "I want to know why he sent those two after Masamune."
Soul kicked his feet off the table, his chair landing on all fours with a loud clack. "Sounds like a plan," he said, getting to his feet and shuffling after his meister. "I didn't want to spend all morning sitting at a desk doing nothing, anyway."
Alecto watched the two leave. She wanted to go after them, but what good would it really do? She wasn't even sure that Lord Death would provide Maka and Soul with the answers they sought, and she wasn't too keen on the long walk to the Death Room and back for information she wasn't sure that they'd get. It was surely a wasted effort, wasn't it?
An image flickered in her mind of Tsubaki cradling Black Star's broken bloodied form, grief etched on her pale features as a shadowy figure loomed over them. The thought made her blood freeze in her veins, and she stood up as well. Tick. Clambering over the desks to get to the center of the room, she left class Crescent moon and, with a tock, followed Maka and Soul down the hall, her pace hastened by the growing concern in the pit of her stomach.
Another tick and another tock tugged on her wavelength, and then Tempus was walking beside her, his long legs making it easy for him to match her speed. "You know," he said quietly to her, "I'm sure that they'll be fine. They may not have collected any souls, but Black Star's a good fighter. At the very least, they'll be able to hold their own against this enchanted sword."
If it were anyone else telling her this, Alecto might have believed them. But she knew Tempus better than she knew anyone else, and she could hear the worry in his voice. Still, if he was trying this hard to reassure her, she figured that it wouldn't be prudent to call him out on it. "Sollicitus non sum," she said instead, taking another sip of her tea. "I'm just curious, that's all."
But Tempus knew Alecto just as well as Alecto knew Tempus "Uh-huh. Don't pull that with me. If you didn't have tea in your hands, you'd be fiddling with your ribbon right now, don't even think about lying." A mischievous grin crossed his face. "Admit it, you're worried about Black Star, aren't you?"
Alecto snorted. "Please. Ibi nix erit in infernum."
"Uh-huh," Tempus repeated, but didn't tease further, instead falling into thoughtful silence as the four of them made their way through the intersecting halls of the Academy.
They were pretty close to their destination when they ran into Dr. Stein, who was not in fact using his free time as an excuse to dissect something, but was simply standing in the hall, fiddling with that damned screw in his skull.
"Dr. Stein!" Maka called out.
Stein looked up, his glasses gleaming as he stared at the gaggle of students with pale eyes. "What are you four doing here?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be studying something?"
"Dr. Stein, we need to see Lord Death about the Masamune mission that Black Star and Tsubaki were sent on!" Maka demanded. She drew herself up to her full height, which wasn't much, but the fire in her eyes more than made up for the limitations in her stature.
"The Masamune mission?" Stein inquired. "Ah, yes, I know what you're talking about. It's a dangerous mission; it's natural the you would be worried about it." He half-turned and began walking down the long final hallway to the Death Room, beckoning for the students to follow him as he did.
Tempus blinked. "Wait, is he saying that we should be worried or that we shouldn't be worried?"
Soul shrugged. "Dunno. I don't get that guy at all sometimes."
Neither did Alecto, but Stein was leading them to the Death Room, so she couldn't really complain. As soon as Dr. Stein opened the massive door, Maka rushed past him and down the hall of guillotines, Alecto hot on her heels and the two weapons close behind them. After what felt like an hour of running, they finally reached the platform upon which Lord Death and his mirror both stood. "Lord Death!" Maka shouted as she ran up to the cloaked reaper, who turned around and reared back at startled realization of his unexpected guests. "I wanna know why you sent Black Star and Tsubaki after Masamune!"
Even Lord Death seemed a little cowed by Maka's obstinacy. "Whoa, easy there, meister Maka!" he exclaimed, holding his hands up. "Who invited you to the Death Room in the first place?" He looked over at Stein, who simply shrugged.
"The one-hundred-and-eighteenth rule in the Death Weapon Meister Academy's handbook states, 'in the event of an emergency, students are allowed to enter the Death Room without first obtaining permission!" Maka recited. Alecto wondered just how long she'd had that specific rule memorized.
Lord Death tilted his head to one side quizzically. "Really?" he said. "It does?"
He doesn't know? Alecto thought. But he wrote it. Then again, she supposed that she wouldn't be able to keep track of over a hundred and eighteen rules, either.
A trio of footsteps followed by sharp, familiar voice sounded behind them. "What type of enemy is this enchanted sword, Father?" Alecto glanced over her shoulder to see Kid and the Thompson sisters standing there, the former bearing a stern expression on his face.
"The enchanted sword guy's not like the demon sword guy, is he?" Soul asked.
"I hope not," Maka replied.
Demon sword guy? Oh, right. Alecto remembered what she'd been told about the person who'd attacked Soul a while back. The assailant was known as the Demon Sword, though the sword and its alleged black blood was only half of the occasion. The other half was the demon sword's meister, a kid whom Soul had described as being "creepy as hell."
Stein shook his head in response to Soul's question. "The enchanted sword doesn't have a witch with him," he said. "He might actually be less dangerous if he were under a witch's supervision. The enchanted sword takes advantage of the fear in peoples' hearts. He uses that fear in order to take possession of his targets and gain control of their bodies. He then consumes his victims' souls."
"Possession? Consumption?" Tempus repeated. "This guy kind of sounds a little bit like a soul parasite."
Stein shook his head slightly again. "The end result is similar, but there are key differences. A soul parasite only attacks its host with a fragment of its original soul wavelength and can take months to completely devour a soul. The enchanted sword uses his entire soul to control a person's body before consuming their soul, and is both quicker and more dangerous." His eyes darkened. "Unless someone stops him, he will become a Kishin."
"Non intellego," Alecto said as pulled her ribbon out of her hair and started twisting it and wrapping it around her fingers in a desperate attempt to calm her rising nerves. "If he's so dangerous, why were Black Star and Tsubaki sent after him? They haven't collected any souls…"
"They weren't sent," Lord Death answered matter-of-factly. "Tsubaki asked to go on the mission."
Tsubaki?! Alecto's brain did a quick reboot to process this new information. Tsubaki was the cautious one of the duo, dragging Black Star away from the missions he would royally screw up (which was all of them). What reason could she have for requesting such a risky mission? And what reason did Lord Death have for agreeing to a request of that sort?
Lord Death turned to face his grandiose mirror, the one he used to monitor the rest of the world. "I was planning on keeping an eye on their progress through this," he said. "Since you're all already here, I don't see any problem in letting you watch." As he spoke, the surface of the mirror rippled and came to life, revealing an unfolding scene.
Black Star and Tsubaki were standing in the middle of a street in a small Japanese village, rain pouring down around them and muffled thunder booming in the skies beyond the mirror's image. They stood across from a gangly teenage boy with a bandana scarf tied over his head and long. Alecto couldn't see his face from the viewpoint of the mirror. Is that the enchanted sword? Her gaze fell to the long katana with the ink-black blade. No… that is the enchanted sword. That boy is just a host… poor kid.
"Wait a sec," Black Star was saying. "You're the bratty kid from earlier! The one with the money!" Alecto wasn't sure what money he was talking about, but a second she decided that it didn't really matter as Black Star continued, his voice slightly warped by the mirror's glass. "What the hell is happening here?"
"It's the soul possession technique," Tsubaki said, stepping forward. "Just one thing that sword can do."
Black Star glanced over at his partner, a movement that was barely discernible at the angle the mirror was showing. "I've never heard of that before," he said. "How's it supposed to work?"
"You know how normal meisters and weapons match each other's soul wavelengths to unify themselves? The enchanted sword doesn't do that," Tsubaki explained. "Instead of matching, he simply takes over a person's soul and controls their body. And when he's finished, the whole soul is devoured."
Besides her, Alecto could feel Tempus flinching away from the mirror, while a few meters away Soul let out an appalled tch, and with good reason. Weapons and meisters were supposed to work together, achieving harmony in the resonances of their souls to fight their opponents. That was one of the first things that they were taught in DWMA, well before most of them even found partners. The idea of one partner's soul forcibly overriding the other's was unthinkable. Stein was right: this Masamune guy was no mere soul parasite. He was something far, far more abhorrent.
"That's the enchanted sword," Tsubaki continued, nodding to the ebony sword that was their foe. She had a remorseful expression on her face, one that only continued to further confuse Alecto. "Its blade was so beautiful, once… but now that beauty is clouded by darkness."
"Oh," the enchanted sword spoke, a harsh voice floating from the lips of the possessed boy. "It's you, is it?"
Nullo modo, Alecto thought. Does Tsubaki know the enchanted sword? Is that why she asked to be the one to go one this mission?
Masamune didn't wait for an answer before driving his host forward, swinging the sword in an overhead arc towards the two students. But Black Star and Tsubaki were quicker, leaping over their assailant in perfect synchronization. "Tsubaki, what now?" Black Star asked.
"He may be powerful, but he can't control two soul wavelengths at one time," Tsubaki said. "Listen, Black Star. If you shoot your soul wavelength directly into that boy, the enchanted sword will be forced to separate from him." The two landed on the ground, pivoting about to face the enchanted sword. "After that, leave the rest up to me." With a brilliant golden-white light, Tsubaki jumped into the air and shifted into her chain-scythe form, landing in Black Star's hands with a practiced grace.
"Just shoot my Soul Wavelength at him, that's all you want me to do?" Black Star said.
Alecto didn't hear what Tsubaki's response was. Now that she was in weapon form, that part of the conversation was between the two of them. She could only watch as Masamune charged once more, the swing of his pitch blade narrowly blocked by Tsubaki's chain, locking both meister and Kishin egg into a tense battle of strength.
After a moment of struggling against the enchanted sword's str, Black Star spoke again, in response to whatever Tsubaki was saying. "Tsubaki… come on, please tell me that isn't what you're actually thinking," he said, his voice strained from exertion. "You know better… than that, don't you?!" He twisted the chain to the side, upsetting Tsubaki's balance and breaking the stalemate. Masamune jumped back, and Black Star continued. "Weapons and meisters depend on each other, don't we? You can lean on me, Tsubaki. And you can do it a heck of a lot more than you're doing now, got it?"
Preconceptions were a funny thing. Fragile like glass, they shattered at the slightest exposure to evidence disproving them.
Alecto had never liked Black Star, and she had a feeling in her gut that told her that she never would. He was brash, and arrogant, and put his own ego before all of his duties as a meister, attributes that Alecto stood against on a matter of principle. Being a meister was about serving the world, serving the Academy, and serving one's weapon. It certainly wasn't about stroking one's ego, but that's all Black Star seemed to do. Alecto had been under the notion that Black Star just didn't care about being a meister or what it meant.
But hearing him talk to Tsubaki the way he was, even if she couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, made her begin to think that maybe, just maybe, he cared more than she had believed. Her preconception of him had shattered, leaving something… different in its place. Something still just as arrogant, but not quite as self-absorbed. It was very confusing and Alecto wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
She didn't have the time to ponder on this, however, as Black Star and Tsubaki were engaging Masamune in combat once more, lunging towards the sword and its would-be victim. Masamune swung at Black Star with his blade, but the latter leapt away easily, using the opening to maneuver around behind Masamune just as he swung himself around once more. Black Star blocked the blade with one of Tsubaki's kusarigama blade, using strength and leverage in equal amounts to push the Kishin egg back. He brought his other hand up, and even through the mirror Alecto could see the sharp, sparking energy as Black Star readied his soul wavelength for a direct attack. The possessed boy didn't move. Alecto thought she could hear something, a faint, harsh whisper from the sword, but she couldn't hear what the words were…
And then Masamune's shadow detached itself from the ground and threw itself at Black Star, tearing through his shoulder like a hot knife through butter and sending him flying back several feet.
"No way," Soul said, his voice laced with astonishment. Alecto jumped at his sudden voice. For a moment there, she'd been completely entranced by the events being broadcast in the mirror, and had completely forgotten that she was standing in the Death Room alongside several others.
"The enchanted sword can control a person's very shadow?" Kid asked.
Death nodded. "Mhm. Such complete possession of his victims is what makes him so dangerous."
The ability to solidify and weaponize one's own shadow, Alecto thought, dread settling into her stomach like a roommate who refused to pay rent. Such an person would be an unpleasant foe, indeed. How do you fight against something like that?
The shadow of the possessed boy had looked nothing like the boy himself, instead looking like a grotesque stick figure has it lingered in the air just behind its master. Then, with a warped screech of "Sssshadoow!" It dove back into the ground, moving at impossible speeds as it rushed towards Black Star.
"So, it's two against one, huh?" Black Star said as he blocked and dodged the simultaneous attacks of sword and shadow. "Let's shake this thing, Tsubaki. Ninja sword mode!"
As Tsubaki shifted into the thin-bladed dagger that was her ninja sword mode, Alecto watched the fight with growing interest. She had to admit; when Black Star put his insatiable ego on the sidelines and kept his attention solely on the fight, he was a damn good combatant. If she didn't know the blue-haired boy, she'd have been questioning why he'd never collected any souls. He was quick enough to keep the enchanted sword on his proverbial feet, and his raw strength was more than evident.
"Speed Star!" Black Star declared as one of the shadow's pronged appendages descended upon him, and then he disappeared, moving at a pace too quick for the untrained eye. But Alecto's eye was pretty well trained, and she could see a cyan blur as he darted from spot to spot, dodging the attacks of both shadow and thrall. "Ha! You missed!" he bragged as Masamune's black struck only empty air. "I'm too fast, you can't catch me! Yaa-hoo! Can't see me, can you?! Nope, I bet you can't! Do you know why? Because I'm a dude who's way ahead of his time!" If he was paying more attention, Black Star would have noticed that Masamune had ceased his attacks and was simply standing quietly in the middle of the muddy road. "You'll be lucky to even see one hair on my head! Blink for just one second and you'll miss me! That's how fast I a-YYYAAAAAH!"
As Alecto had been thinking, Black Star was a good combatant… when he bothered to focus on what he was doing. The boy had slipped on the surrounding mud, falling on his rear and sent careening across the ground until he hit a nearby shrine groin-first. Tempus and Soul both immediately flinched and winced in sympathy, while Maka could only let out an exasperated sigh.
At this rate, Black Star's done more damage to himself than the enchanted sword has, Alecto thought.
The shadow took advantage of Black Star's agonized, buggy-eyed state and towered over him, jabbing one of its limbs straight down. Black Star barely avoided the attack, scrambling away and pulling himself into a sort-of standing position, though he was still partially doubled over and jumping up and down from the pain. "Ow, ow!" he hissed, his voice strained. "It's all I can to to avoid his attacks! I don't have any time to hit him with one of my own!"
To her surprise, Alecto suddenly felt herself wishing that she were there, in that village, so that she could help. She had more than enough time to give, and watching Black Star getting solidly trounced by the enemy was not nearly as entertaining as it had been the last time she'd watched him fight for a myriad of reasons, the most notable being that Black Star was at actual risk of dying. She didn't like the guy, but she didn't want him dead by any stretch of the imagination.
The enchanted sword's thrall shifted into an offensive stance, holding the blade up with both his hands and pointing it directly at Black Star as the shadow wrapped its limbs around the sword. "Play time's over," the sword said through the mouth of his host. "Now we fight for real. Now die… puppet thrust!"
The intertwined arms of the shadow launched forward, becoming a single projectile that tore through the air straight toward Black Star. The meister was ready for the attack, though, and leaned to the side just in time, using the side of Tsubaki's ninja blade to divert the attack away from him.
The enchanted sword wasn't done yet, however. "Branch out, shadow!"
At the sword's behest, the shadow sparked with dark soul energy, before a dozen spark spines shot out of its thin form, several of them going straight through Black Star. "Pro dii!" Alecto exclaimed, her hands flying to her mouth in slack-jawed shock. To her relief, Black Star didn't seem to be that much worse for wear when the shadow spines retracted themselves, though blood was steadily streaming down his face from a cut on his form.
From there, the battle became much harsher. No longer was it a largely defensive fight, both Black Star and Masamune going on the offensive with clear intent to kill. Alecto was fining it a little difficult to watch as another spine from the shadow carved it's way through Black Star's side, leaving an ugly gash in its place. The sword went for another attack bringing his blade down in an overhead strike. Black Star dodged once more, somersaulting back through the air and onto the shrine. "Tsubaki, kusarigama!"
Tsubaki shifted into her chain-scythe form, and as Masamune came lunging in for another hit, Black Star shouted, "Now! Here we go, Tsubaki!"
"Let's go, Soul Resonance!"
There was a flash of bright light, and Tsubaki's chain shot out, rapidly forming itself into a pentagram. As the chain whirred through the air, a plane of pure soul energy spread itself across the shape, putting a barrier between Black Star and the enchanted sword. "Shield Star!"
Masamune's blade collided with the chains, halting his attack and trapping him in midair. As he pushed against the Shield Star, Tsubaki spoke, her voice loud and clear. "I'll do anything to defeat you!" she declared. "You dive relentlessly into destruction without considering what lies ahead, and now Black Star has you."
"Puppet!" Masamune shouted.
The puppet stuck downwards, but Black Star was quicker, leaping past the tenebrous figure and toward the enchanted sword. "Your time is finished now!" he boasted. "Midair combat is something I'm good at. Which makes this-" he collided with Masamune's host, driving the heel of his palm into the boy's stomach and releasing a mighty Soul Wave. "MY TIME!"
Alecto remembered what Tsubaki had said about Masamune not being able to handle two soul wavelengths at once, and it looked like she had been right. Black Star's disruption had done it's job, as the boy's muscles slacked and released the enchanted sword. "Now, Tsubaki!" Black Star shouted.
"Right!" Tsubaki shouted, shifting into her human form and propelling herself upwards, reaching out towards the falling sword. Her slender fingers wrapped around its hilt, and she held it close to herself with a calm, serene smile on her face. She hit the ground and fell into a kneel, her eyes closed and her expression concealed by her hair. What is she doing?
Then Tsubaki looked up sharply, black lines stretching across her face, and let out a agonized, bloodcurdling scream.
Tsubaki!
The mirror filled with a bright light, obscuring the scene. Alecto felt her head plummet as she staring at the flat plane of glass, her eyes as round as denarii. Tsubaki, what happened to you? Her mind instantly jumped to the worst possible conclusion, and it took all of her mental fortitude to drive those thoughts to the back of her mind. She couldn't shut them out completely.
"What just happened?" Soul asked, echoing her thoughts.
"Tsubaki's gone inside the enchanted sword," Stein replied.
No way, Alecto though. How could such a thing even be possible?
"Why would you do that, Tsubaki?" Maka said quietly. She turned to Soul, speaking louder this time. "We have to stop this somehow!"
"How?" Tempus said, his butterscotch eyes dark. "We're here, and she's there. And besides, she clearly chose this target for a reason. This isn't for us to interfere in."
"Still," Soul said, "what is she thinking? How is a weapon supposed to fight without her meister?"
"You don't get it," Lord Death spoke, as the bright light in the mirror faded away, revealing the scene once more. Tsubaki was still kneeling on the ground, but her shoulders were slumped forward this time, and her eyes were once more obscured by her hair. Wherever Tsubaki's consciousness was, it wasn't in her body. "The fight is taking place inside their souls. Anything could happen now. It had to come to this. You see, Tsubaki is the only one who can stand against the enchanted sword."
"What are you talking about?" Maka asked. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean," Lord Death said, "Is that the enchanted sword Masamune was once Tsubaki's own brother."
A/N: I always knew from the start that Alecto's opinions on Black Star and Tsubaki's partnership would be very biased and based off of limited knowledge, because latent crushes color your opinions of everything. Speaking from experience, here. That's the whole reason I chose to include this stuff from the anime, instead of having Alecto be Elsewhere Doing Other Things during episodes ten and eleven like I'd originally planned, because I was rewatching these episodes and I was like "You know, I could wring so much character development from this."
The flashback bit at the beginning, like the bit with redhead lady last chapter, was a bit of the spur of the moment thing, but I really think it works, tying into both Alecto's relationship with Tsubaki and the growth as a person that Alecto went through before all this. Because character growth can happen in backstories, too. As you can tell, she's a lot less nervous now than she was when she first arrived at the DWMA, due to her gaining friends and being able to fight monsters and help out the Greater Good. She still has confidence problems and an unhealthy phobia of failure and disappointing others, but hey, baby steps.
Timeline wise (hah as if exact timelines ever mattered in Soul Eater), here's the deal: In Tempus Fugit, this arc takes place in about late January (episode 14 has a very cold and snowy London if I remember correctly, so it's not too out of place to have this all be in midwinter). Alecto's fifteenth birthday is in a couple weeks in-story. (Tempus's birthday, July 30th, probably will not occur in the story's events.) The very first arc of Tempus Fugit takes place in late fall. The flashback takes place in the fall BEFORE that, making Alecto's "thirteen-year-old" more like "a-little-over-thirteen-and-a-half-year-old." Am I explaining this right? I'm not good with explaining timelines, sorry. :(.
Also, this chapter has the biggest twist yet: pink is not Alecto's natural hair color. Gasp! :O This is the most biggest plot twist that has or ever will occur in this story. Until next chapter. Gasp.
Latin time!
Quid ego faciō?: "What do I do?"
Bonum sum: "I am good/well"
Sollicitus non sum: "I'm not scared/worried/concerned/insert synonyms here." Literal translation is "I am not afraid," but one of the others is the meaning I am trying to get across.
Ibi nix erit in infernum: "There will be snow in Hell." Basically Alecto's equivalent to "when Hell freezes over" or "when pigs fly." It's also the closest translation of the concept of the former that I could get across without mangling the original's grammar and meaning. That's okay, though, I rather like the turn of phrase.
Non intellego: "I don't understand." One of the benefits of writing a character who speaks Latin is that I can see where all the roots for our English words come from.
Nullo modo: "No way"
Pro dii: Same meaning as "pro dii immortales" ("by the gods"), but shortened and with more of that "holy shit" quotient that I wanted to convey.
Next chapter should be up before the end of the month. In the meantime, feel free to favorite and leave a review telling me what you think!
- Diana "Nocte"
