A/N - I SWEAR TO GOD I HAVE AN EXPLANATION. There is a very good reason why I went AWOL for... *checks calendar* over two months. Dang.
That reason is writers block. Well, more like writer's rockslide. Long story short, the lack of motivation to do, well, any sort of writing hit me like a ton of bricks, to the point where I couldn't even force myself to write regardless. I just... didn't wanna do it. I dunno why; chapter 30 came to mind easily, but chapter 31 just got a little... really really stuck. It went like that for a while until my sister got sick of all my complaining (happy late 13th to her, BTW!) and decided to sit me down and keep marathoning Soul Eater with me until I got my mojo back.
And, well, I guess it worked. I feel pretty mojo'd up. Have I mentioned recently that I have the best baby sister ever?
So, I'm back. I don't think I'll ever be able to get back to a daily posting schedule again, but I'll try my best not to let something like this happen again. Sooo sorry! ^_^". I'd like to thank you all for your patience, and I'd like to thank SmolderingBlackRose, MegglesGG, little101, Chloe, Voddy-chan, Optimism, and Guest for reviewing!
To SmolderingBlackRose, I'm gonna admit that when you said I wrote Medusa really well I had totake a step back and squee for a bit. While I have 99 problems with her treatment of Crona, I really enjoy writing her because she's really easy to write and her lines are always great. Apparently being a smug snake comes naturally to me. Who knew? And yeah, Panthera's going to be a little tougher to deal with than some one-arc villain. Thank you!
To MegglesGG, I'm glad you liked the intermission! It was a bit of a last-minute idea, but it just came to mind so easily. I think it was actually the Medusa-Eruka showdown that partially inspired it; I couldn't imagine that a woman like Panthera would allow something like what happened in Italy go unchallenged. Shame she went up against Medusa, who is the least fazed woman in the history of Soul Eater. Medusa does not give a damn. Snake beats lion, Panthy. Sorry. And yeah, little more info on what the deal with Borden was. And we'll be getting a lot more info about Panthera's deal before this fic is over.
To little101, I'm glad you're excited, and I'm really sorry to make you wait this long!
To Chloe, everyone seems to just adore Tempus, don't they? I like him a lot, too. I'm glad you like the story so far! I promise you that there will be plenty of Kid/Alecto (Kidlecto? Aleckid?) in the very, very near future. Like, scroll-down-a-bit near. ;) I'm also really glad that I've managed to incorporate Alecto into the main story well enough, as that was one of my main fears starting out, that she would be too much in the spotlight or not in the spotlight enough, as both can be signs of an OC falling a bit flat. I didn't want her to become the main focus of everyone ever, because that would be silly, but I didn't want her to just be an observer, because that would be kind of pointless in a story like this. There are canons where I could pull an observer-type character off, but Soul Eater is not one of them. And there will be plenty of original arcs. If you don't count this one (which is sort of half-canon, half-original) I've got three original arcs lined up before we get back to a canon arc, and then two arcs after that one, and then a bunch of canon stuff.
On a similar note, next arc is going to be something I've never done before, and I'm really apprehensive but also really excited. There's a hint of it in this chapter, see if you can catch it!
To Voddy-chan, I say that I'm really honored to be one of your favorite stories! I still can't believe 80 people put this in their favorites. That's as many as 80 tens. And that's incredible. And yeah, my English class has become a lot easier now that I've become intimately familiar with the mother of Romantic linguistics. I can't pronounce the words yet, either, though, especially not in the old Latin way that is canon to how Alecto pronounces it. Good thing I'm not narrating this, eh? (Also, I know this was posted over two months ago, but you should prrrrobably get some sleep. Sleep is very important for the brain, after all! Even if science hasn't quite figured out why, yet.)
To Optimism, I feel you on the vocabulary front. God knows how many 5-dollar words I've used in this fic alone. hell, I can name a couple in this chapter. I like big words and I cannot lie. And I'm really glad that my characters are realistic; nothing drives my up the wall more than characters I can't get in touch with on a basic human level. Good to know I cleared that particular writing hurdle! Hope I can keep clearing it, I'm a bit out of practice... ^_^
To Guest, again, so sorry for the wait! I'll try to keep a tighter schedule, I promise!
Erm, I think that's everything I needed to cover. I'm glad to be back, and I hope you guys will enjoy what I have in store! :D
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 Thirty-One - Goes The Clock - The Time Meister Seeks Extra Help, Part 1
Just a little closer…
Gritting her teeth together, Alecto leaned out as far as her precarious position upon the library ladder would allow her, stretching her hand up towards her goal. Whose idea was it, she thought, to mark only one book about temporal wavelengths and time meisters as level one, thereby barring the only frickin' time meister in the entire school from accessing any sort of useful information? And then, whose idea was it to place that one solitary book on the second highest shelf?! She let out an exasperated grunt as her fingertips futilely brushed the spine of the book she was trying to reach. Pro dii, hoc rīdiculum.
She winced as she realized that if she wanted to reach it, she'd have to climb higher. She didn't want to do that; she was already on the second-highest rung of the ladder, and her balance was shaky enough as it is. But she really wanted that book, and Alecto wasn't known for being cautious. With a disgruntled huff, she gripped the edge of the shelf tightly and stepped up to the final rung, trying to ignore how the ladder wobbled ominously as she did so. "I bet Tempus could reach this book easily," she mused under her breath. "Lanky bastard." Unfortunately for her, Tempus was somewhere else in the library, probably dusting and reorganizing some books in some forgotten corner somewhere for the millionth time. As she reached once more for the book, she made a mental note to track him down when she was done here.
Her fingers closed around the book's spine. "Yes," she breathed, pulling it out of its spot on the shelf after a few seconds of adjusting her grip. "It's about damn ti-ei?!
The ladder had given a final, unsteady wobble upon its old wooden feet before finally tipping backwards, nearly taking Alecto with it. Her meisters' instincts kicked in at the last possible second - tick - and she grabbed the shelf with her free hand, pulling herself up and planting her toes firmly on the edge of another shelf, clinging to the tall bookcase - tock - as the ladder crashed behind her. Her breath was caught in her throat, and her heart was pounding almost hard enough to cause it to come bursting out of her chest. "Well," she said, her voice weak and tiny. "Hoc non bonum."
She glanced over her shoulder. The ladder had collided with the bookshelf behind her, propped at an awkward diagonal angle in the aisle. Thankfully, the thermos of tea that she had left on the floor below her remained upright. Assessing the situation, Alecto swore under her breath; there was no way she was going to be able to grab that. Maybe I can jump or climb down? she thought. It's not that far a fall. I've jumped off roofs that were higher than this while hunting Kishin. Then again, she didn't want to hit the ladder and twist an ankle or something on her way down, and with the book still in her hand, moving a little to the side was going to be a bit of a trial.
Well, she thought, taking a deep breath, better get started. She inched the hand clutching the shelf to the left millimeter by millimeter. This book better be worth it, or I'm going to obliterate whoever put it up here.
"What happened here?"
A stunned, familiar voice caught Alecto's attention, and she looked down to see Death the Kid standing there, staring at the toppled ladder with a vexed expression on his face. "Who would do this?" he demanded, storming forward determinedly. "Who would leave this aisle in complete disarray like this?"
"I didn't leave it that way," Alecto said before she could think, her words spilling out of her mouth in a knee-jerk reaction. "It all sort of.. left me, actually."
Kid looked up at her, his brows knitting together as his yellow eyes sparked with recognition. "Alecto? What are you doing up there?" he asked.
He didn't notice me before? "Non patet ad oculo? Res ipsa loquitur," Alecto said. Kid's confused expression didn't change, and she rushed to clarify. "I was getting a book that was high up and the ladder right there tipped over." She waved the book in her hand to prove her point. The shift in her equilibrium caused her to slip a bit, and she scrambled to catch herself and keep herself from falling. "So, uh, yeah. I didn't really 'leave' the ladder there. Could, uh, could you do me a favor and move the ladder so I can drop down, sis?"
"All right." Kid grabbed the ladder and pulled it upright, propping it up against the opposite shelf. He spent a frustrating amount of time shifting it about minutely, and Alecto eventually asked, "What are you doing?"
"Making sure the feet of the ladder are an equal distance from the bookshelf."
Quid infernum. Alecto rolled her eyes. At least the ladder was out of the way, and she didn't have any particular problem with his symmetry… thing (calling it an "obsession" seemed a bit crass). Being as careful as she could, she began to make her way down. Climbing down the shelves with the use of only one hand was a difficult task; it required her to basically let go of the shelf she was holding and grab the one below it before she toppled backwards. It was slow and slightly nerve- wracking, but she was making progress.
At least, until her fingers slipped, and she fell.
For a split second, her heart froze, and her lungs refused to cooperate. It felt as if time were frozen, but Alecto knew better; this was adrenaline, fueled by panic as she toppled backwards. She closed her eyes tightly, bracing herself for the collision. This is going to hurt.
A pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders, stopping her fall so that only her feet crashed against the cold library floor. Confused, she blinked open her eyes and looked up. Kid had caught her at the last second, and was looking down at her with an amused glint in his eyes. "Be careful," he chastised, a teasing note in his voice.
Alecto scowled. "You find this funny," she accused.
"Not at all." Kid shifted his hands to her shoulders, helping her get fully upright. As she regained her balance, his turned his attention to her ribbon; Alecto then realized that it had become askew during the whole mess. As he gently pulled it from her hair and began to retie it, he continued. "I just couldn't help but notice that you're a little… accident prone."
"Eh, that's one way of putting it," Alecto said. Her cheeks flushed slightly, though she wasn't sure whether is was from Kid's comment about her nature or the fact that he was touching her hair again. "I've also been called reckless, overly impulsive, and an idiot who needs to spend more time looking and less time leaping." She frowned. "All of those from Tempus, to no one's surprise."
"I see," Kid said. "He is pretty protective of you, isn't he?"
"Too protective, if you ask me," Alecto snorted. "I mean, it's sweet that he worries and all, and I do appreciate it, but I'm almost fifteen. I'm plenty capable of taking care of myself without him fussing over my sleep schedule like some sort of mother hen."
"It's probably just in his nature," Kid replied. "He is a shield weapon, after all. I'd be more surprised if he weren't a little overprotective." Giving her ribbon a final tug to ensure that it would remain secure atop her head, he stepped back to admire his handiwork. "There," he said proudly. "Absolutely perfect." He either didn't notice Alecto's deepening blush or pretending not to notice. "So, what book were you trying to reach?"
"Uh? Oh, um." Damn it, quit acting like a fool every time someone runs their hands through your hair, Alecto scolded herself. You're a meister, not a housecat. She brandished the cover of the book in her hand "It's a book about various time meisters throughout history and their recorded techniques. Tempus and I do well enough on missions, but self-taught skills will only get a person so far. And since there aren't any other time meisters here at the Academy…" she shrugged.
"I see." Kid looked thoughtful. "Have you considered asking Professor Stein about it? He's not a time meister, but he can use his wavelength without a weapon like you can, and he might have some information on the topic. I don't doubt that he's met other time meisters."
Alecto frowned a little. "That… is a possibility. I haven't really thought about it." She wasn't exactly eager to go chatting up Professor Stein, though, and she doubted her weapon partner would feel any differently. Truth be told, she was pretty sure that Tempus was a little scared of Stein. Not that she blamed him or anything, Dr. Stein was a pretty creepy man. "I'll run it past Tempus and see what he thinks. As soon as I can find him, that is." She looked around. "He's probably buried himself in some dark corner of this place."
"Actually, he left not too long ago, just as I was coming in."
"Quid?" Alecto sighed. "I guess he went home then. Good to know." She picked her tea thermos off the floor - green chai, she needed the extra kick that morning - and took a sip, ignoring Kid's pointed that-shouldn't-be-in-the-library look. "Or maybe the classroom. Sometimes he likes to head there when we don't have class. Nescio quid. Either way, I should go track him down." She started to leave. "Thanks for helping me out there, by the way."
"Of course," Kid said.
Alecto shot him a smile and a goodbye wave, but as she left, a bizarre thought entered her mind. The thought took control of her actions, and she turned around and blurted out, "Hey, Kid?"
He looked over at her. "Hm?"
"Sometime this week, do you and the Thompsons want to come over to my place for tea?" It wasn't something she usually asked; she wasn't exactly the type to throw parties, after all. But she enjoyed spending time around Kid, enough so to actively seek out his company. She could imagine what Tempus would say if he were here in perfect clarity, his voice equally teasing and sincere. Wow, Ally, you're finally being proactive in a friendship! That's a huge step for you, I'm so proud. And then she'd spend the rest of the day trying to figure out if she should feel proud or insulted.
Kid hesitated for a moment. "Not this week," he said finally. There's a mission that's been put up on the board recently that worries me. It's the Elizabeth Báthory one, and the mentioned body count is disturbingly high. I actually came here to do some quick research on Hungary before I left. Perhaps next week, though."
Alecto nodded. Now that that little dip into the deep end of the social interaction pool had proved itself to be moderately successful, it was time to go before she shoved her foot down her throat. "All right. Next week. Sounds great. We can discuss the exact date when you get back from handling that mission. Egeo relinquere, nunc. Vale!" Shooting one last smile in Kid's direction, she turned and left the library, her heart pounding in her chest.
Time to find Tempus, I think.
As she had expected, Tempus was lounging in his usual spot in the Crescent Moon classroom, his feet propped up on the desk in front of him and his hands folded together behind his head. What she hadn't expected was to find Maka, Black Star, and Dr. Stein there, all crowded around what looked to be an earthen jar.
She really didn't expect to see a small black cat with a huge pointy hat perched on Maka's shoulder, staring at the mug just as curiously.
"Alecto, this is Blair," Maka said, nodding to the cat with a faint, disgruntled look on her face. "Blair, this is Alecto. She's a friend of mine."
The cat stretched, flicked her tail, and smiled. "Hiya!"
"Quid?!"
"Yeah, she can talk, too."
Alecto was quickly performing a soft reset on her brain to try and process this data when Black Star scoffed from his position on the floor. "Who cares about some dumb talking cat when there's a star like me in the room?"
"Hey!"
Black Star ignored Blair's indignant outburst and focused his attention on was what clearly the most important object in the room: the gods-damned jug. "So, what kind of jar is this?" he asked Dr. Stein, who had been focusing on Blair this whole time; probably reading her soul, Alecto figured. "Is it special?"
"Nope," Dr. Stein said, "nothing special. It's just an ordinary jar. Now, the water that's inside the jar is another story altogether. It's called soul-sapping water, because it sucks out your soul wavelength. Compared to that, the jar's very ordinary indeed. Feet off the desk, please, Tempus."
In the back of the class, Tempus let out a yelp and swiftly pulled his feet off the desk, the front legs of his chair. "Soul-sapping water?" he said, shaking his bangs out of his eye so he could get a better look at the jar. "I've read about that. Isn't that supposed to be really dangerous if mishandled."
"Yes," Dr. Stein said, "which is why we're using it in a controlled environment."
It's Black Star, Alecto thought. There's no such thing as a "controlled environment" with him around.
Dr. Stein nodded at Black Star. "Go on, try sticking your hand in the water."
"All right," Black Star said, a skeptical twitch in his brow. "But I'm still a little iffy about this jar." He tentatively reached out a gloved hand, dipping his fingers into the water up to the first joint. Almost instantly, the vitality seemed to be ripped from his form. The color vanished from his tan skin, and even Alecto could feel the sudden emptiness that was his soul wavelength being drained, and her sixth sense was not the greatest. Looking uncharacteristically haggard, Black Star wrenched his hand away from the jar and fell back a bit, his breath heavy with exhaustion. "What was that?" he gasped. "I knew that jar was dangerous!"
"No, it's just the water," Stein corrected. "You might wanna start of by sticking in only one finger at a time."
Alecto and Maka exchanged a nervous look. Whatever kind of water that was, Alecto wanted nothing to do with it. She took a small step back, just in case it exploded after sucking out so much of Black Star's wavelength.
Black Star, despite having experienced the liquid's strength first-hand, didn't seem at all fazed by this. "All I have to do is get to where I can withstand putting my whole hand in there, and then I can use Tsubaki's enchanted sword mode, Professor?" he asked, a determined smile making its way across his face.
"That's the basic idea," Stein said, in a tone that implied that the nitty-gritty details were much more complicated than that.
"That'll be a nice break!" Black Star said, lifting the jar up in the air. "All I've been doing lately is muscle conditioning, and it's getting old."
"Yes, well," Alecto said, "try not to irreversible damage your soul wavelength." Tick. Having lost interest in what was going on, she darted up and over to where Tempus was sitting and plopped herself down in the chair next to him, her hair bouncing about her shoulders. Tock. "So why didn't you let me know you were gonna leave the library?" she asked, while the trio down at the lower end of the classroom continued with their conversation. "I could have spent ages looking for you."
Tempus shrugged. "We weren't exactly using the buddy system or anything. You were doing your own book thing, I was doing mine." He gestured to a book laid open on the desk in front of him. It was 1984, a book that Alecto had read before and found rather to her taste. She had a soft spot for dystopian fiction. "I was coming here to get some out-of-the-way reading done, but the room was occupied. I figured, heck with it, I'm already here, I'm not going to spend my reading time finding another spot." He looked over at her, the curiosity in his mind evident in his eyes. "How'd you know I'd left before you started looking?"
"I ran into Kid in the library," Alecto said. She deliberately neglected to mention the ladder incident. "He said that he walked past you on the way in, and that you were heading out." She took a sip of her tea. "Speaking of Kid, did you know that he and the girls are going after Elizabeth Báthory sometime this week?"
Tempus did a double take. "The Blood Countess?" he hissed. "But she's a two-star mission! That was the only thing keeping you from taking her on! Don't tell me he's already graduated a star!"
"I don't really think the stars apply to them in the same way they would you or me," Alecto mused. "Remember, the first time we heard of him, he'd gone after a three-star mission. I'm sure he'll be able to handle this one just fine."
"I'm not worried about him. I'd just be pissed if that little pipsqueak had gotten to be a two-star before we did. Wait, how do you know what mission he's taking on?
"Um. Well."
Alecto was spared from answering the question by hearing Maka say her name. "Hey, Alecto, why don't you come to the party, too?"
"P-party? What?"
"Soul and I are hosting a party tonight," Maka elaborated, "to celebrate the fact that Soul's finally getting out of care today, and that Black Star and Tsubaki finally got a soul. It won't be anything big, just dinner and getting to hang out together. You two should totally come; I bet you'd have fun!"
Alecto felt more than a little baffled. "Y-you're… inviting me to your party?" she stammered.
"Of course," Maka said. "We're friends, right? That's what friends do."
Right. Of course. That is a thing that friends do when they are being friendly with each other. She'd never really thought about her relationship with Maka in that light before. Yeah, she liked Maka, and thought that she was really cool and a great meister and all, but they hadn't talked much outside of the joint mission that they had met each other on. Even with that limited scope of interaction, Maka still considered her a friend?"
Tempus seemed to notice her stupefaction, and spoke in her stead. "What kind of dinner?" he asked. "Will it be… delicious?"
Maka blinked. "Delicious? Um... I was planning on making some noodles with beef sauce and broccoli."
"That sounds absolutely amazing." Tempus stood up and shot a thumbs-up in Maka's direction, slinging his other arm around Alecto's shoulder. "You can count us in for sure!"
"S-sic!" Alecto said, nodding. She could get behind a good noodle dish, sure. And if someone considered her enough of a friend to invite her to a dinner party… well, could she really say no to something like that?
She wondered what flavor of tea went with beef noodles…
A/N - God damn it, Alecto, do you think about anything but tea and fighting monsters? Well, you like dystopian fiction, so I guess you do. She was actually reading a dystopian book way back in chapter sixteen. No one guessed what it was, sad to say. It was the Scott Westerfeld book "Uglies."
This arc should be about two or three more chapters, depending on how long the next few scenes are. You know how wordy I can get sometimes. After that will be the arc I mentioned up at the top, with all the stuff I'm apprehensive-but-excited about!
Now, for the part I know you guys missed the most... Latin time!
Pro dii, hoc rīdiculum - "My gods, this is ridiculous."
Ei - An interjection expressing alarm.
Hoc non bonum - "This isn't good."
Non patet ad oculo? Res ipsa loquitur- Literally translates to "Isn't it obvious to the eyes? The facts speak for themselves." Figuratively translates to "what does it LOOK like, dummy?"
Nescio quid - "I don't know why."
Egeo relinquere, nunc - "I need to leave, now." Oh, Alecto. You nervous little butterfly, you. She's a badass in battle, but god help her if she's around people. Especiallyifthatpeopleisacuteboy I MEAN WHAT.
sic - Interjection meaning something along the lines of, "that's right!"
Chapter thirty-two should come along soon-ish. In the meantime, feel free to favorite and leave a review telling me what you think! I love getting feedback!
- Diana "Nocte"
