First Chord

The group of students walked out of the school with Marie as their escort towards the trees on campus. Behind the castle they could see a fire peeking through the tree line, dancing between the trunks of trees as if they were window blinds on a sunny day. Upon arrival they found the source of the fire to be from a fat candle that was half as tall as each of them with a wick as thick as rope. It sat on the leaves with a hardened puddle of its wax like a halo around it, coating the leaves under it as if it were a dense sugary glaze. Christian was—of course—the first to point out their campfire.

"That's a big ass candle."

"The ones on the castle are bigger," Katy mentioned. "A lot bigger."

"Yeah, but I can touch this one," He crept forward but his partner caught the hood of his sweater and pulled him back.

Marie parted from the group and went to stand next to Dr. Stein who leaned away from a tree and put his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. Several noticed that he didn't have a cigarette this time. "All right, let's get started then. Soul."

The Death Scythe who was sitting at the trunk of another tree took an ear bud out of his ear and looked up. "Yo."

"Proceed."

Soul stood up and brushed his clothes off after having stuffed his music player in the pocket of his short-sleeved yellow hoodie that he was wearing over a black long sleeved shirt. "All right. So," he clapped his hands once and rubbed them together. "You guys are all gonna resonate at the same time until you can feel each other."

Rachele raised her hand.

Soul's dull red eyes fell on her. "Are you kidding me with that."

"Sorry," she softly drew her hand back to her side, "Um, what does that mean? 'Feel each other?'"

"Like, ya know," he waved his hand about, "How you kinda share thoughts and intentions and whatnot. Like you do with your meister or your weapon. But you're gonna be able to do that with all these guys. So… Which of you have the closest bonds? Good friends or…cousins or something?"

"Ooh!" Nikki jumped forward with Christian. "We're twins!"

Soul's brow furrowed. "… You don't look anything like each other."

"Fraternal twins," Christian said as if he'd had to say it before.

"Not all twins are identical, you know." Nikki crossed her arms.

"Okay, whatever. Weapons, meisters?"

"We're weapons. They're our meisters." Christian gestured to Tim and Katy.

Soul looked to them. "Are you twins, too?"

"N-no, he's my boyfriend." Katy said with a polite smile.

"I'm her boyfriend," Tim confirmed.

"Cool. Okay. Do your thing. But branch out, ya know? Like… open your minds further try to stretch that horizon, that… void where you meet your partner. Listen for your sibling or significant other, whichever." Soul stepped back with the others. "Listen for them."

Katy gave Tim a look of dissatisfaction with their instructions but complied all the same. She took Christian's hand and he transformed into his naginata form as his sister morphed to her shuriken form in Tim's grasp. The meisters closed their eyes.

Christian's direct line of sight bore a microphone on its stand illuminated by a single bright spotlight on a shiny stage. He walked forward in the white space toward the yellowish spot where the microphone was centered, tugging on his black tuxedo a little and stretching his neck comfortably over his red bowtie. He carefully closed his fingers of one hand around the handle of the microphone and the fingers of the other hand around its stand. He closed his eyes and softly breathed in and out before barely parting his lips and glossing his microphone with a smooth hum in his baritone octave.

A soft pulse shocked Katy's palms and her breath hitched for a moment though she kept her eyes closed. She breathed in Christian's soothing singular note. A cool breeze came up from her feet and tossed her hair and she kept her grip on the shaft of the naginata secure but not tight.

Nikki's eyes were set on the microphone that solely decorated the ivory stage. She didn't blink as she walked forward, her heels clicking and echoing into the white emptiness around her. The tail of her tapered black evening gown dragged silently behind her. Taking the microphone in her hands, she swallowed past her thin red choker to wet her throat. She inhaled and hummed an angelic soprano note.

An identical breeze teased the legs of Tim's pants as he listened to Nikki's voice in his head. The instructors all watched on with narrowed eyes though the rest of the students watched in awe and interest as the candlelight flicked on and off their faces. Soon enough, Katy found very faint harmony in her mind. Christian's low note was crisp and clean but now she began to hear a muffled sound like that of a bell. It began to sound clearer and clearer until it started to mesh fluidly with her partner's voice. It was undoubtedly Nikki.

She started to smile and Tim's eyebrows twitched momentarily. He spoke quietly. "I hear…"

"Me too," Katy whispered back. Not only could she feel Nikki's mind, but Tim's as well. They were both like notes in the margin of a book being read—present but nothing more than an accent of connection.

Marie giggled happily. Soul clapped his hands. "All right, good, good. Stop for a second. So, you found each other, right?"

Tim and Katy opened their eyes. She nodded fast. "Yeah!"

Christian's voice shouted over her as his face appeared in the narrow blade. "Oh my God, that was so cool! Nikki!"

Her voice shouted back, her blue eyes almost like jewels on the silver part of the circular blade. "I know! You sound so good!"

"You sound good!"

"Cool, let's keep it rolling." Soul motioned to the other four students. "Who's next?"

Katy sharply pointed to her ginger. "Rachele and Kian!"

Rachele squeaked and trotted to the other side of the big candle and stood beside her best friend. She stuck her hand out for Kian. He put his gloved hand in hers before turning into his scythe form. Once again, the meisters closed their eyes and everything was quiet again.

Kian took his seat on the white stool and leaned the cello between each thigh. He waited a moment with the bow in hand while his fingers became reacquainted with the strings. He lighted the bow on the neck and paused. It wasn't the usual white silence. There was something out there in the void. He wasn't alone. The bow glided across the strings, a sound that could be the soundtrack of a lunar eclipse blossoming into the whiteness.

Rachele's auburn locks tickled her shoulders with the breeze that rose around her. Tim and Katy had already reached their resonance and she could feel them. With the firelight shining from her glasses she started to smile at having connected with the other four. "Wow," she said breathlessly.

"Keep it up." Soul looked at Odette and William and nodded them over. "Jump in."

Her bright eyes turned on him before she took his hand. Immediately upon contact he took his zanbato form. Odette effortlessly held him up and stood close to the other three meisters and their weapons around the big candle. She closed her eyes like her friends. Stein and Soul didn't blink now. She breathed an almost inaudible word of encouragement to her partner as her fingers molded to his handle.

William opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by black. He glanced down at himself, seeing two shiny black dress shoes at the bottom of his white tuxedo ensemble with a red vest. Before him sat a black grand piano with a red velvet bench. Next to it was a familiar inky black shadow figure. Wisps of dark fog that billowed out from the bottom of a feminine dress shape rose up around it. The long black hair dripped its darkness onto the floor that burst into tiny little vapors that added to the fog. A long slender arm parted from the waist and rose beside it. A spidery black finger pointed to the piano.

He released a steady breath through his nose. His shoes barely scuffed the shiny black floor on his way to the bench. Minding the tails of his tuxedo, he sat in the middle. Each ivory key glistened up at him and his fingers were practically drawn into place over the starting position. He turned his chin a little and looked out of the corner of his eye. The figure's head was awkwardly cocked, its featureless face obviously turned to him, waiting. William's eyes didn't change. He looked back at the keys before him and his fingers pressed down with a strong chord.

Odette inhaled sharply at the shock in her fingers that traveled throughout the rest of her body. In the circle of students, the brilliant harmony of a baritone voice, a soprano voice, a cello and a piano vibrated the space between them across the big candle. The unison sound radiated from their souls with such clarity that Marie closed her eyes and held her breath. Soon their resonance dissipated and everyone opened their eyes. The students looked between each other, partially stunned.

Soul nodded with his arms crossed. "Very cool."

"That was just wonderful, guys! I could hear it, it was beautiful! And it was just one chord! You all work so well together!" Marie gushed.

"And that is how it's done." Dr. Stein allowed a smirk. "Good job. But you still have a long way to go. Now that you've learned how to connect to each other, you'll need to keep practicing until it's easier. Then you'll start to communicate with each other with your souls and minds. That's what will make you unstoppable."

"Woo!" Christian jumped back onto the ground in his human form. "I'm pumped! Let's do more! Come on, I'm ready!"

"You've been out here longer than you think." Soul looked at his phone. "It's been about two hours."

"Two hours?" Rachele said incredulously.

Odette turned to her. "We were waiting a while for Tim and Katy. I waited on you a while, too."

"Get some rest. You have class in the morning." Dr. Stein scuffed his shoe in the leaves.

Soul gave a sharp-toothed yawn. "Yeah, I'm beat."

"Thank you for the lesson," Katy said politely as she and her friends began to disperse back to the castle. Their chatter was much more excited this time than it was when they were given their assignment.

While William walked with Odette, he turned when Soul called his name.

"Good job and uh… I guess Stein wants us to meet tomorrow after the session."

He nodded. "All right. We'll be there."

"Night." Soul walked on ahead of them with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie.

William looked to his partner. "You okay?"

Odette smiled at him. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

He caught Dr. Stein's eyes on him over his shoulder. "Just checking."