Chapter 2
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It had been one week since I'd joined the DWMA and teamed with Anna, and we hadn't even gotten a mission yet. We'd joined in the Academy's "Capture the Flag" days, but we didn't have any real missions. Boss and Billy had apparently tried to corner Anna outside the locker room before I showed up, but when I did, they were already running away while Anna was holding a stick.
Anna had become a lot less meek around other students after teaming up with me, but there were still those moments around teachers that she turned shy. We'd been browsing for a house big enough for the two of us to live in, as per the Academy's rules, but we didn't have any luck.
So, it was a very uneventful week. On the Monday of a new week, I was sitting in class after a lab, leaning back in my chair with my feet on the desk, pretending to be asleep, trying to think of an intelligent topic to talk to Tsubaki about, while Anna sat next to me, reading. I sighed and took my feet off of the desk and leaned forward. I tightened my screw quickly, trying to clear my mind, and with a loud click, I sighed.
"Stop doing that, Jeff. You're distracting me." Anna muttered.
"Hey, you don't know what it's like having a screw through your head!"
"Then take it out. I know you can."
"Fine." I reached up and loosened the screw, then pulled it out. "What's that book even about?"
"Tricking people into letting their guard down~" She grinned maliciously as she closed the book. Before I had a chance to catch her, she'd slammed the book into my head with such power, I thought she'd split my skull open! I limply collapsed on the desk.
"...............ow."
"Good boy. Now, let me read please~ I'm almost done." She smiled cutely as she reopened the book. I subtly glared at her. I glanced at Tsubaki, who was just staring out into space. I swallowed my nervousness, tucked my hands into my coat, and breathed deeply.
"Umm... Tsubaki?" I blushed red as the nervousness came back. For this whole week, I'd been trying to ask Tsubaki out for a night, but I'd been too afraid to do so. Damn my Stein heritage! My uncle had no experience with dating...
"Yes, Stein-kun?" She replied with a shy grin on her face.
"Erm... do you think... maybe.... umm..." I was tired of this. I was staggering so much!
"Stein-kun, you shouldn't be so nervous~ Just say what you want to say~" She said, smiling sweetly. I just blushed a brighter red.
"Do you wanna.... I dunno..." I swallowed my nervousness one more time. I pulled out my screw, stuck it in my head, gave it three quick turns, then spoke out.
"Gotudinerwitmetiswek?" I spewed out. I blushed a whole new red as I realized I'd spewed gibberish once more. I stood up and started to walk out in shame.
Tsubaki laughed and grabbed the edge of my labcoat as I tried to leave and pulled me back into my chair, grabbed my shoulder, and turned me toward her. I stared at her blankly as she smiled.
"I'd love to. Is... Thursday okay?"
"Uh... Um... ah..." I couldn't breathe. Who was I? What just happened?
Anna elbowed me in the back.
"Ack... Um... y-yeah.Thursday's great! A-about... six, then?" I choked out.
"Sounds great~ I'll see you then~" She tussled my hair and turned to the girl sitting two seats away. I turned back to Anna.
"Th-thanks." I said, still red.
"No problem. You need all of my help~ Now, leave me alone for a bit. I'm two pages from the end."
"Oka-"
"Yahoo! Class is now in session! The star has arrived!" shouted someone from the doorway. I looked right at the door, and there was that blue-haired punk who was supposed to be Tsubaki's partner.
"Hah! I'm all done now!" Anna declared proudly, holding the book over her head. I grabbed it out of her hands and threw it at the blue-haired guy, hitting him right in the face.
Anna slugged me over the head with her textbook.
"Who dares strike the great Black Star?!" the blue-haired punk yelled.
"M-Meeeeee..." I declared weakly, massaging the new canyon in my head.
"You? New kid, I challenge you to a fight! No one strikes the great Black Star!" Black Star yelled.
"Black Star! Leave Stein-kun alone and just come sit down! You can copy the notes from me." Tsubaki snapped back. I picked my head off of the desk and glanced at her. She had a very commanding tone, but from when I can tell, only when she spoke to Black Star. My eyes drifted to her waist subconciously, and as she sat down, her skirt wafted up a little bit.
Blood shot out of my nose, making me fall sideways and knock Anna out of her chair.
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The next few days were, as per usual, very uneventful. Anna constantly laughed at me for the nosebleed, Black Star kept trying to pick fights with me, and Tsubaki smiled at me every time I passed (she clearly didn't know I'd seen up her skirt).
Thursday rolled around very slowly, but when we went to class, Uncle stopped us.
"Miss Minus, you and your partner have been asked to go to the Death Room."
We both stared blankly at him.
"Sigh..." He turned to the class. "Class! I'll be leaving to escort Miss Minus and Mister Stein to the Death Room, but I'll be back shortly. We'll begin the lab when I return." He pushed off of the desk while he was in his chair, and went out the door... in his chair.
"Wow... Jeff, can you do that?"
"I still can't steer it." I said, chuckling.
"Come on you two!" Uncle yelled from down the hall. We ran out after him.
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I laughed as Stein-kun and Minus-chan ran out after Stein-sensei. Black Star was late again, so I just stared out the window.
"Hey, Tsubaki! Sorry we've been gone for so long. What've we missed?" said a voice I'd missed.
"Hey, Soul! Nothing much, except that we have two new students."
"Really? Where are they?" his partner asked.
"They went with Stein-sensei. They were apparently called to the Death Room."
"Heh. Maka, isn't that funny? We were supposed to get called in this week." My eyes widened at Soul's comment.
"Ohhh boy... If I know Shinigami-sama the way I think I do, you'll be meeting them soon." I sighed.
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"This is it. Just head inside and use Shinigami-sama's mirror number." Stein sensei said.
"What's his mirror number?" Jeff asked. Stein-sensei laughed.
"Look at Anna's shirt." He chuckled. "Well, I'd better get to my class. Have fun!" He laughed as he kicked off of the wall, sailing down the hall on his swivel chair.
"I can't wait till I learn to do that." Jeff muttered as he pushed the door open. I giggled to myself as we went in.
We stumbled our way through a hall whose roof was layered with strips of... guillotines. It didn't even look like it had a roof! The guillotines were supposed to be some sort of... liner that LOOKED like a roof. Everything else had these weird looking clouds backed by a blue sky with... windows in it.
"Okay, now this takes the lead as the weirdest freaking thing I've ever seen." Jeff muttered.
"Sorry, but your uncle still holds that slot for me." I said, smiling nervously.
"Oh, well, he's second on my list, and guess who's third~" He replied, smiling slightly.
"You?" I grinned.
"Nope, you~" He laughed as he patted me on the head.
I pushed him into one of the supports for one of the guillotines.
We staggered onward into a clearing... or more of a platform with a huge mirror at the far end. There were crosses and other things scattered around the edges of the platform, and there were more windows in the sky back here. We slowly approached the mirror.
"So... the mirror number?" I looked at Jeff.
"Uncle said it was on your shirt, so..." He kneeled down, I guess to get a better look at my shirt. It still made me want to hit him because he was making me feel small.
He snapped his fingers. "Got it. 42-" he pointed at one shoulder. "-42-" he pointed at the other. "-564." He pointed at my waist, where the hem was. "42-42-564. That should be easy to remember." He stood up and walked to the mirror. He fogged it up and wrote the number on it as I walked to his side.
".....now what?" He asked as nothing happened.
"Maybe you did it wrong?" I replied.
"I wrote a number! How do you do that wrong?!"
"My my~ Rather feisty today, are we?" Said a very bizarre and goofy voice.
"Huzzawha?" Jeff spazzed... again. The mirror rippled, and a figure appeared in it.
It was rather tall... possibly three feet taller than Stein-sensei. It was an all-black figure, wearing a very bizarre skull mask that looked the same as the one on my shirt. It was round at the top, with three prongs coming out beneath, and three holes in it that were just black... two that looked like eyes and one that was where his nose was meant to be.
"Sup~Sup~ I'm the boss here at the Academy! You can call me Shinigami-sama or Lord Death. Whichever you prefer~"
Jeff was wearing the same dumbfounded look that I was. For such a violent academy, this goofy guy was the "principal"?
"Uh... S-Shinigami-sama, you wished to see us?" I stammered.
"Yes I did~ You see, you two are new here at the Academy, so I needed to explain our goals to you."
"Our goal... isn't that something like defeat these demon things to make weapons into your weapons?" Jeff replied.
I stared at him. "I heard some kids talking about it Monday in class. While I was pretending to be asleep and YOU were reading." He said to me.
"Close, Stein-kun, close~" Shinigami-sama said, and Jeff donned a look that screamed 'How the hell do you know my name'.
"I know your name because I accepted you here. I know all of my students' names~" He said. "Now, anyway, the goal here at the Academy is for Demon Weapons; such as yourself, Stein-kun; to consume 99 Kishin Egg Souls: souls that have taken to hunting humans and are on the verge of becoming the mighty demons known as Kishin; and the soul of one witch. Doing so creates a Death Scythe, one of MY weapons, a fantastic honor among Demon Weapons."
"I get it! I have to eat a total of 100 souls in order to become a Death Scythe, and the witch has to be last. Right?" Jeff asked.
"That's right~" Shinigami-sama replied, and I assumed he was smiling.
"But, you didn't call us in here just to tell us that, did you, Shinigami-sama?" I said, shaking with anticipation.
"Nope~ I called you two in here because I have a mission for you~" He said, bouncing up and down with a very odd 'bwoing' sound.
"I knew it! Jeff, we'll finally get to leave the Academy to do some real work!" I said, jumping up and down happily. I was being so childish, but I didn't care! I was excited!
"Now, now, Minus-chan~ Calm down, for this is a serious matter." I stopped bouncing and turned to face him, blushing brightly.
"Very good. Now, there have been several big attacks on residents here in Death City, each involving one universal mark of death on each victim. Every one had a huge bite mark through their neck. I had Stein-sama investigate one of them, and he found fragments of wolf teeth in her neck. He diagnosed her as killed by a werewolf." I shuddered at the thought of a werewolf.
"Now, one young meister here had a very close encounter with that werewolf. He was caught without his weapon. Had it not been for a young Scythemeister, he probably would've died. The two meisters informed me that the werewolf was a pitch black color and identified himself as 'The Dark One, Remus'. Now, I have faith that you two can find this man and kill him before he has a chance to kill other innocents and become a Kishin. Any questions?"
"Uh... No, I think we've got it." Jeff said, trying to look confident.
"Y-yeah, I think we're ready!" I said, smiling, although I was nowhere near as confident as I looked.
"Okay! Remus only comes out at night, so be ready! Best of luck kids~" Shinigami-sama said as the mirror faded out. We turned and found our way out.
"A werewolf, huh? I'll bet his soul'll be tasty!" Jeff laughed. I laughed with him, but I was still nervous. As we made our way out to the hall, we ran into two more people walking to the Death Room.
One of them was kinda short... maybe 5'6" or something? She wore a black coat that looked kinda... tuxedo-ish? She had white gloves, wore a short skirt, and black shoes. Her hair was in two little pigtails on both sides of her head, and she also seemed kinda... flat.
The guy with her was about half an inch taller than her, but that was just because of his hair. It was up in some sort of white... mullet... thingy, with a headband covering his forehead, and jagged teeth that matched Jeff's. He wore a sweatshirt that was black in the center and yellow on the sleeves. He had red jeans, as well as black and yellow shoes. His headband had the word 'Soul' on the side, with a very odd badge that said 'Eat' around a picture of a mouth.
My heart started beating fast, and I didn't know why. These two, who were they?
"Hey, these must be the new guys! Whas up, you two?" The guy said. I froze.
"Nothing much. Just heading out on our first mission." Jeff said, and I wanted to hug him so badly. He'd just broken the awkward barrier!
"Ah! Well, I hope that goes well!" He said, clapping hands with Jeff.
"You too! Keep it cool!" Jeff said, and I blushed. Did he really just say that?
"Haha! We just met, and you already know what I like to do! I think I'll like you! Later you two!" He said as they entered the Death Room.
"Jeff, you're my hero right now." I said before I could stop myself.
"Heheh... look who's got a crush." Jeff laughed, and I punched him in the side.
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"Shinigami-sama, you wanted to see us?" I said, as Soul leaned against the mirror.
"Yes, yes, I did~ You see, I just assigned a mission to a couple of new students. I'd like you to keep an eye on them, in case things go south."
"You can count on us!" I said, beaming, as Soul pushed off of the mirror.
"These students... was one of them really short and the other a mini-version of Professor Stein?" Soul asked.
"Erm... yes?" Shinigami-sama said, confused.
Now it was my turn to be shocked.
"We'll do our best, sir." Soul said as he grabbed the back of my coat.
"We're leaving, NOW, Maka." He said, as he started running out.
"S-Shinigami-sama, we won't let you down!" I yelled as I was dragged out of the Death Room.
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"AUGH! It's pitch black, and there's NO sign of him! Dammit, Remus! Show your ugly face!" Jeff yelled from the top of a building.
"Jeff! Get down here now!" I yelled, secretly cursing him. When he gets down here, I'm going to pummel him!
"Come on, Remus! Are you a werewolf?! Or a wereMOUSE?!" He yelled again, and I found a rock on the ground.
Before I had a chance to throw it at him, Jeff yelled again. Except, this one was more of a 'Holy Crap' than anything else. Jeff fell from the roof, and landed on his feet.
"Holy crap, he almost-" he didn't have a chance to finish the sentence because I'd kicked him somewhere a guy should never be kicked. From the ground, he weakly pointed at the roof, and I looked up where he was pointing.
Silhouetted in the moon was a large figure... one where the only detail I could discern was its red eyes.
"Haha... another foolish meister! I shall enjoy tearing the skin from your bones!" It howled, and I knew instantly that this was Remus. He leaped from the roof, extended his vicious white claws and lunged at us. I tackled Jeff, and all that Remus got was a small fragment of Jeff's coat. Jeff staggered to his feet, then reached for the screw in his head and gave it a few quick turns.
"That piece was the hardest to sew back on! It took me three days! I'll kill you for that." He snapped, scowling maliciously. "Besides, no one can hurt Anna! Not before I get vengeance for what she did to ME!" He said, glaring at me. "And even then, I'm the only one who gets to pick on her! Anna-" He glanced at me and Remus. "Let's make a rug out of this guy." He leaped up and turned into his blade form. I caught him and took my battle stance... which I'd only used a few times.
"Grahaha! You two aren't even one-star meisters! What makes you think you can kill me? Dark-" His vicious, bloody teeth gleamed in the moonlight as he raised his arm. "-Spear!" He yelled.
He launched himself at us as he resonated a dark aura, and his white claws were replaced with a crimson sword blade, emanating evil energy. I barely sidestepped him, and swung Jeff at him, cutting off a section of his tail.
"Dark Fang!" Remus yelled as he kicked off of a wall and lunged at me again, this time his teeth glowed evilly.
I didn't have enough time to move. His fangs dug into my left shoulder, making me scream in agony.
Remus let go and crashed into a wall as I realized that Jeff had escaped my grip and punched Remus himself.
"Keep your FILTHY mouth OFF of my meister!!" He yelled as he returned to my hand as a sword. "Anna, don't be afraid to use me to block! Even his mouth! I don't care what happens to me as long as YOU stay okay!"
"R-right... I'll try from now on..."
"Heheheh... That's a good weapon! Too bad the meister sucks! How's my bite feel? Does it burn?" Remus cackled.
I grasped my shoulder. It wasn't as bad as it felt. "Hah. I can't feel a thing. It's too shallow!" I laughed, trying not to sound afraid.
"Then I'll just take your whole arm off! Dark Fang!" He lunged again, and I panicked.
"Anna! Block!" Jeff yelled, and I did what I was told instinctively. I plunged the spiked portion of Jeff's blade into the jaws of Remus as he bit down. I slid Jeff's blade sideways and threw Remus to my left, as I backed up. Jeff was covered in slime, but he didn't seem to care.
"Hahah! The little girl's getting bold! Dark Daggers!" He howled. I glanced around me as dark knives surrounded me, and they all shot at once, like bullets.
"Anna!" Jeff yelled as I blocked a few of them, but three plunged into my back.
"Hahah! What now, little girl?! How long can you survive?!" Remus barked as he lunged at me again. He swung his claws at me, and I blocked with Jeff.
He swung with such force, it knocked me off-balance, and I saw his other claws coming at me so quickly I had no chance to block! I closed my eyes and braced for impact.
It never came. Jeff had intervened again. He took the blow to his stomach, and even Remus looked shocked. Jeff grabbed his claws and pried Remus' hand from his gut.
"You've made me... very angry." Jeff said, as he tightened his grip on Remus' hand. "...very, VERY angry." He lifted Remus' hand to his mouth and buried his teeth in his wrist.
Remus howled and backhanded Jeff with his other hand, dislodging both Jeff's teeth and his hand from Remus' own. Jeff slid back and lifted me to my feet.
"He's all your now, Anna." He said as he, once again, returned to my hand. "Let's get our rug." I was in awe. Jeff was trying so hard, no matter whether he got hurt or not! I had to learn from him, and get my own resolve!
I raised my hands over my head and braced Jeff for attack. I wasn't going to lose to this animal.
"Grahaha! That's a gutsy weapon! I'd love to pin him on a wall! Dark Fang!" He roared as he lunged again. I blocked with Jeff again. But this time, Remus bit down as hard as he could, and I could see wounds sprouting from Jeff's shoulder within the blade. I kicked Remus in the stomach, then tore Jeff free and vaulted off of Remus' head.
"Secret Blade Art-" I yelled, as Remus doubled back to look at me. Jeff glowed a violent red as his feelings synced with mine. We couldn't use a full-blown Soul Resonance yet, but we'd learned that Jeff and I could perform Emotional Resonances; attacks more powerful than normal ones, but weaker than Soul Resonances. Thus, our Blade Arts were born.
I lifted Jeff parallel to my left arm, as I turned to strike. "-Minus Rend!" I yelled.
I shot toward Remus like a missile, and swung. He blocked with his left arm, but I kicked off of the ground and tore his whole lower arm off. You see, Minus Rend is a strange attack, in that it allows me to attack both sides of what I first hit in under a second. Jeff and I tested it out on Boss and Billy the third time they tried to corner us.
Remus yelled in pain and shock at the realization that I'd just torn off his left forearm. I rolled back as he swung his good arm at me, and I swung back. He leaped over us, then tried to tackle me.
I used my small size and dropped to the ground and he flew right over my head. I turned and went back to my battle stance.
"This is the first true fight I've had in a long time! Hahaha! You don't disappoint, shrimp! But! I'll still tear you apart and add you to my collection! Dark-" He howled.
"Secret Blade Art- Minus Rend!" I yelled as I lunged again. Remus grinned.
"Anna, wait!" Jeff yelled, but I ignored him. I was about to kill Remus, and I couldn't afford any distractions! Remus blocked the first strike with his fangs, but I lunged from behind.
He stomped on Jeff's blade and pinned him to the ground, then whiplashed me with his tail. Jeff returned to human and pulled on Remus' ankle, causing Remus to kick Jeff out from under him. He ran over to my side and helped me up, then returned to my hand.
"Anna... be careful. He knows about that attack already, so he knows what to expect. You'll have to catch him off guard."
"How?! Everything we know how to do, he does too! We can't attack, because he'll kill you! We can't block, because he'll just throw us down!"
"Grah! I wish I was tougher, so I could help keep you safe! Why couldn't I be a more powerful sword or something?! I wish we-" Jeff kept ranting, and he kept getting angrier and angrier. What he didn't realize, was that because he was getting so angry, he was beginning to glow. Not just his normal crimson glow, or the Minus Rend red glow, but a whole new glow... it was kind of a bluish glow, with twinges of black and yellow...
"I hate being so small!!!" He yelled, and his blade exploded with that glow. I felt him get twice as heavy as he normally was, but he was still crazy light. The glow solidified into a new blade, and even Remus looked scared.
Jeff had turned into new shape. The blade he'd turned into was easily a foot taller than he originally was as a human, and it was about two feet wide. It was still the same crimson color, but the stitches were longer and more frequent along the length of his new form. He'd lost the spikes he'd once had, but it was replaced by wickedly sharp edge all along one side, filing out to a tip on the left side.
I was now wielding the Buster Sword.
"Grahaha! A multiform weapon as well?! This'll be interesting!" Remus howled as he lunged at me. I grabbed the dull edge of Buster Jeff and braced to block. Remus connected, but he bounced right off. Jeff began to glow with a slight blue aura.
"I don't know how I did this, but I like it!" He cackled, and I couldn't help but laugh with him. I charged at Remus and swung in a wide arc. Remus jumped over it, but I span back with the dull side and slugged Remus with it, throwing him into the wall. Jeff was glowing brightly now.
"Now, Anna!" Jeff yelled, and I nodded.
"Grah! I won't die here! Dark- CLAW!!!" He howled at the top of his fuzzy lungs, and his only remaining hand morphed into a wicked black claw.
I tried to yell Minus Rend, but I found myself using a different attack.
"Secret Blade Art- Climhazzard!" I yelled, and I could tell Jeff was confused, just as much as I was. He glowed a bright blue, and I used both hands to lower Jeff like a spear. I rushed at Remus as he charged at me. He swung his claw forward with all of his strength.
I slid underneath him. I swung Buster Jeff upward, and found myself flipping THROUGH Remus. With a massive explosion of blue energy around Remus, I landed and turned to survey the damage.
Remus had been torn in two, and that ending explosion had annihilated his lower half.
He let loose one last howl as his body unraveled like a cloth. Jeff returned to his human form, and stepped toward the unraveling body. A red, round object was left over from the thing that used to be Remus. Jeff grabbed it and licked it.
"Ewww, you licked it! You don't even know what it is!" I laughed.
"Sure I do. Uncle said souls don't have any particular flavor, but if you lick them, you can tell what kind of person it came from. I licked it, and it described a violent person with a maddening urge to kill. Thus, this-" He grabbed the tail thing on top and waved it at me. "Is. A Kishin soul." He opened his mouth wider than I'd ever seen him open it and he popped it into his mouth, chewed it weakly for a bit, then swallowed it mostly whole. I shuddered, because that thing was the size of a softball!
"Anna. Oh, sweet Anna. You, have blessed me with a fantastic meal~ Thank you, very much!" He said, smiling whilst he drooled a little at the edge of his mouth. I couldn't help laughing!
"Hey, how'd you become-" I giggled to myself. "-Buster Jeff?"
He laughed back. "I thought of Final Fantasy VII! The sword in particular. I guess the emotion sparked a new form!"
I laughed even harder. "Well, I guess that works!"
"You two, are absolutely bizarre." I heard a male voice I'd just recently learned declare. I turned around, and found myself looking at the girl Jeff and I'd seen earlier. Her guy friend was nowhere to be seen, but she was holding a large scythe with a gray handle and a Black and Red blade. But, I knew I'd heard her friend...
She set her scythe down, and it turned into her buddy.
"W-what are you two doing here?!" I stammered as Jeff walked to my side.
"Shinigami-sama sent us to keep an eye on you two to keep things from ending badly." The girl said.
"I figured he'd do something like that." Jeff said. The guy approached, and Jeff and him clapped hands again.
"The name's Soul Eater. What's yours?"
"Jeff Stein." He grinned like an idiot.
"Nice. I could tell you were a Stein. That's-"
"A-Anna Minus!" I said, trying to smile proudly. The girl walked up and offered her hand.
"Maka Albarn. Let's get you guys to the Academy. I bet Shinigami-sama would love to hear about this!"
I smiled happily. We'd made two new friends, as well as discover a new form for Jeff and get our first Kishin Soul.
I was looking forward to sleeping tonight.
"Wait! I just remembered that it was Thursday! What time is it?!" Jeff yelled, panicking. Maka pulled up one of her sleeves to reveal a watch.
"...Almost eight, why?" she replied.
The look of sheer terror on Jeff's face was priceless.
"I FREAKING MISSED IT!!!! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE AT SIX!!! OH GOD, SHE'S GONNA HATE ME!!!!" He wailed as he took off toward the Academy. The last thing I heard him yell was "I'm sorry, Tsubakiiiiiiii!!!!"
"Dude. So. Uncool." Soul said as Jeff disappeared from sight.
