Spirit (n) spir•it

1) the nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character; the soul.

2) the nonphysical part of a person manifested as an apparition after their death; a ghost.

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The boy walking down the street had two souls.

From far away, Maka noticed a powerful soul resonance while on a mission; once she killed the Kishin egg and took its soul, she and Soul flew to a small town in the middle of nowhere to check it out. What the female meister felt was not dangerous, per say...but there should have been no other DWMA teams sent to the same area other than Soul and her. Naturally, both were curious.

Looking at the teenager now, however, Maka felt her curiosity melt into fear.

He looked normal enough. Black hair messy enough to give Kid a fit, simple white shirt and blue jeans. His tennis shoes were a bright red, indicating how new they were, but the soles were heavily worn. As he walked, he pulled his arms behind his back, popping each shoulder in turn with a sigh of relief. Nothing looked dangerous about him...and yet...

Maka could see his soul, a small blue orb flickering within the boy's chest in the exact same place where any human heart would be—but it was not this soul she was afraid of.

It was the second one.

A huge sphere encompassed him, far larger than Ragnarock's poisonous soul had ever consumed Crona. Sickly greenish flames rose to the soul's top; along the sides were strange swirled areas, as though the surface was concaving in on itself. The soul itself seemed unreal. Even with her soul-seeing abilities, Maka had trouble discerning the nauseous green parasite; it seemed hazy around the edges, almost mist-like; in contrast, the boy's human soul shone an intense, ice blue.

Maka had seen what happened when two souls were forced into the same body. Whichever occupied the body originally tended to be weaker, and was eventually driven out or consumed by the alien soul, in effect shattering the physical being they shared. Luckily, Crona never progressed that far before Maka healed the sword meister with her soul wavelength. However, this teen's condition looked to be in a much more advanced stage than her pink-haired friend's. It was amazing he hadn't descended into madness yet. For some reason he seemed unaffected by having two souls. Perhaps, the scythe meister mused, his twin souls had become dependent on each other, eliminating the risk of accidentally destroying the other half.

He passed directly in front if the alleyway she and Soul were crouched in. Maka tipped her head to the side, closely following his pace as he strode into view. Was he limping?

He stopped. Eyes as icy as his soul, the teen glared into the aly. Maka gulped. Of course, there always was the possibility that he had descended into madness. People whose souls have been consumed by insanity tended to develop strange abilities. The fact that he noticed her was proof enough. Even though he didn't look like one...was this person a Kishin Egg?

There was only one way to find out.

Maka stepped forward, boldly meeting his gaze. "Hello."

He nodded curtly. "Why are you spying on me?"

Ignoring his question for the moment, Maka pulled her weapon from the shadows, not responding to the albino as he complained about how "uncool" being discovered was. "My name is Maka, and this is my partner Soul."

The distrust did not fade from his eyes. "Why are you spying on me?" he repeated, a little more forcefully this time.

Soul raised an eyebrow, putting off a confident act as he rolled his eyes. Out of the corner of his mouth, he muttered, "What the hell are you doing, Maka? He might be dangerous..."

"Dangerous?" the teen repeated. So he had heard. His hearing was definitely sharper than normal. Maka hesitated; was he about to try and kill them, just like Crona had all those years ago? She tensed, slightly moving in front of Soul even as the scythe leaned forward behind her. Whatever happened next, she would not let her partner sacrifice himself for her again.

To both her and Soul's surprise, instead of springing at them, the boy did something completely different. He started laughing.

"Dangerous! Ahhaha, that's a good one!" Wiping a tear from his eye, he gave them a bizarre grin. Both souls pulsated in sync with his humor. Maka watched them interact with interest. She had never seen something so wrong be so compatible. Her focus snapped back at his next words.

"The flying girl and the kid with shark teeth think I'm dangerous?" Grinning, he crossed his arms. "Please."

Maka gaped like a fish. "Bu– how did you–"

"Let's just say I know people."

Maka shifted her feet uncomfortably. Soul gave the teen an irritated glance. "Now what?"

"So why were you following me?" he repeated for the third time; his grin faded as he met Maka's eyes. She barely trembled. His larger soul was beginning to swell exponentially, almost as though in anticipation of danger...or a fight. She had to do something quick.

"There's something weird about you," the scythe meister suddenly announced. She kept an eye on his expression as she continued to speak, choosing her words carefully. "It's almost like...there's two of you."

He blinked. All of a sudden, both of his souls exploded outwards in a powerful resonance, waves of sickening, otherworldly energy rolling over Maka and her partner in thick waves. The scythe meister picked up sudden, intense fear, suspicion, and defiance. So he did know. Up until this point, the blonde was clinging to the smallest hope that maybe, just maybe, the teen was unaware of his condition. Now, though, it seemed he was not just aware; he was determined to conceal his double status; perhaps he was forced to protect his other half in the past, which explained the onslaught of emotion she felt flooding from him now. Wincing, Maka turned off her soul-seeing ability, only to become aware of the one thing she had not yet noticed.

His eyes had turned a madness-inducing green.