Outsider Chronicles: Resonance of the Shards

A sound Soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body. Considering that, who in the hell thought giving a character from Earth Bet the powers of a Weapon was a good idea? Especially when said Weapon is a bullied girl who wants nothing more than to be a Hero. Looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me...

Well, this is an interesting idea. Its been skittering around in my head for a while and its only now I came up with an idea that'll work. I have an idea for an alternate take on this idea, but I'll do that later. For now, enjoy!

Chapter 1

Soooo, my death was lame. I mean, getting killed by a box full of paint cans falling on your head isn't exactly something to brag about. I knew I hated art for a reason. Still, at least I got a new life out of it. Oh yeah, I ended up getting reincarnated. I'm still not entirely sure why, but after I died, I woke up again as a baby.

Growing up was simultaneously easy and incredibly frustrating. What? I'd like to see any of you sit through pre-school again without tearing your hair out. Still, I've learnt from my mistakes, so I got through school with no problems and high grades. Or at least, that was the plan. See, the world I had been reborn into wasn't exactly normal, not when there were people flying around in silly costumes. Yeah, I'd been reborn into a world full of crazy people with superpowers. Unfortunately, it wasn't a world like Marvel or DC where the Heroes always win. On no, I wasn't that lucky. The world I'd been reborn into was that of Worm.

Hmm, I think that someone might be playing with me. Why? Well, my mother happened to be best friends with one Annette Hebert and we lived just a few doors down from the Hebert residence, which meant that I grew up with Taylor and, a little later, Emma. Well, this ought to be interesting.

Interesting is right. Considering that we essentially grew up together and shared a good number of interests (Capes and books), its not really any surprise that Taylor and I became strong friends. She was closer with Emma, but I suspect thats mostly because they were both girls and some things girls did just didn't get done with a male friend.

Other than the inevitable desolation of Canon (because there's no fucking way I'm letting Taylor go through even half the shit she did), the first part of my life was fairly normal for a teen living in the supervillain capital of America. Honestly, the only interesting thing to mention was the fact that Mum was the one who smacked Danny out of his depression after Annettes death with the judicious use of a paper fan and a lot of alcohol.

Then, shortly before I was about to enter high school (Winslow unfortunately because I wasn't able to talk Taylor into getting into Arcadia when Emma was going to Winslow and I had no intention of leaving my best friend to the hell she was doomed to go through), I answered the door one night to find Taylor in tears.

"What happened?" I asked as I guided my friend into the living room.

Considering that she'd just got back from camp and I haven't heard from Emma in weeks, I could probably guess what the problem was. Taylor sniffed and slowly, weakly told me about her ill fated encounter with Emma and Sophia. By the time she was finished, she was in tears. I didn't say anything as I pulled her into my arms and let my friend cry herself out on my chest. I'd done this a few times in the weeks after Annette died and I hated every minute of it. Seeing Taylor crying like this never failed to make me angry and I knew I'd be having a pointed conversation with Emma very soon.

As it turned out, I was wasting my time. The day after Taylor arrived home and cried herself to sleep on me, I went over to the Barnes house to talk to Emma and promptly discovered that I was apparently one of the 'weaknesses' Emma was discarding. Even knowing what I did about Emma and what she'd become, it was still rather jarring to see the sneer on the normally smiling face of my old friend. It was at that point that I knew I was wasting my time. This wasn't an Emma who could be talked around and back to sanity. This was an Emma Sophia had got her claws in deep with. I might be able to do something at a later date, but for now, I was wasting my time.

"You know Emma, I pity you," I said as I turned to leave, "I don't know what happened, but if you believe that you can become strong by throwing away your friends, you're in for a very lonely life."

I shut the door before Emma could respond.

Then school started and, as you can imagine, shit hit the fan. It didn't take me long to establish the fact that trying to pick a fight was a horrible idea considering my family was one with a VERY long history of martial prowers and I'd been taught my family's fighting style from a very young age. That basically meant that the jocks who Emma's little possie tried to set on me tended to end up in the nurses office, first with bruses and then with broken bones once it became clear that they needed something a tad more permanent to remember the warning. I also made it a point to point out that if they tried anything with Taylor, I'd do even worse to them. Considering I'd scared the shit out of everyone who tried anything and the fact that they made it a point to try and attack me in an out of the way area, I didn't even get a whiff of trouble.

Unfortunately, while I had skills, a reputation and thick skin to allow any attempts at bullying me simply slide off me, Taylor wasn't so lucky and its not like I could just send the Bitches Three to the hospital either. Unlike the jocks, they'd have no problem turning that to their advantage and there was only so much I could do to help Taylor with the verbal bullying and things going missing. I was able to prevent Annette's flute from getting wrecked though by convincing Taylor that taking it to school was asking for the bitches to do something to it. Other than that, the only thing I could do was be her friend and offer her a shoulder to cry on or advice that was mostly ignored. Taylor and Danny had a better relationship than in Canon, but that didn't mean that the short time they had spent estranged after Annette's death had not caused some damage. It didn't help that Taylor had a bad case of teen angst and not wanting to be a burden syndrome.

Of course, while all this was going on, I was making plans to prevent the Locker incident from happening and land the Trio in some very hot water. I had no delusions of getting help from Winslow, not when Blackwell was doing everything in her power to keep the situation under the carpet and its not like I could just walk into the PRT HQ and tell them that Shadow Stalker was engaged in a bullying campaign that most definitely crossed the line into outright criminal without painting a massive target on my back. Even leaving an anonymous tip wasn't really an option considering Tinker and Thinker bullshit would almost certainly lead them back to me. I needed something solid, something I could nail all three bitches with and soon. Mainly because it was getting close to the Locker incident and I still had no idea what I was going to do to stop it.

Unfortunately, it seemed that my presence had changed something. I'm not sure what it was, but something had changed enough to change the Locker incident. Oh, it didn't stop it from happening, instead it brought it forwards.

The first indication that something was wrong was when Taylor didn't show up for class. Unfortunately, that wasn't entirely uncommon, but considering the lesson in question was the first of the day and computing at that, it was unusual. I knew she wasn't off sick because I'd walked in with her, although considering our lockers were on opposite sides of the school, she could have gone home in the intervening time between us parting ways and the first class. If she had, whatever happened must have been really bad.

I didn't figure out what was going on until I overheard a couple of the Trio's hanger ons whispering about something as I left second period and giggling.

"Hey, did you hear what happened to Hebert?" whispered one.

"Yeah, I was there," said the other, "You should have heard her scream! I think shes still stuck…"

It didn't take much to figure out what they were talking about and I immediately took off in the opposite direction to my next class. I ran through the halls as fast as I could, inwardly thanking the lazy janitors who didn't bother cleaning the floors as the lack of polish meant that I had plenty of traction on my shoes. I turned the last corner to the corridor where Taylors locker was, absently noticing the foul smell as I did, and…

Darknessspacetwistingmonstrocitiesashardhertlingtowardsme…

The world momentarily vanished, replaced with a black void with only the vague outline of the walls and other parts of the school, through which I could see countless blue flames and one larger, dark purple one that seemed to be radiating rage and hate. I stumbled and the vision vanished, but not before I spotted a light pink orb of fire with small wings and a halo in the locker I identified as Taylors. I could feel the fear, the helplessness, the loneliness she was feeling radiating out of her like a sound. The sight made me speed up, my kick already in motion by the time I reached the locker. My heel hit the thin metal...and tore right through the locker door. OK, that was a little unexpected. I mean, I was stronger than average, but not that strong!

I decided to think about that later though as I took advantage of the unexpected damage and wrenched the door open, releasing a deluge of foul smelling black gunk, bugs...and a white halberd with a treble clef shaped counterweight at the end, evenly spaced holes going up the shaft and a crimson rose decoration on the blade. O...K. Why exactly did Taylor have a polearm in her locker? If the Bitches Three wanted to get her into trouble for having a weapon, there were easier ways than planting a fucking Halburd. More to the point, where was Taylor? I was sure I'd felt her in the locker (somehow), but there was no sign of her...unless…

I looked down at the Halberd. No, that can't be right. She couldn't have Triggered with the power to turn into a weapon...could she? I hesitantly reached out and wrapped my hand around the weapons haft...only to be immediately blasted off my feet as I felt Taylors emotions surge through me, all her fear, anger, frustration, loneliness, confusion and more. Good grief, she actually had turned into a weapon! How the fuck does that even work?!

I didn't get much chance to think on it though as the emotions I was feeling from Taylor suddenly focused and the Halberd started to glow with a bright pink light. Two seconds later, I found myself with an armful of sobbing, dirty, bleeding and Human Taylor. Fortunately, the hall was empty, so we didn't have to worry about either of us getting outed quite this early.

By this point, Taylor had passed out in my arms, so I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. After that, she would definitely need a visit to the hospital and I was making damned sure that the cops looked into this. I called an ambulance and, after gently putting Taylor down, made sure I got plenty of photos of the mess and the locker before anyone tried to clean it up. Once that was done, I hoisted Taylor onto my back and headed for the front doors.

Fortunately, the hospital wasn't actually that far from Winslow, so it didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive.

"What happened?" asked the paramedic as his colleagues checked Taylor over.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I pulled her out of her locker which had been filled with what looked like biowaste from the girls bathroom and left for some time," I said, "Probably over the weekend. There was also a fair amount of insects in there with her and I think she hit her head."

"Jesus," muttered the paramedic, "Who would do something like that?"

"I have a feeling I know," I growled, "Shes been bullied for a while, but nothings ever been done and I just know the school will be brushing this under the rug if they can."

"WHAT?!" spluttered the paramedic, "But...this is aggravated assault at best! Hell, I'd even go so far as to say that a good lawyer would be able to bump it up to attempted murder!"

I scowled.

"Oh believe me, I know," I said, "I bet the mess and any evidence will have mysteriously gone missing by the end of the day. Fortunately, I got some pictures and I'm going to hand them over to the cops with the notes Taylor and I have been taking on whats been going on. I doubt it'll hold up in court, but it'll be enough to at least get the school district interested in whats going on."

"I'll help you," growled the paramedic, "If my daughter went through that…"

He shook his head.

"I probably shouldn't offer this, but do you want to come along?" he asked, "I doubt you'll actually stay here if you don't and having someone familiar nearby if she wakes up will stop her from panicking."

I nodded and followed the paramedic into the ambulance.

Twenty minutes later saw me sat next to Taylor's bed, listening to the beep of the monitoring machines. Surprisingly, she wasn't in that bad shape, which I think might have been a result of her Triggering, but she was still unconscious. Frankly, I can't blame her. I'd just got off the phone from my Parents who, although not happy that I was skipping, were absolutely furious about what happened to Taylor. Taylor had begged me not to tell anyone about it, so, reluctantly, I hadn't told my parents about it either, but after this...yeah, I couldn't hold it back any more. Besides, someone needed to stop Danny from running off to kill the Bitches Three, Blackwell or Alan Barnes after all and Mum was definitely the person to do that.

Still, they wouldn't be here for a bit and Taylor was still out of it, so I had some time to kill. With that in mind, I thought back to what had happened in school. Somehow, I had been able to see...something for a brief moment and had been strong enough to bust the metal door in one kick, something I wasn't strong enough to do before. With that in mind, the only logical conclusion was that I'd Triggered to and had some kind of sensing ability and at least low level Brute powers. I couldn't check the latter here, but maybe…

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and focused, trying to call up the strange power again. Then, I opened my eyes and gasped. Whatever I'd done, it had worked and I was suddenly sensing the presence of everyone in the building. I couldn't see flames through the walls like I the glimpse I got at school, but I could see the fist sized blue flames burning in the chests of the people walking past Taylors room through the door. I frowned. Why did all of this look vaguely familiar? I'm sure I'd seen the orbs somewhere before, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Then, I looked down at Taylor and saw the flame in her chest with its angelic wings and halo and it clicked into place. Somehow, I was seeing and sensing the Souls of those around me. The power I'd gained was Soul Perception! That was...crazy!

I frowned. Then again, it did make a certain amount of sense. I'd Triggered at roughly the same time as Taylor, who could turn into a Weapon and apparently had a Grigori Soul if what I was reading was right and people who Triggered at the same time tended to have similar powers, right? So with that in mind, if Taylor was a Weapon, that made me the Meister. Hmm, I wonder how deep these powers went? Would we be capable of Soul Resonance? I had to wonder what something like that would do to a Parahuman, particularly if I could use Witchhunter through Taylor? Considering that she seemed to have a Scythe part, it wasn't impossible.

Suddenly, I was jolted from my thoughts as Panacea walked through the door and my eyes went wide. My Soul Perception was still active, which gave me an excellent view of the girls Soul. It was much larger than anyone else in the hospital and bone white with a red cross on the front. It was certainly strong and was giving out a Wavelength that was nearly identical to the cruel one I'd felt at school, which I was now nearly certain was Sophia's, although Panacea felt more like resigned annoyance than barely held anger. Hmm, I think I can detect Parahumans with my Soul Perception. Note to self, do NOT tell anyone about this.

"Hello, I'm Panacea," said Panacea, sounding exhausted, "I understand your a friend of her?"

She indicated to Taylor.

"Thats right," I said as I shut off my Soul Perception, "Her Fathers on his way…"

"TAYLOR!"

"Never mind, hes here," I said as Danny came bursting into the room, ignoring both me and Panacea as he skidded to a stop next to Taylors bed and grabbed her hand.

"Sorry we're late," said Mum as she followed at a more sedated pace, "It took a while to convince him not to try and kill someone."

"Yeah, I can imagine," I said, "Did you get what I asked?"

Mum nodded and handed me a bag that held a good number of notebooks, many of which were stuffed with bits of paper.

"Ta," I said.

"Do I want to know what they are?" asked Mum.

"Yep, there for you," I said with a grin, "Evidence of an excessive, very long and very ignored bullying campaign that nearly ended in the death of the victim to take to the school board and, unless I'm very much mistaken, makes them a prime target for legal action."

Did I mention that my Mums a lawyer? Yeah, she even worked for the same firm as Brandish and Mr Barnes and her field was neglectful damage, usually directed at neglectful employees, but I dare say that she'd be happy to go after Winslow with both barrels.

Mum raised an eyebrow and started flipping through one of the books. Within moments, her eyebrows came together in a frown that I knew from experience meant that someone was going to get nailed to the wall.

"Yep, that'd do it," she said, "Thanks Roy."

She turned to Danny, who had taken an empty seat next to Taylor and was watching anxiously as Panacea did her thing.

"Danny, we need to talk," she said.

I hid a smirk as the two adults moved away and started whispering. Something told me I'd just made life very difficult for Winslow. Now I just had to figure out how best to talk to Taylor about our compatible powers. That was going to be a fun conversation…

And done. Well, that was a mild pain in the arse. Fun though.

The original plan was to have Roy be the Weapon and Taylor the Meister, but at some point, that switched when I realized that Taylor would probably be the better option. Same principle though.

For those interested, Taylors weapon form is the same as Tsugumi's from NOT, simply because I like the design. I originally intended to create something that referenced Taylors canon power, but I couldn't come up with anything that didn't look like something Arachne would make. Shes also got a Grigori Soul because flying powers are cool.

Roy on the other hand has all the powers of a Meister, on top of a slight Brute rating, enough that he can easily jump around on rooftops without issue, tank a ton of damage and hit with enough force to break bone. He can also use Soul Force.

I don't have any plans for anything else from Soul Eater to appear, so no Witches, no Kishin and no collecting Souls, although Taylor is definitely capable of it. I briefly toyed with the idea of Death putting in an appearance, but eventually decided against it. I might change my mind back at some point though.

And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out!

EDIT! Changed the design of Taylors weapon form.