I do not own Soul Eater, nor do I intend to garner profit from the use of its characters.

Venetian Misadventure

Free. Brusque, straight-forward and yet so very unpredictable. Not for his ability to actively be this way but more in that his nature was dangerous, perhaps even brutal and yet he was also quite…honest. Maybe she was overcomplicating things. After all, when was the last time she'd ever met someone so simple? But no one could be so simple as to just go along with the wishes of a witch. Certainly not when one was invincible. Then again, Medusa was quite good at getting her way. But still…

Sitting in a human café of all places, waiting for an invincible werewolf of the magical sort to appear. Even with all she'd seen and experienced, she couldn't say that this wouldn't have ranked high on her list of unpleasant things at one time. Not now of course. Free was a natural part of her environment now, like it or not. It was a fact that she could accept, if only because she fancied him as a sort of acquaintance. Friend? Maybe. No. No not really. Colleague? No way. A partner then? Former partner. Sure, that made a certain amount of sense. Although, the former seemed out of place for some reason.

And there he was. Free. Sauntering down street like any normal man, whistling a lilting tune. How could he do that? Sure anyone could keep a straight face in the presence of normal humans, but to be totally at ease, that was something else entirely. Then again, he was invincible. What could they do to him? A whole lot of nothing she supposed. Still, she had a… distaste for humans. Was that what it was? A distaste? She really wasn't all that different from them. Not to mention they were fun to toy with. She'd have to get back to doing that someday. Perhaps after all this insanity blew over. Then again, what if it didn't? Something in her stomach roiled at the thought.

The invincible man sat down across from her. "Well?," Eruka asked

"What's your favorite flavor a' ice cream Eruka?"

She wasn't quite sure where this was going, but she answered simply. "I like mint." She gave him a curious look, a fairly common occurrence whenever Free opened his mouth. She was compelled by the familiarity of the situation to follow through with a question "Why?"

"Passed by an ice cream parlor on the way over, an' I thought to myself we're in Venice right? Why not grab some ice cream an' check out one a' those gondola rides."

There it was. That roguish grin of his. It was hard not to smile back when he did that. It was intimidating yes, but it was the kind of smile she'd wear when causing mischief. A confident daring smile. She could only wonder what he was planning. She kept her curious eyes on the invincible man as she replied "Kind of a normal thing to do isn't it?"

"I could do with a little normal now 'n then. Also, it's friggin ice cream! You can't tell me you'd pass up on some free ice cream."

"Free?"

"What, you thought I'd make you buy it yourself? Hell no! This one's on me!"

He stood on that note, catching a few glares and stares from the surrounding tables. Eruka stifled a giggle at the scene. The man had a hard time being subtle. He could be if he tried, but that just wasn't his style. Not subtle and succinct, but big and loud.

In moments the two were on their way. She wondered what it they looked like walking down the streets of Venice. They were quite an odd pair. A short young girl dressed in gothic garb, and large muscular brute of a man who preferred stripes on his shirt. A father and his rebellious youth or a young heir and her bodyguard came to mind, though neither suited their situation at all. Although Free as a bodyguard did give her a little more levity. Sunglasses and a tux were just way too formal for that man.

The first indication that they'd reached the parlor was Free's proclamation of "Goddamnshit!" for all to hear. Apparently, the large crowd of people that stood before them were all in line for ice cream.

"Damn, people move fast" Free said scratching his head disappointedly "There was only one guy here before."

Eruka's smile became vaguely sinister as she replied "Let me take care of that." She muttered an incantation under her breath and watched. Free was sweeping his gaze across the crowd expectantly.

"The hell did you do?"

"You'll see."

Suddenly, a man near the front of the cried out in surprise and started jump about in a crazed manner. The madness slowly spread from that man to everyone around him until everyone was distraught. Eruka then slunk through the crowd of crazies beckoning Free to follow. Free didn't slink as much as push his way through the mess of men. He made sure not to step on the frogs that were jumping out of people's clothes.

Eruka realized why the crowd had gathered once they'd entered. Inside the shop, a man was holding the owner at gun point. Much to Eruka's chagrin Free didn't seem to notice. He just went up to the store owner and ordered. "I'd like two scoops of double chocolate chocolate chip, and uh…hey Eruka how many scoops do you want?"

Eruka gave him that curious look again. It appeared that she'd started a trend as everyone in the store, including the gunman were giving him questioning looks.

"Was it something I said?" Free asked

"Look pal, this is a stick up get it?" the gunman replied indignantly. " You don't want to waste my time."

"I just want some ice cream" Free said matter-of-factly. "So Eruka, how many scoops do you want?"

"Fine be that way" the gunman said as he leveled his gun at Free and fired.

Nine shots and a haymaker later, Free tried once more to order the ice cream. "So as I was saying, two scoops of double chocolate chocolate chip and…" Free waited, beckoning Eruka to speak.

"Two scoops of mint please" Eruka finished in a sheepish voice

Though a little shaken, the shop owner had enough presence of mind to serve up their orders. Unfortunately, he'd also had the presence of mind to call the cops. Eruka had barely managed to get in two bites of her ice cream when they arrived. Before she could object or react, Free scooped her up like a human sized football and charged through the crowd of cops. Though she was very much on edge about the presence of the police, she couldn't help but feel a bit of joy at the situation. This was more of a caper than a bout of mischievous mayhem, but somehow it felt right. Well, almost.

"Turn here" she said suddenly as they passed an alley

Free quickly acquiesced to the request by sidestepping into the cramped alleyway. On the other side of the alley stood a bridge, a gondola, a few trash cans and a waterway. After a brief scan of the area, Free got ready to run again, but Eruka stopped him with a tug of his shirt. "Wait, I have an idea."

Soon the police arrived, but there was no one to be found in the area. The buildings and trash receptacles were clear and no one appeared to be in the river. Several minutes later Free spoke. "I think they're gone"

Eruka shushed him "Just a few more minutes."

"You used to do this sort of thing all the time?"

"You get used to it."

"Heh, who'd a thought frog gunk could stick a guy to the underside of a bridge."

Eventually the two returned to the top of the bridge taking in the view of the canal ahead of them. The sun was beginning to set, framing their reflections in the water with a soft orange hue. "What a day" Eruka said as she watched her shimmering visage ripple in the canal waters.

"It ain't over yet" Free said as he dropped a hand on her shoulder. He was grinning that grin of his again, but she found it was less intimidating than before. "What's left?" she asked. In response, Free leapt off the bridge landing on the small boat moored to the side of the canal "The gondola ride"

Eruka shook her head. If one thing could be said for that man, it was that he did what he set out to do. It was actually somewhat endearing. If a little annoying. She took a more mundane approach to boarding the gondola, being somewhat less than confident in her acrobatic skills. By the time she reached him, Free already had the boat unmoored and a pole ready to go.

"Shoving off" he said as he started them on their way down the channel. He began to whistle again as they floated down the channel again. This time Eruka recognized the tune: "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute".

"Huh." She breathed as she let her eyes wander across the buildings on either side of them. She smiled to herself wanly. In the commotion, she'd forgotten why they'd come here in the first place. However, she couldn't find it in herself to care all that much about that right now. She was enjoying this lack of direction. The spontaneity that Free emanated on a regular basis had infected her. As she drifted to sleep she could've sworn she'd heard him break out into song, with his gruff baritone voice. It must've been nice to be able to sing like that without a care. To act without thinking. To live by one's instincts. It must've been good to be Free.