One Hundred Souls

A/N: This is my first attempt at a "Soul Eater" fanfic. Let me know how I do.

Also, as of writing this, I have watched through episode 32. If that creates any canon paradoxes, I apologize.

The sprawling city glowed brightly, even under the clouded night sky. Cabs clogged the street, moving the night-people to their parties or back to their apartments.

Far from the bright city center, where the glow provided just enough light to see, a figure jumped to the top of an apartment complex. Why this one? He didn't even know. His targets were always random. It didn't matter who he killed as long as he fed.

He dropped over the side of the building and grabbed the lip of the roof. He hung for a second before dropping soundlessly to the metal balcony below. He stopped to peer through the window. A woman slept soundlessly in her bed, alone. Perfect.

He pushed the glass up slowly, making sure it didn't creak. It was so easy. His hunger for souls had led him into more houses this month than most people visited in a lifetime.

The sleeping woman lay on her back as he stepped closer, blade drawn and ready. For a moment, he waved the knife over his cutting points. From neck down the chest to the naval. One clean cut every time.

----------

Across the street, under the cover of a tree, two teenagers watched. Through the window, there was a momentary glow of blue. But only for a second.

"He got another one," the boy said. "I told you we should have taken him."

"We wasn't sure if that was him," the girl next to him answered. "Shinigami would not be pleased if we killed a civilian."

He groaned. "We should have just done it and be done. You know I hate waiting."

She whipped out a book from her pocket and slammed it spine-first into his head. "Will you quit complaining?"

The force of the blow sent his face into the sidewalk. He waited a moment before pushing himself back up. "Fine."

They watched as the dark intruder slipped back out of the window and climbed back to the roof. "Alright. Let's go."

----------

He jumped from rooftop to rooftop. A normal man would have fallen well short of each gap. But feeding on human souls had turned him into something much more than a man.

The blocks whisked by. They became replaced with small family houses that made travel slightly harder, but still manageable. And those eventually ceased.

He moved deep into the rail yards, jumping between the massive cars and slipping through abandoned buildings. Up a ladder and through a window, he eventually stopped and let his back fall to the wall.

The pocket of his jacket opened and his hand withdrew a small blue sphere, a tiny flame-like piece flowing off the top. He wasted no time in sucking the small orb into his mouth and swallowing. Instantly he felt a rush of power flow through his veins. Humans made such a tasty meal.

"How can you stand to eat those?"

His head turned. On the lower level, just inside the door, stood Maka and Soul.

Soul lounged back on the wall. "They'll just mess up your system."

The twisted man grinned. More food.

"Seems he's not up for chatting," Maka said almost uncaringly.

"They never are." Soul's body suddenly glowed brightly and shifted, becoming longer and thinner. His arm grew longer and sharper. The light shattered. Soul leaned against the wall in his scythe form.

Maka reached out her hand, grabbing Soul by the shaft. Her wrist twisted, causing him to spin around her body. She switched hands, using the motions to adjust her grip till it felt right. She stopped him as he went down the length of her arm, scythe edge out and ready to attack. "Monroe, kishin egg, your soul is mine."

Monroe stood from his spot and dropped to the ground level. It was easily a three-story fall, but he caught himself with ease and went straight into a headlong charge for Maka.

She brought her friend around in a swing, blade forward intending to slice of his arm. When it caught his wrist, she heard metal attack metal. He had drawn a knife sometime.

The sub-human dropped back and thrust in again, but it was weak and Maka easily parried. Continuing the motion, she brought Soul's main body around and cracked the man across the skull. His body twisted to one side from the swing, leaving him open.

"I gotcha know!" Maka swung quickly, blade aimed at his chest.

But he suddenly turned his awkward position into a roll and moved behind a large metal beam. Maka charged forward, ready to strike. But as she turned the corner, the man was gone.

"What? Where'd he go?" Soul asked from her hands.

Maka looked around cautiously. "He's using the shadows."

She backed away slowly, turning on the spot. She couldn't count the number of dark crevices where he could be hiding, just waiting for her to drop her guard. In her head, she knew how bad of a position this was. The first rule of fighting was to always watch your opponent. If she couldn't see him, how was she going to fight him?

"Maka! Behind you!"

A mental image flashed through her head. Her own soul glowed brightly, Soul's glowing in her hands. Another soul, this one dark and red, came at her from somewhere behind.

Her ear picked up the sound of metal-on-metal. A blade coming free of its prison. Just behind her shoulder.

She spun Soul around, moving him across her back. The long shaft caught the approaching blade and redirected it up over its intended target. She spun around to the other side as Monroe began to fall forward. The circling motion continued as she brought Soul's sharp blade up into his stomach.

Soul tore through him with ease. Monroe screamed as his body tore into swirling long black bands, and then totally shattered into nothingness. Left was a small red orb of light.

Soul glowed again as he returned to his human form. He put his hands in his pocket as he strolled up to the kishin soul, a smile across his face.

"This is it!" Maka said happily behind him. "This is our hundredth soul!"

Soul grabbed the orb in his hand and seemed to contemplate it. "Took us long enough."

"Oh, come on, Soul. You know you enjoyed it."

His eyes closed in remembrance. The first time they met, their first real fight, the time they almost got their hundredth soul only to realize Blair was a cat "Yeah. It was really fun."

"And just imagine what we could do once you're stronger."

He nodded. "Well, here's to future times." He held the soul up in a toast before sliding it into his mouth and chewing slowly. Just as he swallowed, they both became encased in a blinding light.

----------

The two were suddenly standing in the Death Room, surrounded by the other students. Maka and Soul turned around as they all exploded in applause. The two of them laughed weakly as the true scope of it set in. All that hard work had really paid off at long last.

"Oh, my darling daughter!" Spirit began to run from the middle of the podium. "I'm so proud of you!" He held his arms out, moving to take Maka up in a hug.

She started to cringe. But this was sort of a special occasion. She held her own arms out, accepting the hug grudgingly.

His foot suddenly slipped. Spirit came crashing down into his daughter. The two fell to the floor, Spirit's face buried in Maka's chest.

The room fell silent for a moment. Maka sat stunned, staring at the back of her father's head. Then the fury set in. "Get off of me, you pervert!" Out whipped her book and it smashed into the side of his head, sending him flying back into Shinigami's mirror.

Spirit hid the glass headfirst. He slowly slid down, his head leaving a streak of blood. "Why must I be tortured so?"

Shinigami merely looked down at his weapon. "Oh my. Oh well." His attention quickly turned to the two students. "Congratulations on your collection of 99 souls and a witch soul. Because of your success, Soul will become one of my Death Scythes."

The Grim Reaper took a few steps forward, his massive hand held out. The palm glowed brightly as he held it over Soul's head. The light spilled down like water over Soul's form, completely covering him.

Soul could feel the heat of the energy seer his skin, but it actually didn't hurt. It felt good. It felt powerful. The feeling intensified as the strength spread through his entire body, changing him into something a dozen times stronger than what he was.

Next to him, Maka watched in awe as Soul's body was covered in the light. Below it, he changed visibly. But before she could really examine him, his form changed, becoming thinner as his blade grew from where his shoulder had been. She reflexively reached out and grabbed him as the light suddenly vanished.

Her first thought was that this couldn't be the same Soul. He was much lighter, almost as if he didn't exist in her grasp. As he eyes moved upwards, she saw that it actually was him, but in a different form entirely. The angle that connected his shaft to his blade had grown several black spikes the protruded in different angles. His blade was now white with a fade into the grey at the edge. The lower edge of his blade also sported hundreds of tiny teeth along it.

She spun him around, testing his balance. The strange sensation of him being so lightweight caused her to almost lost control of him on several occasions, but he somehow guided himself back into her hands. With a final flourished, she placed the end of his shaft on the ground and he quickly changed back.

His human body had changed slightly as well. His muscles seemed to be more toned and slightly larger. His hair had grown several inches. And his overall age seemed to have jumped a few years.

Maka gasped slightly. She'd had a thing for slightly older men several years ago, and suddenly seeing Soul older, even with the short difference it was, brought goose bumps to her arms. He was cute.

Even Soul was taken aback by his new form. "Wow. Now this is power." Two white scythe blades extended in a flash of light from his palms.

"Yes," Shinigami said, seemingly very pleased. "You will make a fine Death Scythe for Europe."

Soul suddenly stuttered. "W…what?"

"You did not think you would just become a Death Scythe and be done, did you? Death Scythes have many duties. The Death Scythe in Europe recently went missing, so you will have to take her place."

"But…we can't go to Europe," Soul put back. "Maka hates European food."

"Oh, Maka will not be going with you. She will remain here and continue her studies with another weapon. Did she not explain that to you?"

He turned to his technician, but she didn't return his gaze. Her face was towards the floor. Through locks of her dirty-blonde hair, he could see sadness written all across her face. "You knew about this?"

She brushed away a small tear before it fell. "I thought you already knew," she lied.

"And you were just going to let me go?"

This time the tear fell before she could stop it. "This is your dream. What I want shouldn't matter."

She actually didn't want him to leave, but she was willing to do that to help make his dream come true. In an instant, Soul's entire universe seemed to turn 180 degrees. All this time, Maka knew what would happen in the end, but still went on headfirst. Why?

"Well, Soul? Are you ready to take your place as a Death Scythe?"

Soul turned back to Shinigami, who was still waiting up by his mirror patiently. But he couldn't help but look back at Maka. She was looking back at him now, putting on the biggest smile she could muster.

A dozen flashbacks of the same smile went through his mind in an instant. They had been through so much together. And he was about to throw it away. "I must be some kind of idiot."

He chuckled to himself ever so lightly. "No, Sir. I don't think I am."

A ripple of gasps spread through the crowd. Spirit's jaw dropped and his arms went limp with shock. Maka's face seemed to explode.

Shinigami simply tilted his head. "Really?"

"It's nice that I've finally gotten this far, but right now, my place is with Maka." He looked into her eyes. She was still too taken aback to say anything.

"It is possible for you to remain with your technician, but you must return to your former state and forfeit all of your collected souls. Are you sure you wish to do that?"

Maka finally found the strength to move. She took his hand and turned his entire body towards him. "Soul, don't be an idiot! This is everything we've fought for! You're just going to throw it away?"

He smiled. "No, I'm not. That's why I'm doing this."

She seemed to realize what he was saying and smiled warmly. "If that's your choice."

"Very well."

The light reappeared around Soul's body. But it moved across his skin to his chest, forming a bubble of bright energy. As the power left him, Soul's body changed back to what he'd been two minutes earlier. The light flew over and Shinigami clutched it in his hand, causing it to vanish.

"Well, I guess that's that. Everyone back to your studies."

----------

The streets of Death City were dark and empty except for the two strolling souls. They walked side-by-side, for the moment enjoying the calm.

"You know, you didn't have to do that," she said to him, her eyes moving to linger over his form.

He looked up at the laughing moon. "Yeah. Maybe I should have. I would have gotten away from you."

Her face hardened. In a second, she whipped out her book and bashed his head.

He stumbled forward several steps before clutching his head and spinning around. "Hey! I was only kidding!"

She looked back with a soft grin. "I know, you idiot."

Another silence settled before they both burst out into laughter.

They continued on down the street, side-by-side, hand-in-hand.