Chapter Text
((Skip this if you’ve seen/read Soul Eater. Basically what you need to know is there’s a school that trains weapon and meister pairs to fight the monsters that are produced when a soul is corrupted. A weapon is a person that can shapeshift into, well, a weapon, and a meister is the person that can wield the weapon. The souls of the partners and the wavelengths they emit must be in sync with eachother or the weapon cannot be lifted. The more in sync they are, the lighter and easier it is for the meister to wield the weapon, and the more powerful the weapon is. Good partners are able to resonate their soul wavelengths with eachother and amplify their power. As it is illustrated in the show, a meister is like an electric guitar and a weapon is like an amp.))
“Hey there!”
You hear a sharp, annoying voice call. You keep your eyes fixed on your book, huddled in your dark corner. It was the first day of Assignment Week, where all the ‘gifted’ trolls were rounded up and put in the grand hall of the Empress’ Academy so they could mingle and find a suitable partner. It was the single most dangerous situation you had ever been in in your life and it was your plan to lay low and hope no one talked to you. Then you wouldn’t get a partner, so they would send you back to your hive as a failure at the end of the week and you could continue your miserable life of solitude until they came looking again next sweep.
“Hey you! Mr. Nubby Horns!”
“Leave me alone,” you growl into your paperback.
A pair of combat boots plant themselves on the toes of your sneakers and you look up angrily. The troll girl staring back at you has the most ridiculous pair of bright red glasses you’ve ever seen on the bridge of her nose.
“No!” she says loudly, and her black lips split into a wide, sharp-toothed, sadistic grin. You flinch involuntarily. “What are you, meister or weapon?”
You glare at her and say nothing, until you spot the teal insignia pinned to her chest. You mumble a stream of curses under your breath. She just had to be a highblood, didn’t she? If this girl decided to report you, you’d be done for.
“… Weapon,” you admit reluctantly, desperately hoping she is the same.
She cackles in triumph and your bloodpusher hits the bottom of your abdomen. “Excellent! I’m a meister!”
You don’t even have time to groan as she grabs you by the hand and yanks you forcibly to your feet. You stumble after in her iron grip, clutching your book.
“Hey! TZ! Over here!”
She abruptly changes direction to arrive at the source of the voice and you find yourself in front of another troll with equally ridiculous brightly-coloured glasses. You rub your temple with your free hand and try to go back the way you came, but her fingers are as strong as your lusus’ pincers around your wrist.
“Sollux!” she bounces up and down in excitement and you roll your eyes. “Did you find anyone?”
The skinny male she was addressing, a goldblood judging by his pin, grins widely and gestures to two girls chatting a little ways off. “Ith incredible TZ! Their weapon formth are ethactly the thame! They’re perfect! They’ve already agreed to be my partnerth.”
She grins widely and congratulates him. You snort a laugh at his lisp. He turns to you, completely unfazed.
“Who’th thith?”
She grips your arm gleefully. “My partner!”
You try to scramble away. “Whoa whoa whoa no. No way. Not a chance. I never agreed to this!”
The goldblood removes his glasses and looks at you carefully. You are shocked to see that they are each a pure bright colour to match his glasses one red, one blue. He stares at you for a full minute while you stand there dumbfounded before replacing his glasses and turning to the girl again.
“Very rough around the edgeth, but that’th quite the thoul he’th got there. Good choithe TZ.”
“What the hell are you talking about.”
He turns back and offers his hand. “Thorry. I’m Tholluth Captor. Nith to meet you.”
You don’t take it. “Tholluth or Sollux?”
He sighs. “The thecond one.”
You jerk a thumb in the girl’s general direction. “Is this thing your matesprit or something?”
He retracts his hand awkwardly. “Moirail.”
“Oh! Perfect! So you calm her down and get her off me.”
He raises an eyebrow at her and she shakes her head. “Thorry man, lookth like you’re thuck with her.”
You growl and rub your temple again but he speaks before you can properly retort.
“Hey, it’th Athignment Week. At leatht try her out for a few dayth before you’re that thet on hating her. Everyone elth ith already taken.” He sighs and looks you straight in the eye. “Look man, I can thee your thoul, okay? I can get a thenth of the kind of troll you are behind all the troll PMSing you’re doing right now. The’th not actually that bad. And, dethpite the fact that you’re both incredibly thtrong-willed, the compatibility of your thoul for herth ith the betht I’ve ever theen apart from mine.”
You snarl at him, angry at how he’s able to see right through you and scared of what else he might have seen. “Why don’t you be her partner then?”
“Because we’re both meithterth dumbath.”
You grunt in defeat and he smiles at you.
“Come on, we were just about to head over to my weapon’th hive with another pair to get to know eachother a bit.” He gestures and you allow yourself to be dragged along after him by the tealblood attached to your arm. You have absolutely no idea how you’re going to get out of this now.
If at any point during the previous conversation it had ever occurred to you that ‘this couldn’t get any worse,’ you would have been very very wrong. It turned out that one of Sollux’s weapon partners was the Heiress herself. As you enter the above-water portion of her spectacular hive, which is just at the back of the Academy’s campus itself, you find yourself moving slightly behind and closer to the tealblood in a futile attempt to be less noticeable.
The echoing tiled hall opens to a brightly coloured cosy-looking block furnished with couches, pillows, and a multitude of what look like plush squidbeasts. You wrinkle your nose in distaste, but the tealblood excitedly pulls you over to sit on one of the couches and plops herself down directly across from you, staring intently. She seems to be breathing quite erratically as well and you shift a bit farther away from her.
“What’s your name?” she smiles pleasantly, or tries to at least. With her teeth it comes across as more terrifying than anything else. You sigh and resign yourself to answering her questions.
“Karkat Vantas.”
She giggles. “Nice to meet you. I’m Terezi Pyrope.” She offers her hand. Again, you only grunt and don’t take it.
She retracts and frowns for the first time since you’ve seen her. For some reason it unsettles you even more than her smile. “Why do you not want to be my partner so badly?”
You look at her closely for a minute before sitting back and crossing your arms. “It’s… It’s not you okay? I don’t want to be anyone’s partner.”
She gives you a quizzical look. “You don’t like fighting?”
“No, I love fighting.”
“Why then?”
“None of your business.”
Her frown turns into a pout. “If you’re going to be my partner then it is my business.”
“I’m not going to be your partner.”
“Yes you are.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
You sigh in frustration. “Why do you want me to be your partner so badly?”
She purses her lips. “I’m not as good at sensing souls as Sollux is, but I can get an impression. Yours was the only wavelength I felt in that room that could be compatible with mine. It was also surprisingly one of the strongest, and I need that.”
“Why?”
“My ancestor was the greatest meister the Academy had ever seen before her partner betrayed her. I need to live up to her legacy. …Preferably not that last part though.”
You roll your eyes. “Highbloods and their ancestors. Right.”
She tilts her head curiously and takes a long breath. “What is your blood colour anyways? Your symbol badge is just grey.”
“… None of your business.”
She snorts in frustration. “Fine. Will you tell me what kind of weapon you are at least?”
“Scythe.”
She grins wider than you could have thought physically possible and seems to barely be able to restrain herself from leaping for joy.
“What is it now?”
She holds her face in excitement. “That was the kind of weapon my ancestor used.”
“Oh wonderful. I’m never getting out of this now, am I?”
“Nope.”
You sigh again, sitting back and rubbing your temples. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, having her as a partner? Her status might keep you safe from other people finding out your secret. Then again, there was still the problem of herfinding out your secret. Not to mention the fact that she was the most annoying troll you had ever-
“What were you reading?”
“What?” You look up. She had been staring intently at you the whole time you had been thinking. She was breathing weirdly again too.
“Your book. What is it about? Don’t say ‘none of your business.’ I’ll accept that you don’t want me to know your blood colour – though I will find out eventually – but you’re going to be my partner whether you like it or not and I want to get to know you.”
You glare at her for a full minute while she smiles ‘pleasantly’ before answering with a sigh. “It’s a romance novel, okay?”
As you feared she giggles at you. “I was right.”
“About what?”
“You. You’re all grumpy Nubby-horns McShouty but on the inside you’re soft and squishy.”
She pokes you in the stomach and you bat her hand away angrily. “Wow, never call me that again ever.”
She giggles more, and you suppose you don’t find it as horribly annoying as you thought you would. It’s better than her cackle at least.
“What about you then? What are the things I need to know about you if I’m going to have to be the one that deals with you?”
She smiles happily. “Hmm… well I like to study Alternian Law and I’d like to become a Legislacerator aside from being a meister. I like FLARPing, roleplaying, drawing, dragons, bright colours, especially red, and… umm… oh and I’m blind in case you hadn’t figured that out yet.”
“Wait what?” you snort. “No you’re not.”
She raises an eyebrow and removes her ridiculous shades. The horribly burned eyes underneath are exactly the same colour. She waves her hand in front of her face mockingly as your mouth drops open in shock.
“But… but you…”
“I can kind of ‘see’ because my lusus taught me how to smell and taste colour. I can sense where things are, but I’m not so good with detail.”
It takes a minute before you notice your mouth is open and you close it quickly. “But… how…?” You try to figure out how to ask this right. “With a… well, a disability like that, how have you avoided being culled? How did you manage to get into the Academy?”
She shrugs and grins none-too modestly. “I took a physical strife test against one of the teachers and aced it. They thought I was valuable and my skill was good enough despite it all, though honestly, it’s an advantage. No one can sneak up on me from behind, try to obstruct my vision, things like that.”
“You’re…” You shut your mouth again quickly.
She raises an eyebrow at you. “I’m what?”
“… Amazing,” you mutter reluctantly.
She looks shocked for a moment before that devilish grin comes back in full force.
“And completely insane,” you add quickly.
The grin just widens. “Want to practice strifing a bit as partners?”
You sigh in defeat. “Fine.”