Eating Souls, Act One: The Beginning

4: Homemade bread : Leila, what's wrong?

"Are you alright now?" Kid addressed Rivin. He looked her up and down. Her bikini top caught him off guard and demanded his entire focus. It had three white stripes on one side, but was solid black on the other. Hideously familiar. "Your...bikini top...it..." He cleared his throat. "It's not symmetrical at all," he finished lamely.

Rivin shrugged, feeling defensive. She had done it again. Wobbled too far into the darkness. She still felt them, too. The foxes. The static. It had always been a background noise up until now. Up until her resonance with Stein. Now it was almost the focal point of her madness. The five tailed fox brought it with him, trailing it after him like a trane of black and white and grey slowly blanketing her soul; a sound so comforting and horrifying that her only recourse was to give in.

Her hands were shaking. She had a sudden understanding of and felt kinship with the humans who stood on the side of the road, crosswalks and red lights; begging for change so they could buy cigarettes or booze. She would have given almost anything for a soul; any soul; anything to turn the static off.

"So what?"

Tsubaki glared at her, "Why did you do this? We wanted to trust you... but now..."

"Again, so what?" She crossed her arms and turned her back on them. Guilt wasn't an emotion she had much experience with, and she wasn't certain that's what she was feeling, but she was certainly feeling something. She didn't know how to deal with it. She didn't want to deal with it. She wanted her Raggy and some candy and anything to turn the static off. "I'm going home."

"You can't take that!" the shopkeeper cried, "Thief!"

Rivin paused only long enough to pull the string on the bikini top. It fluttered to the ground and she sauntered down the street.

Kid's eyes widened. An unexpected trickle of blood ran from his nose. He wiped it absently as he noticed a greyish mark marred the left side of her back. It ruined her perfect symmetry, and he felt the intense need to hide it from the world. He determined to follow Rivin.

"Neerrrg..." Black Star groaned, "Did I win?"

Tsubaki tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. "You survived."

"RIVIN!" Leila caught up easily with the smaller weapon's casual pace. "What the hell happened there?"

Rivin ignored her, continuing on down the street. She glared at the many men who stared at her with bloody noses. What was their problem? She hated them. She could eat them.

Leila rolled her eyes at the lustful onlookers. "Rivin, that was insane. You destroyed a store in under a minute, and you went crazy completely out of nowhere."

"Go away, Leila." She grumbled, "I just want to go home and go to sleep..." And eat. I'm so hungry. So cold.

"... our place is the other way."

Rivin stopped as if she just realized she had been walking towards the exit to Death City. "Whatever. Just go away." She said she doesn't want me to be alone... But one of these days, I'm going to kill her. I always kill my friends, because I am a bad friend. If I leave, then Leila can be happy, and Nii-chan can be happy... And Maka will be safe... And then I only have to choose between Argus and Bacchus...

Leila sighed. "When do I ever go away when you tell me to?" She gently took Rivin's hand. "Now come on, let's go back to the house. I'll make you some lunch."

As Kid caught up with them, he realized that Rivin was still exposed. The drooling men watching annoyed him. He didn't like them ogling Rivin... But he also didn't like the fact that her startling blemish was exposed for the world to see. He had to fix it. He took off his jacket as he approached them, and placed it gently around her shoulders.