Heart and Soul (Soul Eater X Reader)

Chapter 20

          The words barely left our lips when something crashed through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The ballroom filled with chaos, the screams like a roar, half the crowd was knocked over by the impact, the ones still standing tried running for safety, barreling over each other until we were nearly all on top of each other like dominos. Glass rained down on us. I was vaguely aware of Soul dragging me out from under a pile of bodies.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine, you?"
"Fine,"
We both turned our attention to the dark form above us—a kishin, maybe two or three times my size, in the form of a bat with razors for claws the length of my forearm. It was muttering the usual mantra,
"Power...More power...More...souls...."
It's giant head swiveled around, taking in the guests as if choosing what delicacy to sample first. The guests had started pulling each other to their feet, running through the doors to safety or standing in shivering groups and just staring.
"We have to do something," Soul was saying next to me.
"Are you sure? In front of your parents?"
He cast a glance at his family, huddled together, Wes with his arms around his mother and wife, his father encircling all three of them. Still he snapped at me, "What's the alternative? Everyone dying? This is what we do—What are you doing?"
His eyes dropped to where I was taking my shoes off, "Can't fight in heels. Sorry, Crystal."
I stood up and ripped my skirt, tying the pieces together at my knees, "Let's do this."
"Poooweer," the kishin had chosen a group on the far side of the room and began to bend to them, reaching up one winged arm. The clump of people screamed, the sound crescendoing as their death neared. But...
Squelch.
The monster hesitated, glancing down at the blade protruding from its abdomen with only mild concern. I yanked Soul back out. The creature turned and I swung with all my strength, giving a shriek that would make Maka proud, sending it flying across the ballroom and crashing into the opposite wall.
The room filled with relieved cheers and applause, but this was far from over. The kishin was pulling itself up.
"So, what's your plan exactly?" Soul asked.
"My plan was to hit it really hard," I snapped back.
"I think you just pissed it off,"
Before I could respond, the kishin swung for me. I caught the talons with Souls shaft, but the force threw me back into the wall. The crowd cried out like they were watching a sporting match, and out the corner of my eye, I caught Mrs. Evans wince. But her son didn't seem to notice,
"Is it a bat?" Soul wondered.
"What? Did you fall asleep?"
"No, I just got a better look at—Incoming!"
The kishin swung again. This time I caught the claws with Soul and held my ground. With a twist and a flash of metal, one arm dropped. The creature screamed in pain and rage and swung with the other arm. This time I jumped back out of arms reach, just barely dodging, but the swings kept coming, completely disregarding the new missing limb. Over and over. I sensed Mrs. Evans flinch each time I caught a blow with Soul.
"He won't slow down!" I cried.
"Let's try Soul Resonance!"
"Really? We haven't been able to resonate yet,"
"Just try!"
"Okay!" I dodged the next blow, jumping back far enough to take a moment to concentrate on my and Soul's souls, their vibrations. The feeling of his arms around me when we were dancing, the sound of his piano, the way he talked to me this morning—"I love you"—
I felt an intense surge of power. I opened my eyes to see the ballroom flooded in light, the guests mouths dropped open. Souls blade was huge, maybe larger than the kishin and multicolored. I knew this form—
"WITCH HUNTER!"
I swung as hard as I could, concentrating with all my might on the resonance. A blast emitted from Souls blade, slicing clean through the kishin—and through the remaining windows.
The kishin's body vanished in a swirl of black smoke, until only the round, red, flaming soul was left floating about a foot off the ground. The guests began to stir back to life, the groups disbanding, the ones who escaped tiptoeing back in to see the damage. Mrs. Evans detached from her family and stumbled towards us.
Meanwhile, Soul had transformed back, and I threw my arms around his neck, "We did it!"
"We did! You were amazing!"
"Me? You should have seen yourself. You looked so cool!"
Soul stooped down and picked up the kishin soul licking his lips. "Soul—" I started.
"Look what you've done!" Mrs. Evans shrieked.
"Mom—"
"You've ruined our party! Humiliated me in front of our friends!"
"Ma'am, we didn't do this. The kishin did. We were just—"
She snapped over to me, "You stay out of this. You're lucky I don't throw you out."
"Don't talk to her like that," Soul snapped. He put his free arm out in front of me and backed up, putting space between us and her, and drawing the attention of the whole room again, "I'm done."
"What do you mean done?"
"I mean I'm done pretending to be someone I'm not. This isn't me and life is too short to live a lie. I'm a Death Scythe and a damn good one. It's something I'm proud of and if it bothers you, then tough shit," he was tugging at his tie until it came undone and lay around his shoulders.
"Soul. Evans."
"And my name is Soul Eater. You know why?" without another word, he tipped his head back and swallowed the kishin soul he still had in his hand in one moist gulp. The whole room cringed, but I smiled when Soul lowered his gaze to mine.
"I wouldn't want you any other way," I murmured so only he could hear. He put his arm around me and addressed the whole room,
"Now if you all don't mind, the shows over. Me and my girlfriend are going to drink as much champagne as we want and eat as much of this delicious food as we want. Anyone who wants to join us is free to."
With that, he walked away, leaving me standing there, "What he said."
I sped after him, followed by Wes blurting out, "That's my little brother!" before he and Crystal joined us at the buffet table.
"Let me get some bigger plates."
I reached Soul as he was flicking the cap off the champagne bottle, "You're still hungry?"
He took a swig straight from the bottle, "Yeah, what of it?"
"Nothing. I wish we had something harder. You guys have whiskey?"
"What do you think?"
Crystal whipped out her phone, "I can Doordash some."
"Ooh, while you're at it, let's get some tacos,"
"You want tacos? When we have this amazing food?"
"You know if I start drinking whiskey, I'm gonna want tacos at two in the morning,"
"Ah, true. Hey, you guys can dip," he called to the band, "You've been great, but I'll take over the playlist,"
"Here. Hand me your phone. I can hook it up to the sound system," Wes joined in.
The guests left standing there stared at us four as we pretended they weren't there, before slowly filtering out, bewildered. One by one a few twenty something's joined us, and Mr. Evans finally convinced Mrs. Evans to move from the spot where Soul left her and go to bed, leaving us to our own devices.