Heat and Soul: A Soul Eater Love Story (xKid)

~Chapter One~

I’m running some errands for Iodama, or Auntie Io as she asked me to call her. Walking through the town I’ve come to know quite well is relaxing. Suddenly, I hear a voice that makes my heart skip a beat. I can’t make out any words, and I don’t recognize the voice, but something about it calls me. I sneak around the corner leading to the town center. Standing in front of the center fountain, facing away, is a boy about my age. He’s talking to two girls I don’t know. I end up staring at him, wondering why I find his voice so captivating.

One of the girls notices me and calls out rudely, “Can we help you? Why are you staring so creepily?”

At her remark, the boy turns around. I stare at him, trying to connect why he looks familiar. A flashback plays through my head: Playing with the neighbor boy for hours on end. All sorts of kids’ games flit past my eyes from tag to hide-and-seek to just playing in the sandbox. It can’t be…

I step forward nervously. My pendant swings and glitters in the sunlight. I see him glance down at it. When he looks up again, our eyes meet and I notice that he has the same look of disbelief, albeit slightly muted.

He is the first to break the silence, “Ember…?”

“Daemon…?”

We blink at each other stupidly for a moment longer before it hits me. My intuition must have been right! This is a friend from long, long ago. I suddenly can’t hold still any longer. I dart forward and hug him tightly.

“Daemon, it’s been so long! I was beginning to think I might never see you again! But I wore this pendant every day to bring me luck and help me find you!”

“Oh, Ember…” he wraps his arms around me, “I would’ve sought you out eventually. I promised we’d see each other again, and I keep my promises.”

Tears are brimming in my eyes, both from happiness of finding a lost friend and the sad realization that so much has changed. I’ve burned down two houses and a rosebush since he last saw me… We have a lot of catching up to do. I break the embrace slowly and am about to say something when…

“Um, ex-cuse us?” our sweet reunion is rudely interrupted.

The girls Daemon was talking to before stalk up on either side of him.

“We were talking to him first!”

“Yeah, back off and wait your turn!”

Looking between them, I realize they must be twins. Great… Daemon doesn’t appear bothered by them, but they are pissing me off. I take an aggressive stance.

“You may have been talking to him before I got here today, but Daemon and I have been best friends for most of our lives! And you know what else?” I hold the pendant up for them to see, “He gave me this. He bought jewelry for me. Is that enough of a hint, or do I need to get violent?”

The twins puff up and the one to my left spits, “Well, by the looks of it, it’s been an awfully long time since he bought you that.”

The other chimes in, “Yeah, it’s filthy and all scratched up! Don’t you know how to properly take care of jewelry that a man buys for you?”

My voice is deadly calm, “It has been a very long time since he gave me this, you’re right. And as such, I expect you realize that you aren’t going to butt in? Thanks, bye-bye!” I wave at them sassily.

The twin on the left steps forward, about to say something else, but Daemon holds an arm in front of her, effectively stopping her.

“It’s been almost a decade since we’ve seen each other. Would you mind giving us some time to catch up? I’ll talk to you girls some other day.”

She puts on an angelic smile and a sweet lilt comes into her voice, “Oh, we didn’t mean to intrude on your reunion, Daemon.” Meanwhile, the other sister is glaring at me, “I’m sorry if we seemed rude. We were just concerned that she might be annoying you. But if you say it’s true, we’ll leave you in peace. Talk to you later, Daemon.”

Ugh, they even flip their hair in unison.

As they’re walking away, I can’t resist taking one more swing, “Oh, by the way. The one walking in the back?”

The twin who was always the second to speak whips around with murder on her face as I continue, “Your left eye twitches when you’re angry. You might want to get that checked out. It’s rather unsightly.”

She snarls at me, turns on her heel, and follows her sister out of the square. I feel triumphant. I turn my victorious smirk toward Daemon, who looks amused.

“Ember, that was unnecessary,” he scolds.

“I didn’t like the way they looked at you… And the one, the way she said your name pissed me off.”

He only sighs.

“What? I’m serious!”

“Whatever the reason, you didn’t have to provoke them.”

I shrug, “Is it so wrong for me to protect you for once instead of the other way around?”

“It’s not wrong, no… But,” he cracks a small smile, “It’s interesting, seeing how much you’ve changed in the last decade.”

All traces of humor fly out of me in that instant, “Long story short, lots of shit has happened, all right?”

His eyebrows quirk up a tiny bit. I remember that look from our childhood; it means he’s surprised. He stays quiet for a few beats.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so bitter, I just…” A heave a sigh, “A lot has happened.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

        I shake my head. I’m not sure how much I should tell him and I don’t think I can lie to him.

“I want to hear your story first. What brings you here?”

We sit down on the edge of the fountain together and start the long process of catching up.