Spellbound (A Soul Eater Fanfiction)

Chapter One

It's so dark. So cold.

Where am I? I don't remember.

Soul, where are you? You promised I'd be okay.

How did we end up like this? Always like this.

xXx

"What're you still doing hanging around here?"

I blinked, slowly coming out of a confused daze, falling out of my imaginary world. Bright vibrant colors faded back to varying shades of gray. I sighed at the loss, the empty feeling that settled in my chest as I came back to reality. I closed the heavy tome in my hands with no small amount of regret and ran my hands almost lovingly over the faded leather cover. I lifted my head, and the last vestiges of inked words slipped away.

I saw his eyes first, always the eyes, and then the rest of him half hidden in shadow with his hands buried in his jacket pockets. Those red eyes shone out at me from the darkened eave of the library doorway, burning in their intensity. I breathed out, a soft exhale at the sight. I'd know those eyes anywhere.

"Soul."

He looked like a ghost, with his pale skin, his white hair shining dully in the dim lighting, and when he smiled, his sharp teeth were fully on display. I watched as he came closer, his lips curling in distaste at the dust-filled library. The shadows around him seemed to move, always shifting. Following him into the room in direct defiance of the sunlight that filtered in through the window behind me.

He stopped right in front of me, close enough to touch, if I had wanted too. I tilted my head to look at him, and it was with a certain amount of fondness that he reached out to brush his hand against my cheek, pushing away a lock of hair that had fallen into my eyes.

Then again...maybe he looked more like a demon.

"Come on Lyra, you don't want to be late for class, do you?" He was taunting me, an avid protester of my following rules, my dedication. But I didn't mind. He held out his hand, knocking aside a small pile of books near the edge of the table as he moved to tug me to my feet. I frowned at his obvious lack of respect, -books were powerful - and leaning over to pick them back up, was caught completely off guard when he pulled on my arm instead. The books went tumbling out of my grasp and onto the floor again. Soul's shit-eating grin glimmered as he observed the mess he'd made before disappearing. And with an air of mock seriousness he said, "We'll make it in time if we hurry."

I rolled my eyes. As if he cared.

I looked back, watching the dust float above where I'd just been sitting, watching as my dreams faded. "Professor Stein's not there yet?" I asked suspiciously, stumbling slightly as he pulled me faster out the door and down the hallway. What sounded like a question was meant as a statement. Professor Stein was always late, and Soul wanting to be in class early at all was enough to put me on edge. I leveled narrowed eyes at his back, but was quickly distracted as we moved into the bustling hall, the ever-ominous warning bell prompting more than just the pair of us to hurry to class.

We bumped into and around the other students as we maneuvered down the hallway, my short height a clear disadvantage as shoulders and elbows mapped out a constellation of bruises up and down my arms. I winced as a particularly harried boy knocked against me, some of the books in his arms grazing my jaw as he buzzed past. Not that Soul noticed. Which was actually rather unusual for him. Staring hard at the back of his head, I gripped my partners hand tighter, not wanting to fall. Behind or otherwise.

"Nah, he's busy talking to Lord Death, said it was something important." He shrugged slightly before opening the classroom door for me, waiting while I went in first, choosing to follow close behind as I found an empty seat next to Kid. Moving past and up a row, his hand brushed my shoulder as he slid in beside Black Star.