Soul Eater - A Soul That Feels

Uphold the Promise

Giriko's hand emerged. He was reaching out. He began to grab at the air before he found Death's side. He began to pull himself out, his other hand reaching out and grabbing the opposite side.

Torrent took a step back and watched.

Giriko's head popped out and he turned as his torso emerged. Slowly, he pushed his way out and then fell to the floor. Heaving in great gulps of air, he opened one eye to look at Death as he tried to catch his breath.

Torrent knelt down and touched his arm. "Are you alright?"

At first, Giriko didn't say anything. Then he rolled onto his back and slowly looked up at her. "What was that?"

Torrent looked up at Death as she answered his question. "That was the effects of death. You died when he swallowed you. It was entirely by your choice that you survived." She looked down and her cold expression grazed a happy smile. "I've been there and back many times. I've only once ever avoided his death." She helped Giriko sit up. "It was part of the reason I came here."

Giriko finally was able to steady his breath to some extent. He touched his forehead. 'If he's that strong, why does he stay? He can just wipe out all of the evil souls, can't he?'

Torrent looked across Giriko to Death. "He's not that strong, though. I've nearly killed him twice from the inside." She sighed. Her hands touched his shoulders as she crouched in front of the Enchanter. "But now, there's something I need to speak to him about and you're going to have to stay put until I'm done. Otherwise, you'll fall." She patted them once and stood up, going to Death.

"'Sup?" he said, a bit too cheerily.

Torrent held out her arm and pulled her sleeve back. It exposed her wrist. There was a deep groove cut into her flesh and she looked down at it. "I've been in the tunnel for far too long and I've now seen an evil that we need to exterminate." She looked up at Death. Her eyes were made of steel again. "We must act. If we don't, there's a chance Noah will find that page of Eibon I swallowed."

Giriko gasped and looked up at her.

She didn't turn around, but she dropped her arms to her sides. "Yes. The final page that was never found. The Book of Eibon is a piece of magical history. It's an artifact left to us by Eibon to help us form a world we can all understand. I was forced to swallow it's final page to keep it from ever being fully useful." She gave Death her own death glare. "But I know someone who's found out. We need to eliminate her before she acts upon it."

Death nodded. "But to whom do we owe that deep scar of yours?"

Torrent touched her wrist before she looked down. "It came from Justin Law."

-Stein, Spirit-

They were, of course, watching Kami and Maka catching up with Karey to be the animated talker.

Spirit looked at Stein out of the corner of his eye. He sighed. To see Stein like this was a miracle in itself. He looked away and out, into the endless sands on the outskirts of town. He had to find something to say.

"Sempai?"

He looked at Stein. "What's wrong?"

Stein gently rubbed his temple. "Marie and I failed. Do you think it's possible Justin's gotten stronger since then?"

Spirit looked away. "Yeah. But why would he have held back that time? Why did he just hang back when Torrent wasn't in control?"

"I can answer that one."

Spirit twisted around. He jumped to hug Torrent.

He was met with the back of her right hand. He blank face hadn't given it away. She stood there for a moment. "Stein..."

He turned, slowly, on his chair and looked at her with those unwavering, almost broken eyes. "To..."

She suddenly smiled and stepped aside. "Giriko-san."

Giriko stepped into the fading twilight. His eyes weren't as rabid and crazy as before. But he was still giving off a small amount of madness. He kept his hands in his pockets as he came to stand beside Torrent.

Torrent smiled at Stein again. But her eyes held no happiness. "Giriko-san might be just what you need, Franken." Torrent walked over to him and touched his shoulder. "He told me where to find Justin. But he wants to help." She looked over her shoulder at Giriko. She gestured for him to come closer. "Death discovered his true form he'd forgotten many years ago. I think you'll be delighted to see."

Kami sauntered up and looked at Giriko with an apprehension that was clear for a mother to have. She must've heard the tale of Maka, Soul, Crona, Ragnarok, and Justin versus Giriko Sou of the Czech Republic.

Giriko didn't look at her, he was watching the sun set. He finally looked at Spirit. "Sorry about your daughter."

Spirit was confused. "What?"

He took his hands out of his pockets. "I'm sorry that I attacked her. I just hadn't been able to find an opponent for a long time. When she and Soul came along, I just couldn't help it and the madness took hold." He looked Spirit right in the eye. "I'm sorry that I was so much trouble before. But there's something I have to do and I need your daughter's help to do it. She's the only one who can help me now."

Maka gasped. "How can I help you?"

Torrent turned to the group as a whole. "We need to train you and your team of four as well as Kilik, Ox, Kim, and Hiro. The eight of you need to see something that you've only done on a small scale before. For that, we need to give you and Kilik's group an opening. Once we do that, you'll be able to help Giriko-san." She suddenly raised her hand to her chest and her stone face softened. "Giriko-san will most likely die, but he wants to do this to help me uphold my promise to Justin-chan."