Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

the volume of the soul
by. Poisoned Scarlett

"So, your Master—?"

"Meister," Soul corrected. He paused and then added when he was sure Maka was not paying attention, "I only call her Master in the bedroom."

Wes opened his mouth but decided on a dull look the younger sibling only smirked at. Soul's abrasive sense of humor would always take some getting used to. "Meister… is that German?"

"Apparently."

Wes nodded and crossed one leg over the other, locking his fingers over his knee as his daughter squealed delightedly in the kitchen—Maka's laughter following, equally bright. The little girl had become quite taken with Maka and Wes was glad for it. It afforded him more time to speak to his long-lost brother. However, judging by how he slumped deeply into couch and yawned into his hand, it would take more prompting on his part.

"So," he started, keeping his tone light. "Do you have more missions nowadays because you're a Death Scythe?"

Soul contemplated the question for a second before he shook his head. "Not really. They're just longer. Harder," he added. "We have less missions than we did before."

"That's why you're never home," Wes commented. Soul slit his eyes a little; Wes smiled wryly. It was understood between both that Wes had tried to phone the house before, but they did not breach that topic. "Where was your last one?"

"Alaska," Soul grimaced, remembering bitter cold nights and even bitterer days. "It was horrible. I hate the cold."

"You always did love the summer," Wes mused. "Even though your birthday is during the winter."

"So what? Winters are cold. They're awful. I'd rather be sweaty than cold," he frowned. "That entire trip was a pain in the ass. Maka and I had to resonate all night to make sure neither of us froze to death. The heat was out for an entire two days, but just in case I resonated with Maka during the night for the rest of the trip," he yawned again, not bothered by the strange look that crossed Wes' face.

"Resonated?"

"Yeah. Y'know, soul wavelengths. You were talkin' about them before I left for the Academy, Wes, you know what they are."

"I do, I do. But you two can resonate for that long? Even asleep?"

Soul bobbed his head. "Not hard. You just gotta' connect and it kinda'…just stays that way. I turn it low, just enough for her to know that I'm there, and it's like having her by my side. Resonance doesn't sever unless either of us want to. Sometimes we forget," he coughed at this. "Those suck."

"Why?"

"Coz sometimes I'm asleep and Maka isn't, so Maka gets sleepy because I'm asleep. One time," he added suddenly, a slight quirk lifting his lips. Wes watched with surprise; he looked happy, fond. It was an unusual expression for a brother who had never seen his younger sibling do anything more than twist a smile on his face for the sake of a photo. "I stayed home from class coz I stayed up too late that night and Maka went to school. It was the last week of classes so she wasn't too strict about me not going to school, but she's always there half an hour earlier than everyone else. We were testing the limits of our resonance that time coz Maka said we needed to train with it to get stronger or whatever and she told me not to sleep in 'til ten coz it might affect her…"

"It did?"

"Slept til two. Maka knocked out in Stein's class and didn't wake up until I woke up," he sniggered. "Got detention for it. Best last year of our lives. No one thought she had it in her."

"It was technically your doing."

"Yeah, but she shoulda' known better," he cheeked. He lolled his head to the side to check on his Meister, finding her sitting at the dining room table with Celeste on her lap. She was pointing at something on the table and Soul found it to be that cook book Tsubaki had loaned them a few weeks ago.

"How does it feel?"

"Huh?"

Wes was gazing at his lap, brows creased. "When you resonate with her, how does it feel? Can you do it with other people?"

"Uh, well, yeah, you can, as long as you two are on the same wavelength. There has to be a degree of understanding between weapon and meister for it to work." Soul purposely ignored the first question. "Sometimes it just doesn't work, but for the most part it does."

"Is it the same—would it be the same with another person as it is with Maka?"

"No," Soul answered immediately. "Never, no. It's different with her."

"How?"

Soul shifted, not liking how invasive his questions were becoming. He felt uncomfortable even though he knew he shouldn't be. It was a totally valid curiosity about resonating; many of the NOT students asked those questions after they did demonstrations. But Maka always handled those inquiries and answered with her long-winded, textbook, definitions. "When you resonate, the weapon controls the Meister's wavelength—sort of like an amplifier. I amplify her wavelength accordingly in order to help her fight. But in the same way, I can control how much of…me I reveal."

"You?"

"It's hard to explain," Soul sighed, frustrated. He was getting annoyed; he did not like talking about such intimacies with his estranged brother. "It's just different with her. Drop it."

"So you can reveal your soul to her, is that it?" Wes said after a moment, softer. Maka could be heard in the background laughing at something Celeste said. "Like an amplifier, you can control the volume of your soul?" He met his brother's eyes as he said this.

"Yeah," was all Soul said.

"What volume is it?"

In the background, the chair scrapped back, and both brothers felt their time had run out. But not before Soul said, "She's practically deaf," and Wes smiled genuinely for the first time since he arrived.