Hi. I'm zuimi. And I know I haven't posted anything for a long time, but I brainstormed so much that I just needed to get some ideas written. I hope you enjoy this new story of mine!

Soul's Perspective

The chilly air surrounded me, hugging me in what felt like a blanket of ice. The wind whispered little secrets into my ears, turning them red from the cold. The deep dark clouds that hung over me, threatening to release its snowflakes onto the city below. I sighed, a small cloud leaving my mouth as I did so. My fingers could barely move because they were so frozen and red. I needed to get inside somewhere. Once again, I sighed as my eyes moved toward my favorite bar. It had a stage for performers. And anyone could perform- almost like a karaoke, but much more talented. My feet trudged toward bar. It's name rung inside of my head. The Dead Tavern. The owners look more or less like zombies or mummies. It's kind of funny, actually.

My strong arm swung the door open. And BAM! Loud music slapped me in the face. Warmth snuggled into me to replace the freezing cold from outside. My greedy eyes took everything in to see: men laughing of all ages, woman dancing to the music, bartenders skillfully making alcoholic concoctions, and a performer. She was a Russian looking woman who wore too much make up. Her bright lipstick was on too thick. Her eye shadow made an attempt to make her eyes seem larger. Her eyeliner continued past her eye to make an Asian look to her face. But aside from her cruel looking façade, her voice sounded thrilled and kind. She actually was a very talented singer. And I recognized the song she was singing: "Someone Like You" by Adele. The performer had the perfect voice to sing the song.

I took a seat by the bar. The cold marble under my hands was sticky with spilled sugary beverages. A black woman looked at me with cerulean eyes. Though she wore bandages over her mouth, I knew she was smiling.

"Hey, there, Soul," Nygus greeted, not pausing from making a drink for me. She knew exactly what my favorite beer was. A moment later, she handed me a tall beer glass of 'Rolling Rock'. I nodded in thanks. She continued, "So what brought you here today? A bad day? You should've come earlier. It's almost the end of my shift."

I shrugged, "Jus' didn't wanna be at home. Dad must be on his male period." She smiled at my attempt of humor, but she knew that life wasn't easy for everyone. She watched me take a gulp of my drink. I knew Nygus for a long time, and she's the only person in the world who knows me inside and out. I noticed the performer had finished her song and had exited the stage. She made her way toward me. I turned myself toward her when she took the stool next to me.

"Hi, there," She said, obviously trying to impress. I wasn't here to pick up girls, but why not just chat? I knew she'll get bored and leave after a while. I wasn't in the mood for a girl to flirt with me.

I cleared my throat and stared at her in the eye, "Hi. You were pretty good up there. Great voice." Her hand daintily covered her mouth in a surprise to the compliment and she blushed. Her eyelids batted her eyelashes at me in a "sexy and cute way". I continued playing with her, "You're perfect to sing Adele songs. You come here often?"

She said, "Gosh, thanks. I don't come here often, though. You're too much." I watched as she took out a note card from her purse and wrote something down, "I'm Charlotte. Here's my number. Call anytime!" And as she left, I swear she winked. So much for chatting. I looked down at the phone number. From the moment she gave it to me, I knew I was never going to dial it.

Nygus chuckled and looked over to me, "I see you got some bitches to choose from. So what? You going to call her? You want to give anyone a try? I'm serious, Soul. You're 19! Have a life! Explore!" I knew what she was saying. She wanted me to have some kind of fun. I mean, my family's screwed up, but I end up being crammed inside my house most of the time.

I sighed dramatically, "Nygus, it's too easy to crack girls. They throw themselves at me and want me to just go along! Why can't it be like the movies?"

At this, Nygus threw her head back and laughed so hard, I bet she peed a little bit, "Oh, gosh, the movies! I didn't know you were such a dreamer, Soul!" Her hand came up to pat my on the head. Grinning weakly, I took another sip of my beer. Nygus had known me since first grade. She's always been like this. And since its Nygus, she wanted me to get married more than anything. She believed that it changes a person's life so much; you could care less about anything else that happened in your past. Nygus claimed that love will fix all my problems, like it did when she married Sid, the second owner of the Dead Tavern. But I knew better than to leap into any girl's arms, especially here, in a bar. Quickly, I chugged down the rest of my drink, wanting to go outside suddenly. Nygus, spontaneously, had leaped up, cheered, and fist pumped the air.

"What's the occasion?" I ask, chuckling at her antics.

She enthused, "It's the end of my shift! I'm goin' home!" She gathered up her bag and coat, and she left me in a rush. What would I do now? I've been deserted. My eyes scanned the rest of the room. Happiness. Warmth. And a new performer. The performer was another girl. She had a round face from full cheeks. Her eyes glowed an emerald green, dancing with excitement upon seeing her audience. Her clothes were simple: A 'My Chemical Romance' v-neck tee, navy blue skinny jeans, and faded black converse finished up the look. But one thing that took me by surprise is that the girl looked around my age, but she had put her sandy blonde hair up into pigtails. Once again, she surprised me with her make-up, or lack of it, rather. She took the microphone into her hands, and started to sing 'The Sharpest Lives' by My Chemical Romance. Her voice was strong, confident, projective, but it was in dire need of support from other instruments. She was pretty and talented, which forced me to look back at how I could help her. My father had always forced me to play the piano, though it was against my will. He trained me, not afraid to inflict pain on his son if I were being difficult. Actually, he was thrilled to beat me up, even if I did nothing wrong. I swear, I bet that's somewhere on his daily routine. But I really did enjoy playing the piano. My fingers itched to once again play, even though I hated the instrument the minute I was told to play it. I learned to love it, but my father hadn't made it easy to. I heard the girl sing, she was losing audience. And the horrible thing is, I knew the song by heart. It was my favorite song through last year. Though I didn't know how to play it on the piano, I could easily improvise.

My vision dancing across the room, laying on the untouched piano that's used every Wednesday for 'Jazz Night'. This was too much of a great opportunity to let pass. This day was a real let-down, might as well do something with it. My legs lifted me from the chair. The performer struggled to support her own voice, but she needed back up. And then, I found myself sitting down at the piano, fingers stretched out, ready to tap the keys. And right as the girl started the second refrain, I started to play frantically. I was surprised that I could improvise as well as I just had. The girl was just as surprised as I was, pausing her singing for just a moment. But she continued her voice stronger and more confident than before. Energy ran through both our sounds, feeling us both thrilled with a new sensations running through our veins, spreading with every heartbeat. The notes filled us with a different adrenaline. And all too suddenly, the song ended. My last piano chord rang through everyone's ears, and everybody in the bar applauded. I smiled, knowing that if Nygus was here, she'd be all too proud. After a few minutes of clapping, I stood up from the piano and was struck dumb. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Looking at the exit, I thought it would be the best option and started for the doors. But frail, but incredibly firm hands grabbed my arm and pulled me to face their owner.

It was the girl, and she was looking like an emotional wreck. I could see jealousy, excitement, happiness, anger, but most of all: determination. At first she just stared at me, not knowing what to say, but with a great need to say something. I gave a weak grin to ease the tension, but it only made things so much more awkward.

She started to stutter, "Um… you see, well… I… you should… um…" Another awkward silence. My grin faded to a puzzled expression. Up close, I noticed the girl had faint freckles dancing across her nose and cheekbones. And gosh, did she have no boobs. I didn't think it was even possible to have that little. And now that the subject was brought up, I noticed she really had no sex appeal at all. She was like a little 5 year old, but in a strange way, you could tell she was at least in high school.

The tension was too much for me and I just had to get something out of my mouth. I said, "Um… you're welcome, I guess…"

And that broke the girl's nervousness and she spoke, "Oh, shaddup! I could've done it all myself! If it wasn't for you, I would've been the star of the show. Now, it's gotta be a duet or something. Ugh… you annoy me so much. But you know what? I'll let you off the hook. You're a pretty good pianist after all…"

"Excuse me?" I broke out, irritated out of my mind. Who the hell does this girl think she is? The president? She has nerve. I continued, "I was nice enough to help you out because you were obviously struggling. You should be saying 'thank you' and falling to your knees before me!"

"You little-! Nice enough? I'm gonna play the nice one here, buddy. You see, for your terrible act, I'm gonna reward you! Isn't that something? I'm just too nice for you!" The girl went on. She growled slightly after every sentence, which I couldn't help but think was a little cute. But in all, she was annoying the crap out of me.

I sighed, "I ain't gonna be yelled at anytime soon by a girl with no tits. Now shaddup and tell me what this reward is!"

At this the girl breathed hard and clenched her teeth, "First, don't you bring my body up in this conversation. I'm not the one who died his hair freaking white, sharpened my teeth, and dyed my eyes red! Second, how can I shut up and then tell you something?"

Now, I was just getting downright angry. I opened my mouth and closed repeatedly, thinking about what was the best thing to say, to make my story more credible. I seethed, "My hair is white, my teeth are sharp, and my eyes are red. Okay. Get this: It's all natural!" I fumbled for my wallet. I had a family picture that I always stomped on whenever I was enraged from a long time ago. I dug it out and shoved it in her face and spit out, "See? SEE? Gosh, people these days. What loser would want to look like me?" The girl snatched the photo from my hands to investigate. And when she comprehended everything that was shown on it, her eyes widened. I guess that depressing sentence at the end of my speech kind of calmed the anger in both of us.

Her voice came out like it was about to cry afterwards, "So this is what a family is. Your family must be so perfect. Everyone's smiling."

Some of my anger returned at that, and I shouted, "Perfect? Perfect? My dad abuses me so much, there're practically bloodstains in every room in our house. I have scars everywhere! How is that to you? Perfect? My life is so amazing, right?" And I found myself with tears streaming down my face, dripping onto my shirt. Why did I tell her that? Why did I tell her my entire misery? I shouted, "So what about you? Made you feel better about your life?"

The minute I finished that last sentence, the girl perked up with a raging expression on her face. She was crying. Not that hard, but it was enough for her eyes to get watery and her eyebrows furrow. She whispered to me through teeth, "My life is no better than yours, if worse! My mom's in the hospital dying on a bed at this exact moment! And where is that useless father of mine? He's playing with prostitutes. He's been ever since my mom got sick! And what am I going to do? Tell my mom so she could die as an unhappy, betrayed, and lonely woman? I can't tell her! How's that? My life is so amazing, right?"

My eyebrows went up. That was just as terrible as my life. At this point she was sobbing. I needed to comfort her. I'm a cool guy. I don't make chicks cry, unless they're asking for it. I wrapped my arms around her tiny form. She felt too skinny under my muscular arms. I made her cry and I don't even know her name. Great going, Soul. I hushed her, "So what was that reward?" Changing the subject was the best option I had at the moment.

She looked up at me and smiled weakly. She said much more confidently, "You are worthy to join my band! This is your once in a lifetime chance!" I grinned my signature grin that showed all those horrifyingly sharp teeth of mine.

"Really? Oh, gosh, I feel like I'm going to faint!" I said in mock excitement. But on the inside, I really was stunned she asked me to join her band, even if it was probably just the two of us… for now.

She chuckled and said, "You're a mermaid."

"Wait, what?" I ask, completely lost.

"Your teeth," She says, "They're like shark teeth. And a shark is a fish, you know. But you're not full fish. You're part human. So in conclusion, you are a mermaid."

I laughed at her logic and stepped away. The rest of the bar was oblivious to what just happened behind the stage, which was pretty lucky for us. I noticed that she also admitted all her miseries and life story. I bet she regretted it when she said it, just like me. But for some strange reason, I feel like I could tell this girl my secrets. I said, "You called me a mermaid and ya don't even know my name."

She laughed, "You're absolutely correct. I guess this is the time I should tell you my name. It's Maka. Maka Albarn. Ya better remember it." She gave me a nudge with her arm and added, "Wanna tell me yours?"

"It's Soul. Soul Evans. Got it? Better not overuse it…" I grinned, nudging her back. She locked arms with me after that.

Suddenly excited, she enthused, "I already thought of a band name a month ago, even though I didn't have a band. But now that I do, we're gonna be awesome!"

"Wanna share with the class?" I humored.

She twirled her hair with the finger on the arm that wasn't locked with mine and shrugged, "It's not that good or anything but here it is. Ready? It's 'Spartoi'."

"Spartoi, huh?" I say, analyzing the information I was just told. It was actually really nice. Definitely original in many different ways. I added, "Has a ring to it. I like good. Good work, tiny-tits."

And at that moment I was introduced to wonderful little things that were apparently titled 'Maka-Chops'. Even though this Maka girl was mouthy, a big ass, and annoying, she was in a terrible family situation, just as I. Though I feel like we're going to be fighting a lot more, I really want to be her friend. I needed at least one other friend other than Nygus. And not only that, but she wants me in a band. This will take my mind off my terrible family. Maka. That's a girl I'm thrilled to know more about.

Now, if you liked this, please subscribe to here more of the story. It's just the start! I'm really big on support so don't be afraid to click that big button down there to review. PM me if you have great ideas, discussions, questions, or you're just lonely. Stay tuned!

~Zuimi