deep within i'm shaken by the violence of...

You had insisted. Going in Tezca’s place.

As one of the best naturally gifted meisters, you like the others followed Lord Deaths orders but this moment specifically thought was a different condition entirely… and so here you stand.

You’re trembling but it’s not fear or anger that shakes your core as you look into empty blue eyes that are now so foreign to you. A wave of grief rushes over you so heavy that your eyes water. Looking at him, you don’t even know where to start.

Justin Law. What happened to you?

Even with the stinging tears blurring your vision , you steady yourself.

Now isn’t the time.

You have a job to do.

The deep intake of air you breathe is stagnant in your chest. Tension makes it hard for your soul to settle but you stand tall, certain of yourself and your capabilities. You could only imagine the pandemonium inside his mind, the constant discord he must have been hiding within himself for him to turn out this way. It didn’t matter too much though.

He would be okay. He would be Justin again. That was your mission.

Failure was not an option.

“Come. You’ve wandered far enough, it’s time to come home.” Your words are clear and strong as you keep your eyes locked on his while a sick grin twists Justin’s face. It’s as frightening as it is sad.

“Wander? You make it sound as though I’m lost? Besides, what would some woman from the DWMA know about direction? Ridiculous.” He spits out.

You knew from the madness pouring off him in waves that he wouldn’t be able to recognize anything tied to his true soul or even reason. That meant you’ll be doing this the hard way. Fine.

You scoff and it’s drenched in pity. The softness of it enraging him. To think you believed yourself to be any kind of higher power compared to his God.

“Oh sweetheart, you are lost. A pitiful and pitifully lost man who’s abandoned himself to something else can’t be anything else. I can tell you about directions because I am not lost. I know who I am and where I’m meant to be- even if every stitch holding the world together were to unravel, my truth wouldn’t change.”

The crazed expression on his face becomes downright murderous- frantic and looney as he takes a threatening step towards you. Not missing a beat, you take a step back to match all the ones he takes forward but you go sideways. Circling each other in a charged dance, you continue.

“I know who I am. Can you say the same?”

Justin doesn’t answer, so you do for him.

“Of course you can’t. Lost boy.” You sneer.

Like a trigger, those last two words set him off as he charges towards you- already half transforming, the executioners blade in his arm swinging at you full speed. Blood pumping, you jump, bracing your hand against the top of his head to use him as momentum, catapulting yourself into to air.

Spinning, you flip to land behind him. You hiss as his blade slices a line across your thigh, it burns as blood streams from the wound. You don’t want to hurt him but his time was up. Justin was coming home.

Your Justin. Not this monster he’s become.

“I am not lost! I follow my faith in my God! Kishin!”

“Then you’re just as stupid as you are lost! Justin, wake up! If you were truly a man of any faith you wouldn’t abandon it so quickly! What happened to your so called ‘devotion’ to Lord Death?! You’re not looking for some stupid god to follow, you’re looking for something to hold onto!”

Your ears ring from how loud you shout but you can’t calm down. It’s overwhelming.

“Who?! Who did this to you?”

You don’t know which emotion to tackle first. They’re all boiling inside you, threatening to spill. Anger, grief, despair, guilt, hurt, even broken-heartedness.

Since…you loved Justin.

‘I love you’ was a melody just for him. The words you just couldn’t say and always seemed to swallow.

From the moment you saw him- from the arch of his thin eyebrows to the slope of his jaw- his very existence made a devout believer of you. You loved from afar, seeing Justin be many things. Aloof, funny, reliable, strong and so full of potential and yet lonelier than he will ever know.

That’s how you pieced it together.

Justin’s need to have a god is because he’s alone.

Torn between his indecisions and insecurities and ultimately ending up isolated; he chases faith so he’s not alone. So he can belong to something and that something will know how to love him and do it perfectly.

Only; the road to believing in anything is a gamble. Full of its own uncertainties and paths with no clear road to happiness or fulfillment. You weren’t against God but you wished that if Justin needed to serve one so badly, then he should serve one that would love him back. Answer his questions of if he’s truly alone in the universe and give him solace.

It wasn’t too late but still.

You wished you reached out, touched him as he managed to touch you. The tears fall freely now but you don’t slow down, blocking each swing and attack. The adrenaline is staggering, some of your hits landing with your full strength. After another flip, you land in a low crouch, channeling your soul’s energy into your hands you deliver two swift punishing blows into Justin’s stomach and solar plexus. You jump back before he gets to the chance to go back on the offensive and look at his form on the ground.

The points you hit with your soul wave weren’t random. It was to disorient the energy that didn’t belong inside him in 2 of the main points of the body. That was one of your abilities that helped you rise to be one of the most impressive meisters to graduate from the DWMA. You could see souls and energys as well as separate and expel them- a type of purification, if you will. There was also the stable control and precision you maintained of not just your souls power but your own spirit as well.

A low grunt raises your hackles, panting from exertion, you brace yourself. The cuts you got were going to be a problem. Justin was no better off, multiple scratches, parts of his clothes torn along with a sizeable bruise on his cheek. Watching, Justin shakily rises to his feet with a dark chuckle.

“Death was weak- he was no God. But from his weakness I was able to witness true strength. That is when I realized my devotion was just like his rumored strength- frail. Lord Kishin is strong. And it is strength that brings virtue and power.”

You don’t mean to but you can’t help it- you laugh; bright and sorrowful before running at him. Justin lashes out a huge wavelength to repel you, only to be shocked when it instead adapts to you. Using his brief confusion as an opening, you run to cover his back with your own, pinning him to you with your own soul wavelength.

His own wouldn’t repel you; yours reached for him. So Lord Death knew you’d be right all along. When asked previously why you- a meister should be the one to go after Justin instead of another weapon, you were adamant in your belief that Justin needed a meister. Someone to keep him down.

“He’s always by himself, yeah? Relying on your own strength has its glory but even that needs rest. A cornerstone. Otherwise, if it’s always you and your power then it’s a lot like free falling. He knows he’s falling but unsure about the bottom….or how to get up when he hits it. That’s what a meister is there to aid in. To lift one up; to hold one down. That’s why I need to go instead of Tezca, sir.”

His back is warm, your hair tangling together from where you both stand flush to each other. Justin struggles and curses, fluctuating both your souls energy in the field that surrounds you but you pay it no mind. You have a job to do. So close to him, you can feel it. The energy from his true soul that’s so familiar and dear to you.

“Now what? Pinning us together won’t stop judgement day. Your punishment will be-”,

“-delivered by you, hopefully. I’ve always had a thing for blondes, too bad you’re a fake though. My Justin’s a natural.” You sigh, completely put out, letting your head drop against his shoulder and if you weren’t so close, you’d have missed it.

The little tremor shuddering through him. Huh? Even drowning in a pool of murky doubt and angst, he’s still a young man with lots to experience.

“Blasphemous girl, I am Justin-”, you cut him off with another loud laugh.

“Please. You are not Justin. The real Justin would already know that a Gods strength comes from the heart of those who believe in him. The stronger their belief, the stronger their God. Further, if your belief is frail then your God is too. That’s on you.”

You feel him flounder, fighting even harder to pull away from you causing a taut rift that’s almost too painful but you hold on. You hold on to him the way someone should’ve. His earbuds fell out sometime during your fight so he can hear you clearly.

Good.

“Strength is no God either. It can’t bring virtue. If it could, you and the ridiculous idol you follow whoring himself off as a god would have some.”

“We do have virtue! Your insolence only proves your ignorance.”

You hum. “Or it proves yours. Do you even know what the fuck a virtue is?” You don’t even give him the chance to answer.

“Faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance- those are virtues. I want you to look around,” as you speak, expanding your souls energy at the same time to completely eclipse his own- inside and out.

It’s as bad as you thought. The madness has almost completely shrouded his souls core, restless confusion and wicked dispair coat his soul in a so thick it would radioactive to a lesser meister.

“I also want you to look inside yourself and the things you’ve done, as much as the actions of those you serve and tell me you see any virtue in it.”

Come on come on come on come on come on… you start to just barely make out the pale opal of Justin’s real soul underneath all the gunk.

“I- that’s n-not-“,

“Tell me- can you see any in yourself?”

“No matter what I will reach you.”

You can tell the exact second your soul pierces his because the light that comes through is blinding, creating a torrent of brilliance that covers everything within a 100 miles.

It also manages to separate your bodies. Immediately you activate your soul’s ability- Grimm’s mirror. It calls the lookers original soul back to them and shows them who they really are. However, it’s intense, it’s hard to get through without a hold. That’s where you come in as a weapon meister.

Now, standing in front of Justin- you rest your hands on his shoulders. You feel his inner struggle; the push and pull- fighting the hurt.

“You’ll be okay. Come back- we’ll figure this out together. I’ll be your guide.” You whisper, hands glowing to coat his body in its iridescence. His soul moulds to your will and begins to transform.

For the first time in his life, someone has wielded him.

He’s not free-falling anymore.

He’s being held.

With a contagious unshakable certainty and resolve. You’re warm and everywhere. Justin hears your voice purer than any song he’s played through his headphones but unlike them, you don’t have that deafening loudness. Instead, there’s dead silence, total calm. Memories seep through accompanying the sound of your voice- pictures, people, places. The glow of your soul floats above each one like a path slowly, waiting until his own follows. So warm, so familiar. Safe.

Through the darkness a hand reaches out. But why? He’s never let anyone in. Don’t you know that? Why don’t you care? How-

“Because it’s you.”

Oh. Has it always been this easy? With that he takes it.

Consciousness comes crashing back in a flood of colors and when you both come to- you’re off the ground in his arms and the darkness that had casted its hopeless madness onto him is gone. Wide azure eyes stare into your equally large ones.

Suddenly, it’s somehow awkward. He coughs.

“So…fresh off the deep end huh? I must atone and apolo-“, you cup your hand over his mouth. Smiling tiredly.

“Later, alter boy. We’re hurt and you have more than a few things to answer and apologize for so let’s go home.”

Home? You-? Right, you were his meister. His meister. A strong one at that. Strong enough to pull him out and strong enough to stay. That means you’re also tough enough to handle him messing with you.

“Alter boy? I have a name, y’know.” Justin speaks, feigning casualty with you so close to him. He still doesn’t know why he hasn’t put you down. Maybe it’s because of that security he feels with you. Even now, he feels your soul humming in perfect harmony with his. It- you - make him nervous.

“I know your name-”,

“But, I don’t know yours. Did-”, he swallows the lump of guilt in his throat, “did Lord Death send you?”

You knew he’d have hell and back to answer for when you got back to the DWMA but you’d be there for him but it’ll wait.

You tell him your name with an amused giggle. The gentle sound flusters the tips of his ears turn pink. It’s adorable to witness. “And no, I insisted on coming to you on my own.” You didn’t forget that you were in love with him since you saw him and he didn’t forget that you’d called him ‘my Justin’. You pat his shoulders again and rush to get moving before it can come back up. You can handle a lot but Justin’s always been a weak spot for you and you aren’t ready to deal with the enormity of it yet.

Why do you always go for the emotionally unavailable pretty boys?

“We have to get going. Injuries and answers, remember?.” Justin hesitates for a second. He doesn’t want you to be far from him. You’re the first person to breach his walls and come for him- intertwine and match him. You’re not going anywhere but you won’t be as close without him holding you. Justin let’s out a deep sigh before letting you down so softly it takes another minute for you to realize your feet are on the ground.

You hum, wincing as your suddenly reminded of your wounds. Shaking your head; you start walking, listening to his footsteps fall in line with yours. It’s quiet, making you cast another glance over your shoulder- to check on him just to see him stripping off his kishin eye robe, wearing a plain white tshirt and black pants underneath.

Your eyes widen. Holy shit.

He’s a lot more defined than you gave him credit for. The lean curve of his forearms have you feeling lightheaded even with the bruises on his pale skin; never having seen him without the priest robe. You’re so busy checking him out that when you catch his eyes, he’s been watching you the entire time. Gasping, you snap your head forward. Heat pooling beneath your cheeks.

Please stay quiet please stay quiet please stay quiet plea-

“Since we’re new to each other as not just weapon and meister but partners too, so we should learn more about each other, no?” Oh, that was less painful than you thought it’d be. You nod, smiling.

“Of course. It’ll also help strengthen our soul bond which will be good for you. Stable, close connection and all.”

“Great!” Justin exclaims, grinning before he gets quiet again. It’s not exactly out of character for him so you see no reason to keep your guard up.

Huuuuge mistake.

“Then…”, ??

“ S’ it true you got a thing for blondes?”

Gasping sharply, you choke on your spit, spinning to face him so fast that you trip, landing face first in his soft but surprisingly firm chest.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

That little- !

He’s more mischievous than you thought.

Whether it’s facing Lord Death’s judgment and punishment for Justin or what the future holds for you both- one thing is for certain: you’re gonna need luck.