Ink knew Blue was upset.

Of course, Blue was fully justified at being sad. Why wouldn't he be? Ink did promise to be his weapon partner years ago, they had trained to match their soul wave lengths and already practiced battling with one another. Naturally he felt bad to explain to Blue that morning, right before school, that Blue had to find a new partner. It wasn't his intention to ditch Blue like that, but it was just all sudden.

Yesterday, everything was going smoothly. His partner was going to be Blue, he had waited a year for Blue to be old enough to come to the academy to be his partner. In fact, Ink had even turned down a few offers from students without partners because he was waiting for Blue. It wasn't like he didn't want to be their partners, they were nice people, but he promised Blue. And they got along great, too! Always hanging out after school, always going to the park together, having sleepovers and giggling over crushes. They were best friends, Ink wouldn't ditch him without a reason.

And man was this a good reason.

The funny thing about Ink was that he had no soul. Sad, but true, as he was born with a disability that made him with no soul. It didn't mean that he couldn't feel no emotions, as long as he took his medications he was fine, but it made things a little bit more difficult with fighting. That was why he wanted to be partners with Blue, since when he was used as a weapon, his powers would replicate their soul lengths to form a connection instead of his soul being used. It was his natural way to overcome the problem of having no soul, to replicate and send back the wave lengths to be able to make a soul residence. This naturally made Ink be able to form a partnership with any type of soul, no matter how different from himself, since he could just send their soul back at them with his magic.

That came as both a blessing and a curse.

There were so many soul disabilities, especially in monsters. Their souls were fused with magic, and magic had a tendency to be uncontrollable and wild. Such as the magic tearing apart the soul at birth but leaving enough for the monster to survive, empty and emotionless, like his situation.

Another soul disability that he heard of was more rare, but it was the magic. The magic of the user would deflect any type of other soul bond, forcing them to be unable to fight along side with any other person. They wouldn't be able to bounce soul waves between one another, as their soul would reject any other types of waves. If any different types of waves did break in, their soul would reject it, thus having a seizure and other types of reactions to it. It sounded awful, and that's what the Doctors had assumed he had at first when he was born, but it was quickly proven wrong when his soul had torn itself into shreds right in front of them. Ink was only a baby then, he didn't remember it, but his parents pointed out how worried everyone had become.

Due to his own disability, Ink could partner with everyone. And due to this man's disability, he could partner with no one.

That's why the Grim Reaper had called him to the death room.

He could tell that their soul rejected others as soon as he walked through the doors. Every weapon and meister could at least sense a souls wave lengths, but since Ink had no soul, he was able to sense others more than usual. Most peoples souls would lightly hum, he could sense the Grim Reapers soul length, it admitted power and control over the situation. But this guys soul, it was different. He could feel some sort of static from it, the sense of it glitching and seeming to scream, rejecting anything else around him. Ink couldn't see souls, no one could except for the person and their partner during a soul residence when the soul would become present, but he could only give a guess to what this guys would look like. The magic pulsing from it was strong, rather strong for a teenager his age, but the wave lengths seemed to crash against everything around him, as if to scare it off.

It was another skeleton, just like himself, but his bones were pure black. He seemed to twitch every now and then, unable to keep his body still for so long. The boy was bent over, clutching his hands to his chest as his body jerked every once in awhile.

The Grim Reaper stood further than she normally did for people, hood pulled over her head as she watched him. It looked like she had even dimmed her own soul wave lengths just to put his soul more at ease. Even being near other people would probably be difficult in his situation.

"Ink, thank you for coming," She said.

"Of course I'd come, what did you need?" Ink asked.

The death room was large, with fluffy white clouds floating through the empty blue sky. It was rather bright and colorful in the room, distant crosses decorating the empty field. No one really knew why it was decorated this way, or how the room seemed to have no ends or walls except for the door that seemed to be connected to nowhere.

Ink had only been there once before, as he had visited it with Blue before. As a child, it confused him, but at least now he knew to expect it now. It still caught him off guard, and made Ink's mind spiral to think of how this was even possible, but he managed to shove these questions aside. She was the Grim Reaper, she had powers that could do this.

"This is Error," She said, gesturing to the skeleton.

"S-S-Shut up," He grumbled, his voice twitching and changing tone mindword.

"And well, how exactly should I say this?" Bubbly hummed, resting a hand on her chin. "You're going to be his new partner."

"... Huh?"

Ink should have known, it was the only obvious answer. Why else would she call him specifically to come to her death room with a guy who had that specific soul disability?

"I-I don't n-n-n-n-need... a partner!" The other snapped, his body jerking suddenly.

The body jerking and twitching was new to Ink, he had no idea if that was a symptom of the disability or not. It looked uncomfortable, by the way his bones would jerk randomly and painfully. It didn't look like he had control of it, either, as he had to pause mid-sentence from the painful jerk.

"Ink, I know this is sudden to ask of you, and I am aware that you wanted to be partners with Blue." She tapped her chin with her index finger. "But you can see how this opportunity is one I can't pass up. Error can't bond his soul with anyone else, and you can replicate his soul lengths with your own magic, so he wouldn't reject you."

"I promised Blue, though," Ink said.

"L-L-Let him be with the o-o-o-o-other g-guy," Error said, "I don't need h-h-h-him."

Bubbly shook her head. "No, I'm afraid this is too rare and helpful for me to turn a blind eye to. Ink can replicate your soul length and give you magic, which can help with your... uh, you know, episodes?"

"T-Ticks." Error looked unhappy by the situation.

Neither of them were, as Ink wanted to be partners with Blue. They planned it for years, he couldn't exactly go back and say no on the first day of school!

"Right, ticks," She said, "You're a second year student, so you could give him a tour of the school and lead him to his classes, since you both could have the same classes. And you being with him would help his soul calm down from the other people at the school. He wasn't able to attend last year because of this, but with your magic, Ink, he can be around large groups of people."

"That would mean I would have to be right next to him all day, if my magic were to reflect his own soul wave lengths at him," Ink objected, "I don't even really know him."

"Most partners don't even know one another before they create soul bonds, and it's why partners become friends and lovers more easily, as they have to trust the other with their life and are exposed to their soul." The Grim Reaper looked between the two. "No one likes it, and some feel uncomfortable, but becoming partners and soul bonding is the quickest way to trust one another, as they connect souls and understand one another on a spiritual level. That's why people who used to be partners with someone they never knew before always keep in touch and remain friends, as they grow to know one another through the partnership. You guys don't have to be good friends at first, but you two are the perfect match for one another, it just makes sense."

There wasn't really any sort of rebuttal to that, she was right. Partners who created soul bonds always became friends quicker and on a more trusting level, as they're trusting their life with the other. And it's also why partners were more likely to fall in love, just as his parents did.

"No, t-t-t-this is s-s-s-s-s-s-s-"

Error paused, forcing his body to suck in a breath as it ticked and jerked rapidly. With his face consorted in pain like that, Ink couldn't help but feel bad for the poor skeleton. He was the only one Error could partner to without the threat of any reaction occuring.

"I mean, I could do it I guess," Ink said.

Partnerships with weapons and meisters never had to be permonate, but it wouldn't ever go away after they would make a soul bond. Soul bonds were hard to break, and even though people can move on from one to another partner, the soul bond with the other person would still remain, even if it was just a smaller one without much magic used, like a one time emergency fight. But he didn't think he had much of a say in this situation, and clearly Error didn't like the idea of being partners either, but it was the best choice. Blue had a very open soul, he could soul bond with other people, and it didn't mean that Ink would be partners with Error forever.

"I promise it'll just be for the school year, so Error can attend a school and have a partner," Bubbly said, holding out her hands. "I know you wanted to be with Blue, Ink. And I know that you don't like touching people, but this is the best outcome. Blue is an open person, if he can't find a partner I can help him."

"It's okay, I don't mind helping Error," Ink said, "And we don't have to force ourselves to be close friends, it's okay to me to just be partners."

"G-G-Good," He grunted.

《》《》《》

Sorry if I have any name mix ups, I'm going solo with no editors for this book and I'm too lazy to reread. I get too impatient. Also, yeah, Error with Tourette's Syndrome is confirmed! Instead of glitches, he just sorta has which Ticci Toby has. I just connected the two and I was like "Wait, this is cool" and now Error has an explination to his glitches, as it's a symptom of his Tourette's Syndrome. I'm trying not to be mean about it or anything, so hopefully I'm not offensive about Tourette's Syndrome, I just saw Ticci Toby, saw Error, and smushed them together into the Error in this story.