"Hey Maka, tell me again why we are doing this mission?" Soul asked.
"Because Shinigami-sama told us to take it." Maka replied short. She was unhappy about it as well, it was clear.
"Why did you accept it?" Soul said. "We've dealt with witches and monsters, but this?"
"It's just for a day."
"But it's babysitting!" Soul complained.
"I told you, it's just for a day, now come on."
"But why do both of us have to go? Can't you handle it yourself?"
"Of course I can, but Shinigami-sama said that both of us had to go. Think of it as bodygaurding." Maka said and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" A voice said behind the door.
"Hello. My name is Maka Albarn and I'm here with Soul Eater. We were sent to look after the Miss Martha Kennedy." Maka announced. The door opened and a maid greeted them.
"Ah Shibusen students… Welcome." She said and held the door open for them. "If you will come with me to the kitchen, please."
They went into huge kitchen and the maid pointed at two chairs.
"Please have a seat. I have to tell you something about Miss Martha before you can get to see her." She said.
"Why? Is she some kind of freak?" Soul asked and Maka hit him in the head.
"Soul! I apologize for his behavior Miss." Maka said.
"Soul-kun is in a way right. Miss Martha is different than other children. It is very, very important that you don't upset her."
"If I may ask. What is wrong with her?" Maka asked concerned.
"If Miss Martha gets upset she causes explosions and other destructive effects." The maid said.
"Are you kidding me?" Soul exclaimed
"Soul! Behave yourself." Maka said and tired to hit him in the head, but he dodged.
"Please. It is only for a day." The maid suddenly said with a pleading voice.
"How come you haven't had babysitters before?" Soul asked.
"Because tomorrow Miss Martha will have a surgery that can take care of the evil inside her." The maid said with a suddenly voice full of regret.
"Oh, I guess that's nice for you." Maka smiled.
"Alright we can go and see her now. Remember don't make her upset in anyway."
"Yes."
The maid lead them to another huge room and on the middle of the floor surrounded by toys sat a little girl.
"Miss Martha This is Maka Albran and this is Soul Eater. They've come to play with you today." The maid said in a loving voice. A little too loving.
"Hello Martha." Maka greeted politely, then she elbowed Soul to make him do the same.
"Hello there." He said. The girl looked at them with little interest in her eyes.
"Who are they?" She asked the maid.
"Maka is a Meister and Soul is a Weapon. They are from Shibusen."
"Oh." Martha just said. "You can go now Cecile."
"Yes Miss. If there is anything you need just ring the bell and I'll be right there." Cecile said and left.
"Are you really from Shibusen?" The little girl asked as soon as the maid had left.
"Yes we are." Maka said proudly.
"That is so cool. I've never been there. Matter of fact I've never even seen it."
"Really? How come?"
"Papa won't let me outside the house." The girl said and looked down.
"Ah! Uuh… Wooaw you have so many toys Martha-chan. Oh… do you mind if I call you Martha-chan?" Maka asked to try and make the little girl think of something else.
"No it's OK." Martha said.
"Martha-chan then… What is your favorite toy?" Maka asked. She was really good with children. It was no surprise. She dealt with Chrona all the time so a child was an easy task for her. Soul watched the little kid showing Maka her favorite toys.
"Say… What kind of Weapon is Soul?" Martha asked.
"Soul is a scythe." Maka said.
"I wanna see." Martha demanded. Maka looked at Soul and he nodded and transformed.
"I wanna hold him."
"No you can't do that. You're soul wavelengths don't match." Maka explained in a kind tone.
"But I wanna!"
"You might get hurt if you hold him."
"I still wanna try." She said and Maka could feel the ground rumbling lightly.
"Alright. You can hold me, but we're gonna do some practice before. Just like in Shibusen." Soul suddenly said. The ground stopped rumbling and Martha cheered. "But you are gonna have to be very patient. In Shibusen there are a lot of impatient people and it takes a very long time for them to be able to match their wavelengths. So you go on and change into something more comfortable and we'll make preparations here."
"Yes." Martha said and ran to something that might be her bedroom and rang a bell. Moments later another maid came and they went in the bedroom.
"Che. She even needs help to get dressed." Soul scoffed.
"Soul! What are you doing? She could get hurt if she doesn't match your wavelength."
"Don't worry. I'll just do like Tsubaki. I'll just be very submissive and give her a false impression that she can do it."
"But…"
"Don't worry Maka. We'll just make the practice very long and just before we leave she can get to hold me.
"Yeah that's a great idea."
"Yup. Now good luck with the practice Sensei."
"What?"
"I'm not good at stuff like teaching little kids. Just teach her a lot of theories and textbook stuff. It should keep her busy and if we're really lucky she'll fall asleep." Soul laughed and Maka hit him with a book
"I'm ready. Let's start!" Martha said and got out of the bedroom.
"A-alright. Now you sit next to Soul, since he is your weapon for today and I'll teach you how to do." Maka said. At first it seemed like a good idea, but the little girl got bored after half an hour and demanded to hold Soul again.
"Please listen. You could get hurt Martha-chan. If you are patient then before you know it you might be able to wield Soul."
"I don't wanna wait! I wanna hold it now."
"Alright, alright." Soul sighed. "But let's go outside. Just so that we don't break anything."
They went out in a enormous garden and Soul transformed into a scythe and Maka caught him.
"Soul are you sure this will work?" Maka whispered.
"Yeah it'll be fine."
"I wanna hold him now!" Martha demanded and a few small rocks flew up in the air.
"Alright here you go. But be careful." Maka said and handed the scythe to Martha who snatched it out of her hands. Maka held her breath, but nothing happened.
"This is so cool!" Martha cheered after noticing that she was alright. "How long did it take for Maka to be able to control Soul?"
"Well… I don't control him, but we got our resonance to match."
"Whatever. How long did it take?"
"Uh… I'm not quite sure… I was able to use him without getting hurt from the beginning, but we have worked a lot on it and we still do. There was one time where I wasn't able to wield him without getting hurt." Maka explained.
"Soul, you are too heavy. Become lighter!" Martha suddenly demanded. "I want to hold you as easily as Maka does."
"Maka is stronger than you, that's why she wields me lighter."
"Become lighter or I'll scream!" Martha yelled and the ground started to rumble again.
"I can't. You have to match my wavelength as well for me to be lighter." Soul said.
"No! You become lighter. Now!" Martha yelled again and now there were small rocks and trees cracking.
"Martha! Calm down! There is no need to be angry. It's OK we can keep on practicing and then you will be able to match Soul's wavelength." Maka sat down in front of the girl.
"Nooooo! I want him to be lighter now." Suddenly Martha became limp, only for a second.
"Get away from me." She whispered.
"It's alright Martha. We can keep on practicing. Or we can do something else you want."
"You have to get away from me now or you'll get hurt." Martha said again.
"Maka! There is something wrong with her wavelength. I don't recognize it anymore. I can't match it." Soul said and there was a sizzling sound from the shaft and smoke rose from Martha's hands.
"Martha let go of Soul now. He's burning your hands." Maka said and tried to take the scythe from her, but she didn't even budge. Suddenly Martha let out a horrible scream and a rock exploded.
"Maka run!" Soul shouted.
"Martha, stop it!" Maka tried again to take the scythe and again with same results. All of a sudden Maka was launched in the air and tumbled to the ground.
"Maka!" Soul shouted and ran to her. "Maka, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so." She said and looked at the girl. From her back had risen a huge monkey like monster, so far it only had a torso.
"It's like Chrona's Ragnarok." Soul commented.
"Yeah. Do you think she has the black blood?" Maka asked in shock.
"No. I would have noticed by now then. It's something else."
"H-hurry. Get. Out. Of. Here." Martha whispered and then screamed again as the monkey like creature got legs and now Martha hung limp in its chest.
"What should we do?" Maka asked. The monkey thing didn't move at all. It just stood there.
"I told you so." A voice suddenly said. "I told you not to get her upset."
"Cecile?! What is wrong with her?" Maka yelled.
"Yes, what indeed?" The maid chuckled.
"Maka, use Soul Perception. Maybe she's a witch."
"Yes." Maka said and concentrated. "It's human." She said surprised.
"Yes I am human. Human with a special ability." Cecile said. "You see, one day I got my hands on a witch formula book. Well actually I only got few pages, but still. And they said make and how to use magic ink."
"Magic ink?"
"Yes. Let's say I drew the sign for obedience on someone. Then they would do my bidding."
"So you control people's emotions?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't explain the monkey thing on Martha's back."
"Yes. Well I experimented on it. I drew several signs. I drew the signs for monkey, monster, obedience, wrath, and creation. I created it. Isn't it beautiful? I call him Franklin."
"What's gonna do to Martha?"
"It will kill her you stupid girl."
"Why you!" Maka said and stood up. "Soul!"
"Yes." He said and transformed.
"Give Martha back!" Maka charged.
"Franklin." Cecile said and snapped her fingers. The monkey monster came to life and shot one long arm at them and Maka managed just in time to dodge.
"Be careful Maka. He's fast."
"Hmm… He wasn't supposed to awaken until tonight, so he's a little premature. I told you not to upset her!" Cecile teased. "You still have time to save the little kid. But that's only a few minutes to be correct. So you can just as well sing a funeral song now."
"You bitch!" Maka screamed and charged once again. Cecile snapped her fingers again and Franklin shot another arm at her and this time she wasn't fast enough. Franklin hit her and she was slammed to the ground.
"Maka!"
"I'm fine Soul. We have to hurry. We have to save Martha."
"I know. But you won't get anywhere with a reckless charge like that. We need a plan of some kind."
"Franklin. Crush them." Cecile snapped her fingers again.
"Maka. Above!" Soul shouted and Maka managed to evade just in time.
"He is a little slower on his left side. That could be our advantage. Let's go. The Witch Hunter." Maka said and charged once again, this time with more brain than brawn.
"Franklin." Cecile snapped her fingers several times to make the monster react faster. But Maka and Soul were faster and with a swift movement she cut the head of the monkey monster.
"No! Franklin!" Cecile screamed as her beloved creation stated to have spasms and fell apart. Maka caught Martha as she was released from the creature.
"Martha? Are you alright?" Maka shook her shoulders gently, but the girl was unconscious.
"You ruined him! Bastards!" Cecile screamed and this time she was the one who recklessly charged, but was met by Maka's fist in her face.
"Argh! Not my beautiful face too." She cried. "My beautiful, beautiful face."
"I wouldn't be worrying about my face if I were you. You are going to jail." Maka said.
A few minutes later some of the Shibusen teachers arrived and arrested Cecile.
"Do you think she'll be alright?" Maka asked the nurse.
"Yes. She is just exhausted." The nurse said. "Oh… She's waking up now."
"Martha-chan? Can you hear me?" Maka asked and almost pushed the nurse away.
"Maka…"
"Yes, I'm here." Maka said and held her hand.
"Maka I'm so sorry. Did you get hurt?"
"No I'm perfectly fine and so is Soul." She assured.
"I'm so sorry." Martha started to cry.
"It's OK. It was not your fault." Maka comforted her. Martha kept crying and Maka comforted her until she stopped crying. After a while when everything had calmed down and they had released Martha's family and other servants from the spell of the magic ink, Maka and Soul were finally allowed to go home.
"Hey Maka." Martha called.
"Yes?" She relied. Maka had just talked to her about behavior and treatment of others. Finally she seemed to see that she couldn't treat people the way she did. That's Maka for you, Soul thought, she is somehow always able to see something good in others and somehow she was able to make them see what is right and what is wrong. She seemed to have talked some sense into Martha.
"Will you come back soon so we can play together again?"
"Uh… Sure." Maka smiled.
"Great. Then we can continue scythe practicing!"
What?! I thought Maka had talked sense into her? She hadn't changed a bit!
"It'll be without me!" Soul said and dashed in the opposite direction.
"Soul, wait for me!" Maka said and chased after him.
"See you soon." Martha waved after them.