The rain pounded hard against the glass windowpane, and Maka Albarn found herself wide-awake listening with dreadful anxiety to the sound it made. Her sleeplessness was not induced by the storm, however; it was due to the fact that it was nearly 1 AM, and Soul was not home yet, and she was sure that the unexpected squall would not serve to make his homecoming from his mission easier.
"Its just a preliminary examination, Maka. We've received reports of suspicious activity in Scotland that may be linked to witchcraft. Just a scouting mission. We probably won't find anything."
She kept repeating to herself the reassuring words Soul had uttered to her so many times before he left. As much as Maka tried to brush it off, she couldn't. She was a rather experienced meister, and she knew that a simple "scouting mission" wouldn't have lasted this long; Soul would've been back by dinner. She thought to herself that she should just get out of bed and read or something, since she was doing nothing but tossing and turning, but she knew her mind wouldn't even be able to focus on reading in its current panicked state.
As much as Maka loved the honor of making Soul into a Death Scythe, she had dreaded the day that nights like this were a norm in her life. At first, when he achieved Death Scythe status, he was allowed to remain Maka's partner, due to the circumstances at the time that he swallowed the witch's soul; almost every Death Scythe in the world had convened at Death City because of the kishin, and Lord Death had multiple weapons at his disposal. Now, however, not only was the threat of the kishin vanquished, but Kid had taken over the place of his father, and so Soul had accepted the position of the Grim Reaper's primary weapon.
It all seemed so long ago, the events three years ago that led to Kid's awakening. Defeating the kishin, witnessing the birth of a new Grim Reaper, and restoring peace and order to the world, all when she was hardly fifteen years old. If she could handle all of that, she should certainly be able to handle Soul's late night missions without any trouble.
Or not. She was a wreck on the inside, and she knew it. She wasn't even ashamed of it anymore. As soon as he came home, she was going to Maka chop him so hard she might accidentally crack his skull. And then tackle-hug him and refuse to let go for a very long time.
Suddenly, the sound of the front door creaking open reached her ears. Her body immediately relaxed, her heart ceased pounding, and she physically felt her shoulders go lax. He was home. Home safe.
"Maka…" came his hushed, husky voice as he gently opened her bedroom door. "Maka, I'm home. You really shouldn't leave the door unlocked, you know."
She wanted to spring out of her bed and latch onto him. She wanted to run to him and confess to him how worried sick she had been about him. She wanted to do something, but all she did was lay there under her covers, feigning sleep.
"Guess she's asleep. At least I'm not worrying her to death…" his voice trailed off as he left her doorway, undoubtedly to go crash in his own bed. Maka sighed heavily to herself.
Perhaps she was still ashamed of herself for worrying so much.
~x~
"What?! You can't possibly tell me you were out on the mission past midnight and nothing happened. You're lying!"
Soul sighed, massaging his temples in frustration He had a pounding headache and he was very tired from last night's events; he hadn't gotten much sleep considering the next day was a school day, the first day of their senior year.
"Maka, I told you. We thought we had a lead on something but it turned out to be nothing more than a wild goose chase. A huge waste of time, nothing to write home about," he explained to her, exasperatedly. His headstrong meister held his tired, sleepy gaze, her eyes fixed at his with a determined, frustrated stare. He could tell by her furrowed eyebrows and pouty lip that she wasn't buying his story.
"Kid wouldn't keep you out that late if it was a wild goose chase, Soul," Maka breathed at him, changing her demeanor from that of a hardened, determined stare to one of cool, aloof, yet somewhat miffed off composure, now focusing her attention on slicing her pancakes. She wouldn't look at him.
"Yeah, cause you've gone on soooo many missions with Kid, Maka," Soul scoffed, eyeing his partner coolly, yet sleepily. Usually, breakfast wasn't nearly this tense, but after seven years of partnership, arguments were common. Soul and Maka bickered like an old married couple nowadays.
"Well, please do enlighten me. Missions with him seem to be so stressful after all." The sarcasm in Maka's voice was thick.
"He's such a pain. Mister perfectionist, obsessive-compulsive grim reaper. Always has to have everything go according to plan and if it doesn't, he freaks out. He tries to avoid looking at me while I'm in weapon form because I'm asymmetrical and it makes him cringe. And last night he would not give up on chasing that stupid goat which Kid was convinced was a manticore. It was awful."
"Manticore?!" Maka put her fork down and stared at her partner with concern in her eyes. "That's serious business, Soul, those are super dangerous…" she could feel her anger subsiding. Just the thought of Soul encountering one of those beasts without her there was enough to put her petty argument to rest.
"Yeah, well, like I said, it was just a dumb goat. We finally cornered it in a swamp, and then of course the mission was called off. Too bad we had already wasted four hours chasing the damn thing all over the British Isles," Soul sounded excruciatingly tired.
"How do you mistake a goat for a manticore?" Maka mused as she went back to her pancakes. Soul simply shrugged, and a heavy silence followed, the only sound being the clanging of silverware on plate as Maka finished her pancakes. He noticed that the furrow in her brow and the tight worry lines in her face gradually left as she ate.
"Maka," he said with sudden urgency in his voice. Her eyes darted up to meet his.
"You really shouldn't waste your time worrying about me, you know. It's kind of offensive. I mean, I am the last Death Scythe. I can handle myself, even if it would've been a manticore last night. I would've been fine." Maka said nothing, simply letting her eyes fall.
"Besides, if you worry too much, you'll get premature wrinkles, and it would be a real shame to ruin your pretty little face this early in life," he smirked, knowing his comment would get a reaction out of her. Immediately her cheeks flushed deep pink and her fists balled up.
"Shut up, Soul, I'm not one of your crazy fangirls, compliments don't work on me!" Maka huffed as she hurriedly gathered up her dishes and turned away from her snarky weapon, who now sported a delightful shit-eating grin on his face.
"One day, they will," Soul chuckled into her ear as he placed his plate next to the sink for her to wash.
"Makaaaaaaa… CHOP!" Soul laughed out loud as Maka brought down a thick, dictionary sized novel mere inches from his face; he had jumped out of the way just in the nick of time and was now bolting for his bedroom door.
"DAMN YOU SOUL DON'T GIVE ME INCENTIVE TO BURN YOUR DINNER TONIGHT!" Maka screamed as Soul slammed his door shut. Messing with his meister would never get old.
~x~
Senior year brought with it many changes, the first of which being the fact that Soul and Maka's schedules were different. Maka's gifted intellect had only grown over the years, and therefore she had been placed in nearly all accelerated level classes: Soul Physics, college level Calculus, Meister-Weapon Theory, and British Literature. Soul, on the other hand, did not really see the point of trying so hard in school, since he had garnered enough fame and recognition as the last Death Scythe, so his classes were more on the basic level, the bare minimum required for graduation.
"See you in fourth period?" Soul quipped to his flaxen-haired meister as she closed up her locker. For the fifth year in a row, he was able to get a locker right next to hers, a fact that reassured him that he would at least be able to check up on her a few times a day.
"Yupp. Gonna whoop your butt this year in P.T," Maka teased, sticking her tongue out at him. This of course caused a wide, toothy grin to spread across Soul's face, for he knew she was talking about the Back to School Fitness Examination, which was a tradition held on the first day back at school for all the gym classes. The "exam" wasn't for a grade, but rather just an exercise held to see who had kept up fitness training during the summer and who had not.
"In your dreams, sweetheart," Soul snickered, delighting even more in the deep scowl Maka wore on her face as she stomped off to class. He had beaten her every year so far, without fail, and every year she had the same determination to beat him as she did today. It was cute.
"Oh yeah, that's right," the grin faded from Soul's face as he shut his own locker and sauntered off to his first class. "Our schedules are different this year," he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and assuming his usual cool, aloof demeanor. They only had two classes together this year, out of 8 in the whole day, and Soul was still trying to figure out why he was so upset about this fact.
The first day of senior year couldn't have been more typical. Soul tried to stay awake and pay attention during his first three classes, nodding off between sleep and consciousness, while Maka, in her classes, sat straight up, undivided attention on the lecture, her pencil flying frantically as she took down notes. Though Maka was happy with her accelerated class schedule, the only people she knew in those classes with her were Ox and Harvar, and this only made her work harder. Her and Ox were vying neck and neck for the title of valedictorian this year; the competition had become stiff between them after the battle on the moon, when Maka was given the honor of three-star meister along with Black Star for their kishin-killing efforts, whereas Ox, Kim, and Kilik remained two-star meisters. He had ever since been determined to beat her academically.
By the time fourth period rolled around, Soul was exhausted. The lack of sleep was really beginning to kick in, and he wasn't sure if he could hang on till lunch, especially considering the fact that fourth period was History of Phasmology, a class that sounded so boring he could physically feel his brain shutting down just thinking about it; however, it was one of the classes he had with Maka, so of course he would make the best of it.
"You're late, Soul, as usual. I see nothing has changed for you this year," came Stein's monotone voice as Soul sauntered in. The white-haired weapon shrugged.
"Well, go on, sit down, let's get class started. As you all know, Phasmology is the scientific study of ghosts, spirits, and other paranormal creatures…" Stein was already going into lecture mode before Soul even sat down.
"Soul! Over here!" Black Star was whispering loudly and gesturing to an empty seat between him and Maka. Soul grinned and took his seat, fist bumping Black Star under the table. Maka simply nodded to acknowledge his presence, her attention engulfed on the lecture, half a page of notes already scribbled on her notebook page. Soul felt better already, being in class with her and Black Star again. Looking around, he was startled to see that all their friends were in this class together, of course with the exception of Kid, but then he remembered that History of Phasmology was a senior year requirement that all students must take regardless of their intelligence level. Black Star had taken to scrawling his name all over his notebook, and eventually began balling up paper footballs to chuck at Dr. Stein at some point.
Soul decided to sleep till lunch.
~x~
"Tied!? TIED!? How INFURIATING!" Maka screamed as they left the gymnasium, a very haughty and proud looking Soul strolling along just behind her, walking triumphantly with his hands folded behind his neck. It seemed that deciding to nap during Phasmology earlier had proven to be a good decision, giving him a boost of energy for gym class after lunch.
"What are you getting so worked up over, Maka? You should be happy that your weapon is so strong and physically fit, hehe," Soul sneered sarcastically. Maka had tied with him for second place in the Back to School Fitness Examination, and she was taking it very hard.
"Its so stupid! I beat you in the track race, and the ONLY reason we tied is because you're stronger than me and you performed better in strength training!" Maka wasn't calming down.
"And don't forget you lost your sparring match," Soul teased her.
"I ONLY LOST BECAUSE I WAS PARTNERED UP WITH PATTY! UGHHH!" Maka stamped her feet and Soul howled with laughter, proceeding to laugh the rest of the way to their lockers as Maka continued to grumble to herself.
"Maka, you know, you really shouldn't beat yourself up about it. You should see it as a personal gain. It's the first year you've tied with me, normally you place third-" Soul's sentence was interrupted when he opened his locker and tons of pink, heart-stamped envelopes came pouring out. Love letters and partner requests, no doubt.
"Damnit! It's the first day of school, how do they ALREADY know where my locker is?!" Soul hollered as he began to scoop all of the envelopes up off the floor. As he gathered them all up and glanced around for the nearest trash can, he noticed Maka's face had hardened, her anger and frustration no longer prominent, as she turned her combination lock.
"Its gonna be another loooong year…" Soul sighed as he fumbled through his locker for his notebook, valuable passing time having been wasted throwing away his daily dose of fan mail.
"You aren't going to look at any of them?" Maka asked him glumly, throwing him a sideways glance. Soul stopped what he was doing to look at her. She always got mopey and glum when he got partner requests, but she hadn't asked this question in a while.
"Of course not. Why would you even ask that, Maka?" he answered her. She only grinned in response, a small, satisfied, happy little grin.
"See you after school, Soul. I've decided I'm making couscous for dinner tonight," she told him cheerfully as she closed her locker and skipped off to her next class, leaving Soul very confused.
He was going to get whiplash if her mood swings kept up today.
~x~
Thankfully, they didn't. The rest of the school day passed uneventfully, and when they headed home for the evening, Maka was still in a pleasant mood. She did in fact make couscous for dinner, and she seemed to have forgotten her earlier plans to burn his meal. But, oddly enough, her persistently pleasant mood made Soul feel uneasy. So uneasy, in fact, that he couldn't keep his mind occupied with the TV show he was watching as Maka sat next to him on the couch reading. His eyes kept nervously glancing at her, as though she would Maka chop him at any given moment.
"Say, uh… Maka?" he piped up nervously, voice wavering the littlest bit. She looked up from her book and smiled.
"Yes, Soul?"
"Uh… well, uh, I got partner requests on the first day of school this year. You're, uh… taking it really well…" he trailed off, not knowing how to finish his question.
"Well, you didn't even look at them. Why would I have to be worried?" she smiled even bigger now, cheery enthusiasm in her voice.
"Right, yeah… that makes sense…" Soul was silent for a moment, before going on.
"You know I wouldn't ever leave you, right?" This time his voice was serious, unwavering, and urgent, as if everything rested on Maka realizing this.
"Hmmm. I know," she smiled coyly, eyes returning to her book, the faintest hint of color rising on her cheeks. Soul relaxed, his voice returning to lighthearted sarcasm.
"I mean, its senior year, switching partners at this point would just be ridiculous!" he laughed, noticing Maka tensing up again.
"Oh, is that the reason…" she deadpanned, however did not have any more time to react, as an urgent ringing noise filled the apartment at that precise moment. Maka snapped her book shut and Soul jumped up off the couch instantly.
The bathroom mirror was ringing, which only meant one thing.
"SOUL! MAKA! URGENT! COME TO THE DWMA AT ONCE!" Kid's booming voice echoed throughout the room as Maka answered the call. She had gotten to the bathroom first. They wasted no time, Maka pulling on her combat boots and Soul grabbing his jacket and the keys to the bike. Neither of them said anything, thoughts preoccupied with what could possibly be wrong at school; it was nearly 10:30 pm already.
It was not a pleasant evening out. Thick, dark clouds had massed since they had gotten home, and it was beginning to rain as Soul revved up the bike's engine. Maka tried really hard not to think about the possibility that the rain was an omen, instead burying her face in Soul's jacket as he picked up speed. In an emergency, he didn't have to obey traffic laws, and in no time at all, they had pulled up in the DWMA parking lot. By the time they dismounted the bike, the rain was coming down hard, and the young weapon and meister pair ran desperately toward the entrance. Maka then realized this was the second night in a row that a thunderstorm had hit, not a normal occurrence this time of year. She looked up at the DWMA worriedly, thinking more and more now that something was very wrong.
"Maka!" Soul screamed above the rain, looking back and extending his hand out. Maka took it without saying a word, his transformation into a scythe as seamless and smooth as ever. She effortlessly grasped him in her palms, holding him tight as she ran, bursting through the doors to the Academy. And then… silence. It was dark and quiet inside the school, the only sound being the occasional rumble of thunder and the rain pounding against the large windows. She took off down the hall in the direction of the Death Room, thinking that to be the most logical place to find Kid. Black Star materialized next to her, Tsubaki in hand, no doubt having jumped down from some high place in the shadows.
"Good to see you guys here," he mumbled gruffly, and Maka nodded in agreement. Suddenly, the pair of meisters came to a screeching halt. In the foyer just preceding the steps to the Death Room, a window had been shattered, and rain was now streaming in, broken glass and water strewn about the place. But there was something else. Maka knelt down and placed her palm in the water, and when she retracted it, it was stained with blood. She gasped.
"Somebody was attacked here," Black Star stepped forward into the mess, looking around. "What's that over there?" he pointed to a small, shiny object. Maka strode forward to investigate, picking it up.
"Looks like a small vial of something…" Soul's distant, metallic sounding voice said as Maka picked it up. At that very moment Kid came charging down the stairs.
"I LOST HIM!" the young reaper bellowed in contempt, sliding to a stop next to Maka. He bent over, hands on his knees, panting from exhaustion. Black Star strode over and clapped his hand on Kid's shoulder. "Lost who? The perpetrator?"
"Yeah… chased him all over the school…" Kid gasped between breaths. "Crazy bastard jumped out the window of the East Tower… I couldn't… pursue him any longer… had to meet you guys…" Kid coughed suddenly, his body convulsing. Maka helped Black Star steady him at this point.
"Kid, who was attacked here? There's blood everywhere…" Maka asked sullenly.
"I heard the crash and came running here…" Kid was catching his breath now. "I managed to get a few hits on the guy before he took off running… I think he also hurt himself coming through the window…" Kid straightened himself up now. "You two okay?" he asked, glancing between the two highest ranked meisters in the school.
"Yeah, we're fine. I wonder what the douche's motive was, breaking in to the school like that…" Black Star trailed off, staring at the shattered windowpane.
"I wish I'd have caught him," Kid said between gritted teeth, fists balling up, releasing Liz and Patty as they transformed into their human forms.
"Kid, we found this just now, before you got here," Maka shoved the vial at him, as Soul and Tsubaki transformed out of weapon form.
"Strange…" Kid held the vial up, turning it over a few times. The liquid inside was a deep purple, and it was glowing ever so slightly. "I will give this to Doctor Stein at once for analysis," Kid announced urgently, turning back up the stairs as Liz and Patty followed. "I will notify you immediately once I find out anything!" the young reaper called back, his voice growing distant.
"Well… what now?" Tsubaki chimed in gently, after a few moments of silence.
"I guess we head back," Soul said softly, his gaze lingering on the dark stairwell that Kid had disappeared up. He was probably already on his way to Stein's lab. Black Star put his arm around Tsubaki.
"Yeah. Catch you later, I guess." The blue haired assassin's voice was gruff with frustration. He hated losing his quarry as much as Kid did, but Maka only felt confused. Her mind was reeling, churning over all the questions. Who had broken in here, what did they want, why did they drop a mysterious vial…
"Come on, Tiger Lily." Soul nudged her gently, his voice soft and gentle. "Let's go home."
~x~
The next day was an uneventful school day until 6th period. Maka was in the middle of Calculus class and Soul was in Intermediate English class, when both of them were called to the Death Room. They met up at the foot of the stairs, the wreckage from last night still there, an eyesore in the otherwise beautiful Academy; the window had been boarded up but there will still pieces of glass. They were silent as they walked up the steps to the Death Room, and neither of them were surprised to find Black Star, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty there. Kid's eyes tensed as he met Soul's crimson gaze, and Soul immediately understood what Kid was trying to communicate to him, what was going on, what was in the vial. The grim reaper was silent and somber for several moments, fingers clutching the small vial tightly.
"Whoever broke in here last night…" Kid began, his voice serious, emotionless, eyes hard, concentrating as he went on.
"…Had very, very, grave intentions. For this vial I hold in my hands contains an extremely concentrated magical substance. A poison." Tsubaki and Liz gasped audibly, and Soul swallowed hard.
"But not just any poison, friends." Kid held the vial up for all to see.
"What I hold in my hands is none other than… manticore poison."