If you're reading this and you haven't yet red the prequel to this fic, Boundless, go check it out!
A warm hellllo to all my readers, yes I'm back and so is our good friend Melody Marshal! I promised I would be posting this today, the first chapter of the sequel to Boundless, so here you have it. Thanks to all my reviewers that have stuck with me since I started Boundless, and an equally big thanks to anyone just starting the series now!
The DWMA has been treating me well for the past few days.
Since we last left off, I've moved into Maka and Soul's apartment, Crona and I have been congratulated by Stein for our first successful attempt at retrieving a kishin soul, and builders have started adding on to the DWMA to prepare for the new students.
Yes, I said new students. A whole school full of them.
This next month is going to be hectic.
The curtains were yanked open and bright morning light blinded me. "Rise and shine Melody, it's time for school," Maka's stern voice announced. I shielded my eyes from the brightness and grumbled.
"Get out of bed now unless you want me to dump ice water on your face," Maka ordered. I tossed a pillow at her head. "Going to get the water," she sang, and promptly left the room.
I sat up in bed, deciding this would be a good time to get my ass moving.
Blair slunk by the open door, lifting a paw in my direction. "Maka's getting the water," she warned.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I stood up and walked past her out into the hallway. I nearly stepped on her tail, and she hissed, scrambling back.
"Watch it, Gingy," she snapped. I rolled my eyes and made my way to the kitchen. Maka was just turning away from the sink with a cup full of water when she saw me.
"Oh, Melody," she said, pouring the water back down the drain. "Guess that was a waste of water."
"Don't be silly, it wasn't a waste," I told her, sitting down at the table and pouring myself some cheerios. With my mouth full, I added, "It's more water for the fishies."
She stared at me, with a critical expression on her face. Her eyes narrowed in frustration. I almost laughed out loud at how tense she was acting.
Then came the sound of a door opening and closing, and Soul moved slowly into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Maka. Breakfast," he ordered, taking a seat across from me at the table. I tried not to meet his gaze.
Maka sighed. "Don't be a selfish pig, Soul, get your own damn breakfast."
Soul shrugged and complied, grabbing the box of cheerios and pouring himself a bowl. His arm slipped and he spilled them all over the table. "Oops," he grunted, grabbing handfuls of them and shoving them back in the box.
Maka stiffened. "I live with a bunch of slobs," she grumbled in annoyance, stomping out of the room. Soul laughed quietly to himself as she left.
"Uh, is she gonna be alright?" I asked meekly as Soul slumped over his cheerios.
"Oh, yeah," he replied, dismissing my question with a wave of his spoon. "She gets like this a lot. She probably just went to go clean Blair's litter box or something. Today's one of those days."
"Oh. Okay." I stood up and placed my empty bowl in the sink. I left Soul alone with his thoughts and returned to the room Maka and I shared. I picked out an outfit for the day, a blue blouse and a pair of white shorts, grabbed my brush and a towel, and went to the bathroom. I showered quickly, dressed, then brushed through my red hair that reached just past my shoulder blades. Then I returned to mine and Maka's room to do my makeup.
There came a knock on the door, and I opened it to find Soul standing there casually with his hands in his pockets. "Don't forget we start tutoring today," he mumbled. I nodded, about to shut the door when he added, "Oh and me and Maka are leaving now, you can come with us if you want."
"Sure," I said, "Just hang on a second." I disappeared back into the room and reappeared with my bag over my shoulder. "Let's go," I said. Maka joined us on our way out.
"I still get nervous about leaving this place with Blair," she said through gritted teeth.
"Then maybe you should have stayed home," Soul deadpanned. Maka cringed.
"Are you crazy? You think me of all people would miss school? What is wrong with you?"
As they bickered, my mind drifted. Soul and I hadn't spoken about our trip since Saturday, the day we got back. It was almost as if it had never happened. Almost as if he had never tried to kiss me. I wondered if he had forgotten altogether.
We arrived at the school within fifteen minutes. It was busy, not to mention loud. The construction workers were hard at work on the addition. Maka grumbled something about not being able to hear herself think over all that racket, then none other than Black Star and Tsubaki approached us.
"You are now in the presence of a God," Black Star announced loudly. "Feel free to praise my Godliness!"
Soul and I rolled our eyes, while Maka raised her book and said, "Maka...CHOP!"
Black Star groaned and rolled around on the ground, blood spurting from the book-sized dent in his skull. Tsubaki grimaced nervously. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid today's not a very good day for him," she confessed, pulling him off the ground.
"Yeah? Same for Maka," Soul affirmed. A moment later the same book came crashing into his cranium.
Tsubaki and I sidled away, not wanting to get caught up in the middle of this rampage. "It's going to be a long day," Tsubaki sighed as we walked inside the school. I glanced back at Maka who was screeching and stomping her foot comically at the two boys, flinging her arms through the air like a madwoman. Soul and Black Star were lying like vegetables on the ground, tongues hanging out of their mouths, clutching their throbbing heads.
I laughed to myself and replied, "Tell me about it."
My second Monday at the academy was nothing like my first.
It was the first time I felt like I fit in at the DWMA. My friends were great to me, I loved my classes, and everything was going much better than it had been before. It was almost like last week had never even happened. But for some reason I still had a small shred of uncertainty, because of course I didn't want all of last week to be forgotten.
I was a little uncomfortable explaining to Stein that I couldn't train with Crona that day because I had to tutor younger children as a punishment for breaking and entering into another academy. He squinted at me from behind his glasses and turned the large screw in his head. Then he laughed.
"I need a break from you two anyway," he mused. "Go tell Crona," he added. I nodded and returned to my seat next to Crona.
"No practice today," I said while packing up my stuff, taking a sideways glance at Crona. He grimaced.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"I have tutoring today," I mumbled.
"Tutoring? W-why?"
I smirked. "For being a troublemaker."
"Oh," he said quietly.
I leaned down and rested my head on my folded arms. Stein was teaching something about dissection, as usual, and I didn't find it necessary to pay attention. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Crona shift awkwardly. I straightened up again, turning to look at him inquiringly.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
He shook his head, his wispy strands of pink hair falling unevenly around his face.
"Crona," I said softly. "You gotta tell me. I'm your partner."
He pouted, took a deep breath, and murmured, "It's just, if we never practice I don't know how I'm ever going to get good enough to turn you into a death scythe."
I raised my eyebrows in his direction. "Is that what this is all about?" He blushed, and I took that as a yes. I sighed. "Crona, we've been practicing a lot. And we still have the whole rest of the week. I only have tutoring on Mondays. So don't worry, it's not like I'm ditching you forever or something." I patted his hand in an attempt to be comforting. "I'm still your partner. You'll make me a death scythe soon enough."
He nodded, but I could still sense the doubt in his demeanor. I took a deep breath and buried my head in my hands. Stein's lectures on dissecting were so boring I think I would rather have been the one being dissected.