"MAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"WHOA-" Maka nearly dropped the pan she was scrubbing; her gaze jerked toward the creaking staircase as the screaming man stumbled down the steps.

"MAKAAAAA-"

"I'm right here, Soul, you don't have to-!"

"What the HELL did you do?!"

"I-I'm sorry?!"

"Are you DEAF?! I said WHAT THE HELL did you do?!"

"I don't know, Soul, what the hell DID I do?!"

"You totally screwed up the bathroom, THAT'S what you did! Kidd had all of my potions and dyes organized EXACTLY the way I wanted them, and then-"

"You mean, all over the place?" It was more of an accusation than a question. "On the edge of the tub, all around the sink, on the back of the toilet-"

"YES okay? But it makes it easier to get to! I can see everything and I KNOW where it is!"

"So I actually made use of the cabinets in there! What's the problem?" Maka quirked a brow, not seeing anything glaringly different about the sorcerer- well, if you didn't count his extremely bloodshot eyes and the towel on his head.

"THIS." He cried, ripping off said towel to reveal stark white where soft gold used to be. "AND MY EYES." He pointed sharply toward himself, prompting a small gasp from Maka when she realized his eyes weren't bloodshot at all. His irises had turned completely scarlet.

"H-How-?"

"The dye potion from my hair! It got in my eyes! Burned like HELL, and now they look like THIS!" He threw his arms into the hair, sighing melodramatically before proclaiming, "I'm ruined." He collapsed in front of the fireplace, gripping his locks in white-knuckled fists. "I'm a freak." He croaked, rocking back a forth in a heap of self-pity.

After her initial shock wore off, Maka plastered on a smiled, reaching toward him. "It's not so bad! It's lovely, actually. So…unique!"

He twitched beneath her touch, pulling away from her with a low growl. "Unique." He mumbled tersely, acid in his tone as he curled into himself sullenly. "Unique hair won't get me anywhere. Unique eyes won't let me prove myself. Unique anything won't make my family accept me. They'll all run way, faster than before." He chuckled bitterly, pulling at his hair as he moped further. "There's no point in living if you have to live alone."

"Hey!" Maka screwed up her features and stomped over to perch on the edge of the fireplace, a distantly curious Kidd shuffling behind her. "Listen here, buddy. My mother left us when I was eight years old. Just me and my washed up, alcoholic mage of a father. She rarely wrote. Never visited. Hardly showed one semblance of giving a damn about us after she left. My father was even worse. He was just…THERE. He couldn't even LOOK at me after that, much less show me any love. Too busy drowning in booze and other women. Do you even know how long it's been since I've felt like I was in a family, like I belonged to a real family?!" She forced back the tears, swallowing the acid in her throat as she reached out and cupped his face in her hands. The wild blaze was gone from his eyes, replaced with a defeated resignation that made her stomach churn. "But you know what? It's okay. I accepted that I would never be loved, and I moved on."

Soul said nothing, just stared at her in the strangest way. Pursing her lips, Maka dropped her hands and rose. "Fine, if you're just going to sit there and pout all day, then-"

A sharp pull held her back. She turned, and Soul raised his head to face her, his trembling hand still gripping her skirt. "Please, don't leave me, Maka." The plea in his voice, his eyes, nearly chipped her heart. "I can't do this alone."

"Don't be so dramatic, Soul." She quipped, coloring a bit in spite of herself. "You can wait it out and fix your hair on your own."

"No, I literally can't do this alone." He blushed and gestured toward his feet, which were now little more than useless, boneless rubber.

Sighing, Maka bent and guided his arm over her shoulders, carefully lifting and supporting him as he tried to stand while restoring his legs as best he could. "You really are the biggest baby." She giggled when he sputtered in her direction, clearly out of his element as they slowly made their way to and up the stairs.

"There you go!" She carefully deposited Soul on top of the toilet seat, cranked the tub on full blast, and turned to Kidd. "Take care of him, Kidd. Make sure his legs are back to normal before he tries to get up again. I'll be back later to check on you two." She breezed past the boy, who merely nodded in quiet respect, and through the doorway. "And Soul," She added, hand still on the knob. "I really do like your new hair and eyes. They're really something special. Like you." She hurriedly slammed the door and hastened down the hall, hiding her rouged cheeks from one equally flushed sorcerer.