Chapter 2

Maka whipped around faster than light and felt her heart leap to her throat when she identified the intruder. She self-consciously tucked her wings in and folded them neatly, pressing them against her back. After getting over her initial shock, she scowled and crossed her arms.

"Why are you here?" she spat, glaring up at the trespasser currently stationed in the trees.

"What?" the figure said. "I can't greet a long-time friend? How've ya been?"

Maka's eyes narrowed into slits. "Go back underground where you belong."

The dark figure jumped down from the branches, uncloaking himself in the moonlight. Brown, mopped hair was strewn across the top of his head, falling down to the back of his neck. It clung to his head as if it were wet and flipped up at the ends. His dark brown eyes laughed mischievously as they looked Maka up and down. He wore a silver and black graphic t-shirt and black jeans accented with combat boots. He smiled egotistically causing Maka to roll her eyes.

He was a handsome man, no doubt about it. He'd more than likely had his fair share of beautiful women throwing themselves at him. But his looks and charm were the main attention grabbers. His obsidian black, feathered wings were. They shone navy blue and dark purple in the moon's dim light. If you were to look in the dictionary, a picture of his wings would be placed next to the word "divine."

The young man put his hand over his heart and mock gasped. "Ouch! So feisty!" His hand dropped back to his side and he smiled again. "Just like I remembered."

"Just shut up alright?" Maka snapped.

The dark angel in front of her laughed and stepped closer, folding his own wings against his back. "Still got that back, I see." He walked behind Maka while she stood stock-still, noting the smidge of curiosity in her eyes. He ran a single, lean finger down one of her wings, earning a half-surprised shudder from her. "But do you still have that bite of yours?"

"Please!" Maka scoffed. "I can still kick your ass any day of the week."

The man quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

"Do you want it to be?"

"Why not? It'll give me a chance to show off some new moves of mine."

"And you have moves to begin with?"

The man winced and placed both of his hands on Maka's shoulders. "Ouch. Blow to the ego, Maka."

Maka sighed and shrugged his hands off of her shoulders. "I'm not in the mood for your games, Grayson," she hissed and turned around to face him.

Grayson straightened up and delved his olive-skinned hands into his pockets. "Right, right. I'm here on business anyway." He kicked a small rock beside his foot and they both watched as it skidded across the forest floor.

"Business?" Maka questioned. Who would've thought that Grayson, her childhood friend who cringed at the mere words "business" and "serious", could be visiting her on business matters? As a kid, he was always goofing and clowning around. It took hours to get the kid to calm down. Sure, as he matured, he lost most of his hyperness, but his inner child remained in his heart. And as much as it annoyed Maka to no end, she had to appreciate the last bit of light his heart contained.

"Yep," he answered. "You know the organization I joined?"

Maka scowled. She did all too well. "Yeah and I still don't approve."

Grayson stuck out his lower lip in a mock pout and wiped at his eye. "Don't say such mean things, Maka-chan." He reached out for her arm but she stepped back and shot him a look that clearly told him to back off. He raised both of his hands in defeat. "Fine. Say what you want."

"So what kind of business are you here for?" Maka prompted.

Grayson instantly sobered and sighed. His posture tensed until he was standing straight, unveiling his actual height. Maka couldn't help but shrink a little and feel awfully short and inferior. She straightened up, attempting to remain on equal level with the dark angel before her.

"The organization is rather small as you know," began Grayson sounding awfully like a businessman selling a pitch for his product, except in a more suave and dark manner. He could sell anything and everything with that tone. "So they're seeking out new recruits in order to increase our numbers." He gave Maka a pointed look, hinting at something she had yet to catch onto. Silence filled the air between them while Grayson allowed Maka to process his message. He knew she had when her eyes slowly widened in disbelief.

"They want you, Maka," Grayson confirmed.

"No!" screeched Maka. She backed away rapidly, stumbling over fallen branches and spiked gumballs. "No way in hell!" Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her anger took control of her breathing.

He knew, that damned Grayson knew how much she hated – scratch that, how much she loathed the organization he was in. She opposed it and anything else the Fallen were associated with. They were nothing but a bunch of arrogant bastards looking to disrupt everything that she and her kind worked so hard to maintain.

They were damned, evil fools.

"Now c'mon, Maka-chan! Just relax and think for a moment," Grayson said as he began to walk towards her.

"No!" shouted Maka. Another twig announced with a snap under her foot that it had been broken in two as Maka backed up another step. "How. . .why did you think you could ask me that, Grayson? You know how I feel about them! They're nothing but pompous sons of bitches who don't know how to leave things lay as they are!" she seethed. She turned her back to Grayson and ground her teeth in frustration. "We work so hard to protect what you guys destroy," she muttered.

"I can't believe you joined those bastards, Grayson." She walked over to the tree where she had discarded her windbreaker and bent down to pick it up. She wasn't necessarily planning on going home just yet and face Soul, but she surely couldn't stand anymore of Grayson right now either. She'd go to the park or the bookstore or something.

Maka's thin fingers had just brushed the soft fabric of her windbreaker and were ready to close around a handful of it when a sharp pain shot down her back. Her high-pitched scream woke all of the creatures sleeping in the forest and probably a few people who lived nearby. The rustle of leaves in front of her betrayed a frightened squirrel that was running far away from the girl screeching in pain.

Her offender, Grayson, yanked her up by her wing and held her up in mid-air. He adjusted his hold on her wing to gain a better grip as she flailed wildly, screaming and swearing as she tried to kick him.

"Put me down! Grayson!" Unwanted tears sped down her cheeks and she let out a string of pathetic whimpers. Her feet clawed for the forest floor on instinct, looking for relief from the pain. "Grayson, it hurts!"

"Then take it back." Grayson looked down at her, all traces of his playful personality absent. It wasn't even his business tone anymore. This was pure menace, something that Maka had never seen and thought she never would. This man before her was an entirely different person.

They had changed her best friend.

"Take back what you said about them," he commanded. His brown hair hung down limply, half-covering his now cold and solid eyes.

"Grayson," whimpered Maka. She winced as she felt like her wing was about to be ripped from its socket and a few more tears slipped down her face. "Stop," she pleaded. "Grayson, they're sensitive!" She began to wiggle in a feeble attempt to slide out of his grasp but only managed to jolt her wing roughly and send another mind-numbing jolt of pain down her back. She gave out a strangled cry of pain and felt extra fuel being added to the fire between her shoulder blades.

"I said to take it back!" he shouted at her, fury driving him and taking complete control of his body. It must have, otherwise he wouldn't be doing something so cruel and heartless to someone he loved dearly. He was like a sister to him and Maka knew this because he had told her that on many occasions. But now that stupid organization had turned him into some kind of madman. Grayson began to shake Maka up and down vigorously, passing off Maka's pain-filled shouts as if they were just whispers of the wind.

"GRAYSON!"

Something in Grayson snapped back and the dark aura around him dissipated as easy as if a switch was thrown. He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand and when it was removed, they had converted back to their warm, chestnut brown. He looked over at the sobbing Maka that he held in the air and dropped her immediately in shock and panic. She crumpled into a ball upon impact with the ground and took a shuddering breath.

"Maka! Shit! I'm so sorry! I don't-"

Maka looked up at him, eyes betraying how broken she currently felt by stars of tears, shining brightly in the moonlight. His heart plummeted all the way down to his feet as he watched her lips tremble slightly at the struggle of trying to hold back anymore of her tears. The sad, sympathetic look she gave him made him feel absolutely terrible; enough to be willing to have his own wings be ripped out by hand.

"Dammit, Grayson. You know how sensitive my wings are," she whispered and reached back to rub the irritated spot. "That hurt, you jackass."

Grayson knelt down behind Maka and nudged her hand away, taking its place with his own. He massaged around the wing and guiltily wiped off a trickle of blood that was beginning to trail down her back and stain her shirt.

"I got blood on your shirt. Sorry," he apologized. Maka sighed and slumped forward farther.

"Whatever. This shirt's getting old anyway," she muttered.

Grayson wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her backwards against his chest. "I know that you're against G.O.D, but at least consider it. Please? For me," he added, rubbing his chilled nose along Maka's warm shoulders.

"Grayson," sighed Maka. She rested her head against his shoulders and brought her knees up to her chest. "I'm a Guardian and I have a protin to take care of."

"Soul Evans. Piano music prodigy from the wealthy music-producing Evans family. Demon scythe and student at Shibusen, recently converted to a deathscythe. Emancipated from parents in 2005 before moving to Death City, Nevada. Seventeen years old and is currently five-foot-eight. White hair, red eyes, tan skin, sharp teeth. Favorite music is jazz and rock. Infected with Black Blood in 2006 by Chrona Makenshi during a mission in Italy. Favorite-"

"How in the hell do you know all that?" interrupted Maka harshly as she craned her neck to look at Grayson.

"It's in his file."

"File?"

"Yep." Grayson stretched out his legs in front of him, one on each side of Maka. "And that thing is thick! Guy's got a lot of history you know."

"But how-?"

"You guys aren't the only ones with archives."

Maka stayed silent as she played with the hem of her camisole, pulling at a stray string unraveling from the bottom. They had files on humans like Soul? Or was it just the humans who were protins? But why would they have any of these files in the first place? Whatever the reason, Maka knew it couldn't be good considering it involved the Fallen. She wanted to ask Grayson for more information. After all, he was her friend. But he was also one of them, so she held her tongue and decided it could wait.

But she still felt unnerved by this new-known fact and had the strong impulse to rush home and check on Soul. Maybe Grayson wasn't the only G.O.D. member here. What if they were using Grayson to distract her so that they could kidnap – or worse – kill Soul? She had to go back. Just to check in on him.

"Don't worry. Your protin's safe for now," Grayson assured, being some kind of weird mind reader.

But Maka didn't relax. At Shibusen, meisters (and voluntary weapons) were trained to have keen hearing to pay attention to everything said. That way, eavesdropping on missions would be like second nature. That, and they never missed anything said in a sentence, even if the person began to mumble.

"For now?" she questioned.

Grayson sighed in an "I'm-bored-with-this" manner and moved her so her could stand up. When he did, he kindly offered Maka his hand and helped her up. Once they were both standing up he shoved his hands into the shallow recesses of his pockets.

"Yeah, about that. You see, G.O.D. doesn't take no for answer. So if that's what you tell them, they're going to find a way of changing your mind."

Maka felt a queasy sensation at the pit of her stomach and back of her throat and fought down the need to gag. Sweat built up in her palms and the back of neck got warm. She did not like where this was going. "Just get to the point."

Grayson reluctantly turned to face her with a sullen look in his chestnut eyes. "Maka, if you don't join us, they're going to kill your protin."

Maka stood there silently, unmoving and expressionless. His fists slowly clenched into fists at her side and she clenched down on her jaw.

Soul.

They wanted to kill Soul.

They were always destroying what she and her clan were struggling to protect. Nothing so small as a human soul could matter to them. So Maka knew that they wouldn't even spare a second of hesitation if they really wanted to kill him.

"Just think about it. Okay, Maka? I'll be back later for your answer," said Grayson as he unfolded his wings to their full length – fifteen feet – and jumped straight up onto the lowest tree branch. "See ya, Angel-chan!"

"Stay away from us, you hear me? Don't let me see either you or one of your little friends here ever again! Just stay! Away!" screamed Maka.

Grayson's shadowed form wordlessly shrugged nonchalantly before taking off into the sky. His black wings blended into the night sky, something her bright white wings could never do. But she didn't mind her white wings. They told her she was on the right path.

And right now, that path was protecting Soul.

A wave of worry swept Maka up as her legs carried her out of the forest, carried her home, and carried her to Soul. She retracted her wings into her back to prevent any trouble in case someone happened to look out their window.

Silent but jumbled chants and pleads bounced around Maka's head as buildings whirled around her in a blur and streetlamps became solid strings of light.

'Please let Grayson be the only one who came.'

'Let Soul be smart enough to lock up the house.'

'Let Soul be okay.'

'Let Soul be okay.'

'Dammit. That jackass better be okay.'

Rounding the corner onto their street, Maka felt like collapsing from exhaustion, stress, and the throbbing pain in her upper back. That Grayson had really done a number on her and he was so going to pay later.

38A

Breathless, Maka looked up at the golden plate on the door to her and Soul's (alright, alright and Blair's) apartment. She fumbled with the doorknob, cursing aloud when she discovered that it was not locked. Bursting into the apartment now more stung out than ever, she was ultimately relieved to find Soul sitting on the couch watching TV.

Ruby eyes turned to her upon her noisy entrance and widened when they took in her disheveled appearance. The wind from her non-stop running must've strewn her hair all about, her clothes were probably caked in dirt and Maka could still feel the wetness of her tears on her cheeks. She must've looked like an absolute mess.

Not that she really cared at the moment. Gasping deeply but smiling nonetheless, she eagerly ran over to her partner and jumped onto his lap, throwing her arms around his neck. "Soul!"

Soul looked at Maka questionably and sat there, unmoving and unsure. "Maka? What's going on?"

"Soul! Soul, you're okay!" she shouted into his chest.

The albino quirked a silver eyebrow. "Yeah. . .I'm okay. Mind telling me why I wouldn't be?"

Instead of answering his question, Maka sat up and turned around, facing away from him. "Nothing. Nothing at all. I jus-"

"Holy shit, Maka! Your back!"

"What about it?"

Maka felt Soul run a single finger across her upper back and shivered at the contact, even if his intentions were not what she thought. He gripped her shoulder and turned her around to face him, showing her his finger. The tip was coated in blood and Maka gasped. "Soul!"

"It's yours."

"Wha-?" Oh. It must've been from when Grayson had pulled on her wing. He did say that he had gotten blood on her shirt. Although, he had failed to tell her that it was still bleeding. Maybe that's why it throbbed so much on the way home.

"Maka, what happened?"

The blonde-haired meister shrugged and stood up casually, trying to mislead him into a state of calm by acting like the pain wasn't searing through her whole nervous system. "Eh. It's just a scratch. I tripped."

Soul silently stared at her, but her eyes refused to meet his. Instead she gazed around the room and shuffled her feet on the carpet. She knew that if she did look at him, she'd probably break down crying and telling him everything. Including why she was really his partner.

And that was something that she had sworn that she'd carry to her grave.

"Well, I'm sure there's blood on my shirt now. I'm going to go wash it and see if I can get the stain out." Maka glanced at Soul out of the corner out of her eye and saw his stern gaze before quickly looking away again. "I promise, it doesn't hurt that much. I can barely feel it."

Maka swiveled on her heel and headed for her room, rushing to get there before anymore probing questions could be directed at her. But a hand whipped out to grip her wrist and she was yanked back roughly until she stood in front of Soul. She tilted her head back to look at his face and inwardly sighed. Was everyone getting taller than her now?

"Maka, do not lie to me."

Maka rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I am not lying to you-ouch!" She winced and bit down on her lower lip when Soul's fingers grazed the sore spot on her back, dirtying them with more of her blood. "Dammit, Soul!"

"See? It does hurt. You are such a dirty liar, Maka."

"So what if it hurts? I can take care of myself, you know. I'm not some helpless little-hey! Put me down!"

Soul ignored Maka's protests as he carried her over to the couch on his shoulder before sliding her off onto the cushions with a soft bounce. She scowled up at him and he turned away, heading towards the bathroom.

"Stay on that couch or I will be forced to bring out the duct tape!" he called over his shoulder.

Maka crossed her arms and harshly blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Whatever."

A few seconds later, her partner came out of the bathroom with a bottle of antiseptic, cotton balls, and a large cohesive bandage. Maka squirmed uncomfortably and scooted away from him when he plopped down on the couch beside her. "None of that is necessary, Soul. I'll just take a shower." Besides, angels healed relatively fast, but that wasn't something she was going to say out loud.

"Nope. We're doing this my way. Now turn around," Soul said, dabbing antiseptic onto a cotton ball. Maka grumbled something along the lines of "such an egotistic jackass" but complied and turned around, revealing her bloodied back to him. He began to gently dab at her wound with the cotton ball and Maka hissed as it felt as though her skin was going to melt off.

"Aaaaaah!"

Soul rolled his eyes. "It's going to burn, dumbass, you know that." In spite of his harsh words, though, Maka could feel that he was gentler as he continued cleaning it. It still stung, but not enough to elicit any sounds from the two-star meister besides a hiss here and there. Once he was done, Soul took a dry cotton ball and wiped off any excess blood and dried up the wound completely before applying the bandage.

As Soul gathered up all of the trash and unused cotton balls, Maka pulled at her shirt. She noted in the back of her mind that she was going to stretch it out if she kept doing this, but honestly it just wasn't that important. "Thanks," she muttered, swiveling on the couch to face him. "It wasn't necessary, but thanks."

"Eh. Just get changed and give me your shirt. I'll wash it. You just need to get into bed. You'll heal faster if you rest," Soul said.

"But I-"

Soul sighed and crouched down in front of Maka looking directly into her eyes. "There's no room for an argument, Maka. What I say, goes. Now hurry up."

Maka glared at Soul heatedly and crossed her eyes, stubbornly remaining on the couch. He stared back at her, calm and collected, just as stubborn as she was.

"Maka. If you don't go change out of your clothes and get in bed, I will do it for you. Do not make me undress you."

Maka screeched in annoyance and stood up, knocking Soul back a few steps. "Why are you so difficult, Soul?" she screamed before stomping off to her room and slamming her door shut behind her. Once inside her room, she kicked her door for good measure before dropping down onto her bed and laying back, staring up at her ceiling.

Sure, she knew that he was just trying to help. But he was acting so cocky and dominant while he did it, which is the real thing that pissed her off. But overall, she didn't like it because it then made her feel useless.

If he was protecting her all of the time, how could she ever try to give him the same protection?


Author's Comments:

Crap. This chapter is crap. =_= I didn't like some of these parts at all, but it's the best I can come up with.

Crap. I am crap. =_=

Eh, besides the suckish quality of some of these parts (if not all) how was it?

Holy shit. I am suddenly exhausted and annoyed. =_= I need a pillow to rip to shreds. DX Nyeeeeeeeeeeeh! Now I feel like crap!

*goes into self-pity ranting session*

Reviews? They'll calm me down (hopefully).

Until next time~!