Maka's mouth hung agape, and she stared wide-eyed at Black*Star. "What on earth are you wearing?" His usual outfit was strange enough, boofy two-toned black and white pants and a sleeveless black shirt with a humongous collar, but this– this monstrosity in the form of clothes was far worse. It looked like Black*Star had found his outfit in a mish-mash of decades past, with purple and green plaid bell-bottomed pants, a green paisley shirt, and a jean vest. Set against a backdrop of flourishing green leaves from the springtime trees, it made for quite a spectacle.
It was horrifying.
Black*Star huffed, standing tall and looking down at Maka. "Excuse me, but I think I know a little more about human fashion than some lowly human." He took his three companions' deadpan stares to be some sort of agreement and guffawed loudly. "That's right! Glad you all agree! The great me is ready to blend right in and be one with the humans!"
Tsubaki leaned in towards Maka to whisper to her. "Black*Star has taken an interest in human culture, whether he'll actually admit that or not. Today's outfit is the result of some, ah... not so thorough research."
It took a lot of willpower for Maka to stifle her giggle. It was certainly embarrassing to be seen with the demon in this garish ensemble, but the reasoning behind it was almost endearing. "Sure, Black*Star. That's definitely what you're doing." Soul snorted, and Maka smiled at him. "Alright, you're the one who wanted to meet away from the house today; what was it you had in mind?"
With a dramatic flourish, Black*Star pointed away from their current location in Death City's central park towards a nearby street littered with restaurants and shops. "We're gonna go look at your puny human stuff and you're gonna explain it to me!" he proclaimed, looking immensely proud of himself. "And lunch. Your treat. I want something greasy, something worthy enough to clog up my godly arteries!"
Tsubaki groaned at being partnered up with such a demon, but Maka laughed and began to herd her friends across the park.
"Hey. Do you have a minute?"
The trio were all startled by the voice that came suddenly from behind. Soul especially bristled, shoulders visibly tensing up as he turned around. Moments before, the park had been empty, as far as he could tell at the time, and their backs were to an open area with nowhere to hide.
The voice belonged to a young man, holding his position firmly with a wide stance and arms crossed against his chest. His hair was done up in a mix of cornrows and dreads, and winding black tattoos ran down each of his arms, but the rest of his appearance was unassuming; thick-rimmed black glasses sat across his face, and he wore a plain button-down white shirt and blue cutoff pants that came down to his shins. He warily eyed Tsubaki and Black*Star, but his gaze settled on Soul, who glared right back.
"Who's asking?" responded Soul, smoothly stepping in front of Maka. His right hand stealthily pushed up his left sleeve, and Soul dug his nails into the flesh, ready to draw blood.
The boy sucked on his teeth, making a sharp tch sound. "Doesn't really matter. I'm not looking to make a scene." Just as Soul had repositioned himself, the boy took a step to the side, putting a bit more distance between himself and Black*Star and Tsubaki. "I just want something back, and it doesn't look like you're using it, so it shouldn't even be a problem."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Soul gritted out between his teeth, tightening his grip on his arm and letting his nails pierce skin. "Kinda rude not to introduce yourself when I ask though, right? Especially when it seems like you know me pretty well."
"I'm Kilik, if you really need to know," snapped the boy, and he held out his right hand, palm facing forward. "And you know what I want!" Orange flames sprung from the tattoo that twisted down his arm, and Soul pushed Maka to the ground just in time; a fireball, shot with astounding speed, blew past them with little room to spare.
Soul jumped back up, shooting a glance at Tsubaki. "Seal this place off!" he snapped at her before pushing off the ground and running away from Maka. "Don't let any humans stumble in here!" Tsubaki nodded, brushing off Soul's sharp tone, and moved to the center of the park to cloak the entire area.
Soul's movements couldn't have come too soon. Kilik had focused the aim of his next shot on Soul exclusively, and the flames fired at Soul's running form, away from Maka's prone body. When the blast just barely blazed past Soul, slightly singing his shirt, he dropped to the ground and rolled, landing on all fours before biting firmly into his left wrist, blood pooling against his lips. The pinpricks of blood that his nails could draw were obviously not going to be enough for this opponent. He spat black blood onto the ground and glared at Kilik, watching for the next fireball.
Instead came a bolt of lightning.
"Shit–!"
The lightning caught Soul square in the chest, and his body arched back as he cried out in sound of Maka shouting his name was barely audible over the loud buzzing in his ears, but it was enough for Soul to force his eyes open again. Over him stood Kilik, left palm extended instead of his right. Electricity crackled against the tattoos on that arm, and Kilik scowled. "I told you, man, I didn't want to make a scene. Just give it back and I'll leave you alone."
"Give what back?" growled Soul, wincing as he tried to sit up. "You aren't missing anything that I can see!"
Kilik's face contorted in a mix of emotions that Soul could not quite decipher, and his cheeks darkened slightly. "Just–! Dammit, man! Just give me back my tail!"
Everything fell completely silent.
Black*Star, who had been ready to spring at Kilik the moment he looked ready to attack Soul again, looked to Maka, who was looking just as confused as he was. He mouthed did you know?, and Maka shook her head slowly, turning to look back at Soul with a perplexed look. Both of their sets of eyes drifted to Soul, who was looking at Kilik mouth agape, and then down lower past his face...
Soul snapped his head around, face burning red. "Quit looking!" he practically screeched. "I do not!" He then took a deep breath and looked back up at Kilik, slowly standing without making sudden movements. "Sorry, bud," he said. "I don't have what you're looking for. I've got a lot of parts, but a tail isn't one of them." He stretched slowly, keeping an eye on his opponent, and shifted into a defensive stance once again.
"Don't lie to me, man!" Kilik growled, raising both arms above his head. Fire and electricity crackled together, looping around each arm and then together into one surging missile. "Just give it back!"
Just as Kilik was about to launch his attack, Black*Star thudded into his side, knocking them both onto the ground. The orb of magical energy fizzled out in a sad flurry of cinders when its caster had his attention displaced. "Gotcha, sucker!" crowed Black*Star, slamming his elbow into Kilik's gut. The demon coughed loudly, air forced roughly out of him, and gasped for air. "Shouldn't have looked away from the great me!" Black*Star grinned and gave Soul a thumbs up, and Soul smiled wryly back before deepening the wounds he had already made on his arm and allowing the blood to dribble to the ground, pooling darkly before being soaked into the earth. "I got him, man! You do your thing, I've got this under control! Don't quit!" To emphasize this Black*Star clapped his hands once and focused, drawing shadows from around to bind Kilik to the ground.
The moment that the dark tendrils touched his flesh, Kilik grinned.
Without warning Black*Star was flung away by a pillar of shadows that forced him off of Kilik. The newcomer demon stood up, dusting off his pants, and laughed. "Now this is a pretty cool spell!"
Maka's eyes widened when she noticed the change in Kilik. "His leg!" she shouted, and Soul and Black*Star both looked at her in confusion. "Look at it! He has a new tattoo there!"
"Tch!" Black*Star darted back into the fray, sidestepping Kilik's shadows with surprising agility. "What's that got to do with anything, pigtails?! He's controlling my shadows!" A burst of fire zoned him from his target, and Black*Star swore loudly.
Kilik grinned again. "She's sharp for a human. It usually takes longer for my opponents to notice." He kicked out with his left leg, freshly decorated with twisting tattoos, and shadowy tendrils shot out towards Maka. Black*Star tried to intercept them, to throw himself in the way instead, but a bolt of lightning caught him square in the chest instead, sending him tumbling to the ground. "If you hit me directly with a spell, I can absorb it myself for a while. It's usually temporary, but I happened to like Fire and Thunder here enough to make them permanent pieces of art on me."
It really ground on Maka's nerves that she always seemed to end up tied up one way or another when big fights broke out, she fumed as shadows bound her body stiff as if she were tied in writhing ropes. Kilik, on the other hand, looked absolutely perplexed as he eyed Maka. "You're...?" He closed his eyes for a moment, and Maka felt something course through her, as if her energy were being drained. Suddenly, the orange sparks that she had not seen since the run in with Noah and Gopher were dancing across her skin, burning where they touched. Kilik's eyes flew open, and his mouth hung agape. "But how do you–?!"
Before Kilik could finish his question, the ground shook between him. He took a disoriented step back, eyes still locked on Maka, and then he was gone, a dome of rock and dirt roaring upward and around to contain him.
Frailty, thy name is earth.
The shadows holding Maka withered, cut off from their master, and she shakily stood, locking eyes with Soul as she did so. He looked back at her, expression strained and tense. "Got him," he rasped, clearly tired. "Took a long time to get enough blood to control that much of the ground, but... he should be pretty solidly stuck."
As if to make Soul's point, a loud thumping came from within the dome, and a muffled voice could barely be made out. "Dammit, let me out of here! It's dark as hell. All I want is my tail!"
"Hey, shut up and listen." Soul rapped his fist on the mound, and Kilik fell silent for the moment. "Believe it or not, I don't have your tail, okay? Cool as it might be, that's not one of the things I was lucky enough to get. I'll fucking strip for you if you want to prove it, but I don't have a tail." Maka gaped at that defense, and Soul smirked at her. "Now, have you calmed down or do I need to leave you in time out for a while longer?"
There was a pause, and then another muffled reply. "...You really don't have it?" It was difficult to make out the sounds, much less the emotion behind them, but it sounded like Kilik was supremely embarrassed.
"Nope. Sorry, man."
"...You can let me out."
Maka looked to Soul, wanting to ask if it was really safe, but if Soul had any doubts he didn't show them. The dome crumbled, leaving Kilik standing in a pile of sod and dirt looking utterly humiliated.
"I, uh... Sorry," he coughed, avoiding looking at Soul or Black*Star, who had come to stand beside Soul. "Someone told me that you would have it. In exchange for that info I was supposed to tell them where you were, but I guess I was sorta being used.
Soul tensed up. "Who was trying to figure that out?" he asked, teeth grinding together. "I'd really just love some peace and quiet for once."
Kilik shrugged. "Sorry, man, I don't know. I never actually met the guy. We talked through an informant named Noah a while back–" Black*Star swore and Soul growled lowly. "–but he clammed up a few months back so I've just been looking for you on my own. If you don't want to be found, though, getting out of Death City is your best bet; staying put isn't really a good idea if you're on the run, but I guess I can't blame you what with the girl there having a Grigori Soul. Shit's rare, and I guess humans can't relocate so easily."
Simultaneously, Soul and Maka both blurted out, "A what soul?" Both looking bewildered, their gazes met, and then they snapped back to Kilik, who looked a bit taken aback.
"You, uh... Didn't know?" he asked Soul, who shook his head with vigor. "Well, that's awkward. I just assumed you kept a human around because– ahhhh that's a stupid thing to say, forget it." Maka bristled a bit at the unspoken implication that she wasn't anything special without the whatever soul, but kept listening. At some point during the exchange, Tsubaki had drifted back in, and she placed a comforting hand on Maka's shoulder. "She's got a Grigori Soul. It's nothing particularly strong, but for a human soul it's pretty special, since they're almost never magically inclined. It just gives her a bit of protection against spells, nothing too strong though, but it still pulls from her physical strength to support it. That's what those sparks earlier were; her soul was trying to repel the shadows, and then me trying to figure out what sort of spell was on her." He hesitated, sparing Maka a glance before continuing. "But if neither of you knew about it... Shit, I dunno if I should say this. Grigori Souls in humans are only a byproduct of that human having their soul, their essence, tampered with fairly early on in their lives."
The world was spinning, the ground was jelly, and Maka couldn't feel her legs. Before she could fall forward, Tsubaki grabbed onto Maka by her waist and held her upright, and Maka breathed her thanks to her friend. "So that means... Soul didn't put a spell on me?" Her soul had been altered as a child, but somehow that came second to the relief of knowing that the spell, that magical resistance that Noah had called a result of Soul's covetousness, was not actually a spell; it was just her soul. She hadn't been betrayed, and the budding seed of distrust in her that had taken root over the past few months shriveled and died on the spot.
"You thought I what now?" stammered Soul, looking at Maka as if she were an alien. "Why would I do that?! You'd crush my skull with a goddamn encyclopedia if I pulled something like that!"
Maka quickly explained what Noah had said to her all that time ago, and Soul fumed. He gritted his teeth and snarled, cursing the demon informant, but he quickly calmed down.
"I'll settle things with him eventually," growled Soul, "but I think at this point we have bigger concerns to deal with." He turned back to Kilik, this time with one arm slung protectively over Maka. "You were wondering why I was staying in Death City. Part of it is because of Maka, sure–" Maka blushed a deep red, heart hammering in her chest at the implication that she hoped she wasn't reading too far into. "–but it's also because the recipe, the explanation of how I was made, is supposedly here. I have a good reason to stick around, and I'm willing to fight for my life while I look for the recipe." He paused again, weighing his words carefully. "But if someone messed with Maka's soul, I'm making that my priority. Thanks for letting me know." His arm dropped from Maka's shoulders to hang around her waist, and he used that to guide her away. "We're out of here. 'Star, I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to put off sightseeing for a while. There's shit to be done."
Later that day, after fruitless hours of poring over Tsubaki's books that had served her so well until that point, Soul walked Maka back toward her house. The silence that had so often been calm and pleasant between them was rife with tension, and neither was making any effort to look at the other.
But then, when they reached the corner where Soul would usually leave Maka to walk the last block alone, she broke the silence.
"I think you should come by my house," she said, and her expression was flat when Soul looked to her bewildered.
"Excuse me? I thought your old man hated you hanging around boys," he scoffed, trying to be lighthearted in the tension from the day. "Of all the times to get my ass handed to me by your pops, today probably isn't the day I'd prefer."
Maka groaned. "I know, but... I don't know. If the tampering with my soul happened when I was little, it was probably by someone my papa knew; he hated letting strange people near me, he's always been way overprotective. I was just thinking that we could ask him... somehow in a non-suspicious way, if there was ever someone that gave him bad vibes or something." She looked up at Soul, and the turmoil he saw in her eyes tore him apart.
He groaned, looking skyward to avoid Maka's gaze. "Ugh. Whatever. Fine. You come up with something good, I'll be your school-buddy or something and chill in your room while you ask, and I'll listen in for any sort of clues that could help us out. Just... don't let your old man kill me for being near you. Okay? I sorta like being alive, and dying to your dad isn't on the top of my list of ways to go."
The rest of the short walk passed quickly and in silence. Maka stepped up to the front door of her house, Soul in tow. Before her key could slip into the lock the door, and with hardly enough time for Soul to grab her arm and pull her back, the door swung open, slamming against the house with a bang. Spirit stood in the doorway, eyes blazing and nostrils flaring, and Maka stammered, searching for an appropriate reaction. "Papa, it's not what you think, we're not dating–"
"Get away from him," growled Spirit, looming high at his full height. His entire body was tense, and Maka felt a chill of fear surge through her blood, a feeling she had never felt in the presence of her father before.
Maka shifted to better block Soul away from her father. "Papa, you don't understand, he's just a friend–"
"He is not your friend! He is an abomination, a mistake, an unwanted soul! He will kill you–!"
Before Spirit could finish roaring, Soul had swapped positions with Maka, pulling her behind him. Soul's eyes were blown wide, and his heart sank. "No way," he whispered, head swirling. "No fucking way. You're not him. You're not him, why are you saying it like him...?!" He whirled around to face Maka, looking like a cornered animal but still putting himself between his perceived danger and her. "Maka, why is he talking like Eibon?!" Vague memories, memories that he had pushed far away, of a scientist's mad ravings, of broken glass and screaming, of being called a mistake, flooded Soul's mind, and he bit back screams.
Spirit shouted again, lunging forward, and Soul took a staggering step backward. "Maka," he said, voice breaking. "You have to choose. Right now. You have to choose who you're going with, because I am fucking out of here. I don't want to leave you, but I can't stay here. I don't know what's going on. Your dad is batshit, your dad is him, and I can't be here."
There was only a moment's hesitation, the hardest moment, and then Maka wrapped her arms around Soul's waist, grabbing onto him tightly. "Go," she whispered, and the world warped around them.
The last thing she heard before she was torn away from her doorstep was her father's screams of "He'll kill you! He will kill you, Maka!"
It was over an hour before either of them spoke.
Soul locked himself in his room right away, and nothing Black*Star said could coax him out. Likewise, Maka was practically catatonic on the couch, the tears streaming down her face and trembling of her shoulders being the only sign of her consciousness. After her initial attempts at catching Maka's attention, Tsubaki gave in and settled down next to her friend, one hand over Maka's for whatever comfort it could offer. Black*Star tried to offer Soul consolation in his own yell-and-pound-on-your-door way, but he gave up and adopted a stance of "he'll get over it when he gets over it" after the wall next to the door punched him.
The first words out of Maka's mouth, when the tears finally dried on her cheeks, were a trembling whisper. "I need to talk to Soul." Tsubaki hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should speak, but all she did was lift her hand from Maka's and nod.
Maka stood, and like an empty husk she drifted to Soul's door. Her knuckles only rapped on the door once, barely any force behind the knock, before the lock clicked and the door swung open. Soul sat on his bed, head buried in his hands, but the door had opened and he had not forced her away, so Maka stepped in. The door clicked shut behind her.
The silence that hung between them was heavy, thicker than it had ever been. Still, Maka moved to stand beside Soul's bed, and she gently pulled her fingers through Soul's hair, undoing the knots that he had put there by messing with it himself. They stayed like that for a while, her fingers running through his locks and his hands slowly slipping from their grips until they fell to his lap.
Only then did Soul speak. "Your dad's him," he whispered, and the raw sound of his voice told her that he had been crying. "Your dad is Eibon, the guy who made me. Somehow. I don't know how. It doesn't make sense, Eibon died like seventy years ago, but he is, that was all stuff he said to me when I first started to– to exist. And he knew me. He knew me, Maka. He knew who I was, that I am Eibon's creation, and the way he spoke–!" Soul's voice broke and he screwed his eyes shut. Maka left one hand against his head, still running through his hair, but the other dropped to stroke his cheek. Even when she felt moisture against her thumb, she didn't stop her movements, and eventually Soul's gently shaking shoulders stilled. "You know that he's probably the one who messed with your soul, right?"
Maka didn't hesitate. "Yeah," she whispered back, and her forehead fell to rest against the top of Soul's head. "I don't really want to believe it, but... that was pretty damning." She laughed wryly, thinking of her father's face contorted with rage like she had never seen before. "I never would've thought... Soul, I had no idea."
"I know." This time it was Soul's turn to notice wetness, feeling it against his scalp. "He was always good at fooling people."
Maka stood straight again, wiping her eyes and sniffling. "Soul," she whispered, and her voice was nervous, tentative. "What did he mean, that you'd kill me?"
Soul shook his head, slowly at first but then with more vigor. "He's wrong," he sighed. "I wouldn't. I don't think I could, even in my worst moments." And Maka believed him. "But... and this is a stretch, and I don't even know if what I'm thinking is possible, but he might have been talking about your soul." He looked up, looked into Maka's eyes and read her confusion. "When I finally caught wind of the recipe being here, in Death City, I was told that it had been here for at least a decade. How it flew under my radar for that long I don't know, but that doesn't matter now. Maka, I think he bound the recipe to your soul." Her eyes lit up with an inkling of understanding, but he had to get it out into the open, she had to know what she was dealing with. "Your life is the recipe now."
He could hear her heart beating erratically from where she stood. "So what now?" she whispered, as if she was afraid to raise her voice.
Soul sighed. "You choose what you want," he said, voice quiet and defeated. "You'll have to choose, and chances are what you pick will shake things up for the rest of your life." He met her gaze, and for once, the great and fearless Maka Albarn looked scared. "If you go back there, your dad isn't gonna want you hanging around me. If you stay here, he'll probably come after you. You need to take a good look at your options, Maka."
"I love my father," she said, and her voice was no longer soft. "I do. I really do. He's a sleazeball and a pervert and a cheater, and apparently he's been fooling me for all this time." She paused for a moment. "But he's my papa, and I can't hate him. Just like I can't hate my mama, even though she left."
It certainly hurt, hearing her choice. Soul hung his head ever so slightly. It was to be expected, though. He was dangerous, he wasn't human, and he hadn't even been in her life for more than half a year. Still, it stung, but Maka had the right to choose.
"But even so, I don't want to leave you. I like you. A lot." Soul's head snapped up, and Maka was looking at him with a sad smile. "I probably like you more than I should, if I'm honest with myself," she confided, and her smile tugged a bit wider. "So, I don't want to leave here. I like this life, being with you. Maybe you should be the one thinking of what you want out of life."
Soul had to fight to keep the ridiculous hope he suddenly felt out of his voice. "You're crazy, you know that?" Maka giggled and nodded slightly. "You can't have both. That's not one of the options. Things don't work that way."
Her eyes gleamed as if she had been challenged, even with sadness and betrayal still haunting her. "Who says I can't try?" she quipped. "Even if it fails in the end... I still don't want to give up on it. Not yet." Soul laughed, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "What should I do? What do I need to do to have both?"
It was Soul's turn to reach up to Maka's cheek. She leaned into his touch, skin hot against his cool. Without needing to be guided, Maka sat next to him and looked into his eyes. Soul's thumb traced along her skin, from the corner of her eye to the corner of her lip, and he felt her mouth twitch with a small smile.
"I don't know," he breathed, leaning forward. "But you've already got me, no questions asked."
And he kissed her.