in the time of the winter flower

Traveling with the Black Star, while rewarding in some ways, proved difficult overall.

The Summer star didn't care to be quiet, assuring them the whole world longed to hear his voice at all times, and didn't take well to resting. He is a constant ball of starlight, hard to contain and uncatchable by human hands. Maka wonders if he'd be calmer in the sky, but, apparently, his glory was too great to share with the others up there.

His advantages and the threat of his wrath keep Maka and the Soul Eater from shooing him away though.

It is Black Star's idea to travel during the night in order to remain cooler. They cover more ground this way since the heat, though still overwhelming, isn't quite as unbearable once the Sun has set. They traverse the forests with the Summer's light and the Moon guiding them. He also happens to have a knack for finding hidden places, usually with water and sometimes berries. It takes a while for Maka to grow accustomed to sleeping while the jeering Sun sits overhead, but eventually she assimilates and feels all the better for it.

During their walk, Soul prefers to lead, claiming he knows best where to search for Spring. The Star and the Winter fight arduously over the matter and, more often than not, the group finds themselves at a crossroads, arguing over which way is the "better" direction or the way "more likely" to locate Spring. It drives Maka bonkers, mostly because the one thing they agree on is she, as a human, has no say in the matter.

What they don't notice is that Maka is the one who usually picks their path. Once her frustration has peaked, she tends to get up and start walking and they, so caught up in their debate, end up following without complaint. She's not sure if it's the smartest strategy, but something in her heart tells her she'll find what she's looking for.

Ironically, it is the descent of Summer that leads the two towards cooperation and camaraderie.

It is sudden, as the changing of Seasons has been for decades, when Winter comes calling. One morning the group stops to rest and the sun is irritatingly bright overhead. When they wake to continue their journey in the night, they are greeted by a bitter, bone-chilling wind. It howls and pulls at Maka's feet. She trips several times as she gets to her feet and starts moving for blood flow. She knows, too well in fact, the damage of being still once Winter sets in.

Black Star produces his own light and heat, so, though the cold angers him because of its implications in the war, it doesn't physically harm him. Soul, being a Winter spirit, actually seems way more comfortable with the freezing air.

The temperature drops lower and lower until everything is painted shades of gray, white, or blue. Even the tree leaves are leached of all color. A precious few turned red and orange and yellow before the true cold set in, but most were frozen in place, as if time stopped.

Winter always has that effect in Maka's mind. The world becomes so still…everything touched breaks because the cold doesn't care to keep things together. The beauty of it all is somehow worse. Like rubbing salt in a wound. She can't help but admire the way the ice crawls up the tree trunks in dazzling designs, like undead ivy, or how the leaves sound like silver bells when a breeze blows through.

Unfortunately, since Maka doesn't have supernatural powers, her health declines and, with it, their pace. They find themselves covering less and less ground as Maka's cough grows worse and worse. Black Star and Soul practically pile clothing on top of her thin body, trying with all their might to keep the shivering girl warm. It helps, but it's not the best solution. They attempt a fire, but Black Star, so full of energy, nearly blows their faces off. Soul mentions building it the "natural" way, but even that plan fails.

So they plod onwards. Hoping that either Summer shows itself again soon or that they come across decent shelter. But even Summer was becoming risky…they were falling low on water, a necessity, Maka bitterly reminds them, for her at least.

Their worried expressions bother her more than the constant cold does. She's a tough one, she tells them. She'll be alright. She has to find Spring. For her village. For her father. For the world. For her mother.

It dawns on her, albeit sluggishly as if from a far away mountaintop, the colder it gets the less sound her mind is. Maka barely speaks and when she does the words are heavy burdens in her mouth, shiny, cold pebbles that fall off the end of her tongue in barely recognizable syllables. This is when Soul and Black Star stop arguing, both too focused on aiding their fragile human companion in survival.

The town they come across is a yellow miracle. Colors that Winter strips away from the world, red, orange, and most prominently, yellow flicker like fireflies behind Maka's tired eyes.

She remembers her mother's hair was yellow. Not silvery, or faint like hers is, but a bright yellow. A gold that could rival the sun.

The feeble woman wonders where her mother is now…what she would think of Maka going out to look for Spring. She wonders if her Papa is doing okay. He gets terrible wracking coughs like she does. His are usually worse than hers, actually.

She has to find Spring. She has to find balance. She has to stop falling into the brittle earth. The ground feels like quicksand the closer she gets to the village and she's vaguely frustrated by that darned rattling sound echoing in her ears. Moments later, once the pain in her chest becomes unbearable, she comes to the conclusion the rattling is her own breath being pried from her lungs seemingly by strength of willpower. The cold has settled inside of her, she thinks, and it's freezing the very air that would give her life.

Maka stumbles and is caught by two sturdy hands, one so warm it burns and the other a gentle breeze, cool and crisp. She doesn't know how but she is dragged to the doorstep of a cherry red log cabin. Thin, but strong hands rap twice on the wood and Maka remembers she's not alone.

She faints the second the door opens and the warmth and smell of a crackling hearth washes over her.

In her sleep, she dreams of her mother and of a glowing green sphere spilling freshness into the air and of her and Soul facing each other, arms clasped.

His eyes are Autumn fire.

According to Soul, she sleeps for a long, long time. Black Star greets her with a laugh and the terrifying notion, though she's surprised at the carefully concealed tremble in his voice, that they thought she might never wake up.

The house owners, having a decent bit of self-preservation and fear, asks that they leave as soon as Maka is well enough. Apparently Black Star and Soul haven't been the most decent of houseguests. Maka's not really shocked. It took her a while to be comfortable around the two Seasons. Plus, how alarming would it be to open your home to a partially dead girl and two beings you never knew you existed?

Nonetheless, she recovers quickly and the young lady thanks them profusely for caring for her, as do Soul and Black Star. Soul gives them a couple of irrigators as payment and the elderly couple holds them as if they are the most precious objects known to man. Perhaps they are to this village. Maka can't remember much due to her sickly mind, but she doesn't recall a water source near here.

The wife gives Maka a peck on the cheek and allows her a heavy fur coat. It's cumbersome, but it'll keep her much warmer than Black Star's leather vest or Soul's thin cloak. The ash blonde is pleasantly startled that it fits her so well. She feels wrong taking such a gift, but as the wife directs her to a well-painted picture on the wall of a girl similar in age she understands.

The old woman smiles, wrinkles bunching on the sides of her eyes, and whispers, "I know what you seek. I know why the Seasons guide you."

Maka wants to scream at Black Star and Soul for being so careless, though honestly what can one expect? There's not many reasons one can come up with for why a human and two Seasons are traveling together. But what does she say in this situation? Yes, she's searching for Spring? Yes, she'll find it?

In the end, she takes the elder's hands and brushes her lips against them, a promise that words could not accurately speak.

They leave that night and descend into the forest like Winter shadows melting into the navy and black background.

The journey is easier afterwards. The elderly couple parted ways with some old fire-making tools, so now, as the cold blankets them each night, they have a fire to help fight its wrath. It's a comfort as well, those flames. They elevate Maka's spirits. Somehow, they make her believe Spring is truly just around the corner.

These hopes are almost squashed a couple of nights later.

Black Star and Soul are wrestling around their makeshift camp while Maka huddles near the flames, sipping water from a sheep stomach, another gift from the elderly couple. She watches with fascination as they dance with hoots and hollers. Privately, she worries about the noise, but Soul is a cautious being. If he's joining in Black Star's yelling, then it must be safe. There are less and less villages for them to sneak around; more and more trees rising forth, no sight of an end to the World Forest.

The moon rises bigger and brighter every night, so Maka thinks they're getting closer to the Edge.

In the stillness, she feels a whisper of something old and unknown. It reminds her of the chill in her lungs when Winter almost claimed her and the numb sensation that burns fingertips just as it freezes them a deep, dark blue. She knows, almost at once, that Soul catches the hint as well, but too late.

He snaps to attention, his scythe blade reaching, but halts at the sight of the shimmery pearlescent blade held to the Summer star's neck.

Black Star looks furious and as his wrath escalates so do the flames. They lick the muted sky, so black and alone without the Summer stars sparkling overhead, and Maka slowly backs away to prevent being burnt. Even though there's a bitter wind circling them, like the white moon is exhaling a long held breath, Maka's forehead shines with sweat.

Soul peeks over his shoulder to make a note of where she stands before slipping into a position Maka is now familiar with. Her first glimpse of it was the night they met the Black Star, though it was not her last. Watching Soul and Black Star spar with one another has taught her a couple of things. None she's put into practice, but some she's betting she could if she had to.

It's a defensive placement, his scythe practically cradled horizontal, his arms molding it into a very, strong diagonal shield. But, one quick step and a flick of the wrist creates a deadly strike. Though he'd never admit it, the blue star has trouble countering it sometimes. Maka can only hope whoever dares infringe upon two Seasons in the night has difficulty with his moves also.

The human is amazed that the quicksilver hand delicately holding the dagger and keeping the Summer at bay, a task she never expected anyone, not even Soul, to be capable of, is a woman. She's tall and lovely in a foreign, untouchable manner with flickering hair that almost bests her height, dull yet bright like black ice. Her eyes are distant, unmoved. They flash in Maka's direction and she feels paralyzed by them. It's as if the Winter night descended to the earth intent on sucking the world down into it. It makes the blonde's stomach churn and her skin burst into gooseflesh. Before she can get to frightened a gentle warmth blooms at the base of her skull and she feels more confident to glare the intruder head on.

Perhaps her eyes are not so dark as the sky…no, they're colored more similarly to the lavender of a blue ivy, Maka thinks. A beautiful plant determined to bear many, many difficult Seasons.

It's when the woman's gaze leaves Maka that things become somehow more interesting.

"…Tsubaki?" Maka turns just in time to see Soul's face break into a sparkling smile, his scythe blade resting in his hand as the charcoal ice disintegrates at his command.

The intruder replies with an open-mouthed grin, her teeth glittering in stark contrast to her ebony hair, and a whispered word that Maka doesn't understand. She shivers at the sound and at the new kind of heat settling unusually in the back of her throat as the two Winters embrace casually.

Black Star huffs, eyes a frightening, bold green like the lights that melt the Summer sky. He is obviously displeased with a lady, and a Winter at that, besting him. He stomps towards the campfire and settles next to Maka, his heat wafting against her skin mixing with her fire within.

For once, Maka is thankful it is Winter's time. Were it Summer she would probably die from heat overdose.

The Winters continue to exchange their icy language without any indication that they realize they're being studied by the onlookers. It's a smoother syntax than Maka initially believed, never before hearing two people speak it. A few words appear rough to the ears but sentences, dialog, gives a picture of clear, trickling water running underneath a solid, singing layer of ice. There's an exhilarating kind of frigidness to it and suddenly she wishes that with all the journeying she's done with Soul she had thought to ask him to teach it to her.

Maka eventually bolsters her courage and tentatively approaches the formidable Winter woman and her snowy-haired counterpart.

"Soul?"

Once again blue eyes that capture her breath and freeze it in place like she's trapped beneath the thick ice shell that covers water, catch her and hold her in a dark, cold embrace. Soul whirls around and gives a shaky smile before gingerly leading the still human girl to stand before the Winter shadow warrior.

"Maka, this is Tsubaki, a friend of mine and a friend of Spring. Tsubaki, Maka. She is a…strong and practically virulent human being. She has been surprisingly helpful in forging an alliance with the Black Star and is intent on the re-discovery of Spring."

Tsubaki gently tilts her head in an acknowledging bow and Maka feels the need to mirror the action, though she isn't capable of the same poise and grace the dark-haired girl produces. She knows her cheeks are pinking but she is beyond control of it at this moment and opts for a bright grin.

The Winter stares, navy orbs unrevealing, before she melts into a warm smile and pulls the human into a hug. In the dead of night when the cold is especially vicious Maka finds hugging Winters isn't the best solution to retaining body heat, but she thrills at the openness of the newcomer.

Black Star's introduction is, at best, less than tasteful. He pointedly turns away from Tsubaki and pouts, his aura mimicking his distaste and simmering like a candle about to burn out. The Winter doesn't seem to mind his arrogance and, to Soul and Maka's surprise, even makes an effort to apologize for almost slitting his throat as well as praise his skills.

"It was the singular reason I intervened and chose you as my target. I did not recognize," She trips over Soul's simplified name for a beat, "S-Soul, and there was a human in your party, so I assumed…" The Winter lady shakes her head and sighs, a glittering silver crystalline cloud expelled and hanging ever so slightly in the air before drifting too close to the fire and disappearing. Her softened expressive eyes, now the dark blue tint of snow in the moonlight, gaze at Soul with apprehension. "I'm afraid I don't have good news in our search for Spring."

He isn't perturbed nor shocked, Maka thinks. Instead he settles into that determined look she's seen too often.

"I figured. You weren't suppose to wander this close to the Moon."

She nods in assent. "Yes. Circumstances have changed. Most of the Winter searchers are returning to our mountains."

This bit of information causes an angry flush to spread across the Snow Eater's face. "What? Why?" Maka shivers slightly at the sharp wind that picks up as if responding to his fury, the fire waving wildly and casting flickering gray shapes to create the illusion they're surrounded by unseen enemies.

Tsubaki cringes and hunches her shoulders apologetically. "Apparently, the tides have turned…drastically. For one, the orb that we're searching for…is supposedly in the hand of bandits. A ragtag team of humans and Seasons. That's why I attacked you all. I thought perhaps you were that group. Some Winters don't want to risk endangering themselves by going after such a large threat. And then," She glances apprehensively at the Summer star settled near her. "The Winter…the Spider has asserted she has a way to end Summer, for good. She pledges an eternal Winter and calls everyone to take part in what she is naming 'The Final Battle.'"

Maka understands why the Winter was worried about sitting next to Black Star as his reaction is positively explosive. The Black Star practically implodes in his fury, smoldering like the fallen comet he truly is. For a second the blonde forgets that the world is in Winter's clutches as their campsite becomes the sight of a sun thrown to earth.

Soul yells some choice words though they don't help much. His only achievement is making the heat hotter. It is Tsubaki, whose cool, pale gentle hands bravely weather the blue inferno Black Star has become, that calms the Summer.

Once Black Star is settled and in a more recognizable form, the group, together, tidy up the decimated camp. The Summer doesn't apologize for his fury and consequential actions, but Maka takes note that he brushes the back of his hand against the discolored burns on the dark-haired Winter. It gives her a bubbly warmth deep inside her stomach and suddenly, she has an inkling of where to go.

Tsubaki is hesitant to follow a human who doesn't know a thing about the World Forest and the dangers that occur the closer one comes to the Edge, but Soul reassures her.

"Honestly, Tsubaki, Maka's been leading Black Star and I for a while now." Ah, Maka thinks, so he was aware.

Her gut leads them two miles through dense underbrush, leafless from the bitter Winter wind chilling and killing the land, before a sudden break gives way to a small clearing. They come across eight caves that appear vaguely familiar, as if from a dream. Maka is trying to recall where she once saw them when Tsubaki gasps.

"Hey!" Soul points eagerly. "These are the same as the caves where Black Star came from!"

"Moon caves." Tsubaki breathes in wonder and excitement. Black Star dips his head in agreement while Soul and the small human girl beside him stare in confusion.

"Moon caves?"

"Yeah. You know…the legendary caves the Moon used to create the world?" Black Star nonchalantly supplies the information as if he is naming the Stars in his constellation. "I came through one when I met you two in that clearing. There's Moon caves near the Summer hall. We use them often to best Winter."

"So that's how Summer spreads so quickly!" The two Winters exclaim simultaneously. Black Star shrugs and skips without a care to the nearest cave, sitting down before its black ominous mouth and making himself comfortable.

"How did you know these were here? They're supposed to be near impossible to find." Tsubaki questions Maka, who nervously watches the caves with a hollowness in her stomach. She's distracted and doesn't quite know how to answer such a question. She "follows her instincts" sounds too mortal of a reply to a Winter with probably centuries of knowledge at her disposal.

"Come to think of it," Soul ventures, looping his arm casually through the shivering blonde's. "You kind of directed us to the Moon Caves we discovered Black Star in. Any explanation?"

"…Just a feeling, I guess." And she stubbornly decides to leave it at that, taking Black Star's example to heart and settling in the mouth of one of the caves.

It is instantly warmer, she finds, inside. The Winter wind has no power in the inky cave and none of it is capable of entering.

Only fragile moonlight slips through the darkness as the Seasons and the human huddle together to sleep in the shadow of one of the vast Moon Caves.

It is a brave and likely futile decision her comrades and herself make. Maka tries to calm the fluttering of her heart as they watch the rambunctious and obnoxious group of bandits drink and eat with gusto. The decision was called to action the night after the Moon Caves in which, they all unanimously agreed, Spring needed to be found. And immediately.

Tsubaki wasn't completely sure if Winter had the capability and means to eradicate Summer for good or even when the so-called "Final Battle" would begin, but she and Soul agreed the Spider was a Winter not to make such bold claims without some amount of strength to back them up. If the Spider had cleverly weaved a plan to defeat Summer once and for all, it was near certain to succeed.

Black Star did not wholeheartedly believe such a theory, but he, too, mentioned this would lessen the amount of Summers searching for Spring as they most likely were regrouping to defend themselves. The fact that Summer and Winter would have a huge battle was a given at this time and Maka could only imagine the repercussions it would have on humans such as herself and her village…who had no say whatsoever in how the Seasons ruled and treated the land.

Summer and Winter were both rough to live through and sometimes many didn't make it…but to never have a break from the other…Maka, a farmer's daughter, knew for a fact the land would not survive such an ordeal. It needed the freezing of Winter and the heat of Summer. But most of all what it needed was the healing touch of Spring.

So they set off in search of the bandits who stole the Seasonal orb from the Moon. They thought the best plan was too retrieve the orb and bring it back to the Moon at the Edge of the World Forest and hope that the Moon would rejuvenate Spring.

It wasn't easy, but, by strategic use of the Moon Caves, the group finally tracked down the bandits to a seaside town. Maka had never seen the ocean before and was properly entranced that such a thing existed. Does the water freeze during the Winter? Did it evaporate in the Summer? Could it irrigate whole fields of food? She had so many questions.

One taste told her everything she didn't want to know about the ever-stretching plain of water. Soul and Black Star laughed so hard at her disgusted face that both Seasons started crying, one almost frozen teardrops and the other sparkling stardust. Tsubaki, the singular polite Season Maka had met, politely covered her mouth in an attempt to respect Maka's misfortunes, though the blonde human could tell the Winter lady was giggling behind her white hands.

And here they are now, seated in a tavern, a foreign old world concept lost to the villages born in the World Forest, stalking the supposed Moon thieves.

The crowd is so bizarre Maka can't truly tell which are the Seasons and which are the humans. Her Seasons were surprised to hear that Seasons would band together with humans and steal from the Moon in the first place, but it had been heard of. Seasons would ditch their kind, apparently, over extreme cultural differences.

Or even guilt, according to Soul. If these two Seasons were the reason for the demise of Spring, after suffering and witnessing the consequences of their actions and the war, they may feel burdened by their transgressions and therefore ostracized themselves from their own kind.

Maka didn't like the way Soul said it…as if he understood the supposed reasoning all too well. He wouldn't meet her eyes afterwards, still won't in fact, and it bothers her to no end.

If guilt were his reason for isolating himself and attempting to find Spring…for befriending her and being kind to her…well, it implied a thing the human didn't care to think about.

So she focuses on the objective: identifying the Seasons and locating which one is the likeliest to carry the Moon's stolen orb. As well as observing their mortal partners and deciding which could potentially be a threat.

Black Star had shown Maka some "moves" and "techniques" though both Soul and Tsubaki were avidly against Maka participating in a fight. She wanted to, however. She wanted to prove to herself and, perhaps, the Seasons that humans were not only fragile things to be protected but capable of great feats. If Maka couldn't believe in her own worth, then she certainly wouldn't have pushed herself this far nor would she be advocating against waiting for Spring. Humans deserved a life of balance. A life full of Summer and Winter and Spring and even Autumn, a Season, Tsubaki explained, that once was separate from Winter, not merely the first sign of it.

Maka figures her Seasons will be better at identifying the other Seasons, though her eyes are drawn to the pink-haired lady and the bald man with black hair pointing straight in the air, and instead nominates who she could take and who she couldn't. She thinks that's the easiest way of prioritizing their preys' levels.

The dark-skinned boy with curling ringlets tied back neatly she believes might be the fiercest of them, despite him being a human. He sits quietly and pensively, assessing the tavern, all the while appearing at ease as he laughs with the group and balances a set of dark-haired twins on his lap. He has the eyes of a parent and thus must be treated as a grave threat. He's of a similar build to Maka, so she may be able to take him…but as she watches him watch the twins she thinks it'd be best not to challenge him…or the twins' safety.

To his right is a strong, silent man with a swath of cloth covering his eyes. Maka's not sure if he can see, but she's sure he's a formidable opponent.

The almost bald man and the pink-haired girl bicker often, another thing that reminds Maka of Seasons (Black Star and Soul being prime examples). She can hear some of what he says, most of it clever and well-thought out.

Maka's somewhat confident she could beat him, however, even if he ends up being one of the Seasons. Something in her makes her want to try. She's not aware if it's because there's foreign things he says that she wishes she thought of or knew or if he merely irritates her. He seems to be of an arrogant nature…similar to Black Star. Who, admittedly, did grow on her.

The only person who she can't quite pinpoint is the coal-haired girl whose arm is thrown casually over the pink-haired Season (Maka would be very shocked if the lady with pink hair wasn't a Season). The two women's backs are to their corner, but every time Maka catches a glimpse of the burn scar along the side of her face she feels a chill and the warmth in her stomach she's slowly getting accustomed to.

The Seasons were convinced after Maka located the Moon Caves and, later, discovered which one led them to the seaside town where the bandits were hiding that the human who Soul took under his wing to find Spring is not completely ordinary. Not only did she carry strange insight into the World Forest but she's gained an appreciation and an understanding of the Seasons. Where she once held hate for them she now bears a sense of duty to them. A duty to set things right…because even the Seasons needed balance. Some of them couldn't realize it, but many did.

And there were her fellow humans to consider. People like her village and Tsugumi's and the elderly couple who were barely surviving through the Seasonal wars. People like her father who coughed too much during the Winter and passed out if under the Summer sun for too long. And then…people like her mother who died underneath the Winter ice to keep her child with Spring eyes warm…and who told her she couldn't wait for good things to happen, especially not when she had the powers to change it.

So when the time comes to confront the bandits on a deserted road leading back to the World Forest, Maka doesn't stay behind as the Seasons attack. In fact, she mimics Soul and pulls out the scythe blade he traded her, black and supple and somewhat warm to the touch. Like a mix of a Summer and Winter breeze, hot enough to keep the earth warm yet cool enough to be…refreshing.

The fight doesn't last long. Their surprise is advantage enough. Black Star and Tsubaki effortlessly and almost instantaneously remove the two Seasons from combat: the girl Maka was positive was a Season and the burned lady that she didn't know what to think of.

They then turn on the man and his twins who surrender calmly at the urging of his Seasons.

Soul and Maka defeat both the muscular blind man and his bald partner, a duo both amazing and frightening to behold. The blind man is faster than Maka could have guessed and, with his comrade shouting random syllables every now and then as well as parrying most of Soul's attacks with a shield emblazoned with a golden Sun cackling maniacally, a formidable opponent. They work without communicating, except for the bald one's sudden meaningless outbursts, and for a while Soul and Maka have trouble.

Eventually Maka comprehends that the defensive partner is occasionally shouting words to inform his blind attacker of their whereabouts. Once she knows this she purposely remembers a couple of them and begins shouting them at the same time his partner yells one, confusing him.

Soul motions her to his side and gives her a sanguinary glance that calms every nerve in her body while igniting them all at once. Somehow she knows just what to do.

In a display of teamwork she's never experienced with another…being before, Maka and Soul begin to parry and strike at a rate their opponents cannot match. Maka's gruff stuttering over the syllables that tell the blind man where he should be creates too much confusion for the two to overcome. Eventually they are left weaponless, the golden shield scraped and dirtied on the rocky ground.

The group gathers and bounds their victims, keeping a fervent eye on the Seasons as they seem the most deadly. Maka is jealous as she takes a closer look at the newest Seasons and marvels at their beauty, a different sort than Tsubaki's cold beauty or Black Star's burning aura. The burned girl stares with sunlight shining through orange leaves, a dusky, twilight color that hastily melts into the coal shadow of her hair like the backdrop of a starless night. Her companion scowls underneath sunset pink eyelashes and the green of plants starting to show signs of death. It jolts Maka with an electricity she can't describe…like she's seeing something new and bizarre.

Her toes twitch with internal heat. The two Seasons remind something inside of her of Soul and of stories of Spring's long past. She peeks out of the corner of her eye and meets Autumn leaves.

She isn't surprised when Tsubaki whispers, "You're Autumns."

The girl with the hint of Summer passing in her olive orbs laughs bitterly, almost hysterically. "Yeah. Sure. We're Autumns. Probably the last two Autumns in existence. You caught us. Good for you, Winter." She spits the word and Maka slowly starts to consider what such a label could mean to her.

"Hush, Kim." The burned one commands, sunshine eyes somehow not so bright but haunted and ghastly…like a fire withering into smoke, her face apathetic and unmoving. "We deserve whatever they choose to do to us. "

Soul grits his sharp teeth and steps forward, anger in his every motion. "So it was you two who stole the orb and killed Spring! You two started this mess!" He tries to stride forward, closer to them, which Maka isn't sure is a good idea. She moves to stop him but is beaten by Black Star who wordlessly sticks a shining arm out as a sign for Soul to pause. Maka sees from the white-hot light pouring in waves off of the Summer that he is barely keeping himself together. She gratefully thanks the gods he is able to and, more still, has the control to aid in keeping Soul at bay.

"Ugh. Forget it, Jaq. We've stayed quiet for so long. Lived with the guilt for decades." Kim pointedly glares at Soul and snarls, "We didn't mean to do it. The Moon needed it taken somewhere. He asked us to deliver it. Circumstances happened…the Springs gathered to bear a new Season and the Summer snake…She wanted to come along to see. She asked us to help her there. And when we finally arrived to meet Spring…she killed them." The Autumn slowly lowers her head in sadness and Maka sees her entire group, humans included, do so as well…as if they knew the story and understood such pain of witnessing a Season be murdered.

"After that…we kept the orb." Jaq picks up where her fellow Autumn left off. "Didn't seem right to return it to the Moon since…we were supposed to be creating a new Spring. But afterwards there were no other Springs to create a new one and the Moon, in his age, we knew couldn't do so. We were going to give it to the leading Autumn but Winter took us so fast…that was it. We've been carrying it and the burden of leading the Snake to Spring for ages." Her voice drifts off aimlessly, an Autumn swell lost to Winter's howls.

Soul and Black Star both make sounds of disgust, one a scoff, the other a snort. Tsubaki simply sighs softly and gracefully kneels to gaze deep into the eyes of the human bandits and the Season outlaws.

"…And where is the orb now?"

Before either Autumn can answer the bald human chuckles darkly.

"Ah hah. We don't have it."