Disclaimer: I do not own the Soul Eater series or any of its characters.
Secrets of Celestial Valleys Ch.4
Maka's emotions were in a hurricane type of flurry as she saw that mysterious boy's figure growing smaller the farther they drove. Since the attack, both women in the car had been silent as the event they had just faced consumed their thoughts. Confusion, anger, fear, and curiosity gnawed at every fiber of Maka's being when they pulled up in front of the manor. Maka was awed by the sheer beauty of the grounds and the manor itself, though she did have to admit to herself that the manor seemed to be falling apart slightly and that the ivy was taking over most of the outside of the manor. When standing on the steps of the manor Maka looked over at Nicole who smiled at her "Welcome home Maka" she said as the two of them went through the entry way.
The two females entered a small lounge where a few feet to the left of it was a huge marble staircase. Sitting in a lounge chair was a man with jet black hair and green eyes. He was tall and lean with an uncomfortable frown adorning his face as Maka and Nicole approached. Maka stuck her hand out intending to be polite and give him a handshake as a greeting "Hello uncle." Maka said as cheerfully as she could. "Unfortunate circumstances have brought us together, but there you have it nothing to be done." he replied stoically. Before another word could be uttered a huge black dog sauntered into the room. In the light the dog's fur looked purple to her, that's odd Maka thought to herself, this dog reminds me of something but what? "This is Blair; she can kill in an instant. But don't worry you're an Albarn so she very probably won't hurt you." he uncle said pulling Maka out of her thoughts. Just then Blair barked almost as if in agreement to what her uncle had said. Maka watched as her aunt and uncle embraced one another, and then started to discuss the incident that had just occurred in hushed tones so that Maka had to strain her ears to try and catch what they were saying while absent mindedly petting the top of Blair's head. "Some of those boys just attacked us at the gate. They nearly got Maka, but being the tough cookie she is they didn't stand a chance. Why have they suddenly become so aggressive?" Maka heard her aunt ask. "I have an inclination to why but let's not discuss it now. We'll just have to be on guard and make sure to stay within our boundary line. Even in light of today's events I must go to town for a bit. Stay safe my love." Maka heard her uncle respond before walking out the front door. Nicole led Maka up two flights of stairs and down a long hallway to the tower. As she walked inside her room Maka gasped taking in her new room. There were landscapes painted on her walls, she had her own fireplace, book cases, the room was a gorgeous blue color. The celling surprised her most which looked like the sky at night. The stars twinkled and there was a sudden star that decided to shoot across the sky. "Do you like it?" Maka heard her aunt ask hesitantly. "Yes! Thank you so much!" Maka exclaimed before hugging her aunt. Nicole chuckled as she left Maka to get settled but not before telling Maka where to find her if she needed anything. Maka unpacked her laptop and booted it up while unpacking her bags that had been brought up earlier and after a few hours Maka was completely unpacked and surfing the net trying to find any information on the creep who had attacked her. A light knocking on her door interrupted Maka's search for her mysterious attacker. Nicole walked in carrying a tray of food. As the two of them ate Maka couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. All of her searches to find the identity of her attacker had turned up blank. "Nicole, who were those boys that attacked us?" Maka asked "They are Evan clan boys." Nicole replied "Oh, Evan… like the characters in the book Papa gave me?" Maka inquired her curiosity steadily increasing. "These Evan boys are a lot worse; they are bandits, thieves, and plunderers. Maka stay out of the forest okay? We can only vouch for your safety if you stay on our property line." Nicole said while looking at her with a pleading expression. "Okay." Maka replied starting to try and piece together what she knew of the Evans, mulling over how and why they were related to this modern day and reality not fiction based incident. Shortly after that discussion Nicole left biding Maka a good night since it was now well past 10pm. As Maka was about to climb into bed a soft whinny reached her ears, intrigued Maka walked to her window and peered out. On the lawn outside of her window a white horse trotted by her window, stopping to look up at her and then vanishing. Maka backed away from her window her thoughts on vanishing mysterious boys, horses, uncalled for attacks, and magical pearls meshing together as Maka fell into an uneasy sleep.
Light invaded Maka's room causing her to stir in her bed. The first thing Maka noticed was that sitting on her desk was a glass of milk and some sugar cookies shaped like stars, moons, and giraffes. A smile made its way across her face as Maka got out of bed. Looking around Maka's eyes fell upon some material draped over her armchair by the fire place. Upon Closer inspection Maka's eyes took in a purple dress that looked like it belonged in the Renaissance era. Maka snorted, although this was a nice gesture the mystery person , who had laid out the dress for her to apparently wear, was clearly delusional if they thought that she was going to wear this dress. It was the 21st century after all. Maka changed into her favorite pair of jeans, and a lavender V-neck shirt before grabbing that mysterious book Spirit had left her. While Maka walked toward the staircase a portrait of a young woman holding a string of pearls caught her eye. That woman looked suspiciously familiar to her, but what was even stranger was that, that painting hadn't been there the night before. Weird Maka thought as she continued walking down the stairs and into that small lounge. "Breakfast is ready and we'll be eating in the dining room, which is down the hall, the second door on the right." her uncle said. Maka started to walk towards the dining room only to be stopped by her uncle once more. "Where did you get that?" he asked pointing at the book in her hands. "This? Oh Papa left it to me." Maka replied. "Well he had no right to, this book belongs here." her uncle snapped taking the book away from her and into another room. An enraged Maka stormed her way into the dining room. "Nicole, please tell him that he can't take my father's book away from me!" Maka begged her aunt. Nicole sighed "I'll talk to him about it, but if I can't convince him then either Patty or myself will show you where he's hidden it." At that moment her uncle walked in, "Did you have to take it from her?" Nicole asked "You know very well why I did." her uncle said while giving Nicole a we'll talk about this later look. He then proceeded to pour a green substance into a glass and crack three raw eggs into it and then chug it. Nicole and Maka looked at each other with disgusted expressions before they too started eating. Maka noticed that the bread loaves were in the shape of giraffes as well as her omelet "So I take it your chef likes giraffes." Maka said chuckling "Yeah, she certainly does." Nicole responded whilst grinning "Ladies, please can't a man enjoy a meal in his own home in silence?" Max asked. "We've never really had the time to sit down together and eat since I was promoted and when we do we're both usually too distracted to converse, I know sad but true." Nicole explained to Maka earning a glare from her husband to which Nicole just chuckled. "If you wanted to maintain your peaceful meal time's uncle, then why did you invite me here?" Maka asked hearing her aunt sniggering in the back to her question. "My useless brother dies in debt so it falls upon me to take you in. You are an Albarn, Maka and this is where you belong, here at the manor." he replied coldly "He was not useless! He fought for the justice of the innocent!" Maka exclaimed defending her father's reputation "Yes, but then gets killed by a mob boss to which he was indebted after racking up huge gambling debts while under cover! He borrowed money from the wrong sort of money lenders, I offered him money but he wouldn't take it, that dam fool and his pride." her uncle said his voice cracking slightly at the end of his statement. Maka was to shocked to say anything, so she quietly got up and left the room, she saw her aunt glaring at her husband as Maka walked through the door way.
Maka hurriedly started walking back to her room; she needed to regain control of her emotions. Just as she was about to head up the stairs Blair came out of nowhere and blocked Maka's path. "Blair?" Maka asked the huge purple/black wolf dog in front of her. Blair nudged Maka towards another hall way before walking a few feet and looking back at her. Maka stared at the dog "Am I supposed to follow you?" she asked Blair to which the dog rolled her eyes and nodded, slightly weirded out Maka followed the dog. On the floor to the left of Maka there lay a mirror against the wall, and when Blair walked by it the reflection was not one of a dog but that of a panther. Maka froze, the celestial princess had a black panther, and the image of Blair perfectly matched that of the panther from the book. Was Blair secretly that very same panther? Maka asked herself. No it couldn't be because then magic would exist and the book her father had left her would be nonfictional and that was just ridiculous. Maka told herself shaking off that thought. A growl of inpatients brought Maka's attention upon Blair herself once more, as Blair stared at her with an irritated expression. Maka sent Blair an apologetic smile before continuing to follow her. Maka and Blair spent most of the day exploring the spacious manor. A beautiful melody caught Maka's attention as she and Blair walked past one of the rooms on her uncle's restricted areas of the house. Letting curiosity get the better of her Maka walked into the room to investigate who was playing that enchanting song, only to find no one sitting at the piano bench. Maka walked closer and saw that the piano was playing on its own; skeptical of it being enchanted Maka began to search for some mechanism that was working the piano to play itself. Upon finding none questions of enchantments began to manifest themselves into Maka's mind. Maka touched the black grand pianos keys convinced that if she did the illusion would be dropped but as she pushed down on a key it gave way to her finger before continuing its song. Enticed Maka sat down on the bench and started to play the piano by putting her fingers where she had seen the keys go down beforehand. Suddenly a voice boomed across the room "Lost are we? Did you not see the do not enter sign on the door?" Max asked Maka turned towards him and sighed "I did uncle, but I wanted to see who was playing." Max looked as if he was physically trying to keep calm "Patty, bring me my whip!" Max hollered out. A few minutes later Maka, her uncle, and Patty were outside the manor. Max was holding a riding crop in his hand as he mounted his horse Midnight who was a black stallion with white socks. "Have you ever ridden before?" Max questioned his niece. "Yes uncle." Maka responded in delight as she saw a blonde haired teen that looked about a year or two older then her leading a dapple grey mare towards them. "This is Comet; she's a bit feisty but a loyal steed." Patty said smiling holding out the reins to Maka. Maka gratefully took the reins and thanked Patty who waved them off, as Maka had to immediately trot her horse to catch up with her uncle.
Most of the ride had been in silence the only sounds that could be heard was that of the horse's hooves hitting the ground as she and her uncle rode through the country side. Maka's eyes absorbed the lush foliage, the vibrant colors of the wild flowers and the baby blue color of the sky. Suddenly they passed by an old lady whose shrill voice reached Maka's ears as the woman cried out "There go the cursed, beware the cursed!" Maka turned to her uncle with a confused expression "Uncle what did she mean when she said we were cursed?" "It's nothing just the delusional ranting of a crazed old lady." Max snapped "You know Maka that girlish curiosity could get you in a whole heap of trouble one day." her uncle continued. "Uncle, you don't really want me here do you?" Maka asked her tone that of defeat. "It's not that child, I'm just not use to being around teenagers, and the fact that you're the only living family that I have left is a hard notion to bear." Max replied his expression softening tremendously. Maka smiled relieved that her uncle did not despise her existence "It's getting late we should be heading back." her uncle said "Can I please stay out a little longer uncle, I'm really enjoying this?" Maka asked. "Okay, but don't stay out to much longer, and stay out of the forest I can only vouch for your safety if you stay on our property." her uncle called out before cantering away.
Maka meditated to the soothing sounds of the nature around her, but soon questions about the forest started gnawing at her. Why was it forbidden? What was so truly terrible about the big bad forest? Stopping Comet Maka dismounted and turned to face the forest line that ran beside the trail she was on. Comet pawed at the ground nervously as Maka whispered for her to stay put. Taking a deep breath Maka breached the border line and stepped into the forest. This was it? Maka thought to herself. It looked like any old and gorgeous forest there was. She was expecting something more terrifying like the trees oozing blood or something, which to be fair was how her uncle made the forest sound. Walking deeper into the forest Maka absorbed natures splendor before coming across a bunny caught in a basket trap. Against her better judgment Maka let her guard down and started to kneel down in front of the bunny intending to free it "You poor thing, who did this to you?" Maka cooed at the rabbit. Suddenly a twig snapped in front of her, Maka's head snapped up. She took in his white hair, ruby colored eyes which held an extreme sense of amusement in their blood colored depths, and since he wasn't wearing a mask this time sharp teeth that were made visible by his smile. Holy flying guacamoles how the fudge pops could his teeth be that naturally pointy Maka thought to herself. "One trap and two catches. Leave it to a girl to get herself into trouble helping an animal." the mystery boy stated smugly his face contorting into an irritating smirk as he walked towards her. His voice snapped Maka from her thoughts, "Trouble what trouble, I was just leaving." Maka replied while backing up slowly she knew that if she had to, she had a fair shot of kicking his ass since she had done it once already. Suddenly she heard another voice come from somewhere close to her back "Princess I see you've wandered a little too far from your manor." Maka half turned around to face a boy with gold eyes, black hair with three stripes on one side of his head and a smug expression on his face that mirrored her mystery boy. "See now she's perfectly symmetrical Soul, maybe you could try to be more symmetrical as you know see that some people have that ability." the teen stated earning an irritated snort from Soul. At least she knew her attackers name now Maka thought to herself. "Kidd, that's just not going to happen, you and I both know that I am to cool for that." Soul replied smugly Kidd just huffed indignantly "Whatever, let's just get back to the task at hand." Soul said turning his attention back to Maka. Meanwhile Maka was contemplating her odds of getting away from both of the boys, if they both attacked her simultaneously. "WHAT LUCK I HAVE BROUGHT US; THIS IS PROOF OF MY GODLINESS!"a familiar voice boomed out across the forest as a blue haired teen stepped out of the shadows to Maka's left. Aw crap there's another one Maka inwardly groaned to herself. "Black*Star, it's about time you got your "godly" ass here to help us bring Maka here to my brother." Soul replied to this obnoxiously hyper friend. Soul fixed his eyes onto Maka once again and smirked "Your coming with us princess, my brother is just dying to meet your acquaintance." he said in a mocking voice. That was it Maka had enough of these boys attitude they were too cocky for their own good, so even though she was surrounded on all sides she was going to give them a piece of her mind and then fight against them as much as she could. "I know what you are! You are thieves, bandits, and plunderers!" Maka snapped at them gaining all of their attention. "Are we now?" Soul asked chuckling and the other two could be heard sniggering in the background. Soul got about a half a foot away from Maka when she struck out and punched him in the gut sending him staggering backwards, Kidd grabbed her from behind and Maka elbowed him hard in the solar plexus while simultaneously stomping as hard as she could on his foot with her riding boots causing him to let go of her from the shock of unexpected pain. And as the third one with the annoying god complex rushed her a black blur sent him tumbling to the ground. In front of her stood Blair with eyes blazing with furry, lips drawn back, hackles standing up, fangs gleaming, and snarls erupting from deep within her throat. "It's the demon dog! Let's get out of here! Come on Soul!" Kidd and Black*Star shouted as they started sprinting away. Soul looked as if he were contemplating his odds against Blair and after Blair took a threatening lunge at him Soul sprinted away after his buddies. Once they were gone Blair relaxed and looked up at Maka. "Good girl Blair! Thank you!" Maka cooed as she hugged Blair around the neck burying her face in Blair's fur. Blair just wagged her tail and waited for Maka to let go of her. When she did Maka freed the bunny only to find it injured, so taking precaution not to hurt it Maka took the bunny with her back to Comet who was waiting for her outside of the forest, once mounted Maka rode Comet home with Blair running contently next to her.
As Soul caught up to his friends they slowed down as four men on horseback blocked their path. "What did I do to get such a useless brother as you?" Wes snarled down at his younger brother before continuing "I already gave you an opportunity to catch her, and you failed. Then this one arose and she got away. You're such a disappointment. Father would be ashamed to see this if he were still alive." Wes glowered over Soul. Soul and Wes's father was the clans leader and once he passed away his position went to the oldest son which consequently was Wes. After the two brothers glared at each other for a few more minutes both parties went their separate ways as the sun started to sink down slowly over the horizon.
A/N: Hello Everyone! ^-^ I'm sorry for not updating sooner; this week has been pretty busy for me. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are still welcomed but remember please no flames. To all of you who have reviewed so far I thank you!
-Midnight Oracle