After the Fact Ch.7

A/N- Over 3000 hits! That's sooo awesome:D Btw, good news. My school gets out on May 21 so I'll have a lot more writing time soon meaning faster updates.

"Come on Soul!" Maka shouted. Though even that was hard for her to say due to their altitude.

"I can't go any faster because of these wussy wings you've given me!" he argued back. She grunted in annoyance, before taking a sharp turn around one of the tall rock pillars. They had been doing this all day and frankly, she was tired of it. Kim and Jackie could do it so easily and they hadn't even reached Death Scythe status. All she and Soul had managed to do was get a few measly feet off the ground. After a bit of that the two of them would get into a fight over something and then their soul wavelengths wouldn't match up and they'd both come crashing down.

"You guys are doing well. Take a break and then try again once you've cooled off a bit." Nygus-sensei said before walking off to who knows where.

Maka walked over to her bag to relax for a bit, which was thankfully a few feet away from Soul's. She sat down next to it, pulling out a bottle of water. She fumed silently to herself since she and Soul weren't exactly in each pother's good graces at the moment. "What kind of mission was this anyway? Kid could be stranded somewhere or being tortured and here we were, learning how to fly. FLY. I know soul wavelengths are important but really? Flying? It was fun but was this really the time to be doing this sort of stuff?" These were the questions that had been floating around in her head all morning. Maka sighed. "Wonder what our friends are doing...?" She shrugged. No use in wondering. She'd see them soon enough.

Maka rummaged through her backpack, looking for a protein bar she'd packed. Due to her extraordinarily bad looking skills she ended up just dumping out the contents of the bag. It was quicker that way anyways. Maka got out the small bar and began chewing it heartily. She bit off the last piece before fishing out a small note from the depths of her black shorts. (Which she had chosen to wear instead of her usual skirt)

"It's about that time." Maka glanced at the paper one more time, just to make sure.

Be at the back gate of the school at 1:45. We have a few things to discuss with you.
Don't chicken out,
The Soul Eaters

Maka checked her phone. It was about 1:30ish. She was definitely going. (Why waste a perfectly good opportunity to get them back for last time?) That only left one issue...getting away from Soul. They had been partners so long that their soul wavelengths had evolved into more of soul connections. If he couldn't tell without the bond (which was impossible since Maka was a horrible liar) then the chain might as well of put a giant sign on her forehead spelling out "LIAR!" for him.

This was going to be hard.

"Boo!" Maka jumped and turned towards the noise. There stood Soul, in all his glory. How did she not notice him there? Maka hid the note under her backpack; hopefully he hadn't seen it.

"Hey Soul, what's up?" She started a bit too casually since they did just have a fight. He looked at her, a curious expression on his face. "I just wanted to say sorry for earlier. I know we were both pretty frustrated." Maka nodded and smiled. "Apology accepted. Now if you'll excuse me I need to use the bathroom before we start up again."

Soul watched her walk away, almost unbelieving. He had known Maka for a while now and in all that time not once had she ever given up on a fight and forgiven him that fast.

There was definitely something up. Soul glanced down at her bag and noticed a small paper sticking out from under it. He bent down and picked it up before angrily scanning and pocketing the scrap of white. That was why she was in such a hurry! That idiot! He ran in the direction his technician had gone in, soon coming upon the bathroom she was supposedly going to. Operation clingy boyfriend commencing...Now!

He didn't even bother stopping to check. Soul already knew where Maka was. He rounded a few more corners before coming upon a wide sunlit hall. Voices began to drift towards him, getting louder as he neared them.

"What do you want? There isn't anything left for me to discuss with you." The palpably vexed tone Maka spoke with was one she only used when she was really ticked, so obviously she already knew these people or they had said something about her chest. He was going for the latter.

"Oh, there's plenty left to talk about Maka. In fact, let's start with you. Why are you still Soul-kun's partner? We told you to forfeit that position. It's not like the two of you are compatible anyways."

Soul stood behind the wall, as close as he could without being discovered. He was going to come out, but he needed more information first. The sound of a heavy sigh reached his ears, followed by light footsteps that echoed throughout the corridor.

"The last time we met up, you got very-VERY lucky. This time? Not so much." If the squeals and crunches weren't a good enough indication of the fight going on then the reflection of blood on the floor was. "Now," Soul thought, "is the time to step out."

When soul stepped out from his hiding spot the picture before him was, to tell the truth, slightly comical. Maka had a girl in a chokehold while the other ones were strewn about on the floor either tending to their injuries or getting back up to return to the fight. Soul spotted one of them attempting to get Maka from behind and snuck up on her, tugging her arm away just in time. Who were these chicks and why was Maka fighting them anyway? (Even if she was winning...) She never fought at school unless she absolutely had to. Soul finally decided that he wasn't going to get any answers by doing nothing, so he summed them all up into one question.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Ya-hoo!" Black Star yelled loudly. He was really enjoying this. The tall trees, open air! Ahh, the wonders of being in a forest. Shinigami really knew him well! Mission? Pshh, more like vacation! All they had to do was get to Medusa's lair, track her down, and find out where Kid was. They'd have time left over.

The meister and technician traveled through the thicket of trees until they began to thin out, a large structure looming in the distance."Hey Tsubaki, I think we're coming up on the lair, so get ready cause it's almost time for my big entrance!"

Tsubaki smiled in acknowledgement, before transforming into a pair of nun chucks. Black Star caught her effortlessly before jumping fifteen of so feet to the soggy forest floor.

Liz threw her overly large book at the nearest wall, eliciting from it a cloud of dust that sent everyone nearby into a fit of coughs. "How come we got the boring job!" She had been in Shibusen's private library since early that morning along with the rest of Spartoi. Apparently they were searching for information on the people who abducted Kid. All they knew about them was that they were led by someone named Noah.

"Yeah! How come Maka and Black Star are out there doing stuff while we're in here reading stuffy old books! This is more Maka's department than anyone!" Harvar complained. Even Patti wasn't as energetic as usual due to the extremely tedious task.

Even though it was super boring, everyone continued searching; page after page after page because they knew that any small detail on BREW or Noah's organization could be key in the search for their friend. Though each of them would much rather be out doing something, if this is where they were needed then this is where they would stay.

Kim got up and began to walk towards the library's immense entrance, allegedly needing to go to the bathroom. "I'm a big girl. I don't need an escort to the ladies room." She said sternly when both Jackie and Ox offered to go with her.

Kim slipped out of the room quickly. She figured she had about ten minutes before they began to suspect anything, which, if her plan went well, would be more than enough time. She walked out of the large building, flanking its immense gray walls until she came upon a door. She whispered an incantation under her breath. It opened and she slipped in soundlessly.

Inside it was dark making it nearly impossible to see. The room smelt of dust and was a bit musky. Rather than chancing making noise by bumping into something, Kim took out a flashlight and switched it on. The pitch black room took on an entirely new appearance.

Rows and rows of books lined the walls. The shelves towered over her, almost ominously so, threatening a quick death if they were to collapse. Kim lifted the light higher, walking down one of the many paths until she came upon an open space. She dusted off the floor and sat down. "Time to get to work."

She whispered a familiar incantation under her breath. She didn't have much time and there were too many manuscripts in the cramped area to search by hand.

"Amel-Alela-Ameliora." (1)

All at once, all of the novels flew from their places on the stale shelves and began flying toward her. The pages flapped noisily, and she heard footsteps approaching the room in which she was in. did she say ten minutes? Make that two.

The books raced around her, never stopping or ceasing. Kim lifted her hands, holding the vivid beam between her teeth, speed reading as it was called. All she needed was the title; the contents would be saved for another day.

Blithe Spirit….East of Eden….Insanity of a Kishin…..

There. She froze the books, searching for the right one. She plucked it out from the air and blew on the cover, removing any excess dust.

The Book of Eibon

She examined it for a moment. It had a dark leather binding and was the heaviest book she'd ever carried. There wasn't much time to examine it any further, and the dim light wasn't helping her one bit so Kim shrunk the book, storing it in her and Kim flicked her wrist, sending the books back to their appropriate places, before slipping out of the room.

"Hey Kim, what took you?" Harvar asked upon her return. She bonked him on the head, muttering darkly as she returned to her pile of books.

"That's not something you ask a girl after she comes back to the bathroom, idiot." He rubbed the sore spot, a low grumble escaping his lips. "You wanna say that again!" she asked angrily.

"Sorry…sheesh." After a bit they each went back to their separate books, still searching for information that they wouldn't find. Kim pretended to scan the pages, a small smile on her face.

"Step one completed."

Maka froze where she was. She knew that voice, and from the terrified look in all of the girls' eyes they did too. She dropped Cecilia, letting her fall haphazardly to the floor. The girl let out a loud 'umph!' but Maka hardly noticed due to the silent conversation she and Soul had been sharing. After a moment he looked away, turning to Cecelia instead.

"Why are you and your posse fighting with my meister?" He hissed at her, hardly containing his anger. Her face was red she seemed as if she were about to cry.

"It wasn't our fault! Maka just told us to meet her here! Then she said something about staying away from Soul-kun and started to hit us." Maka sweat dropped. What a liar she was… Apparently Soul agreed with Maka because he looked anything but convinced.

"Then how do you explain this?" Soul tossed the ringlet haired girl the note, watching her expression go from victorious to horrified. "Exactly. Now which one of you wants to be first?" Soul asked, his blade arm shining in the afternoon sun. One of them got up and ran. She was soon followed by more of them and Maka had to force Soul to keep his feet planted. He wasn't the type to issue threats and not carry them out.

They began walking back in silence. There wasn't much to say, but the tech and weapon knew they wouldn't be able to go back to practicing until they settled the little issue.

"Was this the thing you weren't telling me about? The reason you kept coming home hurt?" Soul finally asked. Maka nodded.

"I just wanted to take care of it myself, and I did so it's all in the past now."

"You should have told me."

"I handled it didn't I?"

"Still." Maka stopped to examine his face. Soul was still a little red from when he'd lost his cool earlier. She felt sorry. He must have been worried."Sorry. I'll remember that for next time."

They continued walking back to their training site, a comfortable silence between them. Maka felt at ease. Now that that problem was out of the way she could worry about the main issue at hand. If only Soul had the same luxury. His back pocket felt a hundred pounds heavier than it should have. He didn't have to open it to know what it had said. The letter physically weighed little to nothing but for Soul it was like a heavy anvil was on his shoulders, ready to sink him if he didn't tread with enough caution.

Saving Kid was definitely priority at the moment, but the Evans were anything but nice when it came to getting what they wanted and now...they wanted him.

A/N- Thanks so much for all of the reviews and alerts! My ipod is always buzzing with emails:) Sorry to say but I'm not very organized and I don't really know where this is going but so far I'm liking the plot so thx for reading, it makes me super happy!

***Edited version***

(1) Kim's real spell thingy is waaaaaay too long so I made a fake one. Sue me, I'm lazy.

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