Chapter 7: Homecoming
After lunch we return to the classroom. Maka joins us after the lecture is already underway. It seems that today we are going to be trying a "stacking" maneuver where multiple weapon/meister teams attack simultaneously to compound damage. This actually sounds pretty cool because we haven't done anything like this before. For the first time in what seems like a long time I'm stoked to be here.
As we head out from the lecture hall heading to the gymnasium we use for sparring I can tell that something is bothering Maka. She actually seems kind of pissed. That's when I realize that her absence during lunch may have been because she was meeting with Stein or Lord Death regarding my little request. Then again, it's possible she could have missed lunch for some other reason entirely, but I'm sure there is something bugging her as she fights with the door to the gymnasium as if it's done something personally to insult her. Yeah, she's pissed about something…but as she walks up to me she doesn't seem mad at me, thank goodness. There will be plenty of time for that later.
"Hey, Maka. What's up?"
"Ugh. I am so mad!"
"'Bout what?"
"I thought that Stein trusted me. I thought I had proved myself and, yes, I know I've been struggling with my new weapon but isn't that normal? I mean everybody is, right? Am I wrong here?" The tirade of words is coming at me so fast and furiously that I can't manage to break in. I pull my hands from my pockets to signal I have something to say, but she plows on with more.
"Can you believe this? This is so embarrassing. I'm going to be the only one paired with my usual partner, like I'm incapable of being flexible. I'm versatile, aren't I, Soul? We don't stick with just one attack or style. We try everything. I'm no creature of habit and I've been studying how to work better with the Thompsons."
It never occurred to me that Maka would immediately assume that this was some kind of punishment, like a remedial lesson. I don't know what conclusion I thought she would jump to but I hadn't considered the impact this would have on her when her self-confidence is already breaking down due to her struggles to resonate with Patty and Liz.
I had assumed, apparently incorrectly that Lord Death would have told her the reassignment was because of my shortcomings not hers, but it seems that they have simply left her to speculate on the reason. This is not at all what I thought he had meant when he said it was my responsibility to talk to her about it. I hate seeing her so worked up about this, but I should have known that the first thing Maka would do was look to her performance. They did meet with her after all. I can totally see how she would jump to the conclusion that this is because she has somehow screwed up. I'd like to tell her the truth but I feel like I'm going into this blind since I don't know what they told her. I decide to play dumb and figure out more about what exactly Lord Death or Professor Stein did tell her before I explain that this is in actuality all my fault.
"Hey, Maka, what the fuck you on about?" I ask nonchalantly
"I've just been informed that I'm to be paired with you for the rest of this assignment. They are reassigning some of the partnerships and determined that I need to be partnered with you."
I'm beginning to understand firsthand how Tsubaki was feeling at lunch.
"Ouch, Maka! You could at least act a little happy to once again be my partner in crime."
Maka shuts her mouth and wobbles back and forth in an attempt to hold in all the negative crap coming from her mouth. "Of course I'm happy to be paired with you, but I gotta learn this stuff, Soul. I gotta learn how to work with other people. I mean, with you it's just so easy. I never have to worry about stuff. Our souls converge so naturally-it's like it's meant to be, you know?"
I nod. Oh, yes, Maka, I know and that's why I've been so scared to rock the boat by telling you how much I want more. How I want you in my arms every night and by my side every day. How I want to always be with you.
"Maka, have you ever thought that maybe it isn't about you?"
Her eyes once again flash with anger. "Duh! Of course it's about me! Lord Death invited me to have lunch with him so he could talk to me about it. Oh, Soul, this sucks! How am I going to get better if I can't shake things up like everybody else?"
It's rare to see Maka this agitated and it's not going to help during our duel. She needs to calm down or she is going to have her teachers and Lord Death doubting her. I grab her shoulders.
"Maka, get ahold of yourself. You have unique abilities and you're super smart. You don't need to learn the same way as everybody else. With the two of us working together we can learn everything you need to know, I promise."
"Yeah, maybe… I have been missing you like crazy. Patty and Liz can't help me strategize like you do and things you do for me automatically I have to tell them to do. It throws me off. It's just…"
"You can't be happy we're back together because we work so well together it feels like too easy a path for you."
She nods. That's Maka for you- she will intentionally choose to take the path of most resistance if she is told by a mentor it will be character building.
"Don't worry," I laugh. "You want hard? I can argue and disagree with you about everything. If that's what you want. Forget the way these other weapons blindly do as their meister tells them. You know that isn't my style." I stand in front of her and press my forehead into hers. "Maka, I promise, I'll challenge you."
Her beautiful green eyes gaze directly into mine. "Oh, Soul! I've missed you so much."
I wrap my arms around her and close my eyes, drinking her in. Her scent, her touch, her spirit- I love it all. I even love that she's such a crazy chick that she is willing to make every project more work than it needs to be. We may seem like complete opposites and in many things we are, but we have one thing in common, a burning desire to be the absolute best weapon/meister team we can be and I love that every single day I can trust my partner to be working hard at it.
It's at a moment like this that I feel as though our lips are magnetic and I'm fighting a force pulling them together. I love her, I really love her. I don't even understand how I know I love her when I've never loved anyone before, but somehow I do. I am enamored with her and I want to be more than her weapon. I want to have that level of dedication to her…to us both on the battlefield and off.
I am so happy to once again be of use to her and to help her to succeed. I fear I may be grinning like a fool so I leap into the air, transforming myself before anyone can spy the doofy look on my face.
"Maka, we can do this together. You and me."
She catches me in the air and I feel great comfort when her strong grip is once again around me. I'm back where I belong.
