I do not own Soul Eater or Ignorance. They belong to their respective owners.
This chapter is for Zakun-chan. Thanks for the suggestion!
Rain woke Desmond at twelve like she had asked, but when she came out of her room, found Catherine was already making the stuffed mushrooms she was going to make. "No Catherine, I was going to do that! You're the guest in out house, you don't have to cook," Desmond told her.
"I was planning on making these anyway. I thought I'd let you sleep a little longer, but Rain was very adamant on waking you up at twelve like you had asked him to. Now go back to sleep," Catherine told her.
Desmond paused, choosing her words carefully to be polite. "No I can't, I have some other things I have to do before we go anyway," Desmond faked sweetness in her voice. As Catherine heard the crutches leave the kitchen, she remembered something. "Oh Desmond! There's a bag on the couch with something in it for you!" she called to her daughter. Desmond flopped herself down on the couch between the bag and Rain and pulled out a pink dress. It was a tank top dress with three layers of black lace on the bottom and the third came down to about her knees. Desmond's eye twitched as she held the dress.
"Dez," Rain whispered a warning. Michael snickered because he knew that when it came to her daughter, Catherine was completely out of touch.
"It's pink," Desmond hissed.
"Dez, calm-"
"It's pink," she said again more angered than the first.
"Yes, it's pink, but you're going to wear it today and make her happy. Remember what I told you?" Rain asked being her big brother again.
"Yeah, okay," Desmond said in defeat.
/
At about 12:50 the four were ready to go. Desmond was wearing her new dress and she even let Catherine do her hair and sat through a lecture about how her hair was much prettier when it was long, but short hair framed her face better. Desmond wanted to stick a knife in her eye (or puke on Catherine). She didn't know how much more 'beauty talk' she could take.
They finally left the apartment and as they walked out of the apartment complex Michael asked, "So how are you supposed to get around town?"
Desmond blinked, "Like this. I walk everywhere."
"The school really expects you to walk around on crutches everywhere? Don't the two of you walk to school every morning?" he asked.
"It's fine Michael," Desmond said getting slightly annoyed.
"Just leave her alone dad. We got this covered," Rain said mentally slapping himself for saying 'we got' in front of him. However before Michael could go off on his son's poor grammar, Catherine intervened. "Now Desmond, Rain calls Michael dad, why don't you call me mom?" she asked.
Without thinking Desmond said, "Because I call dad Vic." Shit! I said 'call', Desmond thought.
"Called," Catherine said correcting her.
"Yeah, called…" Desmond said annoyed that there wasn't any form of grief or sadness in Catherine's voice when she corrected her.
As the group approached Gallows Manor, Catherine revisited the topic. "Desmond, sweetie, I know you loved your father greatly, but you need to remember he's dead. And I know that sounds harsh but…" Catherine trailed off when Liz answered the door after Rain ringed the bell. She only saw Rain and the parents, and greeted him with sadness in her voice. Rain stepped forward and pecked the older Thompson sister on the cheek causing Desmond to let out a squeak from shock. All eyes fell on the black haired meister on crutches as she screamed, "When did that happen?"
Liz ran out of the house and almost knocked Desmond over when she hugged her. "You're back! Thank Shinigami you're alive!" she said through what sounded like sobs. Then she noticed the crutches and wiped her tears out of her eyes and said, "Let's get you inside so you can sit down." Desmond nodded in agreement.
Desmond followed Liz to where their friends were as she proclaimed, "Guys be cool!" Then pointed to Patti and Black Star, "Especially you two."
"Why me sis? What's going on?" Patti asked as everything became silent, as the only noise in the room was Desmond's crutches as she walked in. The first person Desmond saw in the room was Maka. Her plate slipped out of her hand and shattered upon impact with the floor, but she didn't seem to notice. Maka just stepped over it and walked over to her childhood friend and after a moment of awkward silence, slapped her across the face. No one moved for a few seconds, but then Desmond looked back to Maka and smiled. "I guess I deserved that," she said.
Tears swelled up in Maka's eyes and she hugged Desmond. "Never again?" she asked
"Never again," Desmond whispered back her promise.
Desmond sat down on a chair, Patti and Black Star sat next to her, Tsubaki across from her, Maka and Soul on either side of Tsubaki, between Soul and Patti was Liz, and between Maka and Black Star was Kid. Everyone wanted to hear the story of what went on and why she was injured as badly as she was. As she was talking, Crona walked in with Spirit close behind. "Crona!" Desmond squeaked happily.
"Desmond!" he replied started. "Y-you're back!"
"What? There's actually someone here that's tolerable?" Ragnarok asked as he popped up as usual.
"Oh Ragnarok, how I missed you," Desmond said moderately monotone.
"Don't say crap like that unless you mean it. Even if you did, why would I want to be missed by you? Look at you! You're wearing pink for crying out loud!" he said.
Desmond stood up sharply, putting all her weight on her right foot. "And what's so bad about pink might I ask," she said.
"Only weak girls wear pink," he said trying to start a fight.
"Shall I remind you your meister's hair is pink?" Desmond spat back defending Crona.
"Yeah, and he's a weakling beyond belief!"
"So I guess that makes you weak by association," Desmond retorted flatly.
"…"
"Learn form your past mistakes. This is too easy and getting embarrassing for you I would assume," Desmond said sitting down again.
"…Can you go missing again?" this got him a Maka-chop and a Shinigami-chop. No one had even noticed him come into the room.
As Ragnarok dangled, lifeless from Crona's back, Shinigami-sama turned to Desmond and company and said, "I'm so glad you all could come! Holidays just aren't the same without the whole family now are they?"
Desmond agreed, smiling from ear to ear.
/
One hour later everyone sat down at the table to eat. It was covered from end to end with food for the group to dig into. Spirit led everyone in saying a short Thanksgiving Day prayer. After mumbles of "Amen" they began to enjoy their feast.
During their meal, Catherine looked up and said, "Maka, what do you call Spirit?"
Maka looked up confused and Desmond groaned. "I call him Papa. Why do you ask?" Maka asked.
"Just wondering," Catherine said putting a fork-full of food into her mouth and looking at Desmond accusingly. Desmond slammed her silverware down onto the table. "What do you want from me?" she screamed down the table to her mother. Catherine placed her fork down calmly and said, "I want to be treated like your mother, and not someone you see every once in a while."
Rain tried not to show any signs of how ridiculous that statement actually sounded. "What?" Desmond's voice cracked and went up about two octaves as she screamed. "My mother? Maybe you should have thought about that before you walked out on us! I call you Catherine because since I was seven you had no real role in my life except for a place to crash. Remember how you said you didn't think Spirit could be a good parent?" Desmond asked. During her rant, she had stood up. The table was deathly silent. "Well guess what! He was a better parent to me after Dad died than you were! At least he was at the funeral! And just so you know, even if I didn't meet Rain in New York, I still would have come back to Death City because I couldn't stand another day with you!"
"Now Desmond, sit down before you say something you'll regret," Catherine warned.
"I won't regret a word of this! Its been building up inside my head since the day you left nine years ago!" Desmond screamed back. "And don't tell me to sit down like I'm just some child! I've lived without you in my life for years and I don't need you to come waltzing back and telling me how to live my life! I'm not a child and frankly, you don't know a thing about me! For example this dress, I despise pink. Thanks for the damn present!"
Spirit stood up from his seat across from his godchild. "Desmond, calm down. You've made your point, let's get back to dinner," he said trying to calm her down.
"One last thing," she said, her voice taking on an eerie calm tone. "I never called Dad Vic. You, however, I called you Catherine behind your back after you left and until I started to call you Catherine to your face in New York. That fight really drew me over the edge." Then Desmond sat down and continued to eat.
Well this is the best thing that could have happened
Any longer I wouldn't have made it
It's not a war no, it's not a rapture
I'm just a person but you can't take it!
The same tricks that, that once fooled me
They won't get you anywhere.
I'm not the same kid from your memory
Well now I can fend for myself.
