AN: hello and I hope you all had a wonder full thanks giving! Since my family's thanks giving plans were cut short we're having a Charlie brown thanksgiving. (toast, popcorn, and cookies) thank you to those who reviewed in this chapter we get a glimpse at Melody's time so please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER OR THE SONG MENTIONED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. (Sorry I forgot to disclaim it.) They belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 8: hitch hiking down memory ln.

(Melody pov)

Well, at least my Dad and the others believe me now. But I had forgotten about just who really mattered in the convincing department. The current grim reaper, Lord Death. I mean it's not like I was scared but really, who wouldn't be at least a bit nervous when facing Death. I had met him once or twice when I was little but that was only when I was at Damien's and he had happened to drop by for a visit. He wasn't exactly the go to guy anymore in my time. But this was it I was going to meet the grim reaper that commanded and made my parents Sparoti, Damien's grandfather, Lord Kid's father. THE grim reaper. So I guess that it was weird for my main concern to be my state of dress.

"Do you think he would mind if I changed first? I mean if I'm going to be meeting formally with Death; don't you think It would be better if I wasn't in torn, bloodied hospital cloths?" I stopped to ask. As soon as the words left my lips I felt like an idiot. But Liz and Maka stopped and considered it like it was a matter of the constitution. Maka seemed to remember something and smacked the bottom of her fist into her hand it an 'I got it' gesture.

"that's right I brought some cloths for you since you looked like you were probably my size, the jeans might be a bit snug but it shouldn't be a problem. If you want I can go with you to the infirmary and guard the door since someone decided to kick it down. " She smiled at me after shooting Black*star a pointed look and my mother's face flashed before my eyes. I smiled back at her.

"yeah, thanks a bunch" she smiled at me again before turning to the group.

"ok I'll go with her and you guys go ahead to the death room so if we take a while you guys can explain to him why ok." They all nodded and followed kid to the Death room while we made our way back to the infirmary.

"Thanks again Maka, for everything." I spoke up after a moment of silence. I felt kind of bad for practically ignoring her this whole time but in truth, I was scared I would slip up like it did with Zack or like I almost did with Damien. I liked my time just the way it was and I didn't want to change it too much. But boy was it weird to be calling her Maka like this instead of what she was, my mom.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it, ah here we are." We walked into the infirmary and she walked over to my old bed and opened the droor next to it pulling out a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans while I walked around the bed and found my converse. No offense to Tarzan or George of the jungle but going around bare foot like I was for this long sucked. "Here you go it's not exactly red carpet material but it's all I could think to grab at that moment."

"it fine this is more my style than that fashionista crap any way." We laughed at that for a moment before Maka walked over towards the doorway.

"I'll be over here pummeling the perverts if you need me." Giggling again I nodded and set to changing. When I was done I went to the nearest mirror to smooth out my hair and adjust my chocker and shinigami skull necklace.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you wear a chocker and a necklace? Is it just for style or…what?" that's my mom, perceptive to a fault. I can't tell you how many times Zack and I have tried to sneak cookies out of the kitchen only to be caught by her even when she was in another room reading.

"well the necklace is part of an old promise and inside joke between me and my best friend and the choker…" I put my fingers against it gingerly as if it my bite, I very well couldn't tell her it is the seal for my black blood, it would probably scare her besides I hadn't even explained it to anyone in full in the whole 2 years I'd had it, well I had explained it to Damien as he was my partner but only him. I mean they understood that it helped me control my blood. Even Damien only knew how it worked but not how I got it to do so. After choosing my words carefully I continued my explanation to Maka, (god it felt wired calling her that but I couldn't afford to slip up until I finally understood how it would affect my time).

"The chocker was a birthday gift from Dad, he gave it to me the year that I would be enrolling at the DWMA. It was also a reward sort of thing for making it into the E.A.T class." It wasn't a lie that really was how I got it. My birthday was 2 months before the enrollment time so Dad said it would be for both. Maka nodded excepting the explanation.

"Oh, you're in E.A.T? Good job! Whens your birthday?" she asked as we made our why to the death room.

"thanks and it's June 16th." She thought for a moment.

"so you're a Gemini? That makes sense you match the description quite well."

"Yeah, you tell me that a lot in the future." It couldn't hurt to tell her that simple fact.

We reached the Door and I couldn't quench the anxiety building up inside me. Mom must have noticed because she put a hand on my shoulder comfortingly.

"it's okay, I don't know why you're so afraid if your enrolled in the academy shouldn't you know him?"

"you would think so but…you promise to keep this a secret? I don't know how it'll effect time so none else can know okay!" she nodded and I learn in to whisper in her ear in case they were using the Death mirror to spy on us.

"well you see in my time Kid is the grim reaper, that's why I'm nervous I'm used to Lord KID not Lord DEATH." I whispered putting emphasize on their respective names. Maka's mouth formed a little 'O' in understanding before she walked up to the door and walking in with me following right behind.

"It's fine there's nothing to be afraid of he's not that bad, it's my papa, the current Death Scythe you have to look out for." I nodded feigning confusion and pretending not to know exactly who/what she was talking about. Yes my idiotic grandfather was defiantly someone to watch out for. Aunt Tsubaki told me that when he found out that my mom and dad were getting married he nearly killed my father and he nearly killed him again when he learned that my mom was pregnant with me. Luckily as far as I know he hadn't attempted murder a third time when Zackary came into the picture. But I credit that to the fact that my parents had told him when he was drunk and was due for one final mission before official retirement since my dad had long since taken over his post of death scythe. Even though Aunt Liz and Patty were still Lord Kid's personal weapons and held the official, official tittle of death Scythes, Aunt Patty had moved to Russia after meeting her 'soul mate' there and for the sake of symmetry as Lord Kid liked to say my Dad came in to help out so that Lord kid had two weapons as well as trusted friends to help advise him.

No sooner than when we could see the platform with everyone on it, an overly emotional sobbing red headed man that could only be associated with my grandfather came running towards us, or rather mom, crushing her in a hug.

"MMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKAAAA AAA!"

"MAKA-CHOP!" in two seconds flat he was doubled up on the floor unconscious, blood spouting from his head like a small fountain.

(Liz pov)

We all sweat dropped as Maka kicked her father's unconscious form out of the way like an old rag doll, muttering things under her breath. I swear those to really need to go see a consoler or something.

"Well, family feuds aside, it's nice to meet you Ms. Melody." Lord Death chirped in his cherry voice but Melody stiffened like she was being convicted of murder. Lord death chuckled at this and brought out his giant foam hand and motioned for her to come closer. She complied but not without a nervous gulp.

"Come on I won't bite, I just want to ask you a few harmless questions. I understand you've come here to warn us about an attack and it's my duty to protect my students so you can understand why I would want to know more about this." I couldn't help but feel loved and special by that. I mean it is his duty but to hear it like that warmed my heart a little to know that we were truly cared for by Kid's father. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kid smile a bit at his father's words as well and I felt the all too familiar urge to kiss him. Now I'm no idiot I know what these feeling mean. I'd known about them ever since he was captured by Noah and trapped inside the book of Ebion. A bit cliché I know but hey, I can't control when my feelings show themselves no can I? Anyway back to the matter at hand. Melody had calmed down and was trying to regain her cool composure. Key word: trying.

"yes sir, I understand what you're asking but the situation…not so much."

Kid took a step forward from his position next to his father giving her an encouraging smile. "it's all right just tell us what you know." His father nodded in agreement.

"Well, it all happened really quickly but on my way to my friend's house for a study date/sleepover I was attacked by a witch…" She went on to tell us about how when she was fixing the pictures in her photo album that the witch had appeared and attacked her. About how that when she had managed to dodge that the witch had been there waiting for here and stabbed her. She told us about how the witch had used her blood in a spell that had somehow turned the photo album into a time machine saying that she was going to 'rewrite time' by 'killing Sparoti' and how she had dragged her self over to the thing and without even so much as leaving a sign that she had been there except her blood or were she was going had come to our time only to be found half dead by Soul and Maka. By the time she was done the room had settled into a disturbed silence, Even Spirit, who had apparently woken up sometime around the 'rewrite time by killing Sparoti' part, simply sat there staring at Melody in shocked awe.

Lord Death stroked his non-existent chin. "hmm, this is quite the predicament. Melody you understand that this is quite a far-fetched tale and that I'll need to….confirm your story." Seriously? I thought we were done with this 'is she telling the truth or not' business.

Kid looked at his Father questioningly. "Confirm it, How?"

We all looked at Lord Death, all of us wondering the same thing.

"It's simple really as the head Grim Reaper I am allotted certain….abilities. Abilities you'll learn to use when you take over Kiddo. One of them allows me to take a look into a person's life seeing it all as if I were there so that I can judge weather or not they can pass on to the afterlife or not. A cinematic record if you will." (Thumbs up if you got that reference) we all nodded. Surprised at actually getting a straight answer from him.

"so let me get this straight" Soul said raising a skeptical eyebrow. "You're going to dig around in Melody's head and watch her memories like there a part of a home movie?" he asked incredulously.

"Pretty much!" Lord Death replied in a sing song voice. Poor Melody looked like she wanted to run away and hide under a rock. Not that I blamed her.

"your right soul except for one thing." Lord Death continued and Melody developed a look that clearly read 'what now?'. "I'm not going to be the only one witnessing it we all are." 3.2.1

"WHAT?!"

Lord Death sighed. "I'll just show you, Melody please come here, you to Spirit the mind must be at rest when this happens so we'll need someone to catch her when it goes to rest." Melody gave one last look at Lord Death like 'this guy can't be serious' and she and Spirit reluctantly walked over.

"now Melody close your eyes and everyone come here and form a circle." We complied. Once everyone was in place Melody closed her eyes and Lord Death raised his hand to touch her forehead when he did black lightning shot from his fingertips connecting his hand with Melody's mind, from there the lighting shot out and shot through each of us forcing us to take up a resonance link. As soon as the link was complete Melody's gave a light squeal and collapsed luckily Spirit was there to catch her.

"And now it begins." A shiver went down my spine when Lord Death spoke using his old voice, the one from before he founded the DWMA. At first everything dark but then the sound of a door being knocked on could be heard and soon the Death room disappeared and we were standing in the middle of a bed room.

"w-whats going on?" I squeaked.

"We are reliving some of Melody's memoires aren't we, Father?" Kid asked awe clear in his voice. Lord Death only nodded. The sound of the Knocking grew louder as the memory came into focus. Soon the voice of a woman could be heard.

"Melody, it's me can you open the door, my hands are kind of full right now!" the voice was familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then a voice spoke up behind us.

"Yeah one moment!" everyone but Lord Death gasped in surprise. Behind us Melody stood setting down what I guessed to be her IPod. Looking around I realized that this must be her room. The walls were painted a light lavender color. On the wall opposite of the door there was a large window with deep purple curtains tied back to let in the sunlight. Her bed which sat parallel with the window had a white frame with black and white striped comforter. A small nest of green and black pillows piled up on top. On the other side of the room a simple white desk with a black wheelie chair sat against the wall. Sheet music pilled carefully on one side while what looked like homework was tossed carelessly on the other. I made sure to distract Kid when he tried to look over there. Next to it was a book shelf filled with all sorts of books, musical text books and biographies of famous singers and composers such as Beethoven and Mozart, plays such as Phantom of the opera and just plain novels. All over the walls there were pictures of Melody and people who were probably her friends. I saw Soul looking at those the most. There seemed to be a lot of her and a boy that looked a lot like Kid except with blue eyes and judging by the way he had his eyes crossed and tongue sticking out along with Melody he looked like he actually knew how to have fun.

"Melody come on!"

"I'm coming!" we all were brought back to the matter at hand when Melody ran straight through Maka and Kid on her way out of the door. As she walked we were pulled along with her like we were on an escalator. We watch as Melody, dress in a navy blue tank top and grey sweat pants opened the door. Again all of us except Lord Death sucked in a breath especially Maka. Now I realized why the Voice was so familiar, because on the other side of the door was Maka albeit a grown-up Maka but still Maka. She didn't change much but this Maka had her hair tied in a low ponytail that reached just above her waist instead of pigtails. She wore a long white buttoned up trench coat with golden swirls at the bottom and the Sparoti logo on the shoulder so I guess it was her new uniform, instead of having tails at the end like normal it simply was split in half slightly towards the bottom making it seem like more of a lab coat, underneath she wore a pair of blue dress pants along with a pair of black,

"Oh my god, are you actually wearing heels?!" Maka shot me a look while the other told me to shush.

She was carrying a huge stack of papers that threatened to fall out of her hands at any moment. Melody quickly went to grab some of them as Future Maka walked inside.

"Thanks, where's your father I brought theses so we could go over the repots together." Future Maka asked as they made their way to what looked to be the kitchen.

"He and Zack went to the store to grab a few things." She replied as they sat the papers down on the counter. Future Maka shook her head at the dishes that had piled up in the sink and muttered.

"That man…he'll never learn." All of us even Lord Death this time chuckled at this, well minus Soul. Future Maka then turned to Melody. "what do you say we clean this up?" Melody nodded in return and walked over to the dishes.

"what are you doing?" She asked as Future Maka walked over to an old closet and pulled what looked like an old (for their time) CD player and CD.

"What, you think we're just going to clean? No, we're going to have some fun with this." She put in the CD and MAMBO # 5 started to play. Melody laughed as Maka danced her way over to the sink purposely bumping Melody with her hip as she went laughing along with her. Future Maka wasn't lying when she said that they would be having fun they spent more time splashing each other and dancing around then actually cleaning. We all laughed at their antics even our Maka laughed with us until we started teasing her about some of the goofy moves her future self was pulling off. By the time Melody and Future Maka were half way through the Macarena stared to play and after a bit more of them goofing off they had completely stopped cleaning to dance along with the song. They were at the part when they had their hands on their hips shaking them before repeating the routine when the door could be heard opening and two people walked in. sadly no one gasped as we were too busy trying stop laughing but we were still surprised. One was obviously a grown Soul dressed in jeans and a t-shirt the other looked like an ash blonde version our Soul dressed about the same. Both were carrying grocery bags and were watching Future Maka and Melody dance with extremely confused and disturbed expressions on their faces. They stopped dancing when Soul promptly cleared his throat. The two froze mid hand flip, mortified at being caught, the music still playing in the back ground. Finally future Soul spoke up his voice conveying just how awkward the situation was.

"well ,ugh, you two look like you having fun so ugh….um…Zack how do you feel about going back out and having a father son hang out?" he changed the conversation. The boy, Zack, quickly agreed.

"That sounds wonderful dad! lets go!"

"Agreed!" and with that the two ditched the grocery bags and made a mad dash for the door slamming it shut behind them. Future Maka and Melody remained frozen in their position long after the music had stopped. Suddenly the two burst out Laughing.

"That was hilarious!" Future Maka said in between bursts of Laughter. Melody nodded her agreement.

"Mortifying, but defiantly hilarious!" Future Maka looked at Melody and I nearly had a heart attack at what I figured out. Now my mom was pretty much the worst in the world, leaving Liz and I out on the streets for some guy. But there had been one time when I had been given affection from her. That one moment had seared itself in my brain so when Future Maka looked at Melody that look of affection hidden behind all of that laughter and amusement I knew. That look could only be given by one person…a mother. I looked around but no one else had noticed. Not even Maka herself. But before I could do anything the world went dark again.

"What? What happened is it over?" kid asked

"No, Memories are wild things, like dreams. When going through them like this they're going to shift through different, probably completely unconnected things, that's all that's happening we are simply about to witness another memory." Lord Death explained. When he was done the scenery had changed back into Melody's room but it was dark and I couldn't see anything and crying could be heard. The first thing we saw was a little girl about 5 years old whimpering in her bed as if she was having a nightmare of epic proportions. Soul identified her just as I realized who she was.

"Melody" his voice sounded strangled. But it was true. She whimpered one more time before she shot up bolt right in her bed with a muffled scream. She immediately ran out of the room (us being pulled along with her) straight into the living room were a man with white hair and tired red eyes sat watching TV. That tiredness left his eyes immediately and was replaced with immense concern when little Melody came running into the room and launched herself straight into his arms.

"Papa!" she cried and I felt my heart string being tugged at by the amount of fear in her little voice. Whatever she had dreamt about must have been horrible. I glanced over to our Melody but she was still out cold in a concerned Spirits' arms, he must be thinking the same thing about little Melody's nightmare binging a father himself. A look at Soul told me he was thinking the same thing too.

Future Soul hugged Melody back. "Hey, kid what happened." He tried to play it cool but his eyes betrayed just how scared he was. Little Melody wrapped her small arms around his neck holding on tight. "it was the nightmare again Papa! Why does it keep coming back? They were attacking me! There was so much blood Papa! And the blood was black! Why was it black Papa? Why won't the nightmare go away!?" she sobbed. Everyone was silent even Black*star and Patty, no kid should be having dreams like that, and for it to be reoccurring what was going on? Future Soul looked shaken up but managed to keep his voice calm and soothing as he held onto little Melody rubbing her back comfortingly.

"shhhhh, it's alight I've got ya. As for why it was black you'll understand why when you're older. But this is happening because you're special Melody.

She sniffed. "special?"

"Yeah like me, but don't worry as long as I'm around nothing would even think or hurting you. You know why?"

Melody started to calm down. "why, papa?"

He smirked "Because your Papa is the strongest Death scythe in the world and I'm not going to let anything hurt you got it." Melody blinked before returning a small smile before re-wrpaing her arms around Souls neck in a small hug.

"ok Papa." We girls couldn't help it. Tsubaki, Maka, Patty, and I squealed at just how cute this little moment had become.

"shhhhhhhh! Pay attention" the boys hissed and we all hot them miffed looks but complied.

A few moments passed and Future Soul went to stand up probably thinking little Melody was asleep. But that theory was proved wrong when her little hand grasped the think material of his shirt in a vice grip.

"mmm, papa where are you going please don't leave." She mumbled sleepily

"awwwwwww" us girls and Spirit sighed only to be shushed by the boys again.

Future Soul sat back down. "All right but it's getting kind of cold so come on." With that he picked up little melody, propped her up on his hip were she snuggled up against his side, and preceded to walk silently over to a closet and pull out some blankets before walking back over to the couch and pulling over one of those electric pianos wrapping the blankets around himself and melody. Little Melody must have realized what was happening because she quickly moved to sit in his lap. Soul switched on the piano and began to play Melody immediately calming down as soon as it began. None of us expected what came next.

"That's the pretty song!" Patty yelled.

"'pretty song'?" Spirit asked

Tsubaki explained. "before we came to the Death room Melody played us a song on the Piano, it was that song."

"well this explains why she looked so at piece when she played it." Kid noted

Maka nodded in agreement. "a song to chase away her nightmares when she was little, makes sense."

We all looked back at little Melody and Future Soul. The song was a little over halfway through and she had completely calmed down and was beginning to fall asleep. Once again the room went dark as the memory was switched out for another one.

"Well this next one should be the last memory we see, I believe her to the fullest now but I admit I'm a bit curious as to what this next one will be!" Lord Death said reverting back to his cheery voice. This time we stood in the middle of Death City Park on a warm sunny day. In front of us sitting on a bench swinging her legs back and forth like she was on a swing was Little Melody but she looked a little older possibly 7. Next to Her sat future Soul probably fresh out of work since her was in a suit. It was a black pinstriped suit with a red dress shirt underneath. He was had two ice cream cones in hand one was vanilla the other strawberry. He handed the strawberry one to Melody who took it with a big smile on her face while saying playfully.

"Your ice cream madam."

Melody giggled "thank you papa!"

Soul smirked in return. "You're welcome! I think this is a good way to celebrate don't you think?"

"yep! I'm like you now right Papa? I'm a weapon."

Even Lord Death was surprised at that statement. Spirit spoke up.

"Amazing, she can't be any older than seven but she already knows she's a weapon?"

"Apparently so" I told him. With that news we turned our attention back to the memory at hand.

The two of them sat there enjoying their ice cream, joking around and having a wonderful father daughter outing. But alas all good things must come to an end.

"hey Papa, since I'm a weapon then dose that mean that I'll be able to be badass like you when I grow up." Future Soul nearly choked on his ice cream.

"what did you just say?"

"I was wondering is this means that I'll be badass like you papa?" she said tilting her head in confusion.

"Melody Lucile Evans were on earth did you here that word from!?" Soul interrogated switching from fun hang out mode to responsible parent mode. Poor melody didn't know what she had done wrong.

"what word Papa?"

"The…word you just said. You know…"he hesitated obviously not wanting to say I t in front of his 7 year old daughter. I myself found this situation rather ironic since our Soul could cuss like a sailor. Finally Future Soul clarified for his daughter with a sigh. "Badass, who did you here that from?"

Little Melody's mouth formed a small 'O' in before explaining but still not understanding what she had done wrong.

"I heard it from uncle Black*star when he was watch me and Zack last week. During a movie he said that the main character was 'badass' when I asked him what that ment he said that he could kick butt. Why?"

Future Soul face palmed while our Soul gave Black*star a look like 'you can't be serious she 7!'

Future soul shook his head which still rested in his hand muttering. "Black*star that idiot that's the last time I'm leaving them with him over night." Before turning back to Melody.

"now look Melody you're not in trouble this time because you didn't know any better but don't you ever let me catch you saying that word again understand that's a bad and un lady like word and you shouldn't be saying It got it?"

Melody nodded. "yes papa I promise not to say it." That was the last thing we saw as everything went dark again and we were back in the Death room our resonance link ending. We all stared at Melody.

"What a childhood." Black*star commented. We all nodded our agreement unable to say much else.

"well then schools pretty much over now and it's a Friday so you kid go home now but before you do do any of you mind taking Melody with you." Lord Death asked

"We will lord Death its only right." Maka said and soul grunted his approval and walked over to take Melody from Spirit. We all said our good byes and left the Death room.

"hey why don't you all come over to our place so that when Melody wakes up we can all be there." Maka chirped looking.

"yes that would be pleasant, what do you think, Liz, Patty?" Kid asked us.

"I'm all for it." I approved

"Yeah that will be so cool!" Patty agreed.

"I'll go if Black*star goes." Tsubaki replied

"Of course your god will be present!" Black*star yelled

"yeah about that." Soul said as he handed melody over to Maka who looked at him questionably.

"yeah what's up soul?" Black*star asked

Soul cracked his knuckles and we all sweat dropped except for Black*star who remained oblivious and Patty who was too busy poking Melody's cheek to pay any attention.

"Well you did kind of beat up my daughter and that's just not cool. It would still have been uncool if she were just another girl but my daughter; well you'll understand why I have to do this no hard feelings." Black*star's eyes widened as soul pulled back his arm curling his hand into a fist. But it was too late. Soul punched Black*star knocking him straight to the ground. Meanwhile all of our jaw dropped at the sight.

"oww man that hurt!" Black*star wailed as he cradled his hurt cheek. Soul walked over and offered him a hand which Black*star took hesitantly.

"sorry but…" his voice trailed off as he spoke with a shrug. Black*star nodded his understanding.

"it's all right I kind of deserved it." And with those words Soul took Melody Back from Maka and we headed to their apartment.

An: DONE! Took me yester day and a few hours of today to get this done. It would have been out yesterday but you know it was thanks giving and I got side tracked with our tradition of watching Charlie brown thanks givingor whatever it's called and then we watched Medea's witness protection program. Which is the funniest movie ever by the way and when that was all over it was 11 and I didn't feel like writing any more. But on the bright side this is my longest chapter EVER so…..yeah. love it hate it please review.