Last Chapter: Face to Face

When she had pumped Liz for info on the Deadly Weapons and Meisters, the only person whose location she swore she didn't know was Soul. After pressuring her captive to give her the next best thing, Maka found herself heading towards the East Coast - specifically, New York.

'The lone familial tie that Soul had kept through the years was his older brother, Wes Evans. He was a well-renowned violinist, often travelling with his brother when he could; he had been drafted into a Broadway play, and was in town for the next few weeks. It would be this gentleman of leisure that could point me in Soul's direction.'

She had tracked him down and waited for an opportune time to approach him, which came in the form of a huge rainstorm. She had been waiting it out in a small cafe, when Wes himself strolled through the door and sat down across from her. The barista had his drink ready in minutes, and he was sipping it expectantly.

"You've been following me recently; I figured I should ask why, and this seemed as good a time as any. Though, I certainly don't mind being followed if its you." He winked at her before setting his cup down and folding his hands neatly on the table. She took a gulp of her iced tea and tried to process him approaching her.

"You're clever, just like he always said."

"I must warn you - I'm susceptible to flattery; though you didn't quite answer my question. What do you want from me?" Maka gave him a coy smile as she leaned forward, resting her forearms on the cool glass table.

"Where's Soul?" His eyebrows shot up as he took another sip of his drink, in recognition more so than surprise. He set the cup back down, repeating her question before a smile crossed his face.

"He told me you'd be coming; you must be Maka. I can see the attraction. Soul's got good taste in women; just like I do." He reached out and touched her hand, pausing for a moment to find the words.

"Honestly, I don't know why you put up with him." At that, Maka grinned and agreed with him. They laughed for a while, a silence falling over them as they continued watching the rain. "Soul shot you in the head?" She didn't freeze up or get angry, only hummed in affirmation. It, like the death of everyone she loved, was simply a fact. Wes commented under his breath, something to the effect of 'i taught him better than that'.

As he finished up his drink he pardoned himself to get them both refills; when he came back and gave her a new tea, he smoothed out his shirt before looking up at her questioningly. "What were we just talking about?" She took a long drink, and he patiently waited for her to finish. She settled in her chair and spread out her arms slightly.

"Soul. Where is he?" It was Wes' turn to take a long slug of his hot drink, making a thoughtful face as he tried to remember his brother's instructions.

"He's at the Twin Farms hotel, in Vermont. I'll draw you a map... Do you know why I'm helping you?" Maka was sure she didn't want to know the answer, but it came as a surprise when he said that Soul would want him to help her; she told Wes she didn't believe him.

"How else is he ever going to see you again?"


The drive was long and silent, but Maka was more determined now to finish things. She never dreamed she would get this far - standing at the doorway to the room she knew he was staying in. It was a miracle in itself that none of the others had killed or maimed her by now. She picked the lock and entered the room, warily approaching the large living area; there was a bar, and large french doors that lead to an outside garden area. She heard no noise coming from inside of this room, and she continued to inspect around each corner. Finally, she burst outside and got into position, ready to cut him in half-

"Freeze, mommy!"

"Bang, bang! Oh, man, Soma, she got us!" Soul shouted while collapsing. The little girl that had been standing beside him was peaking through her hair to look at Maka, who was stunned and unable to move. Soul told her to hurry it up and fall down already, and she grudgingly did so while he continued to narrate their play.

"But! Little did Scythemeister Albarn know, little Soma was playing possum! She is impervious to bullets."

"I'm pervious to bullets, mommy!"

"Yeah, yeah, no one likes a show-off; you're playing possum, lay back down. So, as the smirking killer advanced on what she thought was a bullet-ridden corpse - that's when Soma fired!" The little girl sprung up and pointed her fake gun at Maka, yelling 'bang, bang' and smiling. When Maka didn't move, the happy expression left her face. "You're dead, mommy. So, die." Soul's voice drifted to her, making her realize that this was all a game to the little girl - her little girl. She gasped, as if in pain, before looking back to Soul for the next cue. He supplied the girl's name for her and she promptly caused a scene.

"Oh, Soma! I should've known! You... are... the best!" Maka collapsed to the ground and dropped her sword. She heard the patter of bare feet as Soma ran to her and knelt down, big tears in her eyes. "Mommy! Don't go back to sleep, we were just pretend-shooting!" Maka's eyes slowly opened as she reached up and pushed the hair out of her face. She had Maka's ashy blonde hair and Soul's dazzling red eyes. As she sat up, Maka couldn't help but sweep her up in a hug.

Her baby was alive; this was more than she had ever bargained for. If Soul cut her down tonight, she might be okay with that.

"I told her you were asleep, and that one day, you would wake up and come be with her. And she asks me, how's momma gonna know what I look like? And I told her the sappiest thing. I said, 'Momma's been dreaming about you.'" Maka tried her hardest to ignore Soul, to focus on the way her baby felt in her arms, when her small voice piped up.

"Did you dream of me, mommy? I dreamed of you." Her arms tightened around her daughter as a few tears fell.

"Every single night, baby."

"I waited a long time for you to wake up, mommy." She glared daggers at Soul from behind her daughter's back. He had succeeded in taking her from Maka, in keeping this child a secret from her. Maka pushed away from Soma and smiled as she took in her small form. "You're such a pretty girl." Soma blushed and thanked her, and Soul's voice came between them again.

"Soma, tell mommy what you said when you saw her picture." Bashfully, she hid behind her hands and shook her head, and Soul gave her a soft look before saying it would make Maka feel good. She relented, hands still covering her red face.

"I said you're the most beautifulest woman I ever saw in the whole wide world." Soul continued to compliment Maka, and she continued to ignore him. He told their daughter that Maka was mad at him, though he didn't specifically tell her what had transpired. Soma demanded something to eat and they all went inside, seating themselves at the bar while Soul made sandwiches.

"Our little girl learned about life and death the other day. Tell her about Emilio, sweetie."

"I killed him! It was terrible. I took him out of his fish bowl to play, I didn't know fish needed water to live; I don't, and I'm fine! Anyway, I accidentally stepped on him while we were playing."

"And how did you know Emilio was dead?"

"He wasn't flapping anymore..." Soul handed her a sandwich and cleaned his knife before angling towards Maka.

"What better way to illustrate life and death? A fish flapping, a fish not flapping. So powerful, even a child can comprehend its severity."

After they dined and Soma filled the silence, Soul announced it was her bedtime. As he tucked her in, he began to tell her the story of him and her mother.

"Y'know, Soma, I really do love mommy... Like you loved Emilio. But I did to her what you did to him."

"You STOMPED on mommy?" She sounded incredulous, and it almost made him laugh. But his face was blank, the look in his eyes somber as he recalled his mistake.

"Worse... I shot mommy. Not pretend shooting. I shot her for real. I knew what would happen to her if I did it... But I didn't consider what it would do to me."

"What happened to you, daddy?"

"I was very sad. And that's when I learned, that some things - once you do 'em, they'll never be undone." Soma immediately turned her attention to Maka, demanding answers - what had it felt like, was she ok now, how did she manage, ect. Maka walked towards the bed and laid down with her, smiling and kissing her on the forehead.

"It just made me sleep. That's why I haven't been around - I've had a serious case of the sleepies."

"But you're awake now, right?" Her eyes were wide and innocent. Maka could lose herself in those eyes, but she smiled and nodded. Soul asked if they would like to watch a video before she went to bed, and she immediately demanded Shogun Assassin.

"No, it's too long honey-"

"No, it's not." Maka's voice stopped him in his tracks and he relented, closing the doors and leaving them to their movie.


Once she was certain Soma was asleep, Maka leaned down and kissed her on the side of her face before getting out of the bed. She tucked her daughter under the covers and laid her stuffed giraffe beside her, which she instantly snuggled up to. Maka gave in and leaned down, running her fingers through her hair while she slept. Deciding she had put it off long enough, she made her way out of the bedroom and closed the door without a sound.

Descending the stairs, she wasn't surprised to see Soul perched on a barstool, waiting for her with his gun drawn. "I was admiring your sword; how's Kilik?" She sat down on the couch and smiled hesitantly at him. "Kilik's good."

"I was surprised to hear he made you a sword."

"I just dropped your name and he went right along with it." Soul ignored her in favor of examining her blade, and she simply watched him and waited for any signs of an attack. He knew she would kill him - and he would be the first to strike, most likely. But his timing had to be perfect.

"I suppose we should settle this between swords; the only problem is if we should do it tonight, during the full moon, or go old school -which you know I'm a sucker for- and we wait till sunrise." As he finished his sentence, she lunged for his sword, which was perched on a chair nearby. He countered this by shooting a fruit bowl on the table in front of her. She fell back into her seat and waited for him to circle around to the other side of the bar, all while going on about how they needed to clear the air before one of them died.

"Now, since I know you'd never tell anyone, much less me, about your true feelings, I've come up with a solution that I think would benefit us both." Soul's hand was fast as he pulled the trigger, a strange dart digging into the skin of her thigh as she cried out, clutching the area painfully. "What the fuck did you just shoot me with?"

"Truth serum. Hey, hey, paws off; or I'll stick another one right in yer cheek." He leaned down as he explained how it worked, grabbing a large bottle of moonshine and pouring himself a shot. He drank the whole thing before pouring himself yet another shot of it.

"Now, I've got a point to prove; and in the time it takes me to do that, the serum should kick in. So, here's my analogy. I love comics. My favorite happens to be Superman, as you know. Not a great comic, not very well drawn - but the mythology? It's absolutely unique to that single series." He took another slug and filled the small glass before settling in a bar stool.

"The staple of superheroes is that there's the person, and the alter ego or superhero. Batman has Bruce Wayne, Spiderman has Peter Parker, Iron Man has Tony Stark. When that character wakes up, he's Peter Parker; the costume makes him Spiderman. Superman, however, never becomes Superman. He was born that way, and he wakes up every day as Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. Kent's suit and glasses is the costume that Superman wears to blend in with humans. And what is he like?

"He's weak, he's unsure of himself... Clark Kent is Superman's critique of the whole human race. Sort of like Maka Albarn, versus Mrs. Justin Law."

"So, the point emerges."

"You would've worn the costume of Arlene Law, but you were born Maka Albarn. And every morning you woke up, you'd still be Maka Albarn. Oh, you can take out the needle." She ripped it from the leg and, despite wanting to throw it at him, she set in on the table and rubbed a hand over the wound. "You callin me a superhero?"

"I'm calling you a killer. A natural-born killer. That's never gonna change; no matter how far you move, how much you change your surroundings. You can't blend in with the worker bees, because you're a renegade killer bee. So, here's my first question: Did you really think your life in El Paso was gonna work out?" He saw the lie try and weasel its way through her teeth, but it got stuck as tears sprung to her eyes. She wanted to say yes so badly, prove him wrong, but it was spilling out of her faster than she could control.

"No... But I would've had Soma!" She pointed an accusatory finger at him, glaring.

"You'd've made a better mom than me; but you can't just pretend you're something you're not just because you think that's how it should be." He got up and sat down opposite of her, on a chair. He leaned forward and the silence hung heavily over them.

"Next question: Why did you run away from me, with my baby?"

"Do you remember the last assignment you sent me on?"

"Of course. Kim Diehl."

"I got sick on the plane... And again after I had landed. I got paranoid; what if I really was pregnant?"


"Easy to use, remove cap and urinate on absorbent end and wait five minutes, results appear in window." Maka left the stip sit on the counter and examined herself thoroughly in the mirror as her watch ticked away. Her stomach was still flat, her breasts weren't swollen. She kicked her foot against the tile and played with her wet hair, impatient.

She still had a couple of minutes to go, but she got antsy and looked at the strip. She grabbed the box and checked it. Maka checked the box three times to make sure it was right - she was pregnant. She looked at it in different lighting. She read it upside down and backwards. She cursed under her breath.

'What I didn't know was that somewhere on my journey, I had been spotted. With me in LA, it didn't take long for Kim to send an assassin of her own.'

There was a knock on her hotel room door and she warily called out a hello.

"Hi, my name is Jacqueline Dupree, I'm with the hotel's hospitality team; we have a gift for you!"

"Oh, thanks, uh, just leave it there?" She accidentally dropped the stick and bent down to grab it; a shotgun went off and blew through her door. Maka rolled backwards and hid behind the bathroom door. Was this really happening? The one time she doesn't want someone to find her, the one time she needed to be careful, someone actually shows up? She heard Jacqueline enter the room and she kicked the door closed, getting her attention on it as she dove behind the bed and emerged with a gun, peeking out from the bottom corner.

"You pretty good with that shotgun?"

"Not that I have to be at this range, but I'm a fuckin surgeon with this shotgun."

"Well guess what, bitch; I'm better than Annie Oakley and I got you right in my sights. So let's talk. Just before you blew a hole in the door, I found out I was pregnant."

"Are you fuckin with me?" The incredulous look on her face was priceless, and Maka slowly sat up, keeping Jacqueline in her sights.

"Any other time you'd be right... But right now, I'm just scared shitless for my baby. There's a strip by the door that says I'm pregnant, the box is there too - please, look." Jacqueline slowly backed up and glanced down at the floor, finding the stick and box easily. She reached down and grabbed them both, reading quickly before throwing them both down, frustrated.

"Okay! So say I believe you. What then?"

"We both just go home." Jacqueline continued to back up, closing the door and staring at Maka through the shotgun hole before hastily congratulating her and beating a hasty retreat.


"Before that strip turned blue, I was a woman - your woman. I was a killer that killed for you. Before that strip turned blue, I would've jumped a motorcycle onto a speeding train - for you. But once that strip turned blue, I couldn't do any of those things anymore... Because I was gonna be a mother. Can you understand that?" They had relocated to the seating area in the outside garden, and he was almost done his bottle of moonshine. He took in her story silently, and was mulling it over.

"Yes. But why didn't you tell me then, instead of now?"

"Because I didn't want you to claim her as yours. It was the right decision and I made it for my daughter; she deserved a clean slate. But you would've plunged her into a world of darkness. I had to choose, and I chose her." Maka's decision had been so clear to her then, in the moment she found out she was pregnant. She knew that she would never want her daughter to get involved with the dark things she had done - and she could never give her the choice of doing it, either. It would kill Maka to see her daughter become her.

"Y'know, five years ago, if I had to make a list of impossible things that could never happen, you pulling a coup de grace on me and bustin a cap on my crown... That would've been at the top of the list. I'd have been wrong, wouldn't I?"

"In this instance, yes, you'd be right. When you never came back, I assumed Kim Diehl was the victor. And for the record, letting someone that loves you think you're dead is kinda fucked up and not cool, just saying... I mourned you for three months, and in the third month, I tracked you down. I was trackin the assholes I thought snuffed you - but I find you..." He had an angry look on his face, and he seemed to be talking more to himself than her at this point. The bottle only had two more shots in it - one now, as he poured himself another drink.

"Not only are you not dead, you're getting married to some fuckin jerk! And you're pregnant? I overreacted; I can admit that much."

"Overreacted? You killed eight people and you... call that an overreaction?"

"I'm a murdering bastard with no rationality and no mercy... And if you break my heart, there are some consequences. You saw some of them. Was my reaction really that surprising?" Maka's entire demeanor turned icy.

"Yes, it was. Could you do those things that you did? Of course. But I never thought you would, or could, do that to me."

"I'm sorry, but you thought wrong." Maka lifted her sword up and looked into his eyes. He knew this was it.

"We have unfinished business."

"Baby... you ain't kiddin." His sword had casually been laying on the table, and he grabbed it with lightning fast speed and swiped at her. She tilted back in her chair and pushed it back onto four legs with her own sword, pulling it out of the sheath a bit to block Soul's next attack. She used her feet to move the chair closer to him, pinning his sword under hers. He used this against her, pulling hard on his sword and making hers fly from the scabbard and across the garden. As his sword flew towards her heard, she thought quickly that she might die. But her body was quicker; Maka used her sheath to capture his blade, pulling it close and knocking his hand away to deliver the final blow.

She hit the muscles around his heart, the last hit bringing blood from his mouth. He was taking in shallow breaths, and he slowly caught her eyes. "Excalibur taught you the five-point-palm exploding-heart technique?"

"Course he did."

"Why didn't you tell me?" For some reason, Maka felt her heart twist over his words. It was the same reason that Black*Star never told her that he knew the technique, the same reason she never told Soul it was his baby until when it was too late.

"Because... I'm a bad person." Her tears were pouring from her eyes, and he smiled at her, closing his eyes.

"Nah... You're not a bad person. You're a cool person. You're my favorite person." He was getting sappy on her, and Maka relished in the moment instead of berating him.

"But, every once in a while, you can be a real cunt." The easy smile on his face and his sarcastic words made her laugh as he wiped the trail of blood from his chin. She couldn't stop looking at him, a voice inside of her head saying this is it.

"How do I look?" She reached over and fixed his suit lapels, fussing over his hair. Her hand ended up on his as she met his eyes, and he felt satisfied that she was with him for the last big adventure he would go on.

"You look ready." Her hand slowly left his, and he almost reached out for her; but rather than embarrass himself, he stood up and straightened his shirt, standing tall with his chin high. She smiled in encouragement and he gave her his signature cool look.

Soul turned away from her for the last time and walked off towards the trees, pausing on his fifth step; he wobbled for a minute, then without a sound, fell all at once. Maka almost couldn't take her eyes off of his corpse, a finality in the air as she wiped her tears away. An hour later, when she finally tore herself from the scene, she grabbed Soma and drove away.

The next morning, waking up beside her little girl had almost been too much. She turned the tv on and went into the bathroom, taking a cold shower. When she finished, she heard Soma preparing some cereal for herself and she lost it in the middle of the bathroom.

Maka was laying on the floor, alternating between fits of laughter and weeping. The loss of everyone she had known was staggering, and killing had always taken a small toll on her; but the fortune of killing them all and getting her baby back was overwhelming. At best, she would've come out of this and killed herself, having no other reason to live. But this went beyond best-case scenario. This was reality. Maka cleaned herself up and opened the door, joining Soma on the bed and hugging her fiercely. She didn't have to look over her shoulder anymore, and her daughter would never know that kind of fear.

They could live peacefully together, and they didn't need anyone else but each other.

THE LIONESS HAS REJOINED WITH HER CUB... ALL IS RIGHT IN THE JUNGLE


bam, that's my reverb! i hope it came out as well as i think it did, enjoy!

KILL SOUL

Deadly Viper Assassination Squad / DEADLY WEAPONS AND MEISTERS SQUAD

1. O-Ren Ishii (Cottonmouth) - TSUBAKI NAKATSUKASA (Dark Arm)

2. Vernita Green (Copperhead) - MEDUSA GORGON (Snake Charmer)

3. Budd (Sidewinder) - BLACK*STAR (Ninja Assassin)

4. Elle Driver (California Mountain Snake) - BLAIR (Feline Fatale)

5. Bill (Snake Charmer) - SOUL EVANS (GRIGORI EATER)

Guest Starring:

OX FORD (EARL MCGRAW)

HARVAR D. ECLAIR (EDGAR MCGRAW)

DEATH THE KIDD (JOHNNY MO)

ELIZABETH THOMPSON (SOPHIE FATALE)

PATRICIA THOMPSON (GOGO)

SOMA (B.B)

KILIK RUNG (HATTORI HANZO)

POT OF FIRE/POT OF THUNDER (HANZO'S AID)

GIRIKO (BUDD'S BOSS)

NOT! STUDENTS (CRAZY 88)

RAGNAROK (RUFUS)

JUSTIN LAW (TOMMY PLIMPTON)

MEME (JANEEN)

ANYA (ERICA)

TSUGUMI (JOLEEN)

WES EVANS (ESTEBAN VIHAIO)

JACQUELINE DUPREE (KAREN KIM)

EXCALIBUR (PAI MEI)

STEIN (BUCK)

Beatrix Kiddo (Black Mamba)- MAKA ALBARN... THE BRIDE... SCYTHEMEISTER... MOMMY