"And so, the two of you are going to be taking remedial classes."

She felt like she was going to crumble away…

"Which the punishment for skipping will be expulsion! So, do your best!"

"Gah! Fuck!"

"Language!"

Maka didn't feel any sympathy as the one EAT student she'd been purposefully avoiding had his skull nearly split open by their headmaster. It was his fault she was in this mess. When the intercom had called her to the Death Room, she'd been confused. Also, annoyed by her snickering classmates. She should have known she'd eventually be punished for her part in vandalizing Stein's lab. Speaking of which…

"Why is he teaching it though!? He nearly killed us!" She wanted to cry.

To the side, the mad doctor smiled.

"Now, now. Stein's one of our very finest, Maka. He even used to be your father's original meister."

Wait, what?! Her mama and papa hadn't always been- why hadn't they told her that?!

"Besides, it was his house you vandalized so honoring his request was the least I could do~!"

There wasn't really any way she could argue with him. Even if he didn't have a good point, he was still their headmaster. Beyond that, he was Shinigami-sama. That was a brick wall even her mama wouldn't dare try to beat her head against.

"Don't worry, I'm completely uninterested in doing any serious harm to you." The doctor's voice lacked much inflection, but that he felt it necessary to specify 'serious harm' instead of just 'harm'…

This sucked.

Shinigami-sama was shooing them out of his office now. "Don't be too harsh on them now, Stein! Maka! Lawrence! Good luck!"

Who the heck was Lawre-

"It's Law !"

Oooooh. She fought a snicker of her own as the trio were made to leave, the doctor following a bit too closely behind them. She spared a look to her side, the short EAT student looking very much like he was pouting as he folded his arms and took heavy, clomping steps. She could kind of tell why he'd picked his stage name. As laughable as it might have been, it was still cooler than the alternative.

"What exactly will we be doing in these-" She mentally wailed. "-remedial classes, sir?"

The doctor reached up to twist the screw in his head, which Maka was now ninety-percent certain just there to creep people out, before speaking. "You're the top of your class, aren't you, Maka?" She tried not to feel too smug as she nodded. "And, Law, you place right at the bottom of yours, don't you?" …and she didn't try pretending to be surprised about that either. "However, in terms of practical experience and success… Your situations are the complete opposite. Maka, from what I hear, you've been struggling to maintain a resonance with your meister."

She glared at a particularly interesting spot on the floor.

"And Law, you've been through a dozen weapons here at Shibusen."

…she tried not to look too interested with that.

"Hey, don't compare me to one of those meisters that run around and resonance with people willy-nilly. I just explored my options before I met and settled down with Jackie. I'm a happy resonated man!"

Did he have to make it sound like marriage!? Soul's words, the ones she'd desperately been trying and failing to forget, repeated once again in the back of her mind. She made a mental note to hit him for that later.

"Resonating with so many different types of partners is a rare talent." Stein didn't sound the least bit impressed saying as much. He seemed more like he was just recounting a fact he'd found in a book somewhere. "I want the two of you to work on helping each other improve in these areas. I don't want to see you every day, so come to my home at the end of each week after class and I'll check on what improvements you've made and give you an assignment for the following week."

Maka was surprised. It wasn't nearly as bad as she imagined. If anything, it was exactly what she wanted. Lessons from one of Shibusen's finest? Partnering with Law? Had she not known better, she'd almost have said her Papa was behind all this.

"…do I have to work with her? Her meister isn't exactly a fan of me." Law's words drug her out of her thoughts. "Besides, I-…" She watched his face a little more closely than she probably should have. He did a pretty good job of hiding his feelings. At least, compared to her and her Papa. She'd probably not have even noticed if she hadn't resonated with him, that flicker of fear in his eyes.

Was he scared of her?

"I-is there something wrong with me!?" She didn't mean to sound so- defensive? Desperate?

He looked over at her face and then down. At her chest. "...for sure." He nodded.

"You must have been born under some kind of miracle star. Seriously, I bet you could win the lottery and be struck by lightning on the same day." Soul had not stopped laughing since he'd told her about what happened.

"It's not funny! Hero is going to be upset…" She knew how much her partner didn't care for Law… Which, really, was petty. If he didn't want to be outshined by an EAT student, then he just had to work a bit harder.

"Are you kidding me? I bet soap operas have less drama then your life!" Soul was still chortling away, slapping the arm of the bench they usually shared on the roof. "What's next, gonna lose your memory? A long lost twin sister gonna show up?!"

Maka had heard enough. She reached for her book and-…oh. That's right. She'd broken her last one on Law's head. Whether that was a sign of how hard his was or how much force she'd put into his swing, she wasn't certain. What she was sure of was that he wasn't going to be commenting on her figure any time soon.

"Seriously." Her fellow scythe scrubbed at his eyes. "So, what are you gonna do? Wait until the two of you are alone together and confess that there's no one you'd really be wielded by?"

She glared… but she couldn't put any of her fire into it. She slumped in her seat. "I don't know." She sounded a lot quieter than she would have liked.

Soul reached over to pat her head. "There, there. I'm sure one day, Maka Albarn will find her one, true meister."

She reached over and dumped her soda on his head.

"Ack! Fff-! It's in my hair, dammit!"

It was a good thing he was busy drowning or else he'd see just how red her cheeks were.

"And that's the deal. I have to attend these remedial classes with him because of what happened." She finished, staring down at her book. It was mostly because she didn't want to look at whatever expression he was making. She tried, and succeeded, in not jumping when he slammed his hands on the table.

"That's stupid!"

She winced at his volume. "We're in the library, Hero…"

"You're one of the best students in our class! You shouldn't have to take any remedial lessons just because some delinquent dragged you into something!"

Well, it was nice that he thought as much, but… A part of her, a big one, had enjoyed what had happened that night. There was definitely something wrong with her. "Hero, it's what Shinigami-sama has decided. We can't really argue with him."

"Aren't you giving up too quickly?" Hero's words made her stare even more intensely at the page she'd been trying, and failing, to read for about ten minutes now. "Or, are you just happy to get what you wanted finally?"

Her head snapped up, trying to keep her expression neutral but certain that her eyes betrayed her. "This isn't what I wanted. I can't control any of this."

"Are you sure? Your dad's the Death Scythe, so if you really wanted, couldn't you get out of it?" He leaned forward, his hands gripping the other side of the table's edge hard enough his knuckles had turned white.

"Sorry, but just because I'm his daughter doesn't mean me or my meister get a free ride." She tried, though not terribly hard, not to sound bitter when she said it.

"…f-fine. Fine." Hero pushed off the table and turned away from her. "…let's just make sure we practice twice as much."

She groaned internally and was glad he wasn't looking at her or else he'd have seen what a terrible job she did of hiding how 'thrilled' she was about that.

"Maka."

"Papa."

It was always going to come down to this.

Her against him.

Him against her.

"I was there when you were born. It only makes sense I'm here at the end."

She scoffed. "You can't stop me."

"I can try." His voice shook, not entirely confident that he could stop the monster his daughter had become.

"Choose your fighter." The television blared.

"So, Pigtails-"

"It's Maka." She had to remember to get a new book for hitting people with. Something with a stronger spine this time.

"-what exactly are they teaching you guys?" The reality never quite matched up to the scenario she'd dreamed up in her head, the slovenly boy digging a pinkie in his ear as he spoke.

Law had been nice enough to at least show up to practice, though he seemed like he'd stayed up half the night and was sporting a heavily bandaged hand. Part of her wanted to ask, but it was probably better off for both of them if she didn't. Still, he seemed about as happy to be on the track field after class as he would stubbing his toe. Did he really hate working with her that much?!

"We've learned plenty." It was one thing to make fun of her or criticize Hero, but she wasn't going to have him picking on his underclassmen... or on the lessons that Nygus drilled into their heads.

"I meant practical stuff." He flicked a bit of gunk off his finger and she felt her temper flaring again. "You can resonate. Obviously." He looked at her finally, a flash of something in those big, lavender eyes of his before he glared off at nothing in particular. "As far as being a weapon goes, you're pretty sloppy."

Sloppy. He had just called her sloppy. "I don't want to hear that from someone who can't even button their jacket right!" It was inside-out now too! It was like he was trying to put it on wrong just to irritate her.

"What exactly do you think a weapon does in a fight?" He ignored her - bastard - and looked at her again. "You think you can just sit there and let your meister do all the work?"

"That's-" Maka opened her mouth, ready to snap, and then felt her shoulders slump a little. "...what exactly else am I supposed to do?" She did her best to retain their resonance, but-

"Moron."

OW! She clutched the top of her now head sporting a significant lump, tears prickling at her eyes. He just hit her!

"You think being a weapon is supposed to be easier than being a meister? You just lounge around while they risk their lives?" His tone was different, angrier. "Transform."

A part of her wanted to refuse and also probably take a swing at him, but she obeyed. One moment she was there, the next she was twirling in the air as a sickle and being caught by her EAT schoolmate. She reached out with her soul and felt, very, very carefully, his own accepting it. There was still the rush of someone else's feelings flooding into her and the confusion of where she ended and her meister began. It was nice...

"You're limp."

Eh? "Eh?" Enjoying their resonance was cut short. "Limp?"

"It's like I'm holding a wet noodle!"

Noodle!? "What do you expect me to-"

"You think it's me doing all that fancy spinning when I'm using Jackie?" He sounded very much like he thought she was stupid. The problem with resonating is that she knew he didn't just sound like it, he genuinely thought she was. "She guides herself so even if I fuck up, I don't smack myself in the face like an idiot. She throws her weight into a swing to help hit harder." ...was she really? "If a meister's good, they can make any weapon dangerous. But, it's the same the other way around. A good weapon can make any meister seem like they know what they're doing." It all sounded like it made sense, but- "If just anyone could become a Death Scythe with a good meister, then we'd have tons of them running around. Both sides have to pull their weight. From everything I've seen, you aren't."

It stung even more so feeling his disappointment in her... or was that her disappointment in herself.

"Well- I-...w-what do you expect me to do? I'm not-"

Her current meister hooked her blade around his other hand's wrist. "Okay. I'm going to cut my hand off now."

Wait, what!?

"I'm gonna miss you. Jerking off is going to be a lot harder with just the one."

He pulled and she could feel it - he was absolutely serious!

"No-!" She squeezed her eyes shut, apologizing to Hero a thousand times as she waited for this psycho to use her to prove some insane point. A full minute passed before she dared to crack open an eye...

"There, see?" He flexed his hand to show her it was thankfully still attached.

She'd... bent? Or, was 'flexed' a more accurate description? It felt similar to arching her back, her handle bending in a way that would have snapped it had she been a regular weapon. She waited for him to drop his hand to try flexing in the other direction and she felt herself curling in on herself. It wasn't like she could twist or turn anyway she wanted, but she felt every bit as flexible as she did when she had arms and legs.

"Your shape might have changed a little, but it's still your body. You're not just an object now."

Huh.

It kind of made sense why there seemed to be such a huge gap between them and the EAT students now. Still...

"Are you crazy? What if I'd- I could've-!"

"I guess it's a good thing I'm a lefty then."

Maka lifted the spoon to her mouth, sipping it carefully so as to not spill it. "It's almost done, Papa."

"My beautiful girl is cooking me dinner..." She tried, very much, not to shudder with how love struck he looked. "She looks so cute in her little apron too!"

"If you want to eat, then quit it!" If he kept that up, he can give up ever having her make anything for him ever again.

"Y-Yes ma'am..." She could hear him dragging his feet as he moved to take a seat at the table. "I hear that you and Law had your first, uh...uhm..." Words, Papa. Words. "T-thing! Your first thing today." She was so proud. "How did that go?"

She thought about it. All the harsh words he'd had for her abilities as a weapon, his complete lack of common decency, and his utterly insane way of teaching her something he could have just explained.

"It..." There wasn't any harm in being honest, was there? "-it was a lot of fun!"

A/N: I apologize for the wait on the update! Life got away from me! We've finally gotten through the first part of the story, but there's no telling if the second will be any easier on our Maka!

Chances are, probably not!

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