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I'm pleading Life. I got sick as a dog the last time I updated- literally THE DAY I updated, then Dad went into the hospital, came out of the hospital, almost went back into it because he came out too soon... And despite all that I STILL managed to get three chapters written! Unfortunately, none of those next chapters were THE next chapter...
Thank you everyone who's stuck with this for the year since it started, and to those who just found it recently- and everyone in-between. Sorry for being late this week, too, but again, Dad, plus my people bunnies were unable to come through for me due to reasons.(And maybe possibly just a little bit because I got a little distracted trying my hand at writing Attack on Titan Riren smut...)
So, anyone who doesn't mind spoiling themself for the next two-three chapters, PM me and I'll tell you my basic ideas for those and you'll get much love and praise and mentions for making the next chapters happen, because I am very much stuck at the moment.
Aaand, finally, the return of Author Questions: Who believes they've figured out the dreams and what do you think they mean?
Maka was in that place between waking and dreams. He face was shielded by her hair, her nose buried in Soul's shirt, his arm a band of warmth across her shoulders. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
The morning felt foggy and unreal. Her scarred fingers tightened in the blue material. She remembered her life so well, telling her that all of this was wrong. Mizune's sharp fingers poking at her and forcing her head up, telling her how hideous she was. An insidious voice telling her how terrible the world was, that only at home was she cared for at all; her only friend, given anything: food, clothing. That had worked, for over a decade, she'd done as told.
Now she was set adrift, a sea of new faces, learning about them even as they failed to realize she was there. She was making friends that didn't fit into the definition she'd learned. Friends that didn't think she was ugly or too broken. Soul didn't just see her, he understood. He looked at her and didn't flinch- even Ragnarok had flinched. It all felt unreal. But if it was, it was the best dream she had ever had, and she didn't want to wake up from this.
She closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against Soul's shirt, hearing his heartbeat, feeling it against her skin, leading hers in beating calmly.
"We're alive."
Was she really? All that time, all that pain; had she really survived it all? She wanted that to be true. She wanted to put her old life behind her and embrace this new one she was building. She let out a breath as the hand she didn't have clenched in Soul's shirt was held tighter. Maka hid a smile, knowing from the soul wavelength of the boy below her that he was sleeping soundly, and still he tried to comfort her.
Maka would do her best to be part of this world, to push the past where it belonged. She was adrift from what she'd known, but she wasn't alone anymore. She was on unfamiliar ground, so she'd just forge her own path. It didn't have to match anyone else's, didn't have to hold any resemblance to anything she'd seen before.
The next instant, she was upright and falling into battle position as her eardrums were assaulted. Soul shot up and flailed around, blinking in confusion. They both stared at each other for a moment, screeching still going loud, before they realized it was coming from their pins. Maka slapped hers, more to muffle the sound than anything, and was pleasantly surprised when it cut off entirely. Soul was much less graceful with his, feeling across his shirt collar until he realized he'd pinned it to the waist of his pants after he'd gotten his shower the day before. He smacked it, scowling as it shut up, and ran a hand through his hair, pulling his new headband off.
He finger-combed his hair in what might have been an effort to fix it but only managed to set it back into its usual spiky messiness, then put his head band back on, yawning. "That definitely wins my vote for worst wake-up call ever. Shit, don't let us get lost: I'd go insane listening to that for minutes or hours until someone found us."
Heart finally settling and no longer trying to beat itself out of her chest, Maka nodded, sitting back on the ground with a huff. In a rare show of rebelliousness, she didn't feel like setting out for the camp just at the moment after that completely unnecessary wake-up. She raised her hand to push back her own hair and made a grimace of distaste as she saw the ashy locks all clumped together with small twigs and blades of grass caught in it. It must look like a bird's nest.
Well, there went the rest of her morning. It was going to take forever to fix that. It was usually bad enough with tossing and turning from nightmares, but after laying on the ground and then snuggling her face into Soul's shirt it had only gotten worse.
They both looked over when the rustle of grass and brush alerted them to someone approaching. Lady Medusa showed herself, eyes trained forward as though she knew exactly where they were even though they'd been hidden from view by the trees between their position and the camp. Soul stood up with a groan, but when Maka made to do the same, Lady Medusa stopped her with a hand motion, "Good morning, you two. Soul, you should hurry if you want to get breakfast, Blackstar was already awake when I came to get you." He stepped forward but stopped with a jerk, looking between the two blondes. The nurse smiled, "We'll be along in a moment, I just need a word with Maka."
The younger blonde nodded, "Go on. I'll catch up." Soul nodded back solemnly and headed off for the camp.
Medusa waited until he'd gone before looking at Maka's hair and making a face so similar to the one she had that it made the green-eyed teen smile. Medusa sat beside her on the ground, not caring about her own clothes in the least, "Dear spirits, you hair looks like mine does in the morning. Do you have your hair brush?" She shook her head and the golden-blonde looked around, picking up a near-by stick and transmuting it into a brush with a muttered spell. Maka went rigid at the open display of magic, but didn't bolt. "May I help with your hair?"
Maka wanted to say no, that she didn't trust other people -adults especially- not to hurt her. But that would be a kind of lie, because she did rather trust Lady Medusa- to an extent. And saying no to adults had never really worked out in the first place: they just did what they wanted anyway and then punished her for disagreeing. "Okay."
Her shoulders were hunched and she waited for the pain to begin. Mizune had had no issue with ripping the brush through her hair in an effort to tame her limp stands into something resembling a style. Lady Medusa did nothing of the sort. She started very carefully, at the ends of Maka's hair, and worked her way inward with quick, short strokes. There was no sudden ripping, no punishing hits with the hard brush when Maka yelped in pain and jumped, because Maka didn't yelp or jump. Medusa gripped her hair tightly above a knot so she could work at it hard and still not tug at Maka's scalp.
After just a few minutes, Maka relaxed back into the curve of the older woman's body. Lady Medusa was so gentle it didn't even feel like her hair was being brushed, more like petted.
"Maka?"
"Hmm?" Having her hair brushed like that actually felt good, and she leaned into the touch.
"Were you alright last night? I noticed you weren't very interested in the storytelling."
"I'm fine."
"But are you alright?"
"I-" she hesitated. Because Lady Medusa just knew. But after all the excitement yesterday and last night... she looked down at her hands, held her right one up to feel the warmth of the sun, watched -for the first time without bitterness or anxiety- the play of the light on the dark and light lines covering her skin, and smiled, "Yes, I am now."
"Good, I'm glad."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Maka worked up her courage to ask: "Lady Medusa?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you helping me?"
"With your hair?"
"With everything."
"Everything, hmm? Well, with your hair, it's because I know just how much of a hassle it can be, especially with mine styled the way it is, and my best friend's used to be bad on occasion, too, and she helped me. I help you because you need help and I can give it."
"So... you do it because it's the right thing to do?"
"Partly."
"...Lady Medusa?"
"Hmm?"
"How do you know if something's the right thing to do before you do it?"
"I asked a similar question once, the answer I got wasn't very enlightening to me. I was told to look at my life through heaven's eyes." Maka gave her a look and she laughed, "I told you. I think I've figured out what they meant, though. You have to look at your life and decisions from an outside perspective. Make the choices that you'll look back on and be proud you made, no matter how hard they are. Make the decisions that you'll regret the least. I guess... just follow your heart, it knows the way."
Maka's hand strayed to her chest, "Follow my heart..."
Lady Medusa hummed behind her, running the brush through her tangle-free locks, ashy strands falling in the slightly wavy way they always got after being brushed from always being in ponytails. She had no bands for her hair, either; all of that stuff back at camp in her bag. The Witch had no problem with that, either, further spelling two leaves into shining hair bands that sparkled in the light. Maka focused on keeping her breathing even towards the display of magic, and so was able to hold back the admiring gasp of how pretty the bands were. Medusa held one with her teeth as she set the brush aside and ran her hands through Maka's hair, parting it and playing with it until it was split evenly and she could bind it into tails.
Maka let her mind wander as she was petted. Lady Medusa must have really liked playing with hair. Look at my life from the outside... What parts did she look at? The lives she took? The ones she saved? The kishin she killed? The ones she devoured? The times she listened, or the ones she was disobedient? Did one side outweigh the other? Was she more good or bad?
She shook her head, freezing in place as she pulled her hair out of the older woman's grasp and waiting to be reprimanded for it. Lady Medusa just sighed at her and started playing with it again. She wondered if she'd ever understand the Witch. She still vividly recalled the time she'd screamed at Mizune for pulling pitilessly at her hair; the woman hadn't hesitated to strike her full across the face with the bristle side of the brush. It was by sheer luck her cheek hadn't been permanently scarred.
Maka blew at her bangs in frustration at her own thoughts, she was leaving her past behind her. The parts that really mattered were the choices she made from here on out. But still, what should those choices be? If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. So what she really needed to do was figure out which choices had gotten reactions she didn't mind, and which ones she didn't want to repeat.
Sticking up for her brother would always be on the good side. Reaching out had found her Soul and the Thompsons, so that was a good thing. Of course, standing up for Soul had also gotten her Donna and the raven's allies as enemies, but she didn't think she regretted it. That was it. Maka didn't know if she was proud of what she'd done, but Soul thanking her that day had made her feel warm, and she would have regretted not standing up for him. That was a right thing, she just knew it.
She saw the hand out of the side of her vision and flinched, but Lady Medusa didn't stop or hesitate, just continued, if slower, and ran her fingers through Maka's bangs to corral them back with the rest of her hair and finally wrangled the flyaway strands into two perfectly even ponytails.
The golden-blonde stood up gracefully and held out her hand to help Maka up. Hesitating just a little, she slipped her hand into the elder's, surprised at how cool Lady Medusa's skin was. Her look must have been seen because the woman in question smiled, "Snake Witch, remember? We better get going if we plan to eat before everything's gone." She pulled away and Maka cautiously began following her, stopping in place when Medusa jolted and turned around, reaching out with the hairbrush.
Maka didn't think, she reacted. He whole body tensed as she waited for the blow, air caught in her lungs. Medusa looked like she was the one who'd been hit, arm falling limp at her side. Maka immediately tried to fix the mistake she could see that she'd made, stepping forward, "I'm sorry-"
"No. No, it's... my fault. Please... forgive me, Maka. I was just- I have several hairbrushes and thought... No, I didn't think, did I?" she looked like she'd bitten into a bitter fruit.
She could feel it in the weight of the air around them in that instant. This was another choice Maka could make. She could let Lady Medusa walk away, believing that she'd done something wrong- and always be treated like a frail little rabbit afraid of any movement.
She was afraid. Adults didn't just reach for her and not hurt her. But Lady Medusa did. And if she flinched away, the older woman probably wouldn't ever do it again. Which choice was the wrong one? Which was the turnout she wanted to avoid happening again?
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.
Which one was what she'd done before, which was the new path, which was right? Follow your heart.
Maka shot forward and grabbed the older blonde's hand, "Lady Medusa, would... would you like to have breakfast with me?"
Medusa looked completely surprised... and happy. She held up Maka's hand and slipped the brush into it, "Of course, Maka. Here, I was trying to say: I have plenty of hairbrushes back home, I lose them constantly and find them when I least expect it. You and Crona only have the one between you, don't you? It's about time I fixed that."
It was the first present a grown-up had ever given her. There were the things she and Crona had been given when they first moved in, but they had both looked at that as part of the bargain of learning at the DWMA. This was a gift. The brush was beautiful: all dark wood with silver snake inlays, and it was the first hairbrush that had been used to help her instead of hurt her. It was a memory of the woman in front of her running the bristles soothingly through her hair, without ever pulling even once. Maka's fingers closed over the handle as she felt warmth invade her chest, and smiled up at Medusa, "Thank you..."
The nurse seemed to understand the deeper meaning behind her words and smiled back, reaching up slowly to trail her fingers through one of Maka's ponytails before tugging gently at it, "Any time, Maka. Now come on, to breakfast with us."
She stayed close to the elder woman when they made it back to camp and stepped into the middle of sheer chaos. Something was on fire- something that was on someone, and there was running around with buckets of water and blankets and jackets to try and douse or smother the flame, Soul was bodily wrestling Blackstar to the ground over choice of meat so he wouldn't get stuck with eating fish, and Kid was in tears on the ground because the perfect symmetry he'd established in the clearing was completely and utterly ruined.
Medusa sweatdropped beside her and sighed, "Just another day in paradise..."
Maka couldn't help it: she burst out giggling, covering her mouth with both hands to muffle the sound.
Sid finally tackled the poor flaming student to the ground and covered them with a blanket, just in time to get doused with buckets of water from three different directions. Nygus howled with laughter at her brother while Liz beat some sense into Kid and Soul put his foot in the middle of Blackstar's back just as Tsubaki tried to break up the fight, landing the blue-haired boy in her cleavage.
Medusa huffed and led her away to an empty log, rummaging through their supplies until she came up with some of the stew they'd made last night and stored away. Maka had no issue with the fish stew Soul was fighting to not have to resort to. She watched the excitement going on around them as she dug in.
Blackstar was on the ground, face red from both his full-body blush and the instinctive slap Tsubaki had given him. Kid had gotten up and was already going into a cleaning flurry while Liz sighed, gave up on him, and flopped back on the ground. Patty took that as an invitation to try and bury her sister alive with grass and soil she pulled up where she sat beside her. Soul crowed his victory at having won the right of finishing off the last of the quail one of the others had hunted the day before, grinning over at Maka and his soul wavelength giving off very self-satisfied pings that made her giggle again.
The golden-blonde smiled over at her, "Would you like to go join them?"
Maka looked over at her, then back to the controlled catastrophe around them. Nygus pulled Sid up and brushed off the panicking, once-flaming student, telling him to walk it off and that it had only been his clothing and not his body that had caught fire. Kid walked by with a log that looked too big for him to carry and told Patty to be sure she plucked the same amount of grass from the other side of the clearing when she was done playing with Liz, who groaned loudly. Ragnarok, somehow managing to sleep through all the aggravating wake-up screeches, finally emerged from his tent, ready to shout at all the racket, only to visibly rein himself in when Crona immediately glued himself to his side.
The ash-blonde teen looked back over at Medusa and shook her head, "No, I'm good here." Yes, right here where she could watch over them all, this was the right choice.
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One of my beloved people-bunnies that decided to beta this chapter for me commented on something that was significant enough for this end note. Here's that conversation:
A: You should explain how the fire started. O.O
C: I imagine it as having something to do with Blackstar- as all trouble ultimately does.
A: Hehe
A: I'm trying to think of all the stupid ways BlackStar could start a fire now
C: From possibly trying to cook something over the camp fire and getting distracted and then waving said flaming stick of death around, to knocking over the thing cooking and sending embers into the air...
A: XD
So after being unable to pick one, I've decided I'll just leave it up to you readers.