New KidStar drabble up if you want to check that out.
And the thanks this week again goes out to ChessSilven on AO3 for mentioning two certain characters this chapter in the same paragraph and asked about a background Phred the Plot Bunny was more than happy to supply on the spot.
I hope you are all ready for the three-chapter emotional rollar coaster beginning with this chapter.
Thank you so much, all my wonderful readers, for everything you do; I wouldn't be able to do this without you. *bows*
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Maka turned around with her books in her arms and shook her head. She really probably should have been more surprised to see Ragnarok waiting for them. He grinned their way and Maka wasn't oblivious to the light blush darkening Crona's face. She closed her eyes and accepted it, then opened them and tried smiling at Ragnarok, "Was there something you needed?"
"Yeah, I was wondering- I mean... You wanna head out into the city for a bit? My treat."
Crona shifted in place, moving closer to Maka. They were getting better at being apart for increasing distances and lengths of time, but the distance between 'out in the city' and the school itself was a massive space of at least a couple dozen miles. "M-Maka, too?"
Maka was surprised when Ragnarok didn't show even a hint of disappointment, smirking at the both of them, "Naturally."
Crona's smile seemed to work better than her attempt had been, "Okay..."
Maka let her mind drift as she almost naturally fell into step with Ragnarok, Crona between them. She remembered when she'd counted the days from when they were taken from their home- no, their house. That place had never been a home. But now... now the days faded together as the weeks passed, so many new memories helping put distance between them and the old ones. There was too much to learn, too much to do, to dwell on the past constantly even if they'd wanted to.
Learning to fine-tune their weapon abilities, learning about soul working, the history of the school and the Witches and Weapon Meisters within, a dozen new fighting forms to study. And, she thought with a faint, genuine smile, friends to make.
Maka shook her head to bring herself out of her thoughts, listening as Ragnarok droned on about the city sights they passed. She should be taking in the views, not getting lost in thought. Neither of them had gotten a chance to really explore the city yet. Their entire first month before the school term had been spent just getting used to their new life and exploring the school- which was so massive they still hadn't had a chance to map it out completely. And the only times they'd gone out, it had been out into the wilderness where Little One wouldn't cause any (excessive) damage.
...And maybe also because neither of them had been prepared for the sheer number of people in Death City. It was a strange thing to Maka. When they'd been children, even taken to the rings where so many other Meisters gathered, they were things, dangerous, leashed. Here, Weapons walked around like any other person. No one seemed ostracized, no one looked terrified at the potentially dangerous beings in their midst.
Death City wasn't like any place Maka had ever been before. Here, their abilities were an asset.
"And here's our destination: Deathbucks."
Maka looked up at the modest cafe as Ragnarok pushed open the door with one hand for them. It was a lively sort of place, not overcrowded, but not struggling, either. It was... homey. "I like it." They got a table by the window and ordered some of the 'famous' coffee drinks and small confections to go with them. Maka glanced outside, "This place is so strange."
"Well, people do come here to see Death Weapon Meisters in action."
That made her blink and turn back to him, "They do?"
"Take this cafe for example, all the waiters and waitresses? Working part-time from the academy. Mostly all Firsties who spent beyond their means."
"Why only First-Levels?"
"Because we Second-Level can just take on missions if we're strapped for cash. I'm sure you've been given the lecture that that's too dangerous for the First-Levels."
The expression on Maka's face could have been called a pout by a brave or suicidal soul had she not hidden it behind the lip of her just-delivered coffee drink. Her eyes widened, "Wow, this is so good." It was like a cross between iced coffee and a root beer float.
The slices of cake they each got were just as delicious and Maka mentally marked Deathbucks cafe on the map in her head. She was coming here again.
"W-was there a special reason you inv-vited us?" Crona asked, nibbling nervously on the tines of his fork.
Ragnarok shrugged, "Kinda, I suppose. I just wanted a last chance to talk and hang out. My team's going out on a mission tomorrow morning and it'll take several days at the least, more likely a week."
Crona looked out the window towards the clear sky and smiled, "Th-thank you. It's really... really lovely."
Ragnarok stared at her brother for several seconds, eyes wide, before looking away himself, and, if Maka wasn't mistaken, his cheeks were just a bit darker, "Ah, it's nothin' much. C'mon, I'll walk you two back to the school and tell you about all the side streets and stuff so you don't get lost if you decide to come back out here while I'm gone." He stood up and went over to the bar to pay and led them outside. "So, I was wondering-"
Maka and Crona both blinked at the empty space that their guide had just occupied, eyes drifting over to where he wound up. Ragnarok had been cut off mid-sentence, tackled from the side and sent tumbling out into the middle of the street. The other person was at least as tall and muscled as he was, which marked them more than likely as male. The two tussled right there in the middle of the road, grappling like experts, trying to put one another into choke-holds.
The scuffle didn't last very long before Ragnarok emerged apparently victorious, leaning all his weight on his opponent's back as he put him in a head-lock, "Nice to... see you, too." He grunted, even as powerful as he was, struggling to keep his grip on the other male, "Now, what do we say?"
"Get- off! You, nng, fat bastard. Heavy!"
"Now that's not a very nice thing to say. You'll hurt my tender self-image."
The other's legs thrashed like a three-year old as he struggled, "GODDAMMITSHIT!" He went limp, "I... surrender."
Ragnarok let him up and the other jumped to his feet, shoving him forward. He stood up with a grin and laugh, "See, was that so hard?"
"Screw you."
He brushed himself off and walked back over to them. Maka and Crona both startled in place as a very muscular tanned arm threw itself over Ragnarok's shoulders. The other male, of course, with a smile on his face as if he hadn't attacked Ragnarok in the middle of the street.
"So, this is where you've been running off to."
Crona stared at the newcomer, who was taller than Ragnarok was -He must be even taller than Aiden...- short-cropped hair that left his pointed ears open to display. "Wh-who's this, Ragnarok?" The 'that he could tackle you openly and not end up with a broken face' left unspoken.
Ragnarok reached up and curled his hand around the taller male's neck over his shoulder... then heaved forward, sending the new guy sprawling to the ground in front of him, Maka and Crona jumping back to avoid him. New Guy jumped up, facing the shorter male in a wrestler's ready stance, apparently more than eager to restart their little match, and launched himself forward. Ragnarok caught his reckless rush in a reverse head-lock -Maka thought he might need to learn a bit more forethought- and looked up at them with a grin when he finally got about to answering them. "He's my brother."
"Brother?!"
New Guy struggled valiantly -both of them giving ground and landing glancing blows that still had Ragnarok grunting as he tried to keep his footing- but ultimately fruitlessly as Ragnarok slipped his right foot forward, knocking the other's feet out from under him, and pitched backwards, smothering his supposed brother's face between his side and the ground, "Step-brother, sort of. Not so different from you two, actually. We're both wards of the school. Only I became a Meister while Free, here-" he tilted his head to indicate the massive struggling form wriggling in his grip, "-is a student-teacher."
The newly identified Free finally slapped the ground several times in the universal signal of 'I give!' and Ragnarok let go, holding his hands up to show non-hostility. Free panted for air while Crona smiled and shook his head. Maka was more interested, however, in the fact that he was new, "How come we haven't seen him before?"
"That's simple."
Free finally turned around- revealing he only had one natural eye. Maka gasped and felt the world slow to a stop, her entire focus narrowed down to the pentacle in his otherwise white eye. Ragnarok's words echoed through her mind. "Look at the Kishin compared to the people that pass by on the streets, the ones that use children, that walk away when a mother cuts her child, that turn up the volume to cover the screams coming from the apartment next door; and tell me: who are the real monsters?"
She startled out of her reverie when Ragnarok touched her shoulder, "Hey, you okay, there?"
Maka nodded, "Y-yeah. Sorry, I didn't hear what you were saying."
Free gave her a friendly smile over his brother's shoulder, "He said that the reason you haven't seen me is because I help teach the Magic classes. I may not look like much at the moment, but I'm actually a werewolf, and this eye-" he closed said eye and tapped on the eyelid, "-is magical."
"W-werewolf?"
Free scratched the back of his head, "Oh, don't look so scared. It's not like I bite or anything. Real Werewolves are nothing like stories I'm sure you've read. We don't need the moon to transform or anything, and we don't lose control in our wereforms."
Ragnarok smirked and elbowed him in the side, "No: you can mess up entirely on your own without your wolf form."
"Shut up." Free elbowed him right back, and it of course turned into a shoving contest. Maka sweatdropped at the two, sensing a pattern here as they both pushed.
Ragnarok grinned, getting right in his brother's face as he tried to shove him backwards more than he was being moved, "You wanna go, Jack Frost, or should I save you the embarrassment?"
Free jumped back, hands out at his sides, "Bring it on!"
His brother beamed and held out his own hand, the glow of Manifestation appearing-
"Not outside my store."
Both of the Second-Levels froze and Maka stared at them curiously, wondering at the sudden meekness in their body language as they both turned and bowed, "Yes, Master."
Maka glanced over her shoulder and noticed the cafe owner who'd been behind the bar standing at the door giving them a stern look, but nothing that should terrify two upper-Levels. He nodded before going back inside- and Free and Ragnarok both let out relieved sighs.
Ragnarok straightened and pointed over his shoulder, "C'mon, let's get back." He turned to Free, "Why'd you even come hunting for me?"
The werewolf facepalmed, "You were gone for three days without warning even your team, and you're wondering why I decided to track you down?"
"Oh, but... I didn't have to tell them, did I? No, wait, they weren't in the cafeteria that day... were they?"
Free got behind his brother and started pushing, "You are something else. Now walk!"
"I'm going, I'm going. Jeez! Crona, Maka?"
Maka waved them off as her brother looked at her questioningly, "You guys go on without me. I'm going to take the long way and peek around a bit."
"Watch out for curfew, Firsty."
Maka's hand twitched in the air at the epithet, smile freezing on her face. Crona stepped up next to Ragnarok and urged him on- away from Maka and her temper. She sighed and let her arm drop as they rounded a corner, taking another street. It was functionally impossible to lose her way when the towering form of the school could be seen from any point in the city. She stopped in the middle of a side-alley and stared up at it backlit against an amber sky.
Maka blew out a breath, flinching in place when a high-pitched barking started up near-by. She spun and saw a small white dog zeroed in on her, stepping closer and barking louder. She backed up a step, shiver running through her whole body. The little white thing advanced, and Maka's head fell forward, shadowing her eyes from the late-afternoon sunlight.
Even here? Even now? Maka hated dogs. She hated them. How they barked, how they howled, the way they smelled. She hated them all. I wish they would all just die...
Her hands tightened into fists. No! I won't take it anymore, I won't!
A high-pitch yelp echoed through the alley as the small dog flew through the air, crashing into a brace of iron rods that collapsed on it. Maka turned around sharply and froze in place at the crimson eyes staring at her as if they'd never seen her before, "M-Maka? Wh-what the hell?!"
Soul...
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*holds up hands* Wait! Give Maka a chance, don't hate her for one action after sticking with her for so long.