A/N: Some of the info about Weapon formation comes from Soul Eater, and some from Soul Eater Not. I took a little genetic license with it and turned it to my own purposes - I'm not sure it's canon. ! I'm trying hard to get back into a lighthearted mode, so I scrapped the original chapter 51 and substituted this bit of dorkiness instead. I figured if I was tired of all the dark durm und strang, you guys might be too. Besides, Soul loves to call shenanigans on Maka ;)
Hugs to all of you!
Get Over It
Soul knew something was up the minute Maka walked through the living room door with her back straight and her arms clasped behind her. She only did that when something big was over. Or she had something on her mind that she wished were over. From the grim set of her jaw, Soul guessed it was the latter.
"There, Patty, see? I told you Dad hadn't killed her." Kid said, holding out an arm. Maka sat beside him and Soul saw a weird look cross her face, like she wanted to cry, or maybe hit something. Probably hit something. He was glad he wasn't the one next to her, even if that meant sitting with a hung-over Liz and helping her go throw up twice.
"What's going on?" Maka looked up at Kid, waiting for him to take the lead. She didn't want to give out any more information than he already had.
"I was just telling everyone that we think we've got you healed up, but that we need to test our resonance capability. Now that you're here, we can do that." Kid felt Maka's rocky emotions and wondered just how good an idea that was actually going to be.
"Now?" Liz moaned, "We're supposed to have the day off."
"Yeah!" Patty gave Kid a punch in the arm, "You said we were going to get ice cream and watch any movie I wanted. You said!"
"We'll do both, right after we do a little work," Kid promised.
"I don't wanna," Patty tried again, "We can't anyway, 'cause Sis threw up. Soul held her hair and I got to watch."
"How nice for you." Kid shuddered and turned his attention to Liz, "I know you feel awful, but you did bring it on yourself. You know better than to try to self-medicate with alcohol."
"Fuck you, Kid." Liz leaned her head back against the sofa and grabbed her temples when Patty started shrieking.
"That's Maka's job! Right Maka? You go besmirch him and then we won't have to work!"
"Lord Death wants us to meet him in the Death Room as soon as Black Star and Tsubaki can get there." Maka said, ignoring Patty. Everything seemed so normal that she wanted to scream. Wanted to tell them all that she was never going to be normal again. Kid's arm tightened around her and he pulled her in close, body and soul, trying to soothe her. Maka wanted to climb into his lap and cry her eyes out, but she certainly wasn't going to do it in front of everyone, especially after promising that she wasn't going to be self-indulgent any more. Soul knew something was up, though, and he was giving her a look that promised the third degree at the earliest available opportunity.
"Maka, can you please call Black Star and Tsubaki? I'm going to take Liz to the kitchen and see if we can get her situation resolved. Patty, you need to go upstairs and get dressed. Think of a list of movies you want to watch while you're doing it. Everyone ready to go in twenty minutes; let's get this over with."
Everyone looked a little startled by Kid's calm, take-charge attitude. He paused to whisper something in Maka's ear, and then pulled Liz to her feet and ushered his unhappy weapons out of the room while Maka made her call and Soul looked on in amazement.
"What the hell is going on, Maka?" he asked the minute she hung up the phone. He leaned against the back of the couch and crossed his arms behind his head, waiting. She got up off of her sofa and went to sit at the end of his.
"Well, you know..." she was trying to fake a cheerful attitude but Soul wasn't buying it.
"Cut the crap. You know you can't bullshit me, so quit trying."
"I- well, we.."
"Spit it out, already."
"Kid and I did something stupid and now my whole life is messed up!" she blurted. Covering her face in her hands, she bet toward her knees and tried hard to control her frustration.
"He said it was okay to tell you. That you were going to figure it out anyway because you and I are so close-" Maka felt Soul's hand on her back as he scootched next to her.
"It's okay, I think already figured it out." he said, rubbing her back, "I'm a cool guy, I can handle this. I'm not gonna freak out because you did this with him. You love him right?"
"Yes."
"And we all know he's nuts about you. It's not that big a deal."
Maka lifted her head and looked at him like he'd lost his mind, "Not a big deal? What do you mean it's not a big deal?"
Soul leaned down and put his arms around her, "I mean we'll make it okay. I'll help you through this. We're a team, right? Whatever it takes, you've got it. If you want to move in here it's fine...otherwise we can get a bigger place."
"Why would we need a bigger apartment?" Maka sat upright so suddenly that her ponytail smacked Soul in the nose.
"Well, babies need a lot of shit, don't they?" he asked helplessly, "I don't know much about this, but it'll have to have a crib and a highchair and one of those fold-up playpen things-"
Maka jumped up, looking deranged, "I'm not pregnant you idiot!" she yelped, shaking both hands at him like she was going to wring his neck.
Soul cringed away from her, preparing to fend off an attack.
"Then what the fuck are we talking about?" he snapped, covering his head. All of his careful, understanding, consoling work had apparently been for nothing. He'd already been thinking about what a cool uncle he was going to be. What a waste.
"I don't want to watch you DIE!" she screamed as her conversation with Lord Death burned through her brain, his words searing her heart all over again.
"I have no idea what you're going to end up being, Maka; your soul is still developing and it's too soon to tell. You could have a bond with Kid and nothing more, or you could develop a range of Reaper's senses and abilities. One thing you do need to accept is the result of living a long life."
"All humans fear death, but it's the one thing they all have to confront sooner or later. For Reapers, that means watching them go. It means collecting their souls when they no longer need them. Part of the human condition is the vague understanding of loss through age, or disease, or accidents, or war. What humans can't comprehend, and what every Reaper faces, is the reality of losing every mortal being you know."
"It means that someday you will walk through Death City and realize that there isn't a single human left that you knew in your first life. It means that someday you will sit beside childhood friends as they die of old age, and when they go, you'll have to take their souls with a hand that's still young. The last thing they will see is your pretty, unlined face, and they may hate you for it."
"You need to accept that knowledge or it will drive you out of your mind, and if that happens it may destroy Kid. When Sophie went mad she nearly took him with her. Even with the strength you've given him I don't know if he could survive a second experience like that without going along for the ride. If he goes I will lose the son you've just given back to me, and our chance of peace with the witches, our chance for the future, will go with him. Break his heart if you need to, but don't drag him down into madness or the whole world is going to suffer."
"What?" Soul was utterly confounded and a little scared, "What the hell did you and Kid do that's going to make you watch me die?"
"We used that piece of my soul I gave Kid to form a resonance bond. A really, really strong one and now its permanent and now I have Reaper shit in my soul and I'm going to live a jillion years and you're all going to hate me when you die." Maka knew she was getting hysterical, passing it along to Kid and freaking out Soul, but she couldn't help herself. The stress of the past few days was letting go all at once and she suddenly understood Liz' decision to hit the bottle.
Still rolled up in a protective ball on the couch, Soul's body started to shake. His reaction shocked Maka out of her own turmoil and she threw herself on top of his hunched back, taking her turn to be the consoling partner.
"I'm sorry Soul, I'm so sorry. We never would have done it if we'd known what was going to happen."
"Get off me!" Soul shoved her and she fell backward on the sofa ,"You are such an idiot." he wheezed. He sat up, clutching at his chest, and Maka realized he wasn't crying, he was laughing.
"This isn't funny! Why do you always laugh at me when things aren't funny?!" she kicked at him wildly until he grabbed her feet and held them up in the air. The rest of her body slid onto the floor and she glared up at him, flopping like a fish out of water. Soul rolled his eyes at her.
"Leave it to you to get upset about something that's not going to happen for who knows how long. Unless you keep pulling crazy shit and give me a heart attack, I'm not keeling over anytime soon. Weapon blood, remember? I got witch DNA and so do Patty and Liz and Tsubaki. We're gonna live a hell of a long time and you don't think we've all had to deal with the idea of outlasting everybody except Kid? That we don't live with that every single day? Get over yourself, Maka."
"What about Black Star?" Maka demanded, stunned by the thought and forgetting to struggle.
"Black Star's either so dumb that he's gonna kill himself or he'll be too stubborn to die. We can all die any time, dummy. We could all croak when we try this resonance experiment, who knows. Stop being a baby."
Kid came skidding into the library and stopped dead at the sight of Soul holding Maka upside down by the ankles like a dead chicken.
"I just...I just need some time to think." Maka told Soul, "Can you let go of me?"
"Are you gonna settle your shit down?"
She nodded in agreement and he flipped her legs forward. She somersaulted backwards and landed in a seated position by the hearth.
"I just need some time to think." she repeated, looking from Soul to Kid and back again. Soul adjusted his headband and pulled his sweatshirt down.
"Well, think fast because we've got to get to the Death Room. We need to get our team going again, and it's all on you to make it work." He held out his hand and clasped hers for a long, healing moment before hauling her to her feet.
"He's right," Kid said, "If you and I are too upset it's going to make everything harder."
"Besides, once we get our resonance working again, we won't have these little misunderstandings." Soul gave Maka an evil smile and shot his eyes at Kid, " I'll just know you're pregnant."
"Exactly...wait, WHAT?" Kid gaped while Maka and Soul leaned on each other and laughed.
Responses!
UnflinchingResolve: I hope your rainy days are a thing of the past, but if not, here's a big hug *squeeze*. I hope you like the new chapter.
REDEADED: I still owe you two (or is it three?) chapters, but here's an installment on my fic debt ;) Could never do it without you, man!
Wordfiend: Thank you for actually practicing the sofa flip with me to see if it was physically possible. Now everyone knows we're nuts!
Enecs: I put a "besmirch" in this chapter just for you! Hope you think things are staying interesting.
BookandAnimeNerd: I'm so glad you liked it, and hope you like this one, too :)
Xenohawk: Well, it wasn't a very fast update, but here it is. Thanks for sticking by me for so long!
Nini Hearts: I tried, but Soul just would not get emo for me. He did get in a good dig on Kid, though. And you just gave me a Crona plot bunny to work into the next story - thank you!
Guest: Thank you so much! I hope you still find it good, and thank you for reading :)
Courage-Earthworm'8: So good to have you back from the land of no internet, my friend! *squee* I missed you!
Guest: It is a horrible, total cliche, but since I'm trying to work in as many KiMa tropes as I can (except for Bad!Soul, abuse/self-harm and AU!), I just couldn't resist the temptation. I'm really sorry you think the writing and narrative quality are going down, though :( What can I do to improve?
jinx: I don't think this chapter counts as interesting, but hopefully it's kind of sweet and funny. Thanks for your super-nice comment :)
