Hey guys, in case some of you didn't realise I uploaded the last chapter wrongly - I've gone back and corrected my mistake. is not the most user-friendly of sites...


"You did say that you would come and play with me, dude," Black Star points out in his familiar grating, scratchy, childlike tone. "Now is your chance to make good on your promise!" he points a finger in Soul's face, which he bats away.

Soul had literally just woken up four seconds ago, so he's hardly in the mood for Black Star of all people, first thing in the morning. "Jesus, not this again," he groans. "I didn't realise that you were gonna come to my actual house," Soul yawns, groggy. "Isn't this an invasion of privacy?"

"I don't care!" Black Star laughs. "It's my right, as your best friend. You gotta pull yourself out of this weird slump, bro," he pushes past Soul's door frame and lets himself in, patting Soul on the back. "Just one game of bask-" he pauses, his eyes focusing on the sleeping lump on the couch. He lowers his voice drastically, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights. He mouths almost silently, in shock: "Oh my God, dude, there's somebody sleeping on your couch!"

"Hm?" he responds lazily, turning to look and spying the lump that was Maka underneath a large blankets. Soul rolls his eyes at Black Star being a drama queen, again. "Yeah, I know," he massages his temples, not ready to deal with this kind of confrontation, especially not first thing in the morning. "It's Maka. She slept here last night," he explains. "It was… closer than walking back to the academy," he lies, figuring it's easier than trying to explain the truth. Hell, he's not even sure of the truth himself.

Black Star's expression turns from one of shellshock to one of excitement, and he lightly punches his friend on the arm. "Way to go, buddy!" he exclaims, only a modicum louder than before. "Score."

"Urgh, that's offensive coming from you," Soul mutters disparagingly. He looks down at himself, dressed in sweats and nothing else, and scratches the side of his torso. "…I'll need to get dressed."

Black Star nods, an excited beam still morphing his face into that of a puppy dog.

Soul raises his eyebrows. "Uh…" he starts. "Black Star, you'll have to leave. Unless you want to see in a state of undress."

Black Star blinks and seems to come to his senses, looking back at Soul with a sheepish grin. "Nothin' I haven't seen before, dude," he points out, but backs away all the same, standing just behind the door and grinning just before Soul shuts the door on him, elbowing his friend in his bony ribcage. "Just don't take too long, eh," he winks again.

Soul takes this as ample reason to slam the door in his face.

As soon as the door bangs shut, he winces with the noise and he hears Maka on the couch shuffle under her blankets.

"Ugh," she groans, waking up fully and taking in her surroundings. It takes her a second or two to remember where she is, but when she does, her heart flutters in her chest. "Crap! What time is it, Soul? I've got to get to training, Nygus will be waiting for me!" she scrambles out of bed, but Soul holds up his hand, stopping her in her tracks.

"Chill. It's six in the morning. You've got an hour." he yawns lazily. "At least, I'm pretty sure that clock still works…"

"O-oh," she nestles back down, not reassured by his level of confidence. "Well, I should probably get going soon anyway…"

"Yeah, take your time," he tells her. "I'm going out to play ball with Black Star. Use the shower, raid the fridge. Whatever," he informs her. "You won't find much in the fridge, actually. Try the drawer next to the oven. I think I used to keep cans in there…" he frowns, trying to remember. Considering how close they were last night, he doesn't really have anything to say to her, so he settled with: "Uh, so. I'll… see you later?"

"Sure," she twists her mouth up into a smile, wondering why it's suddenly so awkward.


"That's crazy! So she's a scythe type like you?" Black Star exclaims. "What a weird coincidence, don't you think? I mean, you bump into three girls while travelling around the country, and all three just happened to be weapons?" he asks. He elbows Soul with a wide grin on his face, wiggling one of his eyebrows. "You were spoilt for choice," he chortles.

Soul hadn't really thought about that. "Well, I guess it's a little weird. Although weapons are immune from the virus, and probably better at defending themselves than the average human," he points out. "So I guess… I guess most non-weapons are probably already dead, or infected."

"Or here already!" Black Star injects, optimistically.

"Yeah, or here," Soul adds, tentatively. "Actually," he slows his walking pace as they round the corner to the basketball case. "Can you be honest with me for a second, dude?" he asks, a little conspiratorially, looking round as he speaks.

Black Star's eyes widen at the secrecy and he nods like an excited Labrador. "Yeah, man, of course. What's up?"

"Well, it's just…" Soul narrows his eyes. "Look, I have to ask. As far as you know, did the academy send anyone to spy on me?"

The out-of-nowhere question makes Black Star frown. "Naw, man, I don't think they would do that – I mean, I don't think they would have done that and not told me, anyway," he points a thumb to himself. "I'm the best secret-keeper in this place. I know everything about everyone!" he exclaims. "I'm basically the boss, when Kid's not around that is!"

Soul makes a noise of irritation, but ploughs on nonetheless. "Are you sure? Nothing? Dude, I just need to know. I can't… I can't have the academy watching me. I don't want that."

"What do you mean?" Black Star asks. "You're here. Why would they need to watch you?"

Soul realises that he's not told Black Star about his intentions, and he sighs. "For now, Star."

It goes over about as well as expected. "You're just gonna leave us again? That's so messed up, man," Black Star shakes his head, a frown appearing over his brow. "You're one of the best weapons we have. We can do so much with you. Imagine being in the field, you would do great-"

"In the 'field'? What the hell does that even mean?!"

"It means, that we get to go out and fight zombies!" Black Star grins widely. "On the frontlines, ya know, enemy territory."

"What?" Soul stops his walking completely. "You mean, you guys intentionally go looking for fight with those things?"

"Yeah," Black Star rolls his eyes, in a 'duh' fashion. "Groups of weapons and meister teams take it in turns to go out on missions."

"…what's the mission objective?" Soul asks, incredulous.

"To kill as many as we can."

"But what's the point?" Soul has to ask. "It seems like a suicide mission, if you ask me."

"We have lost a few recruits along the way," he admits. "B-but the payoff is worth it. We get to keep sane killin' zombies, and we're slowly making the country more hospitable," he coughs. "And other groups, they go out and hunt for humans, rescue them. That's more boring work, admittedly…" he shrugs. "And then we organise colonies, dude. Set up farms and shit. Borders. Train the humans."

Soul rubs his face, taking this information in. "So if Maka was to… harness her weapon form, let's say. Successfully," he adds. "Would that mean that she would be sent out on these missions, then?"

"Yeah," Black Star laughs. "We always need spare blood."

A shiver runs through Soul's entire spine as Black Star's words come tumbling out. His toes curl in his shoes and he shakes his head. "What the fuck have they done to you?"

Black Star's smile turns into a frown. "What do you mean? This is all Kid's plan, not mine."

"Kid? Kid is using new recruits as spare blood for idiot missions which stand no hope of eliminating an entire planet of infected… monsters?" Soul shouts, his voice coming off coarse. He notices a gathering of blackbirds fly out of the trees near them in a flurry; startled by the sudden noise.

"Woah, man, why are you so angry? I thought you wanted us to rectify this. We're doing all we can. What the hell would you suggest?"

"And these… humans… you're rehabilitating. Do they get a choice? Where are you even keeping them, before you move them to the colony?" he spits. "Jesus, I never should have brought Maka here. I knew there was something off about this place. All those grunts marching around the city, Stein acting super creepy…"

Black Star puts a hand on Soul's shoulder in a misguided attempt to calm his friend. "Look, I don't know the details, okay? I'm just a soldier. Albeit, a pretty high-up one… you know I'm a four-star, now?" he beams, creating a dichotomy with Soul's perpetual scowl. He coughs. "Ahem, er, anyway. You need to take some of this up with Stein, or Kid. I… I thought it was kind of a hokey plan at first, too. We all did."

Soul hesitates. "…so what happened?"

Black Star shrugs, and in that ever-prepubescent voice, he says admittedly; "We realised that we had no choice."

There's a brief silence, and Soul doesn't know what to say. He's never seen Black Star like this before; so subdued, and conciliatory. Equally, Black Star's never seen this side of Soul, this impassioned, this… anti-establishment.

They regard each other coolly for a little moment, and Black Star removes his hand from Soul's shoulder, realising his mistake. His puts his hands up, signalling his attempt at pacifism. "Let's… not talk about this, for now," he smiles, but it's fake. "You're my best friend, dude. I don't want things to get messed up," he pauses. "I… I want to agree with you, man. I just don't see a reason not to believe in Kid."

Soul nods, his whole face suddenly feeling like fire.

Is this what it's come to? Black Star is the voice of reason?

He sighs and tries to relax, easing some of the tension in his spinal cord.

"Why… did you think that the academy was spying on you?" Black Star asks a little hesitantly, wondering if the question is far enough removed from their argument, and Soul jolts a little, remembering his original point in questioning.

"Well, it's kind of a hunch," he starts to explain, his voice dropping down to a whisper once again. "And… and something Maka said to me, back when we first met. She said she saw a talking black cat," he starts, feeling a little stupid even saying this.

"So?" Black Star laughs. "She was probably hallucinating. It happens. Didn't you say she was on her own for a little while?"

"Yeah, I know," Soul admits. "But here's the thing. She told me that the cat told her its name... but she couldn't remember the name. I just can't help but think that it's not a coincidence, you know?" he thinks. "Maka still thinks it was some kind of fever dream. I never told her – I didn't want to freak her out. She's been exposed to so much so quickly…"

Black Star's mouth hangs agape and it's his turn to stop in his tracks. "Soul, are you sure? Are you sure she said it was a black cat?" he pauses. "You think that maybe it was Blair?"

Soul nods in the affirmative and Black Star runs a stressed-out hand through his blue spikes, turning pale. "Jeez," he lets out. "Maybe… maybe I don't know everything that happens in this place."