Chapter 2 : Little Towns Have Their Own Charms


"Go, Wezen, take care of your brother."

These were the last words she spoke to Wes.

"Be good, and always listen to your big brother."

These were the last words she spoke to him.

"I'm sorry, Soul, I'm sorry… I'm sorry for leaving you alone, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

They were the last words Wes spoke to him.

"Shut up, Wes…"

And they were the last words he spoke to Wes, with a silent tear on his cheek.


Maka hopped down from her horse in silence, ignoring Soul's extended hand.

Of course she was still angry at him, but the actual reason of her scowl was because she was extremely embarrassed.

She had already regretted her decision to bring the Ishvalan boy with her five minutes after voicing it, all because the unfortunate situation of only having one horse, forcing them to ride it together. Maka thought Black Star hooking her up with Second Lieutenant Ford was the most embarrassing thing in her life, but she certainly had been wrong. Horseback riding with Soul was worse. She didn't even realize the sun's unforgiving heat was cooking them into medium rare steaks.

Particularly because she couldn't help being too self-conscious. No, not because she wanted him to think she was a fragile princess being rescued by a knight in a shining armor while riding his horse together to the sunset, but because she had to make sure she looked intimidating and fierce; to remind him she could knock all of his stupid sharky teeth out of his jaw if he ever tried to do something. But unfortunately that was not an easy feat when she was a head shorter than him and was sitting in front of the boy like they were in a cheesy romance play.

Soul had been kind enough to not say anything despite his vast talent at snide remarks. But his silence only made the riding extremely awkward. Nobody could stop Blair from being chatty, however, and Maka had to stop thinking that her pet was teasing her. Cats don't tease.

Their first night on the Amestris border was pretty okay, she supposed, but for the love of the periodic table, she couldn't get a wink. All because she knew that Soul didn't sleep at all either. He just sat there in front of the fire, staring in the direction of Death City. Her mood got worse because the light feeling she got when she stepped into the desert was gone, replaced by this ominous feeling and heavy burden she knew too well. Even the dragon path felt farther. She blamed all of it on her new companion.

"Where exactly are these 'labs' you've spoken of?"

Soul started a little at her voice, as if not realizing that she had been awake the whole time. He reached for a tree branch around his legs and used it to prod the fire.

"Gritch, West City, Dublith, New Yolden, Rashville, those I certainly knew of. I've been there. Of course there are several in Ishval. Also, she implied once that she had one in Briggs."

"Hmm, I have been to the West City one but—wait, Briggs?!" Maka bolted upright, unintentionally knocking Blair off of her stomach. The cat yowled loudly, but Maka couldn't bring herself to care. "It's the most heavily fortressed city in this country!"

"So I've heard."

Maka brought her hand to her chin, thinking at miles per second. This was another anomaly of Mama's habits. Mama always built her labs far away from people, and more importantly, from the military. At least when she wasn't contributing to military-issued research, when she had no choice in deciding her work field.

Like in Ishval. But no, she wouldn't think about it. Not yet.

The thing was, Briggs was a very dangerous place, being the only city separating Amestris and Drachma, where heavy conflicts and rocket exchanges happened regularly. It was heavily guarded, because half of the town was owned by the military, resembling more of a fortress than a city. The only place that had a seemingly equal amount of defenses was the Central Headquarters where the Führer lived.

What could Mama possibly hide right under the military's nose?

But anyway, she couldn't risk going to a place that dangerous with a guy she barely knew. She just had to test him first, making sure he was not a hindrance.

"Rashville first."

"Huh?"

"That's the nearest one from here. I won't forgive you if you have lied to me or purposely drag me down. I also won't help you if you get yourself in trouble, so be prepared," Maka spoke with a tone of finality, dragging her coat to cover her head.


"Soul."

He was extinguishing the coals from last night's campfire when he turned to the voice. Maka was standing with arms crossed in front of her chest. She wore her usual pout, seemed as if considering something.

"What?"

"I said we'll go to Rashville, but first, we need new clothes for you," said Maka, eyeing him from head to toe. "I'll be the center of attention the second I step into a city with you by my side."

Maka's cat meowed from her shoulder, as if supporting her owner's point. He must have looked hideous for a cat to comment on his appearance.

Damn cat.

Okay, he didn't look so bad to be considered hideous, but there certainly was something that spoke 'neglected' about him, so Soul didn't object and just grunted.

Well, an effect of living in a dead city without any human contact, he supposed. His hair was untamable and desperately needed a cut, and since his brother and he fled to Death City when he was twelve, he didn't have anything to fit him except for Wes's old clothes. And honestly, Wes was at least ten centimeters shorter than him now that he'd had his growth spurt. So yeah, new clothes actually sounded good.

They arrived at the small town of Little Hook a day later. Soul tentatively stared everywhere, having forgotten what a lively town was supposed to look like. He was stunned by the amount of people, nervous to socialize. A snort came from Maka's direction, but when he turned to look at her she was still as sour as usual, saying nonchalantly that the tiny village was nothing compared to the cities they would visit in the near future. Soul refrained from gulping. It would be okay; they were just people. Humans. Just think of them as grumpy monkeys or something.

He tried to not imagine Wes' reactions at his humanly-induced hysteria too much. Or to look forward to tell him at the end of the day.

Maka said they needed to find a bank first, because, of course, they needed money to get the things they wanted. The downside of a civilized place. The building they arrived to was small and built from ancient bricks. Soul stared around curiously while Maka made her way to the bank people (Soul didn't know what to call them).

"Excuse me, I want to make a withdrawal from Maka Albarn's State Alchemist account," Maka said, sliding a paper and something silver to the bank woman.

"Are you the Alchemist herself, Miss?" the bank woman asked, inspecting the silver thing carefully.

The silver thing.

Oh.

The Silver Pocket Watch.

"Yes," Maka answered.

Soul didn't realize his breathing was rapidly quickening at the sight of that thing.

Of course. Of course.

The people who did those things to him and Wes were State Alchemists. Mrs. Kamiko was a State Alchemist. It wasn't strange for Maka to be a State Alchemist too.

She was a Dog of the Military.

How foolish of him to blindly follow this girl just because she was the daughter of Mrs. Kamiko. How foolish of him to crave human interaction, to crave company. How foolish. What if she took him with her because she just wanted to use him? To cut him open? To dissect the Human Weapon secret out of him?

Old fear and horror engulfed him painfully tight at a daunting speed. Beads of cold sweat ran down all over his body. He was numb. Completely numb. All he could hear was the loud thump thump thump of his panicking heart and the faraway echo of a human transmutation circle being activated. He felt dizzy.

No.

No, no, no.

Years of numbing his heart against these fears only made the attack worse. The vivid recollections of his body strapped tight above an alchemy circle, of his chest being cut open, of that black liquid pouring into his body and burning his every cell were brutal.

Stupid. Fuck, he was stupid.

'That's right, Soul! That's right! How foolish of you to follow this girl! She's like her mother, you say? You're right! She's just like her mother! She's no different from the woman who made you like this! After all, she's a State Alchemist, no?'

This was a very bad time for his Little Demon to made an appearance.

'Just run! Go! Or better yet, slash! Kill! Murder them all!'

Soul had to force every fiber of his being to stop his own arm from turning into a blade. His frantic breath must have been audibly loud because Maka spun to face him and was approaching him with a worried look on her face.

"Soul?" she tried to reach him, but Soul was still numbly frigid. "Soul? What's wrong?"

When she did touch him, his senses came back in full force, feeling the heat from her hand spreading through his body like an uncontrollable forest fire.

Without thinking, he swatted her hand away roughly and dashed out of the building to wherever he thought was the safest place to hide.


Maka was very confused.

What was wrong with that guy? One time he was aggressive, then he was awkward, then annoyingly sarcastic, and now he ran off like a cat squirted with water? Heck, even Blair wouldn't look that upset when squirted with water.

It would have been funny if not for the look on his face. He was certainly frightened enough to not be okay.

"Here's your money, Miss Albarn." The teller casually slid a brown envelope and her Silver Pocket Watch as if she hadn't witnessed the previous occurrence.

Maka hastily put the money in her bag and was chaining her Pocket Watch back to her belt when she was suddenly slammed with understanding.

Oh. Her Silver Pocket Watch.

He was Ishvalan. The trauma of the Ishval Civil War was certainly enough to make any survivor tremble at the sight of the Watch; soldiers who destroyed their cities at the front lines were State Alchemists, after all. More importantly, if Soul really had experienced all those gruesome experiments that turned him into a Human Weapon like he said, his reaction would most likely be a couple times worse. The people who did that to him were undoubtedly State Alchemists.

Like her Mama.

Maka's heart flipped in discomfort.

A soul couldn't lie, she had undoubtedly sensed that Soul really was scared. Seeing his terrified eyes and his rigid posture just from the mere sight of her Watch was unnerving. It was the first proof that all of his story wasn't a lie.

She gulped uncomfortably.

No.

She had stubbornly convinced herself that Mama would never be a part of a research that amoral. She kept telling herself that it was just a sick lie he had fabricated to convince her to bring him along, to get closer to her and then steal all of Mama's documents. Everybody wanted those, after all.

She knew, deep inside her heart, that doing this was cruel and that she was being unfair to Soul. But Soul was a stranger, and Mama was her life.

Shaking her head furiously, Maka pushed her unpleasant thoughts aside, hurrying outside while taking the leather cover off of her pocket notebook. She transmuted it into a small case to hide the Watch and put it in her jacket's inner breast pocket to keep it out of sight. Blair was hot on her heels.

She could think of everything later. Finding him came first.

Unfortunately, because of her haste, Maka missed how the teller woman called the Central Headquarters' State Alchemist division right after she closed the door.

"Yes, I want to report that Miss Maka Albarn just made a withdrawal from Grigori Alchemist's Research Account at Morte Bank of Little Hook. Yes. Yes, Sir. No, she was with a young Ishvalan man. No. Yes, Sir."


She found him inside the remnants of a church, sitting on a rusty bench with his head between his knees and trembling hands covering his ears.

But the thing that shocked her the most was his soul. Or souls.

Paracelsus had said in his book that living beings consisted of three main principles, the Tria Prima; sulfur, mercury and salt. The 'soul' was represented by sulfur, which was flammable.

His souls were scorching.

The dominant one of his souls, the human part, the 'Soul' part, was trembling in chaos as if being burned alive. But the other soul, the artificial part, was dancing maniacally above the fire, as if his other half's misery was fueling its joy.

It was disturbing.

For a while, she could not bring her foot to step forward. Tears were falling down her face without her knowing, silently reacting to the chaos inside him.

"Please no… no…"

His shaky muttering was what brought her consciousness back. Trembling, she staggered to him.

"Soul…?"

Her voice shocked him upright. He pulled away from her extended hand, swatting it violently. "GO AWAY! JUST DIE, YOU MILITARY DOG! DIE!"

She flinched. Not because of the sheer volume of his voice nor how furious he was, but because of how much fear was in his tone despite his cruel words.

Maka didn't know what to do. As the minutes went on, Soul seemed not to be aware of where he was or even who she was, because he covered his ears again and started begging her when he caught sight of her face.

"Don't hurt me… Mrs. Kamiko… get me out of here… get us out of here…"

He continued to mumble the same thing over and over, with her standing there, completely frozen and speechless from witnessing his agonizing soul. This was the downside of sharpening her soul perception. She could feel what the soul was feeling.

How could she think that this boy wanted to take advantage of her? That he was up to no good? When all his soul screamed was that it just wanted to be saved?

Five minutes later, or maybe even five hours later, Soul had lost all of his energy, passing out silently, still crying in the same position.

Maka slumped beside this miserable practical stranger; this damaged boy. She didn't know what she was doing, but her hands reached out to bring his head to her chest and wiping his drenched face, now completely aware that she was also crying the whole time.

"I won't hurt you, idiot."


He squinted grumpily, realizing that he was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

Birds were chirping cheerfully from somewhere, and part of him dearly wished for them to shut up. The other part was wondering why he felt so at peace despite the previous turmoil he had experienced. He didn't even hear his Demon.

It was then he became fully aware of his position and his surroundings. He was half sitting on a rusty church bench and half sleeping on someone's shoulder.

"Hey, Mr. Sleepyhead…"

Oh. He recognized that voice. But why did it sound a bit higher—and younger—than it should?

"Mrs… Kamiko…?"

He lifted his head to find she was staring down at him. Mrs. Kamiko smiled a little sadly, her green eyes glinting in the morning sunlight.

Wait a minute. Mrs. Kamiko's eyes were black.

His brain finally completed its buffering.

Yes. It was totally not Mrs. Kamiko.

Soul yelped and instinctively jumped back, slipping on his own foot and knocked himself on a nearby wall. He cursed while writhing pitifully, grabbing his head. A giggle echoed in the broken church when Soul found a hand extended to help him up.

"Are you okay?"

Maka Albarn leaned down in front of him. She was smiling, still waiting for him to take her hand. Soul tentatively did, feeling heat creeping up to his face.

"Yeah…"

Right after standing upright, the memories of last night slammed him like dozens of bricks. Especially the fantastic part where he shouted at her to go die.

Fuck.

His previous thoughts about Maka seemed so laughable in the bright morning sunlight where she was smiling so comfortingly at him. Even after his madness, after hearing his cruel words, Maka was still here, making sure he was alright.

If she really wished to do something bad to him like those cursed State Alchemists, she would have had all the chances in the world when he had been sobbing pitifully with a wrecked mind. If she really thought he was a jerk like how she continuously did since he'd met her, she wouldn't take the trouble to find him and would just continue her journey in peace. He'd already told her the locations of the labs, after all. She didn't need him anymore. But no, she didn't do that. She chose to search for him, to hear his cries and comfort him.

He deserved the painful waves of guilt that were currently choking his breath.

"Wait, Maka—"

"Hmm?" she hummed in a conversational tone, turning to look at him. He didn't understand why she was still smiling so innocently. She should be lashing out at him right about now. Earlier evidence said that she had a short temper and the tendency to use violence when provoked.

"About…" he forbade his hands from fidgeting, hiding them inside his pockets. "About what I said last night, I'm sorry—I just… I'm—"

"It's okay," interrupted Maka, "You can tell me when you're ready."

He stared at her in disbelief. Was this the same girl that treated him like a pesky cat who spilled ink on her late Mama's only photo?

She gestured at what was once the church's entrance. "Let's find breakfast."

Yes, this was the same girl.


Soul was quiet.

Maka thought he was still not entirely out of it yet, stealing glances at him every other second to find him in a mild daze. He was also casting his eyes down, not curiously looking at everything like yesterday. He didn't even bother to keep up his stupid slouching, just sitting there and eating without sound. With that rigid posture, Maka could almost picture him as an ex-soldier.

It couldn't be helped, she supposed.

Seeing how uneasy he was, Maka started to rethink her opinion. Tsubaki's gentle advice of seeing everything from a different perspective was ringing in her ears. She had ignored Soul's perspective, closing her eyes and refused to think of him as a victim. Maybe Soul said all of that because he was also seeing the whole thing from his point of view. Maybe there was something else, the bigger truth than what Soul had heard and experienced. Maybe Mama did take part in that project, but with some noble reason no one knew of.

She exhaled heavily. It was possible.

But for now, she just wanted to forget everything and fall back to the time when she was hunting Mama's research only to keep it from evil hands.

It's not the shape that matters, it's the soul that's important.

She just wanted to forget that Soul was a human weapon possibly created by her Mama.

She just wanted to see him as a person and know what kind of soul he had.

Maka distracted herself by looking for a shop to get Soul new clothes and a bookstore to purchase new travel notebooks (and maybe new theoretical books too, they never hurt). Maka had forgotten about this before, but she also needed a new trench coat now that she was back in Amestris. The previous one was thin and designed for desert travels, she absolutely needed a thicker one if she wanted to survive another night of Amestris's chilly wind, especially now that the summer had started to transform into autumn. They would most likely have to sleep outdoors a lot anyway, if she didn't want the military to know she was travelling with an escaped human weapon.

Also new boots. Yes. Heavy duty boots.

Blair did a good job of meowing at the direction of The Lantern, a quiet but interesting shop on a street corner. No other customers meant a little more calm for Soul. The shop had the Prima Materia symbol below its name, indicating that the owner was an alchemist (a regular alchemist, of course; there would've been the Amestrian Dragon in the center of the Prima Materia if they were a State Alchemist)[1]. It was one of those clothing shops where the customer chose a model and had the owner make it right after.

Maka had always admired those people who used alchemy for handiwork and arts, because arranging atoms to form a thing with high artistic value was hard. Like super fucking hard. Even more so when it involved detailing wearable things. Maka could make something simple like a shirt or a skirt, of course, but she would never forget Black Star's laughter when she attempted to decorate her coat by involving alchemical embroidery.

Maka noted that the shop was a little too sumptuous for a tiny village on the border of the country. She recognized a faint smell of gunpowder too, but she shook her head and let it slide. Firearm ownership wasn't a strange thing in Amestris, after all.

"Excuse me!"

"Over here, Miss!"

A tall woman with long black hair popped from behind the counter, greeting them. She approached them with a smile, tying up a leather apron at her back. Her glinting name tag spelled 'Jacqueline'. Maka stopped herself from raising her eyebrows. People usually wore leather aprons when blacksmithing or working in automail shops, not for making clothes. What an odd choice.

"What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you could make some travelling clothes for him and a thick trench coat for me? And two pairs of combat boots?"

"Sure thing, Miss!" Miss Jacqueline reached for her measuring ribbon and started taking notes of her measurements while asking what exact kind of coat she wanted. Maka made sure to remind her that she wanted a Flamel insignia embroidered on the upper back; Mama and Professor Stein inked the insignia on their left chests in honor of their alchemy partnership, and she was both of their pupil.

Blair got excited when she saw little orange pumpkin bells in Miss Jacqueline's accessory display. She meowed at Maka and constantly pawed one of the little bells, demanding her attention.

"No, Blair, we're not here to buy you clothes." Blair responded with an annoyed meow, making her owner sigh. "Okay, okay, I'll get you a collar or something."

The cat let out a happy purr.

When it came to Soul's turn, he was certainly very uncomfortable being that close to other people. Maka understood the reason behind his behavior, yes, but it didn't stop her from being puzzled. He never did that when it came to her. From the very first night when she was still hostile, he had never flinched away from her. Well, except for the night before, when he clearly wasn't in his best state of mind. But thankfully, he genuinely lit up as he looked through Miss Jacqueline's collection of fashion magazines to find a model he liked.

"Okay, Miss! I have all of the measurements and the models! Now you only have to wait a bit while I arrange the circles!"

Maka nodded at the shop owner. She just found a cozy waiting spot and was about to sit when her eyes caught Soul absently huffing at his messy bangs.

"We also need to do something with your hair, really," Maka spoke, eyeing his unruly white hair. Its uneven cut suggested that he might have been cutting his hair with his own blade.

Soul was about to respond when Miss Jacqueline suddenly chimed in, "Then you can go to my girlfriend's place next door while you wait for your clothes, Mister. Kim's amazing with haircuts." Miss Jacqueline smiled rather bashfully, pointing to her right.

"Um… Okay?" Soul glanced at Maka unsurely, couldn't decide whether to go or not. Or maybe he was just hesitant at the prospect of talking to another human being. Clearly he was still not that good with socializing.

She refrained from rolling her eyes and pulled his hand to the next shop, where a pretty pink-haired girl was whistling cheerfully while manicuring her nails.

"Hello, Miss!"

The girl—Miss Kim—perked up at the chime of her shop's bell. She abandoned her previous activity when hearing their request, eyeing Soul up and down with an amused look, as if he was an interesting challenge. Soul was confused when Miss Kim asked how he wanted his haircut and Maka didn't trust her questionable tastes enough to give any advice (she didn't think Soul would love a buzz cut). But Miss Kim waved off their looks of worry airily.

"Don't worry, I know what's just right for him. It's gonna be perfect!"

After Maka assigned Blair to keep a nervous Soul company, she went out for some new travel notebooks and ink refills. She kept her book-browsing as short as possible, not wanting to leave the awkward Ishvalan boy for too long after his earlier attack. She was finished in under two hours—a rare feat—and got back right when Miss Kim announced she was done.

Miss Jacqueline really didn't lie about her girlfriend's talent. Miss Kim had completely transformed Soul from a pitiful mess of a homeless man into a cool pretty boy. (No, of course Maka wouldn't tell him that she found him pretty.)

He had his stubble shaved and his hair cut shorter, but still long enough to partly cover his eyes. Miss Kim had kept his hair's spikiness, but had arranged it into a cool kind of spiky mess instead of his former erratic mop style. She gave him a black headband too, for keeping his bangs from covering his eyes, she said, but Maka had a suspicion Miss Kim did that just for the sake of making him even prettier.

Accompanied by Miss Kim, they went back to Miss Jacqueline's shop for their new clothes. The alchemist's work was flawless. Maka was absolutely delighted with her new trench coat and (completely rad) combat boots. (Miss Jacqueline really had an awesome taste.) She also did something impressive in making Soul's outfit. The boy had stated that he disliked long coats, so he settled on dark low-rise jeans with a plain red shirt under a thick black leather jacket. Simple and durable, but looked nice on him.

"It suits you."

Soul blinked twice in bemusement, but then he gave her a toothy grin. "Thanks."

After choosing a pair of sunglasses to hide Soul's red eyes, they said goodbye to the couple and started discussing the plan on getting to Rashville.

Blair led their way with her tail swaying pompously, her new pumpkin bell collar chiming merrily on her neck.


Maka had changed and he didn't know what to do about it.

If there was something good coming from his previous embarrassing episode, it was that Maka had been acting considerably warmer towards him.

They were on their way to Rashville when Soul involuntarily squeaked his nervousness at the prospect of seeing more humans all at once. To his eternal surprise, Maka just soothingly assured him that she would be there for him as emotional support. That made him look away in embarrassment, completely missing the way Maka shot him an amused smile.

Not to mention her behavior towards him in Little Hook.

She was patient. Well, more patient than usual, when waiting for him to choose his new clothes (he guiltily admitted he was quite enjoying the choosing for models part, those things in Jacqueline's collection were pretty cool).

She also didn't mention anything about his previous attack, almost as if she was sensing that he was still too uncomfortable to speak about it. The girl was no longer demanding and bossy, and she was starting to look at him in the eye when she spoke to him, eagerly explaining the advances in technology he'd missed during his years in the desert.

It was nice, but he really didn't know how to respond to it. There was no Wes he could ask for advice either.

"Soul, what do you want?"

"Huh?"

Maka was standing in front of a sandwich stand, pointing at the menu.

"Anything," he said after thinking that he had no idea what those complicated things on the menu were; he knew about sandwiches only because Mrs. Kamiko made them once or twice for him and his brother. Well, not that he would protest anything Maka decided on, he would inhale anything classified as food.

"Okay then, two turkey and bacon sandwiches with fries on the side, also two orange juices," she spoke to the seller. Blair meowed something at her owner and Maka rolled her eyes. "And one with raw tuna, please."

Soon they were holding their sandwiches and fried potatoes, and Soul thought he reached some kind of enlightenment at his first bite. If such delicacies exist, then god must too.

Blair had already devoured all of her tuna sandwich and was eyeing her owner's, when Maka suddenly shouted and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh! I forgot to call them!" Her eyes were round and she looked as if she wanted to punch herself.

"Who?"

"Kid!" she shouted, running to the nearest phone box after shoving her food into his hands.

Soul quirked his eyebrow. Kid? Did Maka already have a kid? She looked too young to be a mother, but what did he know about marriageable age and motherhood anyway? He grew up in a lab before burying himself in the middle of a desert.

He waited uncomfortably for her on the nearest bench while she made the call. The thought of Maka already having a family who needed her was bugging him. If she really had a kid waiting for her, then shouldn't she be home, taking care of them and loving them? He knew firsthand how important motherly love was for a child.

Maybe—maybe Maka was not used to travelling like this. Maybe her original plan was to go straight home after visiting Death City. Maybe it was only because of his words that she decided to take this journey, leaving her family at home just to prove her mother was innocent.

Just for fighting a losing battle.

He felt more and more guilty by the second at the thought of tearing the girl from her family. What had he done? Not only did he leave the only family he had left in the forlorn silence of Death City, but he'd also torn other people's? He might puke the sandwich back up. Maka's expression was still cheerful when she was approaching him, however, plopping down by his side and taking back her food, starting to nibble on a potato.

"Shouldn't you go home?" Soul heard himself speak.

Maka didn't even pause her munching, which puzzled him further. "Why?"

"Yeah, uh, you have a kid, right? So shouldn't you be—I don't know—taking care of them or—" Soul's stutter was cut off by Maka's bursting laugh. She had to hold onto the lamp post next to her to keep herself steady, cackling uncontrollably. Blair happily caught a few potatoes that were falling from the force of her laugh. Soul instinctively went defensive, "What?!"

"You—oh, my goodness—you thought—ahahah—you thought Kid was my child?!"

"Wha—" pink started dusting Soul's cheeks. Was he mistaken?

"He's my superior, you idiot!" Maka continued, still giggling and holding her stomach, "Colonel Kristopher Morton. 'Kid' is just a nickname we gave him."

When his brain finished processing her words, the pink on his cheeks rapidly changed into crimson and bled all over his face, even his ears and the back of his neck. There was nothing he wanted more than to find a cliff and throw himself off of it, then set his corpse on fire, and finally bury what was left of it in the middle of the desert.

"Awww, no need to feel embarrassed, Soul!" Maka cooed, laughing at his spectacularly miserable attempt to hide his ferocious blush.

"Shut up!"

But Maka was kind enough to finally stop her giggles and managed to explain in a conversational tone, "Well, it's not your fault. His first name is the same as his father's, so calling him 'Kristopher' or even just 'Kris' feels weird. Then our friend Patty Thompson had the idea to combine his middle names; Kristopher Ignatius Damian, hence 'Kid'."

Soul grunted.

"Hey, you're not one to talk. Yours is not that normal either!"

Soul opened his mouth to defend himself, but closed it again. Truthfully, even his real name was also far from Ishvalan's normalcy. But he liked it, dammit, and it was given to him by one of the most important people in his life.

His sulky thoughts halted altogether as he realized what was implied in Maka's previous explanation. "Wait, Kristopher Morton?! As in the Führer?!"

Maka smiled sadly, "Former Führer. But yes, he was Kid's father."

Soul gulped, he might have been raised in a lab and had spent his teenage years in a dead city, but there was no way he didn't know that name; Kristopher Morton, the former Führer, who was killed in the coup over twenty years ago. He was the only Führer who actually wanted to end the decades-old pointless civil war in Ishval and was truly fighting for a peaceful resolution. His death marked the first official military move to exterminate the Ishval tribe.

Funny how military command allowed his son to enter their force and even manage to gain such a high position.

"Why did they allow him to be a soldier, then?"

"Kid was too powerful for them to ignore. He was also a State Alchemist, and a great one at that," Maka answered nonchalantly. Soul's heart did a single unpleasant beat when she said 'State Alchemist'. Maka appeared to feel his uneasiness, because she paused for a while, but she was choosing not to comment on it and Soul was very grateful for her decision. "I never say this out loud, but I think high command prefers to keep him under their surveillance rather than let him spread his wings out there. Maybe they're even trying to control him. A foolish decision."

"Why? Is he that strong?"

Maka took a bite of her sandwich, "Well, if it's pure short-distance combat, he's certainly the most dangerous."

"Because he's a State Alchemist?" Soul said with fabricated calmness.

"Yeah," she smiled strangely, "His alchemy… is frightening."

Soul had seen many frightening things alchemy could create, so honestly he didn't think that he would be surprised at what the Colonel could do.

"If he touches you, it's over," Maka continued.

"How so?"

"Well, firstly, you have to know Paracelsus's Three Principles to understand his power," she suddenly started babbling in that excited voice she got when she was speaking about alchemy. Soul smiled inwardly. Sometimes it was unnerving to see how Maka resembled her mother. "The universe is composed of Three Principles and Four Elements. They're always specifically proportioned, especially in living beings. The Three Principles, or Tria Prima, is consisted of salt, mercury and sulfur, representing the body, mind and soul, respectively. We living beings can function normally because they're balanced. But Kid can—hey, are you listening to me?"

Maka stopped to scowl at a snickering Soul. He himself didn't realize he was laughing, his previous uncomfortable thoughts about State Alchemists suddenly scattered away. Well, no one could blame him, her childish excitement was too amusing. "Sorry, go on, go on…"

Maka still glared at him incredulously, but continued anyway, "Well then, as I was saying, Kid can manipulate the proportions of the three principles, disrupting their balance."

"So he could, what, like destroy us with a single touch?"

"Yeah, basically. Or torture us by disrupting our minds, or even just downright unbind our souls from our body," she straightened her legs, playing with a fried potato. "Our Professor once said that if Kid had been born with a gift like mine and was able to use long distance transmutations, he would certainly be the most dangerous alchemist to ever live. Without the use of any fifth element like the Philosopher's Stone, that is."

Soul shuddered. That was pretty frightening, indeed.

"He could even manipulate a corpse if he wanted to. Do you know what his title is?"

He warily shook his head, but somehow he could guess the answer.

"The Reaper."

Boy, was he right.

But Maka suddenly giggled at his uncomfortable expression, waving her hand, "No need to be afraid, Kid's too kind to actually use his full power. He mainly just uses it to knock people out or something, he loves his balance and symmetry too much to actually destroy the principle's perfect proportions."

Huh. An incredibly dangerous State Alchemist with a kind heart.

What a concept.

"You'll find out when you see him. I'm sure you'll get along just fine!"

Soul wasn't too sure of that.


Kid almost flinched when his office door banged open. Almost.

"IT'S BEEN SIX DAYS!"

Kid held himself from sighing. Yes, he knew. He was also anxiously counting the days and diligently crossing them out on his calendar, thank you very much.

"I know, Liz, I—"

"WE HAVE TO GO TO THAT SATAN'S ARMPIT IMMEDIATELY!"

"Liz, I already—"

"I'LL GO TO THAT GOD-FORSAKEN PLACE MYSELF AND YOU CAN'T STOP M—"

"Elizabeth!"

Liz stopped dead in the middle of her yell with both of Kid's hands shaking her shoulders, forcing her to look straight at him. Kid was almost hopeless when it came to stopping the Thompson Sisters from their crazy ideas, but at least he knew how to calm them down. Especially the elder sister.

"I know Maka's late. But we can't just go marching to the desert as we please. We don't help her in her research, remember?"

Yes. His position in the military was very fragile. He already had plenty of accomplishments, yes, but that didn't mean high command wouldn't demote him when they saw the chance. In fact, it only made their resentment worse.

The only reason he was allowed to supervise the Grigori Alchemist, one of the most powerful State Alchemists in Amestris, was the fact that both he and Maka had studied under the tutelage of Professor Frank N. Stein. That, and Maka had firmly refused to publish her Mama's research under the command of any other officer.

Things were calm enough right now because no one had any solid proof that he was the current Grigori's lab partner. But Kid deduced that the moment he officially let himself in on the Grigori's research, they would twist the story into him conspiring a coup by using some kind of alchemical weapon.

It was tricky, being the former Führer's son.

"But, Kid—"

"We're going. But not now. I already sent Kilik to Gallows Hill, okay?"

Liz's momentary calmness was replaced by anger once again, "Why didn't you tell me?! I'm dying from anxiety here!"

Kid understood her feelings, really. It was the first time Maka ever went on a journey by herself. Usually Tsubaki or even Black Star went with her. Not because she was incompetent (God, no, she was far from that word), but because they all felt the mutual need to protect her and keep her from loneliness ever since the tragedy over ten years ago.

"You can't just go, Liz. You're my adjutant. And we have the upcoming drill with the Western HQ to plan."

Liz opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again. She knew he was right.

"How can you be so calm?" she finally grumbled to his desk.

Kid frowned, "I am not."

He was far from calm, actually. He placed his gloved hand over his alchemy-hidden drawer and transmuted it open, pulling out a document, and placed it before Liz.

"I have an unpleasant feeling that something big and nasty is happening around us, and that it started right after Mrs. Kamiko's death."

Liz read the document hastily, her expression souring more and more after each page. It was an organized document of small and seemingly trivial incidents like kidnappings and sudden population drops of some animal species. Having years of friendships with many State Alchemists, Kid was sure Liz could recognize the pattern, even if she knew next to nothing about alchemical theory.

"They were taken by the same guy?"

"And were used as experiment subjects of a sort."

He saw the paper on Liz's hand trembled. "But—but there's humans in this report! Human transmutation is a—"

She stopped when she saw Kid's grim look. He knew she was remembering the words of his Professor; that over the years, there was always an alchemist mad enough to thought it was acceptable to experiment on humans, just for the sake of science. The statement was made worse by the Professor's implication of him nearly doing the same thing to other people if Maka's mother hadn't been there to stop him.

Experimenting on humans was a taboo, yes. But since when did humans shy away from taboo?

Their dark thoughts were interrupted by a second door crash. Patty's head popped in from the hall, completely scattering the heavy atmosphere between her sister and her superior.

"Kiiiid! Maka called us!"

This was followed by the screeching of Kid's chair and a beaming smile on Liz's face. Finally, news. He reached for the phone on his desk, but Patty stopped him.

"No, not a military phone, silly! She called Harv's!"

Kid exchanged worried glances with Liz. Harvar's apartment was their secret communication base. Maka must have found something dangerous or sensitive enough to not want it traceable on a military line. Liz protested when he told her to stay in the headquarters, but Kid reasoned quickly that he needed someone to make sure nobody knew where he was going. Kilik was off and Ford was busy with his own assigned mission, so the only choice was Liz (Patty was too easily distracted). He breathed a thanks when she grumbled her agreement and quickly gestured at Patty to follow him.

They walked at a brisk pace with a calmness they didn't feel, hoping nobody would notice their rush. Thankfully it was a short walk, and it wasn't even five seconds after they had opened Harvar's door that the phone rang suddenly.

Ignoring the apartment's owner, Kid strolled through Harvar's living room and picked up the ringing device. "Colonel Morton speaking."

"Thank god, Kid!" Maka's voice chimed from the other side. He exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding. Seemed like Maka was okay. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to report. There's been a few… uh, complications."

His heart rate picked up again, "What happened? You okay?"

"I'm okay, but…" He waited restlessly, it was rare for Maka to be nervous, and it was rarer to hear it in her voice. "I didn't find anything alkahestry-related in Death City, I wasn't looking hard enough, I guess, but—but I… I met someone…"

Someone?

"Who?"

"His name is Soul. He… has a history with my Mama, you could say that, and he said he knows the locations of a few of Mama's hidden laboratories, so now he's going with me to get more of her documents."

Kid frowned. That was very uncharacteristic of her. Maka Albarn wasn't a girl who would accept help from a man easily, never mind trusting him enough to allow him in on her journey. The way she talked also implied she had much more to say, but couldn't. Dozens of bad scenarios were swimming inside his brain. He wanted her to find Mrs. Kamiko's research as fast as possible, yes, but he never wished for her to be in danger.

"Maka, what are you up to?"

"Nothing? I just want to collect Mama's documents like I always did."

Kid sighed. Okay, different approach.

"Okay, I believe you. But I must say I have to meet this 'Soul' person to make sure he's not bad news."

There was a pause.

"Okay," she finally answered.

"Good. Where are you now?"

"I'm in eastern Rashville, and maybe will stay three or four days here."

Three or four days. Crap. It would take a whole day from East City to Rashville. The military drill was the day after tomorrow and would likely last a week. Nobody would be allowed to take a day off, obviously.

"Are you planning to go back to Gallows Hill after that?"

He heard Maka's hum vibrating from the speaker. "No, I guess, I wanna get all the documents as fast as possible."

Kid's frown deepened. More uncharacteristic behavior. While she was always eager, Maka Albarn was a careful person. She obviously knew the danger of carrying mountains of alchemy research all over the state while brandishing her Silver Pocket Watch.

"You know the consequences, don't you?" he said, met by Maka's grumble. "Just go back to Gallows Hill after you're done with Rashville, Maka."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I—there's just something I need to do, Kid!"

Kid brought his hand to massage his temples, holding himself from growling. "Okay, okay. Let's just do this. We can meet somewhere in—let's say, ten days, and we can talk about this further. Sounds good?"

He heard Maka mumble to herself before she said rather hesitantly, "We'll be in Dublith by then."

Kid exhaled, "Dublith. Perfect. We'll meet at BJ's place."

"Okay. Bye."

"Hmm. Be careful."

"I am."

Kid put the phone back and let himself sink to the sofa. Harvar was, apparently, having an arm wrestling match with Patty. Both of them turned to him the moment he plopped down.

Harvar put up the faintest hint of a smirk, which was equal to a widely amused grin in his book. "So what did Miss Grigori say?"

The Colonel ignored his question, "Call Kilik back, and see if you can arrange something with BJ immediately."


"Here it is."

Maka tapped a rocky wall in the northern border of Rashville with her gloved hand. The stone she stroked was pretty smooth, but an alchemist would know the subtle edges of alchemical transmutation marks on its surface.

It was nothing like a civilian would picture when they think of the word 'laboratory'. The building was underground, in the middle of rocky hills, with a firm cliff as the entrance.

Soul had been there, yes, but it was over eleven years ago. Rashville had changed and there were more buildings and roads than he remembered. Luckily for them, Maka was an expert at detecting alchemical marks and had the gift of alkahestry to lead her where the alchemical energy was flowing, using the earth's 'dragon path'.

It was part of how Maka had succeeded in locating Mama's labs faster and more accurately than other people, of course, because she could feel the energy flow of Mama's alkahestry residue and knew her style by heart. Another part of her success was that Mama tended to seal the entrances using alkahestry, which would take another month if one tried to unseal it using standard alchemy.

Sparks of green angel wings illuminated their surroundings as the transmutation sound echoed. An opening now gaped on the wall. Maka was about to step in when she caught sight of Soul still standing rigidly under a nearby tree.

"Soul?"

As she walked towards him, faint tremors were visible on the sunglasses he held awfully tight.

Maka frowned to herself. Of course, she should know better.

Even if it was an abandoned lab of his supposed savior (and creator, arguably, but she wouldn't think of that), it was still an alchemy lab; the kind of place where he had been imprisoned and experimented on for years. Coming back here after gaining (some kind of) freedom had to be awful and frightening.

Her breath hitched at the thought that this boy had basically been willing to endure all of that just to help her in achieving her goal. To help her prove him wrong.

Maka bit her lip at his strained expression. She squared her shoulders and bravely reached for his hand, gripping it tight.

"It's okay."

She could see that Soul was completely caught off guard by her action, having his personal space invaded so suddenly; his mouth parted slightly and his eyes popped at hers in surprise. Maka was afraid that she was being too forward and insensitive when Soul finally softened his expression into a slightly weary smile and tightened their hold.

Hand-in-hand, they stepped into the dark laboratory.


Soul had to distract every bit of his brain from the fact that Maka was holding his hand if he still wanted to keep the laughably shrimpy dignity he had left. Luckily she was too captivated by the abandoned room to properly notice his nervousness.

But on the bright side, holding her hand gave him the reassurance he needed; that everything was okay, that he was in the present and hadn't gone back to those dreadful times. He was able to block unpleasant thoughts—and even his Demon—and just remembered the happy times he'd had here with his big brother.

They found a way to start the backup generator and illuminate the whole place. Maka immediately went to inspect and document a huge transmutation circle in the middle of the room, reluctantly letting go of his hand. She was careful to keep their distance short, however, much like how Mrs. Kamiko used to hover after he or his brother had a panic attack, something Soul found rather endearing.

Maka carefully shifted the sleeping cat inside her bag to find her magnifying glass. As usual, Soul sat on a nearby box, watching her work with enthusiasm. At least until a certain scratch on the floor caught his attention. He shifted some dusty boxes away to get a better look. Like he thought, the scratch was a line connecting specifically placed dots; a constellation.

It was the Canis Major.

"Maka, can you transmute on this floor?"

Maka stopped her drawing, turning at him. "Yeah, but why?"

"I recognize these marks," Soul replied, pointing to the scattered dots on the floor. "It's Mrs. Kamiko's code for Wes."

"For your brother?" she said in surprise, standing up to approach him.

"Yeah," Soul replied, "Could be something Mrs. Kamiko left for Wes or the other way around. Wes used to come back to Amestris once in a while to get stuff like clothes and the like. It's their way of communicating, I guess."

"You think there's some kind of message here?"

"Possibly," Soul nodded. "I don't remember this code from the last time I was here. This place is the last lab Mrs. Kamiko hid us in before she instructed us to go to Death City."

"But this is an alchemy-sealed surface, Soul," Maka inquired, feeling the dotted floor with her fingertips, "Then your brother, he—"

"—was an alchemist, yeah. Mrs. Kamiko taught him herself."

Maka's eyes widened before scrutinizing the floor again. Then she leaned towards the transmutation marks and put both her gloved hands above the Canis Major. Light green angel wings sparked for a few seconds before the surface cracked open, revealing a second layer of the stone floor.

There was nothing in there except for a few lines of a message of some sort carved on the stone. The top half was impossible to read because the stone was horribly cracked, but the bottom part was readable, mostly.

Soul froze when he read the carvings.

It was a message in Ishvalan. A selfish request from a sinful woman.

'I wish nothing for myself, just for that child. Please, protect her.'

There was no doubt on who 'that child' was.

And there, below the last line of her message to Wes, there was a carving of a halved sun. The top half was light and the bottom was dark; his code.

Only a single line was carved next to his symbol:

'Stay with her, you and she will be stronger together.'


"Soul? What's written on there?"

Maka refrained from shaking the silent Soul and demanding the answer. The young alchemist recognized the characters as Ishvalan, but that was the extent of what she knew about it. Ishvalan was a very complicated language and it was rarely taught to Amestrian children due to the civil war. She knew she had to give the boy some time to process the message, but she didn't like being left in the dark. She liked it even less when she saw Soul looked as if he was about to cry.

Maka didn't understand. Soul had clearly said that her Mama was the one who transmuted the weapon into him; the one who ruined his body, but he wasn't reacting like how a victim would to his abuser. When she thought about it further, he had always spoken about her with respect. The way he gazed at the message… it was almost like—like how a child reacts to their late parent's memento. She knew the look well, having worn it herself countless times.

But it could only mean that they were close, right? That Mama was their savior instead of the one who had ruined their lives? She couldn't be a sinner, right?

Maka pushed those thoughts aside. No. Not now.

"Soul?"

The boy blinked several times and cleared his throat before answering, "Sorry, I just—it's Mrs. Kamiko's message… For Wes."

Ah.

Another solid proof of Mama's affiliation with the brothers. Maka smiled wryly, pulled back her hands, and clutched them on her lap.

"It's personal, then…?"

Soul nodded at her with a strange look on his face, "Kinda, yeah."

She bit back her own curiosity. If it was personal, then she wouldn't pry. Even though she felt a sting in her heart for being left out of Mama's secret, she would bear it. Even though she knew she wasn't the most patient person in the world, she would wait. She was afraid that forcing Soul to say anything would trigger him, and she didn't want him to experience that horrible attack again. She believed Soul would tell her if he was ready anyway, however unreasonable the belief was.

She sighed.

Again, how uncharacteristic of her.


"My Maka is everything to me, she's the cutest and the most talented little girl in the world. She's impossible to not adore, you will see when you meet her!"

Mrs. Kamiko was blabbing again in that disgustingly uncharacteristic tone she had when talking about her daughter. No one would believe them if they said the Head Alchemist was such a doting mother. Her usual façade was too cold and flawless.

Wes was listening with his usual amusement, sitting towards her with a hand supporting his chin. It was his older brother instincts, perhaps, that made him so excited at the prospect of a little sister to dote on.

But Soul, on the contrary, was sulking in the corner, loathing the idea.

Picturing Wes playing with a little faceless girl was bad enough, but picturing Mrs. Kamiko lovingly hugging that faceless child was worse. With Wes, at least, he knew he would always choose him over anything; they were family by birth, by blood, and they loved each other unconditionally. But with Mrs. Kamiko, he knew he was nothing but a lab animal; he'd never had the right to call her his mother.

A ridiculous thought, yeah. It was childish and selfish of him to be jealous of a little girl he'd never met, he knew, but he couldn't help it.

She was not his mother, and he was not her son.

Part of him denied the curiosity he felt at the little faceless girl, never wanting to admit that after hundreds and hundreds of times hearing about her, she had, indeed, piqued his interest.

He would never, ever want anything to do with that little faceless girl.

Well, it was a useless thing to think about. They would never get out of this cursed place, anyway.

"But what if you do?"

Soul was startled by Mrs. Kamiko's sudden question. The alchemist and his brother were staring at him with blank looks on their faces. The little faceless girl was standing between them, staring at him with her little eyeless face.

"Would you still think that way when you see her?" Mrs. Kamiko said.

The little faceless girl now stepped forward.

"Would you still hate her?"

The little faceless girl wasn't that little anymore, and he was growing along with her.

"Wouldn't you try to know her?"

The little faceless girl now had a face. A familiar face with gleaming green eyes.

"Do you still hate her after finally having met her?"

The little faceless girl—who had fully transformed into Maka Albarn—said accusingly with Mrs. Kamiko's voice.

"Wouldn't you try to protect her?"

Maka reached for his cheek, still speaking with her mother's voice, but Mrs. Kamiko and Wes were gone. They were not in the lab anymore. They were in that broken church.

"You know you couldn't hate her, do you?"

Yes, he knew. No use to deny it.

"Your brother is gone. Now it's your duty to carry that selfish request of that sinful woman."

Would he?

"Soul?"

"Protect her."

He would.

"Soul!"

"You and she will be stronger together."

Perhaps.

"Soul, wake up!"

Soul gasped awake.

They were inside a cargo train, halfway on their way to Dublith. Since they'd lost their horse at Little Hook on that chaotic night, they had to think of another way to travel. And since Soul wasn't that comfortable with the thought of encountering military yet, their selection was limited.

"Are you okay? You're sweating so much!"

"Wh—" he raised his palm to his clammy face and—oh, she was right.

"Bad dream?"

Soul did a weird mix of a head shake and a nod. Man, it seemed like he only showed her his uncool sides. Maka didn't seem to care about his coolness level, anyhow, still staring at him with that concerned look. Since when did she gave him that much attention anyway? Soul grumbled to himself. Since Little Hook. The more relevant question was 'why'.

"Are we there yet?" he peeked at the slit between the cargo train's sliding doors to avoid her scanning eyes. It was dark outside.

"Not until dawn. Six or seven hours more."

He hummed. "You should go back to sleep, then."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded with a dry grin. She gave him one last incredulous look before pulling her trench coat over her chest, pretending to sleep.

Maka's cat made her way to his lap and curled there, purring.


Maka blinked blearily.

When had she fallen asleep? She was just shutting her eyes for a bit and was intending to listen at Soul in silence. Her coat slipped when she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

It was quiet.

Well, not exactly quiet, the train was loud, but there was no other sound beside it.

She looked around to find no Soul and no Blair, only crates and boxes the train was supposed to deliver. Panic almost engulfed her when she felt two soul reactions from above her.

What were they doing up there?

Maka Albarn was built from 75% agility and 25% nimbleness; it was easy for her to find a way up. Under five seconds, her head had already popped above the train's roof, scanning her surroundings for her two missing companions.

There he was, laying down on his back with his legs swaying off the edge of the train's cargo box. Blair was curled on her new favorite pillow; his belly. He looked calm and rather foreign, whistling a strange tune while petting her cat's fluffy head.

Blair really seemed to like him. Huh.

"You like cats?"

Soul jolted at her voice, nearly knocking Blair off of his stomach (the cat yelped in irritation). He was quickly sitting upright and back to petting her cat to hide his surprise. "No, I—I don't know," he mumbled as she made herself comfortable beside him. "Animals tend to avoid me. Y'know, being weapon and all."

Maka smiled, proud of Blair for not shying away from Soul. But when she really thought about it, her pet was not exactly a normal cat.

Wanting to steer the conversation away from sensitive topics, Maka blurted, "What are you doing here?"

Soul shrugged. "Stargazing."

Her interest was piqued. "You seem to like doing that, huh?"

"Yeah, it's calming. We often did it with—," he stopped mid-sentence, stole a glance at her, and continued with different tone, "I often did it with Wes in Death City."

Maka knew an emergency alteration when she heard one. She slit her eyes at him, but he skillfully dodged her scrutinizing glare by petting Blair harder.

Well, not that she didn't already know what the problem was; they both knew stargazing was Mama's hobby. She decided to let it go, it was no use pestering him over a trivial matter. What she could conclude was that Soul respected Mama enough to actually adopt her hobby.

Unfortunately, as it tended to do, melancholy crept out whenever Mama crossed her mind.

"Do you have a favorite star?"

Startled by his sudden question, Maka automatically spouted. "Polaris, maybe. You?"

"Sirius." His answer was almost instantaneous, making her stare at him in bafflement.

"Why?"

He just smirked, "Wezen."

Oh, the Canis Major[2].

She snorted when she caught the brothers' inside joke. They continued to talk (and argue) about astronomical things when Maka caught sight of his eyes again. They were sparkling with an emotion similar to triumph despite the scowl that was wrinkling his face.

Did—did he just try to distract her from her glumness?

She smiled to herself, letting her body fall onto the train's roof as she stared into the starry sky. Mama's words were echoing in her ears as she carefully tried to feel for his soul.

'It's not the shape that matters, it's the soul that's important.'

It was not important whether he was an Ishvalan fugitive or a rude boy who trampled over her memory of Mama. The most important part was lying deeper inside.

When she really saw him as a person, she realized he was a gentle and kind soul.


The silence was comfortable.

Actually, no, it was not silent. The train was loud and Blair meowed once in a while, but they were all ambient noises, easily faded out by the soft tapping of Maka's feet and the grand scenery of the Milky Way flowing above them.

Soul's mind flew back to his strange dream earlier, and he suddenly realized that he hadn't told Maka anything about Mrs. Kamiko's message they'd found six days ago.

He could feel her bubbling curiosity and her disappointment every time they danced around the topic, but she always made sure she didn't voice them out loud.

She was giving him time.

Soul cursed to himself. He would ruin the little cheerfulness he'd worked hard to build, but this had to be said. Maka deserved to hear it.

"Maka?"

She hummed a reply.

"About the message in Rashville…"

"Yeah?"

She didn't sound surprised or excited despite her nearly unconcealed curiosity, as if she'd known he would tell her eventually. She just listened in silence while patiently giving him the time to compose his words.

"It's about you, I think…"

Now she openly showed her surprise, bolting upright. "Me?!"

"Yeah."

"What—what is it?!"

He swallowed a lump in his throat before whispering, "She was requesting for Wes—and by extension, me too, I guess—to protect you. "

Maka was silenced by bewilderment, opening and closing her mouth a few times without making any sound. All she could manage was a weak 'Why…?'

"Because we're both Human Weapons? Because she knew we were exceptional candidates for bodyguards?"

She ignored him, once again muttering a weak 'Why…?'

Soul glanced away from Blair and let his eyes fall on hers, finally speaking directly to her. "Because she loved you the most, Maka. And she wished only the best for you."

'But never us' was left unspoken.

Maka's eyes widened as she fought against gritting her teeth. The girl slumped back in her spot, eyes trailing away from his. She tightly embraced herself with both arms. He knew she was fighting fiercely to not let any of her tears spill, and he gave her privacy, like a gentleman, by awkwardly stroking Blair's fluffy back.

Finally, Maka was calm enough to distract herself by continuing her soft tapping.

It was quiet for a while. No, not quiet, of course, the train still ran noisily as it made its way to South Province, but the three of them didn't speak a word. Not even chatty Blair. Soul was just wondering if that night's conversation was finally over when he remembered one more thing he must confess.

Mrs. Kamiko had actually instructed him to be together with her, whatever she meant by that.

Soul stole a glance at Maka. How would he say that without upsetting her further? He fought the urge to scratch the back of his neck. Here went nothing.

Hoping for his conversational skills to not fuck everything up for once, he inhaled once before mumbling, "Uhh, Maka? Honestly… She also left a message for me…"

Maka didn't give any sign of surprise except for her feet's sudden pause, which went completely unnoticed by Soul because he was talking to Blair's ear. He took her silence as permission to continue, resuming his confession before he lost the courage.

"She said that we should be together."

Maka's lack of response was bugging him, so he dared to peek. When he found she was staring at him, her cheeks flushed, in pure dumbstruck surprise instead of the sorrowful shock he had expected, Soul was instantly aware of what his previous words implied.

Oh, fuck.

"I—not together like that—I mean—no! What she really wrote was that—that you and I could be stronger together! Like partners, maybe—uh—or travel buddies? What I wanna say is—dammit—what I wanna say is—"

But Maka just snorted a little dejectedly. "I understand, Soul."

Well, at least she wasn't crying. But hell, he still wanted to throw himself off the train.


The day was shifting into evening again when they arrived at their destination; an old inn named Mandailing.

Maka had told him she was reluctant to sleep at an inn because the majority of the hotels in Rashville were owned by the military. They could get a good nap, yes, but she deduced it wouldn't end well. The average citizen didn't give a damn about Ishvalans, but military tended to be hostile towards them. The situation would certainly get worse because Soul was an unregistered Amestrian.

But this particular inn was different. The owner was Maka's acquaintance, and the building was located on the outskirts of the city, far from the military's eyes.

Soul stole a glance at his companion. Maka had been strangely unvocal about the topic of the previous day, skillfully dodging his concerned glances and trying a little too hard to be cheerful.

Did she really hate the idea of being protected by Human Weapons?

Well, yeah, actually, she might.

"Long time no see, Miss Grigori!" The innkeeper, a beefy man went with the name BJ, greeted Maka enthusiastically, scattering Soul's musings away. "I haven't seen you since you were, what, five?"

Maka dodged him with a roll of her eyes. "BJ, I literally slept here two months ago."

The man huffed. "You always conveniently choose the time when I'm on vacation, don't you?" he accused, met by Maka's flat smirk. "Anyway, how's—"

"No, I haven't been to Miss Marie's and I don't know how she's doing, so save your breath."

BJ's demeanor suddenly shifted. "Un-cute kid." He threw a key to Maka and jerked his head up. "Your room's the third one on the second floor."

Maka winked at the innkeeper impishly, dragging Soul with her upstairs.

"Uh, what's all that about?"

Maka hummed absently, "What? BJ?" she giggled, "He always pesters me about his ex, Miss Marie, who now is the girlfriend of my alchemy professor."

"Huh?" Soul's brows furrowed as he failed to render the mental image.

He was saved from the need to think further about the weird love triangle, because they had arrived in front of their rooms. Or room.

There was only one room.

Maka opened the door casually, completely missing his rapidly reddening face. They had been sleeping within ten-meters of each other every night, yes, but it was always outdoors, in places that absolutely wouldn't rouse a certain atmosphere.

Unlike a room with a bed.

Well, it had two beds, but still.

"You only got one room?" he heard himself squeak.

A flash of green light and a transmutation sound followed. A firm wall now stood between the two beds.

Oh.

"Of course," commented Soul, now wanting to smack his head against the nearest wall.

Maka smiled smugly before throwing herself on the bed near the window without bothering to take her coat off first, sighing in contentment. "Finally, a bed! I was starting to forget that this God-given thing exists!"

Blair meowed her agreement from the sofa. She had claimed a purple pillow and was purring loudly.

Soul circled the sofa towards his new sleeping spot, warily testing it by pushing a palm on it. Seemed nice. Then he tried to sit, unbuckling his boots and letting them drop noisily. Okay, very nice. Finally, he stretched up and threw his head to the pillow, and—Oh!

God-given thing, indeed. Certainly letting this thing go in the morning was going to be a big problem.

Soul wondered how Wes would react if presented with the God-given thing. Chuckling, he pictured the ridiculous image of he and Wes bouncing up and down the bed, competing for who could jump the highest. Wes might be the older brother, but sometimes it was uncertain who was the adult between them. Soul smiled, Wes's grin was clearer when he closed his eyes.

But strangely, the more comfortable he got, the more awake he felt. The moonlight filtering in through the window was doing weird things to him, captivating his mind in a blur of soft lights. He ended up staring at the ceiling and listening to Blair's steady purr.

It felt foreign to him to be laying on a bed next to the little faceless girl, who was neither little nor faceless anymore.

'I wish nothing for myself, just for that child. Please, protect her.'

He would.

'You and she will be stronger together.'

Perhaps.

At least, it was calming to think that Wes would certainly make the same choice.

"Maka…"

He didn't realize he was saying her name out loud, so it was surprising to suddenly hear her humming back. He had been sure she'd already fallen asleep. Now that she gave him her attention, he felt the need to voice his decision.

"I will protect you."

With the firm wall between them and nothing beside the moon to light the room, Soul had no way to see how her eyes rounded and her lips parted slightly, nor could he see her choking back a gasp and struggling to keep a tear from escaping her eyes.

She hummed again, but it was impossible to interpret her meaning, as he couldn't see what kind of expression was accompanying that answer.

But as he closed his eyes, he somehow concluded:

It was a reluctant yes.


Footnotes :

[1] : It should be noted that State Alchemists and regular alchemists are different. Regular alchemists did their own research for themselves and/or for providing their services for the benefit of the people. State Alchemists submit all of their research to the state, and had to join the military ranks when required. Kamiko, however, was both, as she had done plenty of private research while submitting official papers.

[2] : Sirius is the brightest star in Canis Major, Wezen is the second brightest.