"Okay, okay. Shush, Masey!"
Amara didn't fully know what she was doing. All she knew was that it was her father's birthday and she wanted to wake her parents. But she couldn't do that without Masen.
"Marwaaaa" Masen squealed. Amara shushed him again.
"You can't wake them yet!" She laughed as she picked him up under his armpits and lifted him. He was heavy now. He would be two soon and grew more cute every day. Amara adored him.
"Okay. Now, we're going to go into Mama and Papa's room. But you need to be very quiet. Understand?" She asked. Masen paid her no heed.
"Ricorda, silenzioso Masen. [Remember, silent Masen.]" She whispered as she pushed her parent's door open. She could hear them breathing deeply in slumber. She froze when Masen giggled but it didn't seem to wake them. She grinned as she got closer to the bed.
"Una, due, tre…" she whispered with a big smile before plonking Masen onto her father's chest, knocking the breathe out of him.
"Surprise!" She yelled. Her parent's sat up abruptly and her father's arm wound around Masen, who laughed adorably.
"Amara!" Her mother gasped, a hand pressed to her throat. "You scared the life out of us!" Amara laughed with her brother and climbed onto the bed to hug her father around the neck.
"Happy Birthday, Papa!"
Soul laughed, his voice rough with sleep.
"Thank you, you two!" He gave her a kiss on the head before giving Masen one too. Maka wished him a happy birthday with a loving smile and he pressed a kiss to her lips.
"Breakfast?" Maka asked and Soul groaned happily, swinging his legs off the side of the bed to stand, Masen in his arms.
"Did you carry him in here all on your own?" He asked Amara, feeling the weight in his arms. Amara nodded proudly.
"All that training must be paying off, eh?" Soul asked with a cheeky grin that Amara matched.
"Well, I have a great teacher!"
Soul laughed again and ruffled her hair as the family all made their way into the livingroom.
"You're just saying that because it's my birthday," He accused. Amara just laughed.
"Of course not! How old are you again, Papa?"
"Twenty-six. Twenty-six and two kids." He pretended to groan.
"Do you think you and Mama would have any more?" Amara asked as she sat down on the couch. Her parents froze in thought. Her mother came too first.
"I mean… Yeah. I love having children. It's not really something we –"
"Have discussed." Her father continued. Then shrugged. "But, I think I agree. You guys are the coolest thing that ever happened to us. But I definitley didn't expect to have kids so soon."
"What age did you want kids?" Amara asked. It seem's she was definitley at a very curious stage in her life. Maka humoured her.
"Well, I always imagined I'd have kids in my mid twenties to thirties," she looked at Soul. "You?"
Soul shrugged.
"Same. Didn't know I'd be having them with you though," Her parents laughed together.
"You didn't? How did you both meet? What was it like?"
Maka and Soul cast a knowing glance to each other before sitting on the couch either side of Amara. Masen was safe on Soul's knee and watching his father's face with pure facination as Soul and Maka began their story.
"I was eleven when I started at the DWMA…" Maka began.
Maka straightened her tie and put on a brave face as she made her way up the stairs of the academy. She had literally been training for this her entire life. She cannot let fear sway her. As she reached the top of the stairs she looked up to see Blackstar, her oldest friend, ranting and raving on top of one of the spears about how great he is. She scoffed and quickened her pace.
"Idiot," Maka muttered, but seeing him so confident really did help. She smiled. "No one's going to find that impressive." She walked past as a long, black haired girl slowly walked forwards towards Blake's ridiculously loud voice.
Maka eventually proudly pinned her 'Meister' badge to her shirt before making her way around the academy. She took several deep breaths as she strode down the hallways. She was sure that finding a partner, and more importantly, a scythe would be easy.
"Oh. My. God."
Maka buried her face in her arms as she sat in the cafeteria.
"Whoa, Maka." She groaned. Can't she catch a break?
"Not. Now." She growled aloud. Blackstar just laughed and slapped a hand on her back. She coughed angrily.
"Guess the weapon finding isn't going very well then." Maka lifted her head to glare at him.
"Like you've done any better." She sneered. Blackstar just smirked and gave her a pointed look. Her eyes widened.
"No," she breathed. Blackstar smiled wider. "No, no. No, you did not find a partner before me."
"Yup," he popped his lip on the 'p', his smile never wavering. "Tsubaki. She's a – "
"I don't care," Maka groaned, standing and walking away from him in a hurry. Blackstar watched her retreating back before shurgging.
Maka was distraught. It had been four hours and she couldn't match with one person. Even low level weapons. She trained so hard for this! The thought that her soul was so complicated it wouldn't match with anyone –
She froze abruptly as the sounds of soft, piano keys rang through the halls. Her saddness forgotton, she followed the music with a small frown. She came to some large, double doors and found a very dimly lit room.
When her eyes adjusted, they were met with a glorious grand piano and a… boy. He looked a little older than her. Maybe a year or two. His hair was a shocking mass of white, but it was… cute. It was his eyes that got her. A gorgeous, crimson red wine colour that looked at her in shock, then boredom.
She stood there a moment before she realised he was waiting for something. Whatever he was waiting for must not have happened, because his expression went from confused to sneering.
"This is who I am," he said in a deep, rumbling voice before turning back to the piano keys.
The song was astonishing. It was dark, scary, and just sad. But she felt whistful and heard such longing. It was like her whole personality, reflected in a song. Was it his personality? She hoped so.
The song came to an abrupt end. Maka was amused to find such shock in his face when he looked up to still see her there.
"That was nice." She said slowly. The boy watched her incredulously before giving a gruff, rumbling laugh.
"You obviously don't know anything about music." He laughed in amusement. Maka blushed. That was true. She shook away her uncertainty and met his eyes.
"I'm Maka. Maka Albarn."
The boy stood, his posture lazy and slouched. He met her eyes in amusement.
"Soul."
"Soul…" she asked, he narrowed his eyes.
"…Eater."
"Soul… Eater." Maka confirmed. Soul looked away and nodded.
"Yeah. I'm a weapon."
Maka smiled hopefully.
"I'm a Meister. Wanna see if we match?"
Soul looked at her for a long second before clicking his tongue and sauntering forwards. He was a little taller than her, she noted.
"Why not? I guess I could try at least once."
Maka's heart skipped a beat at that. This guy must have had tens of people begging to be his partner. Mysterious loner guy? He probably could have gotten any partner he wanted.
Soul offered his hand to her, palm up. Maka looked at it a moment before meeting his eyes again. He had arched a brow and tilted his head. She shook her head quickly before placing her gloved hand in his and closing her eyes.
Maka poured her soul into his, unconciously tensing in anticipation of it being throw back at her so hard it stung.
But it didn't.
Her soul came back alright, but it was amplified and reflected his. It was beautiful. Everytime she sent it back, it returned to her even more beautiful and even more mingled with his own.
Maka barely noticed when the weight in her hand solidifed and she nearly dropped his hand. Except, it wasn't his hand. She opened her eyes to find, in her hand, a glorious black and red scythe. Her heart leapt. Soul must have felt her joy because his rumbling laughter sounded from the scythe. It was then she realised she let out a delightful giggle.
"You like scythes, huh?" Maka laughed again.
"My – My Dad is a scythe. A death scythe actually. I've been training all my life to make one more powerful than him."
Soul tranformed back before she had even finished talking, his eyes wide and excited.
"You've been training to make a death scythe? For real?" Maka nodded, a wide smile on her face. Soul grinned, a big devilish grin.
"If you could make me a death scythe, I think that would be pretty cool."
Maka grinned and raised her chin confidently.
"Then I think we should make this official," she reached out a hand. "Partners?"
Soul looked at her hand before meeting her eyes, his lips curling up into a smirk. He took her hand in his and shook once.
"Partners."
"And, that was that," Maka breathed, trying not to laugh at Amara's awestuck face.
"Wow!" Mara crowed and Masen clapped at her happiness. "Oh, I cannot wait to meet my partner! Maybe it will be that sweet for me too! And romantic!"
"Waitwaitwait – Hold on." Soul held his hand up. Masen laughed more and Maka pinched his cheeks. "It wasn't romantic. And what happened to not wanting to marry your partner?"
Amara stood and started pacing the floor of the living room.
"Well, after listening to that, how can I not? Oh, I'm going to get the best partner ever! I can't wait! Thank you Daddy!"
Soul laughed nervously before handing Masen to Maka, muttering something about 'coffee' and 'uncool birthdays'. Maka turned to look at Amara's cheeky smile, her eyes narrowed in suspicion and amusement.
"Sweetie," Maka started but Amara cut her off by laughing.
"I'm just teasing, Mama," Amara laughed. "I had to get Papa! Think I scared him?"
Maka laughed and gave her daughter a high five.
"Sweetie, I think you scarred him."
