I always feel like I write Black Star a little too mature, but I excuse it with the idea that the Black Star we know in the manga is a teenager and this one is closer to grown, so you would hope he'd outgrow at least a little of his bravado. Please live with it and accept it because it helps me add to the fluff.
Eruka had disappeared into the night along with Medusa, and while both of those had been expected, an unwelcome secondary knot of concern, not to be confused with the one for Maka and Black Star that would permanently be tying his guts together, had developed as he realized Kim was nowhere to be found. We sacrificed her. A strong, smart girl died because she chose us over herself. But with no body to justify that claim, Soul tried to let it rest, hoping that Kim was on some conniving mission of her own.
In the midst of all this, Soul had to allow that they had received one small blessing in the form of Free. He had been trapped in what Soul guessed was a last-ditch effort of self-preservation by encasing himself in a giant hunk of ice. The men had hauled him from the shore and with no hopes for combatting that kind of skill, Soul had taken him, still encased, to Mira, thinking only of what Maka had told him of the temple and its inhabitants.
Mira had taken one look, frowned, and let him in, but only him and the giant ice cube of a man. It was strange to walk the halls of a place that men were not supposed to roam. He'd only heard of a few gaining entry, and the fact that she was taking him deeper towards the inner circles made the direness settle into his stomach. Pushing the cart full of Free seemed to at least be no problem with the work split between him and Mira and before he knew it she was placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Wait here a moment."
Soul nodded, knowing better than to look a gift-horse in the mouth, and waited patiently outside the door that Mira disappeared into with their quarry. He took the time to rehearse the script in his head, ready to lay down the kingly volume so that orders sounded as such. In a few minutes he scrapped it, sure that commands were not what would motivate help, and instead, he settled somewhere just above pleading. When Mira returned he was guided in silence back to one of the outer rooms, the steam hitting his face as she waved him in. "Your wife's been here many times," Mira offered as simple conversation.
Soul stopped only a few steps into the room, turning and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm about to ask for more answers than you gave her."
Mira almost seemed amused by this, her eyebrow raising. "As my King?"
"As a man who wants his wife and best friend to survive," he snapped back quickly. "And as a friend of Stein. I believe you two know each other pretty well."
A smile followed the eyebrow. "And who told you that?"
"I know he visited your house while he was here," Soul answered coolly. "He's not really one to visit anybody."
"You had him followed?" Mira nodded her head slowly as if to answer herself. "Is it that you don't trust him?"
Soul shook his firmly before replying, "I trust him more than most but I had Black Star, the captain of my guard, follow him. Sometimes Stein's just not so into telling us the bigger picture details and I wanted to be able to get a handle on those if I needed to. Like now. I know Stein's on his way back but I'm not going to wait. You know more than I do, so I need you to fill me in."
Mira pulled in a deep breath through her nose before her smile shrunk down to almost nothing on her lips. "I am going to make some tea. Please have a seat."
Soul gritted his teeth for only a moment before throwing himself in the chair, his hands coming hard to his knees to clutch there. Mira was busy grinding herbs, the sound setting his teeth on edge while the usual minute's wait for tea seemed to tick on for an eternity. By the time she settled the cups on the table Soul was sure he was about to burst. "Should I assume this is poison-free?"
Mira chuckled, "If I wanted to hurt you, don't you think I would have by now?"
"I feel like everyone is biding their time," Soul huffed. "But I guess I shouldn't complain - it's been worse for Maka."
Mira's sigh spoke of agreement as she used it to cool the steam off her tea. "I heard of the kidnapping."
"It was almost real," he admitted. "Free, the man you're now in charge of keeping, was on the bridge waiting to make that happen. Eruka, a servant from the castle, and Medusa, the physician, have disappeared as well."
"Then your assumptions were correct."
Soul shrugged weakly. "I'm worried that they want both of us and that this separation is about to do exactly what they want. Maybe Medusa is gone, maybe she's waiting. Maybe…" he tightened his jaw momentarily to stop his lip from trembling. "Maybe I sent the only woman I've ever loved, will ever love to her death."
"Have a little more faith in her." Mira paused to take a sip from her tea, eyeing the way he pushed the cup a few inches each way instead of doing the same.
The breath fluttered weakly over his lips, "She was really pregnant, Mira." Even through his sorrow he read the momentary registry of regret on her face and latched to it mercilessly. "You knew that," he spat quickly.
Mira sighed before running a hand down her cheek to cover her mouth, her mind running about what she had the strength to hold. "There are those who have the talent to see souls…"
"Stein does and he didn't see it," Soul instantly shot back. "And Maka's the same. The only other person I've heard could do it, was maybe stronger than either of them was her mother and she's supposed to be dead."
Mira sighed to cool her tea again.
Soul let a bitter laugh tumble off his lips, "She's alive, isn't she? That bitch."
"Soul-"
"No, her daughter is in danger, risking herself and she could be helping but where the hell is she?" Soul couldn't stop the heaving rise in his voice. "Where is she, Mira?"
She sat back in the seat, opening and closing her eyes as if that would change the picture before her. "Yaara was here."
Soul clutched the cup between his fingers, his mind threatening to throw it and shatter everything into a million pieces. "When?" squeezed through his teeth.
"To determine that Maka was with child," Mira let the honesty finally soothe her. "And after Maka's first visit here before the wedding as well."
His head shook slowly back and forth in wonder. "Did she come to the wedding? Was she in the crowd at least?"
Mira replied with a curt shake of her head.
The wave of new anger surprised even him, especially the way it gripped onto the guilt of leaving her alone, the idea that she could be just as lonely as she used to be drilling holes into his heart. "Maka has cried over her," came out as a moan before the rest of the rage hit him. "And that bastard in there said Yaara was the one who locked her up meaning he was out for blood because of something that bitch did, not Maka."
She dropped a hand to the table as if she were going to put it over his but stopped just short of touching him. "That animal in there would have hurt Maka no matter what. It seems like currently, Maka is to be disposed of at any cost. Though… if they find out she is actually pregnant, what she's pregnant with-"
"What?" Soul was halfway out of his chair, his hands slamming into the table and making his cup totter back and forth. "What the hell do you mean what she's pregnant with?"
Mira pressed her lips together, worrying at the bottom one as she patched together the words. "Yaara was concerned that something wasn't right about the soul."
"I knew it," Soul practically brayed in pain. "I knew it." She's carrying something that's going to kill her and it's my fault.
Mira slid in quickly at the end of his words, "Calm down. Yaara doesn't know what the black blood looks like on a soul. Maka knows what yours looks like, she knows what to expect, so when she sees the baby, we have to believe she'll try to prepare us."
Soul dug his nails into the wood, a warbling groan eking from his throat before he forced himself back into the seat.
"They're interested in you because of the blood, because there's some kind of potential there," Mira reminded him as softly as she could without losing the seriousness. "If they find out the child is the same, they may want it for the same reason. When Maka starts showing, it may keep her safer than we expected."
"They might actually kidnap her," Soul muttered. Black Star, don't let that happen.
Mira sighed, "I will try to contact Yaara again." She allowed the interruption of the derisive grunt from his mouth. "Perhaps she will be able to work with Stein-"
"So they know each other, too," Soul growled.
"They are not friends," Mira finished that with a quick laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised if Stein hasn't seen her in just as much time as Maka. And with Stein's connection to Spirit, I doubt Yaara is very likely to be planning with Stein on anything."
Soul shook his head slowly, his mind sketching vague lines from person to person, creating a web that he could only hope to remember enough tonight to add to his journal. "I used to think Maka and I were just fated to be together but…"
Mira broke the last inch, letting her hand come over his. "What has happened between the two of you was no one's doing but your own. You love her, that much is obvious, and no one created that but you. Her love for you is the same."
Two weeks passed in sour silence no matter what Black Star attempted. First, it was egging her on, trying endlessly to get a rise out of her but finding that while most of his usual prattle set her on edge she was suddenly immune. He received only glum smiles or helpless sounding sighs. Second, he tried silence, hoping that somehow that would encourage her to fill the gap. Instead, there was nothing but her breathing and the sound of hoofbeats to ring in his ears. This should have been a blessing, but it was somehow infuriating to Black Star, who was now trying to fill their last night in front of a campfire before finally running into Stein with endless tales of heroic actions that Soul was rarely the star of but at least always a bystander.
He was bringing up a story that he hoped she'd latched on to, a fond memory of Stein punishing Soul for some stupid insurrection when he watched her face grow paler regardless of the orange glow of the fire. Maka's hand was instantly shuffling under her cloak to cradle her stomach while the other one pressed to her mouth.
"Hey, princess," Black Star eased closer to her. "The baby OK?"
Maka's wide eyes turned to him as the tears started to puddle at the rims. She whispered something faint, unintelligible that was mostly blocked by her fingers.
His hand was gripping her shoulder now, giving a light shake for good measure. "Come on, what is it? Are you OK?"
She shook her head slowly, letting the hand fall to cup her chin. "During the fight, I heard it. I told Soul that it had a sweet voice and I didn't lie, but it was strange, too." Maka blinked at Black Star as if her next words were written on his face but she needed to translate them first. "Since then I've been putting all my energy into listening and trying to see it because I know it's there. It has to have a soul and…"
Well, at least she's been ignoring me for a good reason. The terror was the only thing that kept Black Star from snorting. He'd been privy to a few quiet breakdowns from Soul, ones were the idea that this could be a monster instead of a blessing bringing his best friend to tears even without wine. "Does it?"
"It…" Maka choked on a sob, throwing her face into her hands.
"Maka, whatever it is…" Black Star was floundering, wishing that he could transport Soul, Marie, anyone to trade places with him. He patted her back awkwardly as she let out a few more grief-stricken heaves, waiting until there wasn't another clamorous sound from her mouth to repeat, "Does it?"
"It's not an it," Maka let her hands drop, the fire making the lines of tears twinkle on her cheeks. "It's a them."
"A what?" Black Star gaped.
"Them," she urged. "Two souls. Two perfect little souls and I can't tell him. I can't show him. He won't know." Each word seemed embedded in a mournful groan.
Most of the sentence was too much to process, Black Star momentarily overcome by that new father terror at the idea of twins even without them being his. Instead, he clutched to what seemed the most important even if it was just an afterthought to her. "But perfect? They're… just babies?"
Her eyes fell back to her stomach, her hand moving there slowly. "They're… different, definitely bigger souls than I would think but… as far as I know, as I can see." She offered a weak shrug along with a sniffle. "I'm sure Stein will know more when we see him but…" Her lip trembled, threatening another break into tears.
Fuck, did she even cry this much when we were kids? I knew women could get emotional like this but- He tried to sideline the thought with another pat to her shoulder. "Stein'll just tell him when he gets back to the castle. No big deal. Soul will just know a little later than you, that's all."
"No," Maka moaned as she threw her head in her hands again. "No, no, no, I want, I want-" She cut herself off with a frustrated yelp before batting his hand away. After forcing a few deep breaths she shot her head up again, shrieking at him, "I want to kill this stupid bitch so that I can go home and be with Soul. I wish we'd never left and you and I just murdered her when we had the chance."
Black Star snorted out a laugh, "You and me both."
"I hate playing it safe," she spat. "I hate being stuck with you on this stupid trip."
"Keep going," Black Star waved his hand in encouragement.
"I don't want to see Papa," she paused there to add another discontented yell. "I definitely don't want to see him and if he says one word about this pregnancy I will murder him."
"Oh, that's going to be fun," Black Star muttered under his breath.
"And Stein should be with Marie while she's having her damn baby not being in charge of telling my husband about his children that he might not even get to see," passed from her lips in one swift breath ending with her chin knocking to her knees as she pulled them to her chest.
Black Star let the silence drift for a moment before murmuring, "Done?"
She let out a huff of air in reply.
"Feel better?"
Another heaving breath before she brought her eyes to him instead of the fire. "Do you ever want a normal life?"
"Hell no," Black Star spat back immediately as he grinned. He saw the disaster starting on her face so he added quickly, "But maybe that's because I'm not in love and totally not pregnant. That kind of stuff, well, you want that to be normal, want all the stuff that goes along with it to be normal."
Maka narrowed her eyes at him and Black Star was preparing for his portion of the tirade when her voice came soft and inquisitive. "You've never been in love?"
"Are we having girl talk right now?" Black Star balked incredulously.
"I was just asking," Maka answered innocently.
"Uh, why?" Unconsciously, Black Star shuffled back from her, creating distance as if the words could get him.
"You've slept with plenty of girls," Maka offered dryly, "but you've never loved them?"
Black Star chuckled weakly, "I'm glad I've got a reputation."
He didn't know how but her forehead wrinkled more. "Am I wrong?"
A tight laugh coughed from his throat, "It's just easier that way."
"What is?" Now Maka was leaning closer, refusing his space since, for the first time in their entire lives, Black Star seemed to be sweating about something.
"Sleeping with girls," he offered before grinding his jaw into a grimace.
"Because loving them…?"
"Leads to this," Black Star swept a hand at her. "Crying and going on and-"
"Idiot," Maka spat as she turned her head the other direction.
Black Star let out a withering sigh and started to resign himself again to the silence. That worked for about a minute before his skin had started to crawl. "I mean that love isn't just one simple thing. It doesn't just happen and you get just that, only that. It comes with a million other things that make it so complicated that it's impossible to win."
"Love isn't about winning," Maka talked to the other side into the darkness but definitely loud enough for him to hear.
He grumbled, "Fine. I'm just not good at being not good at something."
There was another gap and Black Star was almost thankful for it when she turned her head back to him. "That's not true."
"What?" he recoiled as his eyebrows shot up his forehead.
"You love Soul, and you're good at it," Maka left that succinctly in his lap.
"Sure, like a brother," Black Star spat. "Not like I'm going to bed with him. Yuck."
Maka managed a muted laugh, "I'm sure he feels the same way. Love is love, though. You deal with Soul crying, angry, and the million other ways he can be."
"I liked it better when you were yelling at me," Black Star sighed.
Maka rolled her eyes but let a giggle follow it. "It'd be nice for you to have someone."
"So I stop stealing your husband away to drink," Black Star finished for her with a smirk.
"So you stop being so insufferable," Maka shot back with a laugh. "Maybe there's a woman out there who could tame you."
"Absolutely not," Black Star pretended to balk at the suggestion. "I prefer when they-"
"Alright, alright," Maka huffed as she leaned back into her saddlebag. It was hard to do so without letting tears come back to her eyes but she settled her hands on her stomach again anyway. It was somehow so simple to look now and see the two glowing little orbs sitting in her hands when just yesterday there had been just a hazy mist, a hint that something was there but no real outline. She couldn't be more sure there were two, a fact that perfectly explained the way the voice had seemed like a collection of voices. I wonder if you'll talk to me again or was that just for the important stuff? Some last-ditch effort to keep both me and Soul safe?
Black Star had been chuckling to himself but slowly reined it in, watching Maka once again lost in her own mind as she caressed a swell that wasn't quite there. "You need to complain again?" he murmured.
Maka shook her head as she let out a long sigh. "No, I think that's passed. I do wish I could see his face when he finds out, though."
"Yeah," Black Star laughed sharply. "Bet he'll get that totally lost look."
"His eyes will probably pop out of his head." Her weak laugh followed that but she tried to offer Black Star a smile.
"Yeah," Black Star nodded slowly before turning his eyes to the fire. "I'm really gonna try to get you back to him before all of it happens." He still couldn't look at her since he didn't actually want to know what his promise was doing to her face or if it was adding to those tears she already cried. "Because seeing his kids for the first time? I think that's the face you don't want to miss."