Upon arriving at Kid's house, Crona and I saw Maka standing outside with her arms crossed and leaning up against the house. We both could only imagine how long she was waiting for us and what her mood would be like. "Listen, Crona. When we walk up to the house, let me talk to Maka. I'll explain everything to her and the others once we get inside, OK?" He silently nodded and we got out of the car. Maka watched us with utmost scrutiny walk past the gates and approach the doorway. The look upon her face went from unease and concern to utter shock. "What took you guys so long? I've been sitting here waiting for you to come and- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ON YOUR SHIRT, VLAD?!" I glanced in the direction her eyes were locked on and remembered the traces of blood on the neck of my shirt. I opened my mouth ready to calm her and suggest we go inside to talk when Crona sheepishly and abruptly answered; "Vlad got into a fight." I sighed in slight annoyance, bowing my head and pinching the bridge of my nose while thinking: Damn it, Crona! Well, here comes the hurricane...

Maka instantly glared at me evidently livid as though she was ready to fight me as well. As she balled her fists tightly her face started turning as red as her skirt. She began her rather loud interrogation while clenching her fists at her side. If anything, it wouldn't have surprised me if she attempted to strike at me at any moment. "Was that your Soul Wavelength I sensed then?! Who did you fight, Vlad?! Why would you get involved in something so stupid?! What kind of Death Scythe pulls an idiotic stunt like that?! And what happened to the other..."

As she continued to yell a rapid volley of questions, things took a worse turn when everyone who was inside the house came rushing outside to see what all the commotion was about. If their mere presence alone wasn't enough to really boil my blood, then their silence truly felt like salt had been poured and pressed deeply into my wounds. Kid looked stunned, Tsubaki had her hands placed over her mouth covering her mortified expression, Black-Star scoffed at me, Soul wouldn't even look at me, the Thompsons mirrored Maka in glaring in my direction, and Crona was sitting on the staircase with his eyes closed tightly and his hands pressed to his ears to vainly nullify the barrage of shouts. I had never felt so irate in my entire life than until that very moment. I was not even allowed an opportunity to genuinely defend and explain myself. For in their eyes; I was undoubtedly and ultimately guilty.

I couldn't tolerate being scolded and yelled at like some low dog any further. My very scarce patience finally depleted and I sighed in exasperation. Hoping to finally silence Maka's ongoing tirade, I held my right hand out signifying for her to stop. She was just about to resume her rant until I commenced to speak. "Yes it was my wavelength that fluctuated sometime ago", I hissed. "I fought a group of stupid assholes from the DWMA who were harassing and attacked Crona. I beat and nearly slaughtered two of them to defend a friend. And I'm the type of Death Scythe who shows no mercy to anyone who dares cross me. As for the two imbeciles I fought; they are lying in a dumpster beaten to a pulp by my hand. There, are you fucking happy now? I truly can't believe you would honestly believe you would think me capable of foolishly hurting people without just cause. If you think I'm such a horrible person, I'll go forth, resign from my post and you all can find yourselves another group leader who's better qualified."

By the time I finished, my lips were pressed into a straight line as I glared at each of them. Even after I nearly lost my composure, I was still seething with unfathomable rage. Everyone was quiet for quite some time despite the thick tension looming amongst us, and it was Maka who finally broke the silence. She took a few steps forward, looked down and asked with softness present in her voice."Crona, is this true? Were there people hurting you?" The others turned their attention to Crona who slowly looked up at her and answered. "Y-yes it's all tr-true. He fought t-them to protect m-me." Immediately their expressions shifted first from anxiety, then to astonishment and lastly to absolute shame. Crona gradually rose to his feet and what he said next stunned all of us, myself included. He was staring at the ground as he began to cry once more and pleaded amid his sobs. "P-please don't fight anymore. I-I don't know how to deal with my friends y-yelling and fighting e-each o-other." The depth of such a statement elicited from Crona impacted everyone of us gathered on the steps of Kid's house. Maka wasted no time in rushing over and hugging Crona tightly in order to comfort him. He in return melted into her embrace and wept in her arms. The others said nothing but continued looking on at Crona and Maka.

I remained silent while still registering what Crona said. I was mainly taken aback at the fact that he even considered me his friend. I haven't been associated with any of them for even a month, yet he trusted me. After years of seclusion and solitude, I would have never expected that anyone would even call me their friend. Maka eventually let go of Crona so she could approach and address me with contrition written across her face. "I'm sorry, Vlad. I shouldn't have yelled and judged you unfairly of something without hearing your side of things. You're not a bad leader or a terrible friend. The fact that you stood up for Crona alone proves it. Could you ever forgive me for thinking so poorly of you, please? I'd like for you to be not just the leader of our group; but also our friend."

I turned my attention to her. I was still frowning as she held her hand out to me, and smiling sweetly. I stared skeptically at her for some time, and eventually my frown faded and was replaced by a faint smile as I stretched my hand out to take hold of hers. I accepted her apology, and her token of friendship as we then shook each others' hand in silence. Afterward, Soul, Kid, Black-Star, and the others followed suit in apologizing to me individually and accepting me as a new member of their group of friends. After all apologies were accepted, and my hand was shook to the near point of falling off, I cleared my throat to address everyone gathered on the steps. For a moment my face became stern as I looked on at everyone, and spoke. "Now that all that's have been taken care of, there's something serious that I have to get off my chest." Before proceeding, I paused to carefully scrutinize their attentiveness as a wicked grin lingered across my face. I then pushed my way through everyone and took off into a sprint as I yelled out while cackling whimsically, "LAST ONE TO THE LIVING ROOM HAS TO SIT THROUGH EXCALIBUR'S 5 HOUR STORY TELLING PARTY!"

Instantly I heard their dismay and saw over my shoulder their sporadic means of obtaining any advantage over each other. I evidently made it there first and eagerly waited for the others to arrive while wondering who would be the unlucky sucker in last place. Not soon after a very loud collection of thundering footsteps were heard stampeding through the halls of the Manor and everyone was frantic in their efforts to outrun one another. I found their bickering and shoving to be comical, but soon many entered the living room leaving Liz alone on the other side of the threshold. When it dawned on her that she was last, she stared at all of us in disbelief with her mouth agape as her legs wobbled and she fell to the floor while whining incessantly. "AWWW NO FAIR! I SERIOUSLY HATE YOU GUYS!" She had her fists clenched to her sides as she stomped and pouted while entering the living room with a dark cloud hovering over her head.

Once we spent a good five minutes teasing and laughing at Liz throwing her conniption fit, all of us gathered in the living room area in a big circle and enjoyed an amazing meal. Tsubaki's home made tacos were the epitome of delectable and she made three large platters of them, one of which was solely meant for Ragnarok who accepted without complaint or protest. He tilted the platter and allowed its entire contents to fall into his extended mouth. After he chewed every last bite, he licked the entire thing clean, unleashed an echoing burp and melted back into Crona's body. We watched the whole scene in bemusement and laughed soon after. Maka's chocolate cupcakes were sweet and moist, and so as not to make a mess thus upsetting Kid; we ate what remained of the chips and dip with utmost care. We all ate to our stomachs' content, and when we finished we expressed our gratitude to our two MVP cooks who smiled proudly. I somewhat struggled to get on my feet as I stood up to help Maka, Tsubaki, and Kid gather the dirty dishes and take them to the kitchen. At first Kid refused our assistance, but once I reasoned with him; "as his guests, we should at least respect our host", he happily consented.

Soon I returned to the living room and joined Patty, Black-Star and Soul who sat themselves in front of the TV and we competed against each other in very intense games of Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 64, Mario Party 2, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and 007: Golden Eye. Patty, I realized, was actually a very formidable player. I barely bested her a handful of times, but she proved to be quite the force to be reckoned with. That of course didn't sit well with Black-Star who would frequently complain and demand excessive rematches on the grounds that: "No way a God like himself was gonna accept defeat so easily." As the four of us laughed, yelled, and high-fived each other during our matches, Maka, Tsubaki, Liz, Crona and Kid sat and watched us and chatted amongst themselves. Throughout the evening Liz, Maka and Tsubaki with cameras in hand snapped pictures of everyone having a great time. When we got bored of playing video games, Patty ran upstairs quickly and returned with two boxes in her hands. She had a morbid Cheshire Smile as she presented the two games she challenged us to: "What Do You Meme" and "Cards Against Humanity". Few of us were reluctant to participate while others, including myself, enthusiastically accepted her challenge. So as to further liven the atmosphere, Soul and Kid turned on the living room stereo and had a playlist playing in the background with songs by Gorillaz, Blur, The Offspring, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other bands.

We had so much fun cutting loose having random dancing fits, singing along to some songs, playing air-guitar, taking pictures of ourselves making silly poses and faces and just acting like complete dorks. After multiple bathroom, soda and laughing fit breaks, we eventually completed two rounds of each game in 2 ½ hours. We realized then that it was almost 11 o'clock and despite all the caffeine and sugar we had some of us were almost falling asleep. Liz who sat next to Kid began to bob her head with exhaustion, leaned in and laid her head on his right shoulder. Soul and Maka were sitting together on the opposite end of the sofa and were practically cuddling as their eyes nearly fluttered shut. Kid then stood up and clapped his hands to draw our gathering to a close. We rose to our feet and made our way to the door. Kid saw us out and bade us goodnight after thanking us for coming. Soul and Maka walked to their motorcycle and waved to us before they took off into the night. I offered to drive Tsubaki, Black-Star and Crona home which they accepted. I led them to my car, opened the trunk so Tsubaki could put away the platters, and unlocked the doors for everyone to get in. Crona rode shotgun as Tsubaki sat in the backseat while Black-Star, once more, laid himself in the backseat with his arms crossed over his chest and his head in Tsubaki's lap. I got in the driver seat, plugged my phone into the stereo to listen to music while driving and to drown out Black-Star's dreadful snoring.

I drove towards the DWMA first since it was nearby and upon arrival I parked the car. Crona unbuckled his seat belt, and thanked me for driving him back. I nodded and assured him that it wasn't a problem since I did promise him I'd transport him wherever was necessary. He waved goodbye to us before walking up the steps to the school. Before I resumed driving, I looked in the rear view mirror and asked Tsubaki if she'd like to come up front to sit more comfortably. She accepted and slowly got out of the car, came to the front passenger side and entered the car. She buckled her seat belt before I turned the car in the opposite direction and started driving to their house. As I drove one of my favorite songs played and I slightly turned up the volume prior to singing. "I'm waiting for the night to fall, I know that it will save us all. When everything's dark, keeps us from the stark reality." I kept singing while driving, but stole a glance at Tsubaki who was already looking in my direction. We both caught ourselves making direct eye contact with each other, and in that moment I stopped singing. The moment our eyes met I couldn't bring myself to tear my gaze away from her. The way she looked at me, the vague redness creeping its way upon her cheeks, her sweet and meek smile and the faint shine of her eyes in the dark beguiled me. Suddenly I remembered I was driving and shifted my focus back to driving while silently cursing the overwhelming butterflies I was feeling in my stomach and the blatantly apparent blush on my cheeks. She in response turned to look out the window while fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "S-sorry", I stammered. "Thought it'd be best that I focus on the road." She said nothing but giggled before replying, "It's fine, wouldn't want us to crash." For the sake of regaining my composure I resumed singing as I drove, but then she broke the silence with a question.

"What's this song called, Vlad?"
"'Waiting For The Night' by Depeche Mode."
"It's beautiful".
"Yes it is. It's one of my personal favorite songs."
"What type of music do you like, by the way?"
"I like a handful of genres, but my main two favorites are rock and heavy metal."
"Oh."
"What about you? What styles of music do you like?"
"I like a little of everything."
"That's cool. Perhaps sometime I can introduce you to some good songs from a few of my favorite artists."
"Yeah, I'd like that."

We arrived a few minutes later, and I parked the car in front of their house before shutting it off. We sat in silence as Black-Star still lay in my backseat snoring loudly. I mustered all the valor within me as I contemplated doing something bold. What I asked next brought about another furious blush across my face and it took sheer willpower to not stammer or sound awkward. "How does tomorrow sound?" My question certainly caught her off guard as she looked perplexed and stayed quiet for much longer than I expected. God damn it! What in the Blue Hell were you thinking asking such a thing?! She's probably terrified of you now! Way to go, idiot. You certainly blew it now, and you might as w- "I'd love to. How does around 3 o'clock sound?" My inner ranting abruptly ceased and I was now the baffled one sitting silently. I smiled sheepishly and replied, "Sure, that's fine. Let me give you my phone number." She then dug through her bag and pulled her phone out. I took it in my trembling hands and struggled to properly type my number without making a further fool of myself. I then drew my phone from my pocket and handed it to her. On the bright side, she too couldn't control her shaking hands as she typed her number. I couldn't help but discretely smile like an idiot at the fact we both seemed flustered in each others' company. She handed back my phone and we sat in silence for a while longer as we listened to Black-Star's deafening snoring. It then dawned on me that we agreed to come together tomorrow afternoon, yet we left the matter of Black-Star unresolved. "Hey, will Black-Star mind if we're to hang out tomorrow?" She pondered that for a few moments until she drew out her phone again and began to type something. After a few moments she smiled again and she said, "I convinced Soul and Kid to invite him to a Guy's Night tomorrow." I grinned broadly and whispered, "yes!"

I then opened my car door in order for me to walk to the passenger side and let her out of my car. Before she let herself out of the car she woke Black-Star by gingerly shaking him. He slowly sat up while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and the thin line of drool from his lip. He yawned as he exited my car and muttered, "Thanks for not waking me up with the bull-horn this time." I snickered at his comment and bowed dramatically as I replied, "You're quite welcome señor." He made his way inside and I handed Tsubaki her purse as she stood at the base of the stairs. "Thank you for driving us home, Vlad." I smiled feebly and replied, "It's no trouble at all. Have a good night." She gave me another quick hug and said "goodnight" before ascending the stairs to her house and closing the door behind her.