Time Isn't Too Kind

-000-

Of course, he had to return the week she had been chosen to help Lord Death and his son. How ironic, really? Three years of complete absence from her life and now he just swings open a door and waltzes right in; literally. Though she didn't want to verbalize the extent of her discontent, five more minute in his presence and she would have committed a felony. She chose not to think about it and to focus on her errands at hand. Stein requested her in his office. But to be completely honest she couldn't see herself going that evening though she knew if she neglected to arrive he would simply come and find her. Might as well get it over with.

Maka rolled her eyes and casually walked the halls of the academy. In some ways she understood everyone's great concern. If it were a friend in her position she would be worried also. Her mind wandered back to Soul Eater, and how he seemed to have almost the same problem once upon a time. Maka understood the clear difference between her and Soul Eater Evans, just seeing his eyes in Lord Death's office reminded her of why she couldn't do everything he could. Soul just had so much fight in him; he had always been stronger than she is so many ways that she didn't want to admit. It was true.

Maka stood at the entrance to Stein's office and, reluctantly, she gave a gentle knock. He opened the door quietly and stepped aside for her, "Come in, Maka." She stepped in and took her usual seat ever so gracefully. "Make yourself comfortable, we need to talk."

"Ok." She sat and propped her feet up on his desk, and crossed her arms.

"Maka, I'm not sure you realize how serious this situation is..." She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the door opening once again and Spirit walking in. Great. She sighed heavily, awaiting the lecture she was about to receive. Although, it didn't seem like Spirit was in much of a lecturing mood. He leaned against the desk allowing Stein to continue.

"Do you understand what is happening, Maka?"

"Yes."

"Then you must know you don't have long before it's too late..." Maka looked at Stein through half lidded eyes and slumped her cheek against her hand. What he was saying had been said many, many times before. She hated reruns. "Maka, sweetheart…you're doing this to yourself." Her eyes narrowed and she straighten in her seat. How dare he lecture her about this! The audacity of this man was really something. "I can handle my own situation, I'm tired of hearing all of these lectures. I understand you are concerned, Stein, but there is nothing we can do that hasn't been tried already." She stood, prepared to leave and Spirit blocked the door. "No. Everything has not been done. You will stop acting like your mother and cooperate completely, do you understand me? " His eyes were hard and his voice was firm, something Maka wasn't used to hearing from her father. "You are an independent young woman, I understand that, but you cannot take what went on between your mother and I and punish yourself for it. I will not let you. I spoke to Lord Death about it, along with Soul Eater, " Maka's eyes narrowed at the mention of him, "and you will be housing on the other side of the city with Soul Eater."

If looks could kill Spirit knew he'd be a dead man in that very moment. Maka was definitely her mother's daughter, but he couldn't go back now, it had to be said and something had to be done. "Any objections?" Maka shook her head and gritted her teeth. "It'll get better, Maka. I promise. Soul Eater is different now, you two can learn a lot from each other."

She walked out of his office and to the housing department where they gave her a key and a map of the new complex. Apparently it was newly built that month and overly large. 'Great, just when I memorized the other building this crap is happening. Never can I ever catch a break...'


The process of transporting her things had been rather tedious. No one was in the new housing complex which surprised her, she expected to see Soul Eaters ugly mug. Well, maybe not ugly...

Upon arriving she immediately noticed all of the upgrades. "Why isn't my house upgraded like this...?" She mumbled to herself. The floors were beautifully tiled, every wall in the place was painted red, the kitchen counters were black granite, and the appliances were all stainless steel. The place was absolutely beautiful, minus all the red. She walked into the living area and gasped at the large, black, leather sectional that graced her view. "Maybe I should be moving shit out of here and putting it in my house..." The corner tables and coffee tables were tinted glass with detailed dragons molded into them.

The tiled floors were cold on her feet as she gently took her shoes off and sat on the couch. For a split second she thought about not getting up and forcing Soul to pack her things upstairs. Sounded like a plan to her, but then she remembered that there was no way in hell she would ever allow that snob to touch her stuff. Jerk.

Before she packed her belongings upstairs, she decided to explore just a tiny bit. The stairs were made of glass; god forbid someone fall on them. The railing, which lined the stairs, was actually a large spiraling piece of marble that had been carved and detailed to look like a dragon. Carefully, she touched it and arched an eyebrow. What was it with all these dragons around the house? Since when did Soul Eater get into dragons?

Maka continued up the stairs, and through all of the redness of the house she spotted a small blotch of white showing through the crack of a door down the hall. That must be her room. The only thing in the house that wasn't red. She walked into the room and examined every inch. The floors were still black marble, but she could deal with that. It was the walls that mattered most, way too much red for one house.

After some plotting to recolor half the house she managed to pull her things into the room and situate everything within three hours. In those three hours, however, no one showed up. Maka began to wonder if she was ever going to be graced with Soul Eaters presence. She rolled her eyes slightly, it had probably been for the best seeing as though she wanted to kill him.

Skillfully, she hung her favorite mirror up on the wall and paused at her reflection. It didn't matter how much she slept, the dark circles remained and became even darker. Maka sighed, sat on her bed and rubbed her eyes. It wouldn't be long now; she could feel it coming to a close. Being placed in the same house as Soul Eater Evans was only going to speed up the process, apparently people thought it had been easy living with him. She heard the downstairs front door open and close. Great. Her small hand shut the bedroom door and she laid back on the freshly made bed. "Maybe he'll get the hint..." She mumbled to herself and closed her eyes. But really? When did Soul ever catch a hint?

She heard heavy footsteps ascending the staircase before turning down the hall in her direction. Maka held her breath when the footsteps stopped outside of her door. There was no knock, only the click of the knob and the squeak of the door met her ears. "Maka?" Who was that? Maka opened one eye, out of curiosity and then the other out of shock. His voice was certainly a new development. "What?"

"I brought some food if you're hungry." That being said, he turned and she heard him walk back down the stairs. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. His voice stuck in her head like some new ringtone and played on her nerves. Maka couldn't deny that it sounded much better than before, it wasn't as whiny. She smiled slightly and shook her head. Who would've thought Soul Eater would have such a deep, heavy, commanding voice. Back in the day he would've said it didn't sound cool.