Sup sup, got some drama floating in these next two chapter before we wrap this up!

I will be having a poll for my next story, it's either gonna be a KiMa Egyptian god one or a SoMa ancient Japan one. Please vote.

Have fun and review.

Happy reading my little snacklets.

-Om

"Maka." Kid had approached her one night at the fire in the library. She had recently found the huge store of every book known to every civilization of man and, in Kid's opinion, was trying to read through them all in one go. Honestly it had been almost a week since she left the room for anything other than bathing. She even ate and slept on the day couches that littered the area. Sometimes he joined her in between his playing but most of the time she just wanted to be alone and get lost in her own world. Even Crona would only visit for a while before the sisters dragged her off to 'work on her self-confidence.'

But, Kid knew time was running out. What BlackStar said had weighed heavily on his mind. Things were moving at a pace that even the gods with all their power couldn't stop. It was time that she realized what she had become. He waited behind her silently, watching her read an archaic text. It was in a different language than she knew in her lifetime and it brought her great joy to find that by coming to his kingdom she had learned all the dialects of humans, both active and long past.

Once she had come to an end of the chapter he rested his hand on her shoulder. She jumped out of surprise then relaxed realizing who disturbed her.

"I guess it's time to come back to the real world, huh?" Maka knew she had been spending far too much time in the library but wasn't sure exactly how long. Time working in strange ways here. Even if she counted by the times she had slept she knew they weren't full nights and thus were worthless. However for all the time she had received she still hadn't come to a decision about what she would do about her relationship with the Prince. Things were far from awkward or unwanted but they still felt different. It was as if she had woken up in a new bed, just like her own but with slightly softer sheets. It was so close that no one else would notice but she did.

"Yes. I have something we need to attend to this evening." Maka sighed and closed the book, careful to mark her page. Ever since her first night in the great room the servants knew never to put away any of the books she had taken out. Since she had lost her page in The Pyramid Text they learned that the mess she would make trying to find it was far worse than any she would leave behind her.

"Okay, once sec." She stood up to stretch her stiff muscles only to find that she was surprisingly limber. She had been sitting for hours in one position and felt nothing. "I'm not even stiff."

"Your body is slowly adjusting to our world. It has taken a while but soon you will be just like the girls, perhaps even me." He responded with a smile. There was still a glimmer of pain in his eyes every time he was reminded that she was no longer human. It hurt Maka to see but she couldn't really mention it either. She had so much of her own humanity she missed and she too was sad when she looked back on it. How long had she been there, weeks? Years? Honestly it was hard to keep track anymore.

Kid opened the door and she followed him out. They wound their way thought the many corridors that Maka had become so familiar with. It was less a thing of memory for her and more so an idea. She found the best way to get to any given destination was to think about the place while you walked and somehow your path would lead you there. She wondered if there was some magic that controlled it, after all the gods seemed to be able to do everything else.

Thus she was surprised when they had wound up at the entrance to the room of judgment. The guillotines that hung ominously in the hallway still sent shivers up her spine. Her first and only visit to the room still haunted her. She understood the needs of The Fall but still had no interest in watching the corrupt souls being condemned to it. Especially since she had met the mad man who rules it.

Kid stood outside the door. He reached out his hand for her to take and she took it without question. He smiled awkwardly, she thought it was supposed to be encouraging, and opened the doors. Inside his father sat on his regularly sized chair with the scales of judgment behind him.

"Hey-o Maka. Long time no see. How ya been?" The Shinigami asked form his perch. His mask was the much more peaceful one with the three large teeth. Maka almost laughed at his comically sized gloves.

"I have been well Lord Death. Thank you again for allowing me to stay in spite of all the trouble I have caused." She was still reserved around the older God. The last time she had seen him he had been storming to the battlefield in a rage and before that he seemed less like a cheerful man and more like an overworked one.

"No need for such formalities, my dear. After all you have done to help my Kiddo, what else could I have done? Kick you out into the desert?" His eye sockets curved upward into half-moon shapes as if he were smiling. Maka decided that she did in fact like the Death God, even if he was a bit on the strange side.

"Father, thank you for following my request. We can begin whenever you are ready." Suddenly the older reaper nodded, his face all business. Kid stepped back with Maka his hand reassuring her. Clouds pulled out of the endless blue sky and swirled into a mass before them. When the smoke had started to clear a ball of dark grey and maroon sprinted out and onto the girl.

"MY BABY! Papa had missed you so much! Where have you been!?" Her father slammed into her, encasing her in a bear hug. She hugged back for a moment but he didn't quite get the hint. Finally she was forced to do what she always had when he came home overly drunk and excited at the same time.

"MAKA CHOP!" The man fell to the ground with a growing welt on his forehead. "Nice to see you too Papa."

"You are so mean to me." The man cried while rubbing his head pitifully. Maka just rolled her eyes with a smile. He hadn't always been the perfect father but he had given her a roof over her head and food in her belly. And maybe, a tad bit more love than anyone could enjoy.

"Maka?" Maka looked up to the cloud of smoke that had since dissipated. In its place stood a woman about 5 10' with long light blond locks and deep emerald eyes. She was thin but looked far from weak. A fire shown in her eyes that Maka was all too familiar with.

"Mom?"

"I always did say you looked just like her didn't I?" Spirit stated from his spot on the ground, with unbidden pride. Maka was floored. She hadn't seen her mom since she was a little kid and was just now starting to regain memories of her childhood that included her.

"Hello, baby. I am sorry I was away for so long." Her voice sounded so achingly loving and so horribly familiar. She ran to the woman, unable to stop herself as she flung her hands around Kami's waist in an embrace that was filled with both happiness and pain.

"It doesn't matter. You are here now." She wept with a smile on her face as her mother softly threaded her hands through Maka's pig tails.

"Look at how much you have grown. You have become such a beautiful and strong woman." Maka couldn't stop smiling. She was reunited with the mother she had never truly met and the father she never though she would see again. Remembering herself she turned to the Shinigami, who was watching this all unfold form his chair.

"Thank you Lord Death. Seeing my parents again… I can't even put this into words." By now Spirit had joined the two. One arm rested on his lost love's shoulders and the other palm on his daughters. They finally were a complete family.

"No, no my dear. You have Kid to thank for this. It was all his idea." Maka spun around quickly to face the Prince. He was leaning against the wall with a smile on his face and the softest look in his eye. She quickly ran over throwing him into a hug and kissed his cheek chastely. Her mother was right on cue in holding down her father.

"Thank you Kid… I can't- I don't-… Just thank you so much." She smiled and nuzzled her head into his chest. She felt the mechanical beat of his heart, always so steady, raise just a bit.

"Maka…"

"I know… they can't stay can they?" Maka asked pulling back and looking into his eyes. She wanted him to know she was still happy, even if she only got to say goodbye.

"That's right." Lord Death announced form his seat. "The dead do not tread here, we are only a halfway point. They have been held back long enough already."

Maka nodded and walked solemnly back to her parents, determined to stand beside them through what she knew what was to come. She looked to the Death God to let him know she was ready.

"Spirit Albarn." Maka stiffened as she felt his hand leave his shoulder before he stepped up. "You lived a life of drinking and women. For the better half of it you focused on earthly pleasures and neglected the precious time you had with your daughter."

Spirit seemed resigned but did not argue with the facts, after all they were true. Still Maka feared for her father's soul. Sure, he wasn't perfect. But he was very far from evil.

"However, upon the loss of your daughter you changed. You cleaned up your act and took in those children who had nowhere else to go. You became a parent to dozens and changed hundreds of lives."

"You became a foster parent?" Maka asked from her position with her mother. Spirit nodded before replying. "After losing you I knew how painful the world could be when faced alone. I offered my home up as temporary placement for those who had none. Stopped drinking and everything. Are you proud, baby?"

"So proud." And she was. Maka never thought such a change in heart could come from the man before her but as she saw the last coins fall onto the scale she smiles. His good deeds ended up outweighing his sins by a small margin.

"Spirit Albarn. You are free to roam the Gardens of life. You will never hunger, never tire, and never fear. One day you will be born again, and you will wander the earth once more." Spirit smiled and strolled back to Maka as her mother switched places.

"Kami Albarn. You wandered the earth as a nomad. You helped those who could no longer help themselves and were a kind soul. You changed as many lives as you saved and for that I am grateful." Maka looked at the scaled. There were only two coins being heavily outweighed by the good her mother had done.

"Your one fatal flaw was the abandonment of your daughter-"

"I forgive her." The words left Maka's mouth before she could stop them. She wasn't sure what trouble she could get in for interrupting the judgment but she wanted her mother to know. "I forgive you with all my heart… I just want to ask why?"

Kami opened to mouth to speak only to turn to Lord Death. A silent conversation seemed to convene between them before he softly shook his head.

"I am sorry Maka. But I can't tell you that. Just know, if I had a choice, I would have never left you." Maka smiled sadly and nodded her head. With that, one of the two coins was removed.

"That being said," Lord Death continued and the last coin faded away. "With the removal of orgional sin, Kami Albarn, your soul is very old and very tired, it is pure in the most human way. I offer you this chance to achieve perfect happiness. I will mark you as an exalted and place your soul in the highest of heavens to keep watch on the souls yet to be reborn. I offer an end to this tireless cycle… do you accept?"

Maka was happy her mother could finally be happy. That she didn't have to go through the heartbreak of another love or the loss of another child. For once she could be totally free.

"Thank you for the honor Lord Death. But I decline." Maka jumped a bit and as did Spirit. It sounded like that was the best possible outcome that anyone could achieve in their lives.

"I see. May I inquire as to why?" He was not upset or offended. Instead he seemed more curious.

"I have had my heart broken many times throughout my many lives on earth," She paused looking over to Maka and Spirit. "But I would do it all again to meet my one soulmate and start a family once more."

The God seemed to think on it a moment before nodding his head. "I will allow you to spend the rest of the rebirth time in the garden with Spirit but understand this. There is no guarantee that the two of you will be meet again. You will be reborn at the same time but may wander the world only to never find each other again. Is this your choice?"

Without hesitating Kami answered. "Yes."

Maka was proud of her mother. Never before had she seen such courage, let alone in the face of death. Although it pained her so much that she would have to see her parents ripped apart again it was made somewhat better by the thought they may one day reunite.

"Very well, bid your goodbyes. Maka will not be coming with." With a wave of his hand Death opened the gated to paradise, beckoning the couple in.

"What? Why not?" Spirit stammered before Kami hushed him with a soft hand on his face. "We do not question the word of death."

She turned to her lost daughter and for a moment Maka saw all the pain her mother had felt from being away for so long. It flashed in her eyes and chilled Maka to the core.

"It's okay Mom…. I will always love you."

"And I you my child." She kissed her forehead and glanced at Kid. "You have made some wonderful friends. I hope they are able to stay by your side forever."

She drifted back far too soon and Maka was pounced on by her father. Even until the very end he was a crying mess. "Papa will always love you. I know I wasn't perfect but I want you to know that you were always my first worry. I will miss you so much baby!"

Maka smiled and patted his head softly as he cried. "I know Papa… I know."

When it was finally time for them to leave the couple waved behind them before walking through the gate hand in hand. When it had finally closed behind them Maka felt a huge whole inside her shrink. She had finally said goodbye to her parents.

"Will they find each other again? DO you know?" She asked the Shinigami, who was watching her every action.

"I cannot say for sure about their next lifetime. However, I can say that as many times as they have been through this cycle, they have come through together more times than not." Maka nodded with a sad smile on her face and wandered back to Kid.

"Thank you so much Kid… I needed this more than you could ever know." He softly pat her head as she leaned against him, his father giggling in the background.

"I am sorry Maka. But we are not done yet."He simply nodded again to his father who called down another cloud. Maka waited with baited breath while the smoke drifted away to reveal a lost memory and a shock of white hair.

"Soul."