Chapter 8-
The Secret That Shocked Us All-
So That's How You Won?
Maka P.O.V
A..a witch..that can't be right. But it is..I should've known, it all makes sense now..that pink light I saw emerge from her..I couldn't have been the only one to see that. Her soul too, I couldn't see it. Well, even if she had soul protection I still would've been able to at least see that.. And she had been acting suspicious, of course that would explain it. Because she's a witch. And now I have to kill her..
"Soul, transform. Now." I told him. "R-Right!" He seemed as baffled as I was, no surprise. Soul transformed and appeared in my hands. I spun him in front of me and slashed him in the air to my side. I glared at Shonaku with a menacing look, ready to attack. She dropped the levitating boxes and stood up, hands in the air.
"Maka, wait! It's not what it looks like!" She pleaded at me. I wasn't going to fall for a trick like that.. "Quiet! Stand right where you are, witch. You know what I'll have to do now. Kill you. Under academy rules." Shonaku's eyes widened in terror. She stepped one foot forward. "I said don't move!" I yelled at her. "Maka! Wait I can explain!"
"You betrayed not only me, but the academy as well. There's no reason for an explanation."
"Maka! FOR FUCK SAKE LISTEN TO ME! I'M NOT A DAMN WITCH I'M A WIZARD!"
I put Soul's blade facing the floor, as I looked at her even more shocked and confused. "..What..?"
"You heard me. A wizard. Not a witch. Wizard." Shonaku put her hands down, taking a deep breath. "Now just calm the fuck down, Maka. I'm not going to kill your ass, okay?" She told me. I only shook my head at her, looking at her. "A wizard..? But..a wizard? H-How is that? Are those even real..?" I didn't mean to ask Shonaku herself, but she answered me anyways.
"As real as a witch, or Kishin. They're real, got it? And so is he, he's alive too." She picked up the little stuffed animal she called Bubba. Soul transformed back into human form and stood beside me. Shonaku walked to me slowly with the bear in her arms. "He's just like you and me. Look, he'll even give you a hug."
She sort of handed me the bear and I slowly held it in my arms. As I did, the little bear spread its small arms and hugged my chest. I gasped a bit, surprised that this thing actually moved. I cautiously hugged it back. It moved its head away from my chest, then looking up at me. I was eye-to-eye contact with it now. Mismatched button eyes stared blankly at me. The bear was pretty old looking, but it still had a cute appearance to it. I smiled and laughed nervously. Shonaku took the bear from my arms. She placed him on her bed. I was still so confused about all of this. So suddenly that this happened, I didn't know what to believe at this moment. I said something that pushed a button on Shonaku though.
"A wizard..but I've never heard of such a thing..All my life I've studied so much about different creatures, or evil taboos..but never in my life a wizard!" Shonaku bent her head down, a shadow covering her face. She seemed so serious. That low toned voice of hers came back. "Of course you've never heard of them.." She said. Then she jerked her head up.
"Because they practically don't even exist anymore!" She cried. She pointed her arm to the door, her other hand to her face.
"Get out Maka...Just GET OUT." Suddenly the tables turned. Now it seemed like I hurt her instead of her hurting me. Soul and I looked at each other. Both confused, we left out the door to hear Shonaku slam the door shut. The two of us walked back downstairs to our temporary apartment room, both of us speechless. When we arrived to the room I sat down on the chair we brought, letting this happening sink in for a moment. Soul brushed his hair with his hand. He made a sigh, closing his eyes.
"A wizard, something out of a kid's fairy tale book..they actually exist? How can that be? I've done so much research on things, and never knew about this? But out of all people, Shonaku? This is..crazy.."
"I know, it's even hard for me to believe." said Soul. "She did say that they pretty much don't exist here so that might explain why we never found out about them."
"Yeah that might explain it.." I said now withdrawn into my own thoughts. But why are they endangered? How did that happen? Does Lord Death know about them? So many questions..I'll have to ask him on Monday I guess. I glanced at the pot on the stove. What should I do with that? Shonaku seems pretty heated up right now, maybe if I just wait a little for her to cool down a bit. I think something about this must've hit a sensitive spot to her. So weird..Fridays would have to be at least my most relaxing days, but this? What am I going to do?
"Soul, let's just wait here a little, then we'll go back up there and bring her." I told him. He put his hands in his pockets sighing once more.
"You still want to invite her after all of that?" He asked me. I got up and looked at him. "Well, I didn't make that ramen for nothing, right?" I said. "And besides, we need to do whatever we can to make her feel at home." I walked over to the stove grabbing three bowls and pouring some soup into each bowl. I waited about fifteen minutes until going back to Shonaku's room with Soul, and bringing Shonaku down with us. She was calmer than before. But the fact that she didn't apologize for yelling and slamming the door bothered me.
Talk about manners.
Narrator's P.O.V
The next morning Shonaku was placing everything she owned in her boxes while Bubba watched her. Shonaku placed and item in one box then turned to Bubba. "Well Bubba, we get to go back to living in the shack. You know how this goes." Bubba nodded at her. "Maka may have seemed all okay with this," Shonaku said. "but I know that she'll be like the rest. They won't want us here any longer. Of course, because everyone else just freaks out. And that's why most of the time I only say that I am a witch, since there is no difference at all. Maybe I could've said that to her instead. All I know for sure though is that she'll abandon us just for what power I wield. So might as well be the first one to say who's leaving than have her say it to me. Maybe I'll be out of her hair better that way too. I'm really sorry Bubba for letting this slip. We were so close to finding a new home, but now I just blew it." Bubba bent his head down, meaning as a saddened expression. Shonaku kneeled to him and patted his head.
"Hey, it's okay. This has happened before so there really shouldn't be anything to be sad about. I mean, I got over it quite well!" Bubba looked up giving Shonaku a look that she always recognized as a "really" look. Shonaku sighed standing up again. "I know I know, I lied. I'm not use to it and yes it does hurt me. But we all have to move on some time. I can't babble about it for so long like I use to before. It's just life I guess. At least this is what life to me means. I knew I couldn't get myself too comfortable with this place.."
Just as Shonaku sealed up the box, Maka knocked on the door. "Hey, Shonaku I need to tell you something!" she said happily. Shonaku glumly looked at the door. She walked to open it and find Maka with an awkward smile. "May I come in?"
"Sure, whatever." she said. Maka walked inside to see Shonaku's belongings gone from where she placed them. She saw a box sitting there on her bed. Bubba on the floor who turned his head to her. He looked another way after. "Shonaku, what happened to all your things?" Maka asked. Shonaku turned to her, face all gloom. "Maka, you don't need to tell me what you're going to say. I'll be out of your way soon so don't worry about it. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused for you.." Maka gave her a puzzled look, raising an eyebrow.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Shonaku?"
"It's always like this for everyone who takes me in to live with them. Whenever they find out about my abilities they just want me gone and out of their sight. Of course I knew what was coming for me after I told you what I really was, so why wait for the news to be told? I already packed up my things. It was nice meeting you, Maka. Thank you for all the help anyways."
Maka looked at Shonaku, shocked. For some reason, what Shonaku told her gave her a pain in her heart. Maka frowned. "Shonaku..no, I would never do that. I'm not mad or scared about what you told me. You are what you are and I'll except that. I don't want you to leave so soon. If people really had abandoned you just because of this, know that I'm not one of them. This is your new home! Where everyone loves one another..you'll never feel abandoned here. No, not with me. I'm your friend, Shonaku. Everyone has their own unique abilities. We're all different in our own special ways, no matter what. Just because you're different doesn't mean that you have to be excluded. Don't ever feel that way here. Feel the opposite. Feel happy. I'm sorry if I overreacted, Shonaku. This is your new home, so don't be afraid to be yourself, okay?"
Shonaku was silent. She stared at Maka, with a surprised expression. She had never been told that before. No, not ever. Maka's words made her feel so overwhelmed. Never had she been so welcomed by someone new in her life. She never had someone still care for her after being exposed. Shonaku was on the brink of tears and hugged Maka so tightly. Never had she done something like this either. She always bottled up her hurt emotions, but she knew she could let them spill with Maka. A new founded trust in Maka made Shonaku feel comforted.
"I'm sorry I doubted you..It's hard to believe that anyone would say that if you were in my shoes. I never know how much others really care, but sometimes I don't want to care about it myself. Most of the time they really don't want anything to do with me though..Thank you..Maka.." Shonaku tried to hold back tears. Maka could hear it in her voice. They separated from the hug, and Maka smiled. She still doesn't know how much Shonaku was hurt in her past. But even so, she knew Shonaku needed all the help she could get. Of course helping was what Maka had intended to do in the first place.
"Don't be sorry, Shonaku. I'm here for you no matter what. But believe what you hear, it's all real. Okay?"
Shonaku breathed deeply and tried to smile a little. "Yeah, okay. Hey, Maka?"
"Yeah Shonaku?"
"What were you going to tell me?"
Maka rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, right! Hehe, umm, I was going to actually say that since it's a weekend today, all of our friends would gather around to hang out in my place. Or for today, my "temporary" house. I was going to ask if it would be okay with you to spend some time with us downstairs. They're all here already, so come with me to say hi to all of them."
A hang out? Shonaku thought. She shrugged. "Sure, I'll come over! Why not?" Maka smiled happily. "Great! Let's go, come on!"
The two girls walked down over to Maka's place. The whole gang was there, all of them looking around the room.
"Not a bad temporary place you got here." said Liz.
"Yeah, like I said our other one is getting remodeled. Should be done soon though." Soul replied.
Maka entered the house with Shonaku behind. Everyone turned to them as Maka waved. "I'm back you guys! And I brought Shonaku too!" Everyone smiled and said their hellos to Shonaku. Shonaku sheepishly smiled back waving. Liz went up to her. "Shonaku, I heard you got a place here!"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I did. Maka was willing to get me a room so I'm thankful for that."
"I want to see how it looks! Please!" Liz asked her.
"Yeah go ahead," Shonaku said, "let me just arrange some things first though. It kinda looks like uh..a mess. Yeah, a mess! I'll be back." Shonaku left the room and back up hers. Everyone else was interested too. Maka went up to the gang.
"Hey, you guys?" Maka said. They all turned to her. "Look, there's something I need to tell you about Shonaku.." She turned to Soul. Soul nodded at her. "She's not as normal as you think she is..you see, there's this power that she has..it's a bit weird to say it but.." The gang tilted their heads in confusion, a question mark appearing on their heads as well. Maka found it hard to say the news, since a wizard sounded so childish to her, but she tried anyways.
"Shonaku, about her, she's a..a..wizard.." Maka cleared her throat. The gang raised an eyebrow and stared at Maka.
"...A wizard you say?" Asked Kid. Maka nodded at him. "Yeah.."
"Dude, are those even real?" Black Star squinted his eyes.
"Real as can be." Soul told him.
"Ooh! Do you mean like those magical people with wands?" Patty jumped up and down excitedly.
"Guess so, Patty." Liz continued. "But uh, aren't those from little kid books, Maka? Ya know, fantasy and all that?" She asked her.
Maka nervously laughed, feeling a little stupid about this situation. "Yeah, it was a little hard for me to believe too. It's true though! They exist..yup.." Everyone went mute, thinking about this fact for a moment. To them, for a couple of teenagers, it sounded ridiculous for there to be such a thing. They didn't know how to react. Just then at the moment, Shonaku walked in and said, "Alright, I fixed up everything! Uh, is everyone okay?" Black Star jumped to Shonaku. "Shonaku! Shonaku! Is it true?! Are you really a wizard?!"
Shonaku saw his face of amazement, but couldn't tell whether it be something out of anger or something else. "Uh, y-yes?"
Black Star yelled in her face. "Holy crap! That's so fucking awesome! You can make magic come out of her hands! That's so fucking awesome!"
Shonaku gulped. "R-Really?"
"YES!"
"Indeed. It's quite interesting for us. We've never heard of such a thing." Kid said delighted.
Shonaku never knew how surprising this was for them. She didn't think it was that big of a deal. "Yup. I'm a wizard alright.." Suddenly everyone found this amusing and asked Shonaku so many questions, although some were left unanswered. Maka looked at Shonaku skeptically.
"Hey wait a minute..if you can use spells does that mean you cheated during your duel with Black Star?!" Maka's face turned into an angry one. Shonaku shrinked back in fear and laughed an odd laugh.
"Oh, that? Hehe..uh I-I might have.."
"You rat! You can't do that during a fight that's called cheating!" Maka yelled.
"How do you know it's cheating? There wasn't a rule made to say that you can't use wizard magic in a fight, huh?!"
"Still you should know that doing that is still and always will be cheating!"
"Says the girl who's no fun at all!"
"What did you say?! Grrr!"
Black Star jumped in the middle between them and pointed a finger upwards. "Hyahaha! That means that the great assassin Black Star was the one who won the fight then! Yahoo!"
Shonaku now yelled at Black Star annoyed. "No! I won that fight fair and square bastard! Ya hear me?!"
"It wasn't a fair fight! You cheated, cheater!" Maka angered.
"Shut the hell up!" Shonaku yelled back at Maka.
This argument lasted at least about half and hour before the rest of the gang had to separate the three before it got physical. After that, they all settled down and played a few board games, watched TV, and chatted. They also went to take a look at Shonaku's new home. What a weekend it was for all of them to settle down. But Maka was sure pissed to find that Shonaku cheated. She still wondered though, regardless Shonaku being a wizard, where was her soul?
I just found out about her abilities and I think that's all Shonaku will tell me for now..I'll just wait until a little later on. When I'll get to know her more. Yeah..that's what i'll do. Maka thought.