Maka thanked Soul as she got off his bike, handing him his helmet. As per usual, he was dropping her off for work. What wasn't as usual though, was him taking off his own helmet and swinging off his bike too.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, as he turned off the engine and pocketed the keys. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"We'll need more information if we're gonna do this right, right? It'll be easier if I come with you." He walked up to her, standing next to her, "Sides, I'm curious to see how you work." He told her, smirking slightly, before walking ahead.

Maka watched him walk ahead, cheeks slightly heated up at his casual words. He had never expressed an interest in watching her work before. In fact, he had been quite clear in his disdain at her job, which he deemed 'uncool'. It wasn't until she saw Soul waiting for her impatiently at the entrance of the library did she remember she had to be in the library too.

She hurried over to him, blushing slightly, pointedly ignoring his smirk that had grown wider. Pushing the doors open, she walked in first instead, not waiting for him. Maka smiled satisfied at his grunt as the glass doors nearly smashed him in the face.

At the front desk, Azusa was bent over, furiously writing on multiple pieces of papers at once. As they neared her, her head shot up, and she looked slightly disheveled, which was saying something. Soul immediately retreated a step, looking more than a little intimated.

Maka didn't blame him – in fact, she'd say he was smart to distance himself away from the ticking time bomb Azusa currently was.

"You're finally here!" The older woman exclaimed, quickly flipping through a stack of documents. Maka decided the wiser choice was to not remind her that she was actually ten minutes early.

"Y-yeah. And, urr, Soul wanted to come to."

Her head snapped up, looking past Maka at the boy she had failed to notice the first time. Soul gave a small wave.

She nodded, seemingly to herself, and mumbled a few things. Then, she turned to them again, "You can help Maka with the shelving."

Both Maka and Soul jumped, though Maka then proceeded to burst into a fit of giggles while Soul continued to just stand there open-mouthed. After a moment passed he seemed to regain his bearings and stepped forward, words of denial dying on his lips at Azusa's expectant gaze. He sighed, resigning to his fate, though that didn't stop him from glaring at Maka, who just smiled at him.

"Come on Soul, we've got books to shelve."

It took him a while to understand exactly how to sort them out, despite it looking so simple. He felt seriously uncool when he took a few minutes to figure out exactly where to place a book, while Maka walked back and forth behind him, slotting books neatly left, right and centre.

To her credit she didn't say anything, though the smug grins that she directed at him were enough of a 'it's not so simple now is it?' to him.

As he went to grab his fifth book, he saw her struggling to reach the top shelf, despite her long legs (not that he noticed them or anything) giving her a serious height advantage compared to others. Soul was about to offer his help, when Maka sighed, disappeared around the corner and reappeared again barely a moment later, a step in hand. She placed it on the ground, stood on it, and proceeded to place a number of books in their respective positions, pulling herself along the shelf with her strong arms and the wheels of the step.

He didn't realise he was staring at her until a book was thrown in his face.

As he rubbed his red face, he saw Maka glaring at him, red in the face too. She whispered furiously at him, "Stop staring at my ass, pervert!"

Soul spluttered. "I-I wasn't!"

But now that she had mentioned it it's not like he could not notice it. It was right there!

And it was really cute.

And there's a book in the face again.

"I wasn't looking!" Soul said, rubbing his nose furiously, both for fear of getting a nosebleed and because it ached from having a book slammed into it. "There's nothing there to look at anyway. Kinda like your boobs, eh Tiny Tits?" He lied, resorting back to the nickname he had reserved for her. A desperate attempt to stop her from thinking that he was a perverted guy, because he knew from her experience with her father that those were the kinds of guys she hated most.

Maka frowned, both offended and a little hurt. Hadn't they already gone past that phase; he hadn't called her Tiny Tits in a few weeks. She'd grown accustomed to it, but there was still a pang of hurt each time, like someone poking her heart with the sharp end of a stick.

She turned away from him, stepping down from her elevated platform, and taking a stack of books from the small pile they had left. "I'll go put these ones, and then we can go meet Ms. Marie." Her voice was soft, and she was mumbling out most of the words. Soul didn't have to look at her face to know that he had screwed up really badly.

As she walked away, Soul facepalmed himself, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He really needed to have that feelings talk with Wes.

Seriously uncool.

It took him a few minutes to put the few books that were left in his care into their rightful places, and by the time he went to find Maka, she was already done. Leaning against a wall, she didn't wait for him before she pushed herself off and made her way to Marie's office. He sprinted a bit to catch up with her, and they walked in silence.

Soul chanced a glance at her, and saw that she was resolutely ignoring him, big green eyes staring ahead. So she was still pissed at him. Just great.

Once they reached their destination, Maka rapped on the door lightly, and Soul heard a woman giving them permission to enter. He stayed close behind her, though hung back when she went forward to hug the older woman, who squeezed her back just as tightly.

Ms. Marie, as Maka referred to her, was a beautiful woman in his eyes. Long blonde hair hung around her face, matching bright golden eyes. The fact that one was covered by an eye-patch didn't detract from her appearance at all. Her face was friendly, and vaguely familiar.

Soul tilted his head, looking intently at her face, trying to remember where he had seen her before – the library was out of the question since he had never hung around long enough after dropping Maka off to see any of her colleagues. It wasn't until Maka had introduced him to her and they were shaking hands did her remember, the memory most likely jogged by Marie's question.

"Soul, it's good to finally meet you in a healthier state! Are you recovering well?" She asked earnestly, smiling pleasantly at him.

Ah, right. She was the one who had came running to their aid in the pouring rain, even before Spirit and the ambulance had arrived. He remembers Maka's sobbing, but through his pain-induced hazy vision he hadn't realised that she had been trying to talk to someone over the phone.

It made sense that her first instinct had been to call the one closest to them.

Warm hands, he remembers, as he smiles lightly back and tells her that he's fully recovered now. She had warm hands that had been pressed onto his chest to try and stem the bleeding before Maka had wrenched off her jacket and soft fabric had taken over instead.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're alright." Marie told him, clasping her hands together. "Though the question I have now is what are you doing here? Not that I mind you being here," She said hurriedly, though Soul was more amused than offended, "Just… curious."

At those words, she very significantly looked between Soul and Maka, and not-so-discreetly wagged her eyebrows suggestively at Maka, who immediately raised her hands in denial.

"Oh! Oh no it's not! He's not! Nothing like that, Marie-san!" She said quickly, face slowly turning red. Soul felt his own burning up, but instead opted to look affronted from her very blatant denial of that accusation.

"Is being with me that bad?" He asked her, careful not to sound too eager to know her answer.

Her head whipped around to look at him, pigtails flying. "Of course not!" She almost yelled, "Being with you wouldn't be bad at all!"

"Ooooh." Marie grinned as Soul gaped at Maka. "Is that a hint, Maka?"

"What?" She asked, before realization on exactly what she had just said dawned on her, and her cheeks burned even redder, "No! I mean, yes. But no! I mean. Marie-san…" The teen whined, covering her blushing face with her hands.

Marie giggled, as though enjoying their embarrassment. Which she probably was.

Soul decided it was the nice ones you had to look out for.

Maka cleared her throat. "Anyway, back to the reason why Soul's here." She looked at Marie, "He wants to help make sure they don't take the library."

At that, Marie's smile dropped slightly. "I see… Well, I appreciate you wanting to help, Soul dear, but I'm afraid this whole thing is out of our hands." She smiled sadly, while Maka looked like she wanted to say something. Soul beat her to it though.

"You can't just give up like that!" He told her, and Maka nodded her head fervently.

"Soul's right! The library's been in the city far longer than anything else – it's a historical monument!" Maka added enthusiastically, and this time Soul was the one nodding. "It's full of memories for so many people, we can't just let her destroy it, at least not without a fight."

Marie was leaning against her desk, weight on her hips. Her arms were folded, and she was looking at them almost sternly; it reminded Soul of his mother.

"This place matters a lot to you, Maka, and I know that." She looked to Soul, "But I don't understand why you seem so concerned with its future."

"Whatever matters to Maka matters to me too," He told her truthfully.

The blonde nodded, then sighed heavily. "I appreciate your concern, both of you. I understand, Maka, I really do." This time she looked over at Maka, "It's as much of a home to me as it is to you."

She stood up and walked to behind her desk. "But what you both don't understand is it's not that simple." Marie bit her bottom lip nervously, but then nodded to herself, seemingly settled on something.

"I don't know if I should be telling you this, but the Gorgon Empire is more than what it seems. There's a reason Medusa," Her voice dripped with hatred at that name, "Always seems to get what she wants."

Both teenagers backs' straightened, red and green eyes trained solemnly on the woman in front of them. "To put it simply, the Gorgons have more power than they rightfully should, and they didn't get it by playing fair."

Then Marie slammed her hands on her desk, making both Soul and Maka jump, and frowned, "I'm not about to give up on my library so easily either. The playing field might not be fair." Her hands clenched into fists, and her next words were laced with determination, "But she chose the wrong opponent to mess with."

Once they exited the library, after Maka had waved goodbye to the faces she had come to known, Soul whistled appreciatively.

"Your boss sure is a cool woman."

Maka smiled, remembering how upset Marie had been barely a day ago. "Yeah, she always pulls through." She skipped ahead in front of him, hands clasped behind her back as she turned back to beam at him. "And we have to do our part too."

"Yeah," Soul agreed, reaching her and taking out her helmet for her. As he passed it to her, she continued, "We can meet up at my place tomorrow, and we should tell the others too. They'll agree to help right?"

Soul raised an eyebrow at that, before putting on his helmet. "You know that Tsubaki and Liz and Patty would do pretty much anything for you."

Maka blushed slightly. "I'd do the same for them."

"And we've already got Star's support… It's just Kid left." He chuckled slightly, revving the engine as Maka settled in behind him. "You could just blackmail him with tipping over all of his picture frames like we did yesterday. Did you see him on the court? Dude turned into a beast."

Maka giggled, shaking her head. "That's low… But I'm not above it at all."

Soul grinned.

The next day, as Maka had planned, the seven teenagers were seated around Kid's dining room table. The latter had been very open with his house since the beginning of their friendship in elementary school, and this was especially shown when he shared his home with Liz and Patty, who had been homeless a few years ago.

Of course, the two sisters had also given him something in return – a family.

His father was an incredibly busy man, being part of the Death City council and also the principal of Shibusen High, and thus Kid had a reasonably lonely childhood. Befriending Maka and Black Star in elementary school, and then Soul in middle school, had eased that in some ways.

However being able to share a home with two people had been on a completely different level altogether.

"So, Maka, why ya called us here?" Black Star said, leaning in his chair such that it was balancing on its two hind legs, and placing his feet on the table.

"Black Star, please do not put your dirty feet on my table." Kid told him exasperatedly, "You're going to ruin it's symmetry."

The blue haired boy just grinned mischievously at Kid, swaying his feet on the table. "Oh yeah, watcha gonna do bout it?"

Black Star didn't even see the nail clipper flying towards him before it was wedged right in the middle of his forehead. While it didn't actually cause any physical damage towards him, it did cause him to lose his balance and tipped his chair forward, feet crashing onto the floor. He frowned up at it, before plucking it out and used it to point accusingly at Liz.

"What the hell?"

The girl blew on her freshly cut nails, simply saying, "It took Kid five hours to get everything on this table to look symmetrical and I'll be damned if I let you ruin it."

Patty laughed, nodding her head vigorously next to her sister. Kid smiled warmly at the both of them.

It was then that Maka, who had been watching the entire exchange silently the whole time beside Soul, clapped her hands together. Everyone looked over at her, and she started on the speech she had prepared.

"Alright, I asked you all to come here today because there is some really important news I need to share. You know how I work in the library part-time, right?" Everyone at the table nodded. "Well, they're going to tear it down for a shopping centre."

She let that information sink in for a moment, as everyone, with the exception of Black Star and Soul who already knew, let out varying exclamations of shock at her news.

Kid frowned, asking, "Are you aware of whose plan this is?"

Soul answered for her, "Medusa Gorgon, from the Gorgon Empire."

Tsubaki's eyes widened slightly as she straightened when she heard that name. "The Gorgon Empire?"

"Apparently. Why, you know them?" Liz asked, and Tsubaki nodded her head slowly.

"If I'm not wrong that's the company my landlord is answering to."

"But then that means they've also got a hand in residential affairs." Maka frowned, folding her arms. "I wonder what Marie-san meant by them having more power than they should."

Kid looked at Maka, "She said that? Odd…" He was silent for a moment, frowning, before he added on uncertainly, "Now that I think about it, I do recall Father having an argument with someone over the phone, when I was younger."

Soul sat up. "Do you remember what it was about?"

Kid shook his head. "No, it was a few years ago. However, I do remember Father sounding very agitated, and when he saw me, he immediately hung up on the person on the other line."

"That's really weird. I don't ever remember Mr. Death sounding angry, do you?" Liz looked over at Patty, who shook her head, frowning.

"Never ever," she clarified.

"This is… getting really complicated," Soul added, scratching his head. Silence fell upon the group as they all frowned and thought about what they had just heard. Suddenly, Black Star banged his fist on the table, and howled.

"The hell's going on? I'm damn confused!"

"For once," Maka told him, "I actually feel the same way."

Liz frowned, blowing on her nails in frustration. "I don't even get it. I mean, it's just a library, why's this Medusa person so intent on getting it?" There was a pause, before she turned to Maka, "No offence to you."

"None taken," the younger girl replied, though she was a little miffed. What did she mean just a library?

Once again silence befell upon the group, and this time Tsubaki was the one to break it. "Liz has a point," she started, ignoring the blonde's retort of 'of course I do', "There are many other buildings in Death City that can be torn down to have a mall built instead. Why the library? It's still in good shape, from what I remember."

"Yeah it is," Soul agreed, having seen so firsthand just yesterday.

Black Star stood up, pounding the table. "I know why!" he shouted, and the others looked up at him expectantly. He threw his head back and laughed, "It's so obvious! M' surprised y'all didn't realise it." He paused, before thumping his chest in a self-satisfied manner.

"I guess only a God could see it."

Maka rolled her eyes as Tsubaki sighed into her hands, "Just get on with it Black Star."

"Patience is a visage, Maka."

"Ok, first of all, it's virtue," she corrected him, "And secondly, you're one to talk about patience."

"Ok, ok." Tsubaki said, always the mediator between them, "Black Star why don't you say why you think Medusa's aiming for Ms. Marie's library?"

"It's easy," he told her. "It's cause of Stein, duh."

There was an awkward silence as everyone tried to process what he was saying. It was Patty who spoke up first.

"Wait just a minute. Are you saying that Medusa and Ms Marie and Professor Stein were in some weird love triangle thing?"

Black Star snapped his fingers and nodded, "Yeah exactly!"

Maka shook her head. Sure, she was aware of the fact that her current high school professor and boss were once an item in high school, thanks to her parents' old high school photos, but it made no sense to her because she didn't remember Medusa in any of the photos she had seen.

"Did Medusa even know the Professor in high school? Did she even attend Shibusen?" Kid asked, and Maka nodded.

Black Star shrugged, "Dunno. Maybe she was a school nurse or something. But it's an angle."

"Which we will never look at again," Liz stated resolutely, then shuddered. "I do not want to think about my professor's high school sex life. It's bad enough that he teaches biology."

"At least you don't know the both of them," Maka murmured, and then shuddered too.

"Aaand I think we're sidetracking a bit too much here." Tsubaki intervened, and Maka and Liz blushed.

The former then cleared her throat, "Tsu's right. Ok. We'll need to devise a plan to stop them… Anyone have any ideas?"

Everyone frowned, looking deep in thought. Then, Black Star slammed his fist on the table for the second time.

"I say we just go to their building and punch them in the face."

"Black Star!" Tsubaki admonished, looking over at Maka for support. However, the younger girl actually seemed to be mulling over the idea, "Maka-chan! You're not actually considering his idea, right?"

"Ah."

"Maka-chan! Violence is never the answer!"

Maka put her hands up in surrender, "Yeah, yeah, I know… But it would be really satisfying."

As Tsubaki lectured both Maka and Black Star, from across the table, Kid shot Soul an amused look, "You're a bad influence on her." Soul only smirked at him in return, looking quite proud of himself.

"Alright." Tsubaki said seriously, "Does anyone have any ideas that don't go against the law?"

Everyone sighed and slumped into their seats again, but after a while Soul spoke up, "I have an idea. I was thinking we could stage a protest. You know, with signs and stuff, right outside their building. That way, they can't ignore us."

"Is that legal?" Tsubaki inquired, shooting a look at Maka who pouted and turned her head away.

Kid leaned on the table, resting his chin on his hands, "As far as I remember, as long as it's a peaceful protest, it's completely legal."

"But if it's only seven of us…" Patty started.

"It'll be quite pathetic." Liz finished.

"That means we have to get people to join us!" Maka said, looking enthusiastic at the prospect, "We can put flyers all around the school, and ask around."

There was an awkward silence at her words, and after fervent glares from both Liz and Tsubaki, Soul cleared his throat, "Well, Maka, that sounds like a great idea. Just that… how do I say this?" The others all just lifted their shoulders, not looking him in the eye. Soul frowned, then sighed.

"Look, Maka… What I'm, we're, trying to say is that you might not get as much support as you would have liked about the library," he told her, and when her shoulders slumped, he felt like punching himself in the face.

"Soul has a point," Kid quipped in, "It's not that we don't believe people there will be students who do want to save the library. They might just be… rarer."

Liz nodded, smiling at Maka apologetically, "Truthfully Maka, if I weren't your close friend, and I didn't know how much the library means to you, I wouldn't bat an eye to it being demolished. In fact," she added nervously, pressing her fingertips together, "I would be one of their biggest supporters."

There was silence as everyone looked at Maka, who didn't look as upset as they expected her to be. In fact, instead of scowling, she seemed to be trying not to smile.

"You guys are silly," she said cheerfully, "Of course I don't expect the whole school to rally behind us, but… I don't expect no one to either." She smiled to herself, then directed her next words at Liz, "You said it yourself. It's because you see how much it means to me that it matters to you now."

She leaned forward, looking at all of them now, "We just have to show that to everyone now."

Kid sighed. "I admire your optimism, but the chances of this working out…"

"Are very slim," she finished for him, "But I think we can do it."

"Hell yeah we can!" Black Star shouted, then pointed an accusing finger at Kid, "We have no time for your negativity, follower! Ya just hafta believe we can do it!"

"Yeah," Patty added cheerfully, "If we all work together, we can do anything in the whole wide world! Right, Maka?"

Looking around at her friends' determined faces, Maka grinned.

"Yeah!"

The alarm rang in what seemed to Maka barely two minutes after she had shut her eyes, having spent the night before on Skype with Soul discussing and designing the flyers that were to be pasted all over the school.

Wiping the drool of the corner of her mouth, she stretched, rubbing her cat, Blair, who had slept curled up at her side.

"G'morning, Sleeping Beauty," she greeted groggily, giggling as Blair pawed at her. There was a tap on the door and her father's voice, always so bright and cheerful even though the day had barely even started, told her that breakfast was ready, and if she was fast maybe he could give her a lift in his patrol car.

As she listened to his footsteps grow softer and softer, she patted Blair on the head again, "Looks like we really have to get up." The feline purred, and then went back to snuggling in her comforter, completely ignoring Maka's pout.

"Show-off." The girl muttered as she dragged herself out of bed, to which Blair just gave off a light snore.

Half an hour later, Spirit grinned widely as Maka joined him at the table.

"I made your favourite! Gotta chase those Monday Blues away, right?" He told her, and Maka smiled at the two, slightly burnt sunny-side ups on her plate, complete with the bacon that curved upwards at the ends.

As she dug in after a quick thank you, her father continued talking, updating her on the news.

"Oh, and I heard about the library from Sid, who heard from Nygus, who heard from Marie… Are you okay, sweetie?"

Marie gulped down her last bit of egg, then shrugged. "It's not a nice place to be for sure," she told him, and he nodded sympathetically, "But we're definitely not going down without a fight!"

Spirit chuckled, "You have the same kind of enthusiasm your mother had."

Maka fell silent at that, though he didn't seem to notice, taking the dishes and running them under water, "Just don't fight too hard! You don't know who you're dealing with. The Gorgons… They definitely aren't people you want to mess with." His voice grew harder at the end, and Maka frowned.

"What's that mean, Papa?"

"Ah, nothing nothing!" He said cheerily, smiling brightly, "I don't know what came over me!"

Maka frowned, knowing that he father was hiding something from her. "Papa, does this have anything to do the library?"

"What, pfft, no…" Though he didn't sound very convincing.

"Papa, are you sure?"

"Super sure!" But there were cracks in his cheery tone, a hint of desperation thrown into the mix.

"Because if there is, then may-"

"Maka, just drop it alright!" Spirit told her, agitation clear in his voice. One look at her face though, and his face fell. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Look, sweetheart, just forget I said anything alright? The Gorgon Empire… It's better to stay clear of them."

"But why?" Maka asked again, not willing to just let the subject go. The flyers for their protest felt heavier on her lap than a minute ago.

Spirit sighed again, "Honestly, I don't know why. They're as much of a mystery to me as to you. And really," he looked at her steadily, "That's what makes them so dangerous."