The next day in school, the first thing Maka did was scout for Tsubaki. Knowing her, she'd have made sure both Black Star and her got to school on time, and it was only ten minutes before classes were scheduled to start.

She spotted the both of them talking to Kid and the sisters, and pretty much ran towards them before flinging herself on Tsubaki. The older girl barely had even time to react before she was being squeezed to death.

"M-Maka! I'm happy to see you too!" She said, patting her on the back.

"Hugggg!" Patty cheered, hugging Tsubaki from the back and dragging Liz with her. Black Star and Kid watched bemusedly as the girls hugged, looking at each other with raised eyebrows.

Liz detached herself first, "As much as I love you girls, what's with the sudden greeting hug?"

"That was actually meant for Tsu," Maka said, "I'm so so so sorry Tsubaki. It's all my fault."

"Maka-chan, please. I don't blame you in any way, shape or form," Tsubaki reassured, hands firmly on Maka's shoulders, "What happened was… outside of our control."

"Woah woah, hold up," Liz said, gesturing for the both of them to stop, "What's with all these apologies?"

Patty nodded, "Yeah, what happened?"

"You haven't told them?" Maka asked Tsubaki, who shook her head.

"I didn't think there was a need to worry everyone…"

Liz clutched her tongue, swinging an arm over Tsubaki's shoulder and pulling her closer, "Babe, that just makes us worry even more."

And with that, Tsubaki told them in detail about what had happened to her Saturday morning. By the end, it took all Liz and Maka had to restrain Patty, who was adamant on marching straight to Medusa's office and punching her in the face.

"This is absolute nonsense," Kid said, looking at Tsubaki, "You should definitely pursue legal action – what they did has absolutely no place in the law."

She smiled at him, "Thank you, all of you, for your support, but… but right now I think it would be better if I just let it be." She raised a hand as both Kid and Liz opened their mouths to say something, "I've already spoken to Mr. Sid. He says that for the next few days he'll try and find out as much as he can about the Gorgon Empire."

"Pops' always told me no one can run away from the law," Black Star spoke up, "And I believe him."

The others all nodded, agreeing with Sid's words.

Tsubaki continued, "For now, we just have to focus on what we can do. Which is save the library."

"And get ready for prom!" Liz chimed in excitedly, and Tsubaki grinned.

"That too."

"What colour dress are you planning to get, Maka?" Patty asked, and suddenly there were three faces staring down at her expectantly.

"Ah, I, uh…" Right on time, the bell sounded, "Gotta get to class!"

Saved by the bell indeed.

"Yo, good morning!" Sid looked up as his partner walked in, carrying two cups of much-welcomed coffee.

"Albarn, I never thought I'd say this, but you're an angel." He said as the redhead passed him a cup. Spirit just rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatics, taking his seat at the desk across from Sid's.

The two men drank deeply. In the silence, Sid's mind was working on overdrive. He had to formulate a plan to access the confidential records in the main office – he had a very big gut feeling that all of the answers they were looking for were in there.

Damn, this was not a one-man job.

"Say, Barett?" Spirit called, and he grunted to show he was listening. Spirit looked left and right, before cupping his hands around his mouth, and stage-whispering, "How confidential do you think the confidential files are?"

"Pretty confidential, I guess."

"Do you think it's possible to break in and get information?"

"Maybe?"

"Do you want to?"

Sid looked over at Spirit, who was watching him with wide eyes. "Are you serious? I was just thinking about doing that!"

"Oh yeah?" Spirit walked over to him, planting his butt on the edge of Sid's desk, "What for?"

"Gotta dig up some dirt on the Gorgon Empire."

"That's what I was gonna say!"

They both grinned stupidly at each other. "Partners?" They asked simultaneously.

"Partners."

Maka rubbed her head as she felt an oncoming headache, courtesy of Ox's incessant apologies for running away last Friday night, and Kim's promises to be there for the next one for sure.

She looked up and beamed when she spotted Soul at his locker.

"Hey!" She greeted, walking up to him. He smiled when he saw it was her, and closed his locker. "We missed you in the morning. Is your face feeling better?"

"A little better. It hurt like hell yesterday. And yeah, I kinda reached school a little late. I shoulda set my alarm earlier, considering Wes's apartment is so damn far from the school, but I forgot to an-"

"Wait. Wes' apartment?" She asked, "What does Wes' apartment have to do with anything?"

"A-ah, right. About that…" He trailed off, and she noted how he wasn't meeting her gaze.

"Soul," Maka grabbed his arm, forcing him to look her in the eyes, "What did you do?"

"I, urrr…" With his free hand, he scratched the back of his head nervously, "Kind of… kickedmyselfoutofmyhouse."

She blinked. "Huh?"

Soul cleared his throat, squeezing his eyes shut, "I said… I kind of… Kicked myself out of my house." When Maka didn't say a word, he cracked open one eye cautiously.

And immediately wished he hadn't.

Her big green eyes were glaring at him, her hands poised on her waist.

"You did what?"

She spoke it softly, but it was almost the most terrifying thing he had ever heard in his life.

"Yeah, it wasn't like, planned or anything," he told her, holding his hands out as if to protect himself, "There was just a succession of events that one after another led to… me leaving the house. Plus, it wasn't like they kicked me out. I kicked myself out. Completely voluntarily."

"But how come?"

"Well… They just said some things that I didn't agree with, we fought, blah blah blah. But," he said, swinging an arm around her shoulder. She made a noise, but didn't object as he pulled her in, "Let's stop talking about that. I'm living with Wes now, and even if he is the most annoying brother ever, he's cool enough."

"I… guess," Maka conceded, and Soul reveled in his victory. Then she patted him on the chest, "But one day we'll have to talk about it, it's no good to bottle everything up inside."

Soul gulped, "Sureee." Never.

"Now let's go find the others."

"So… how's the last few days been?" Spirit asked, trying to initiate conversation with his daughter, who looked like she was sleeping with her eyes open.

Maka yawned, spreading jam on her slightly burnt toast, "Boring." She sighed, taking a bite out of it, "We're trying to do some research about the Gorgons, but there's literally nothing. Nothing about the sisters; where they come from, what they did…"

She slumped on the tabletop, feeding Blair the remains of her bread. The cat purred happily, and she smiled. Across the table from her, Spirit sighed, reflecting on his own completely nonexistent research.

"Oh." Maka gasped, eyes wide. "Chicken shit, I completely forgot to tell the others."

"No swearing at the table sweetheart," Spirit reprimanded, though he wasn't even sure if chicken shit even counted as a swear.

Maka fixed her father a look, and then continued, "As I was saying… Marie-san called me yesterday night. They have the date of demolition set. It's…"

"The week after prom?!" Liz screeched, when Maka had dropped the bomb after school, where they were all gathered at the basketball court. The older girl slumped forward, placing her forehead on Maka's shoulder, "That's not a lot of time. Prom's already this Saturday."

Maka sighed, shoulders deflating. Liz's head bobbed down with her. "I know… But it's not like we have a choice."

"Don't worry, my followers! Two weeks is more than enough time for a God to come up with a brilliant plan." Black Star announced.

Kid scoffed, "That's what you said two weeks ago."

Everyone laughed, and Maka fidgeted, scrunching up her skirt in her hands. Soul noticed, and went to stand beside her. "You alright?"

"Mm-hmm," she said, then laughed, "Just a little nervous I guess. It's coming, faster than you think."

"Or you talking about Prom or our big protest against the demolition," he asked sarcastically, well aware of the answer. But to his surprise, Maka began to blush a little.

"Truthfully, a little bit of both."

"Oh my God!" Liz shrieked, making them both jump. They turned around to see Liz grabbing her sister by the shoulders and shaking her, "You asked Kid? Patty, noooooo. Now who am I going to ask?"

She looked around, noticing how Tsubaki took a not-so-discrete step towards Black Star, and narrowed her eyes. Pointing a finger accusingly at them, she said, "And you're going with Black Star."

Then her attention turned to Soul and Maka, who glanced at each other nervously.

"I'm guessing you two are going together too?"

Both of them blushed. It was Maka who spoke up first, "Actually, I have no idea…"

"Unless, unless you want to…" Soul mumbled, looking at her, "Do you want to?"

Maka smiled, "I don't mind."

They looked at her, "Yeah, we're going together."

Liz groaned, "That's just great. Now who am I going to go with? It can't just be any guy," she sighed sadly, putting a hand on forehead dramatically, "He has to be tall, and handsome. And sadly, no guy in this school meets that bill."

"More like no one in this school meets your standards," Tsubaki teased.

Soul paused, an idea forming in his head. It was by a long shot, but he figured it could work out.

"Actually, I know this guy…"

"Wait, you want me to go to prom with your friend? A girl I've never even met before?" Wes asked incredulously, catching the ball he was throwing against the wall.

"Yeah, in summary."

The two brothers were lounging in the small, nearly empty living room Wes had, both completely ignoring the stack of work they had on the table that needed to be completed.

Wes snorted, throwing the ball harder, "And what made you think I'd agree?"

Soul rolled his eyes, "It's not like you've got anything to lose. Besides, you're not even doing anything right now."

"It's not my fault the school only wants me to start teaching next term!" Wes defended.

"Look bro, all I'm saying is you're pretty much bored out of your mind every day. Why not just come to prom and have a little fun?"

"I am not bored out of my mind," Wes pouted, and Soul raised an eyebrow.

"You're throwing a ball against a wall to entertain yourself."

"Touché." Gripping the ball when it bounced back to him, Wes sighed, "Fine, I'll go. But tell me this, is this Liz girl hot?"

"Eh, she's alright."

Smirking, Wes asked, "Nothing compared to Maka in your eyes, right?"

"Yeah… Wait, what?"

Maka smiled as she listened to Soul on the phone, telling her how he had valiantly managed to secure a date for Liz. Laying in bed, doing her homework and with Blair curled up next to her, Maka couldn't help but feel that these were the little things in life that made it so good.

And then she heard the front door open, and realised that there were little moments that made it bad too. It always dampened her mood whenever her dad came home late at night, sometimes with a woman in his hands, sometimes with a woman on his skin.

Yawning, Maka scratched Blair on the head, bidding goodnight to Soul before switching off her lights and curling in her blanket with Blair.

Maybe she should get her dad his own cat to sleep with.

The next morning at the breakfast table, her dad didn't seem to be in such a good mood; the bags under his eyes were more pronounced, as though he hadn't slept well. But she hadn't heard a woman come in yesterday.

When he yawned for the tenth time in three minutes, Maka asked him, "Papa, did you sleep last night?"

Spirit stretched, smiling sleepily at her, "Not really. Was working a case," then he paused, and looked at her again, "Because of what's been happening at the library."

That caught her attention, "The library?"

"Yeah," he stood up, bringing his dishes to the sink, "Over the past few days, Marie's been experiencing some… well, I guess you could call it a 'vandalism' problem? Bookshelves completely fallen, some broken windows, book pages ripped off…" He frowned, "We're trying to get to the bottom of this, but whoever they were, they didn't leave a single clue behind."

Maka frowned, "You don't think this has any link to the Gorgons, right?"

"I do," he told her, "I find it hard to believe that someone else would just randomly decide to trash the place, right in the middle of this."

She had to agree with him. "So… what's the plan?"

"You're not getting yourself involved in this, Maka." Spirit warned. At her pout, he just laughed, "Don't worry though. We're putting one of our bests out as a guard tonight. You remember Justin, right?"

She did. He had been one of the youngest members of the police force, but one of the best, nonetheless.

"Now, let's go," he said, picking up her bag for her while she went to wash her plate, "And don't think about it too much. I'll update you."

Soul laughed quietly, "He told you all that, and expected you not to do anything?"

"I know right?"

The library was really something else at night, she had to admit. Moonlight streamed through the broken windows, casting shadows all over place. They hadn't really cleaned up after last night, opting to just seal off the third level from the public.

Behind the shelves where they were hiding in wait, Soul asked her, "What did you tell your dad?"

"That I'm staying over Liz's, for a project I have with Kid. You?"

He grinned, "The truth. Wes think it's pretty cool. But he did tell me one more punch to the face and I'd be permanently disfigured."

Maka frowned. In the dim moonlight, his face didn't seem too bad, but she knew that the swelling was still there. Carefully, she placed a hand on his cheek, noticing how he still winced a bit at her gentle touch.

"I'm sorry. It was all my fault."

He shook his head, placing his own hand on top of hers, "Nah, don't blame yourself. You weren't the one that socked me in the face."

"I know, but…" her eyes trailed to his chest, where she knew his scar lay covered beneath his shirt, "You always seem to get hurt because of me."

Soul looked at her softly, lifting her face up so she was looking at him, "Hey. I don't blame you for any of it. Never have, never will. So don't beat yourself up over it, okay?"

"Okay," she breathed out, his face only inches away from her. He was looking at her like he'd never looked at her before, and she knew she was probably looking at him the same way.

Just a little more…

A loud crash broke them both out of their reverie, jumping apart, instantly on high alert.

"Damn, this person got through Justin," Maka cursed, "You think he's okay?"

"I think we don't have time to worry about him right now," Soul said quickly, pulling her out of the way as the shelf they were hiding behind collapsed. Almost like a domino effect, the whole line of shelves began to fall on to one another, books flying everywhere. They both coughed as the dust surrounded them, put at a disadvantage because of the darkness.

As they stood there, hands covering their mouth and nose, there was a dead silence.

Soul signaled to her to that he would go to the left, and she the right. Maka nodded, and sprinted towards that direction, careful to be light on her feet to not draw any attention to herself.

With just the moonlight to guide her, she navigated her way through the bookcases, feeling more confident with each step she took. This was her terrain; she knew this place inside out. Grabbing a book, she made her way to where she knew there was a blind spot, crouching behind the bookcase.

Maka closed her eyes, and concentrated.

After a few moments, she could hear faint footsteps coming from the left. As it grew closer, she braced herself.

Maka barely made it out of the way before the bookcase crashed behind her. Growling, she lunged at the dark figure, silhouetted by the moonlight.

They both trashed around on the ground, amidst the fallen shelves and books. When she finally gained the upperhand and pinned her down, Maka called out for Soul and wrenched the mask of the person.

"Chrona?"