I'm still alive! I swear! I've just been busy with other things along with lack of inspiration. I'm sorry if I kept anyone waiting.

Enjoy the chapter!

She woke with a searing pain in her neck, and something heavy on her chest. Slowly opening her eyes to get a glimps of her surroundings, Ayelis sighed in content to know she was in her room. Her memories of the evening before we a little foggy, but she recalled the reason why at least. The teenager groaned, when she realized it.

Black Star and Tsubaki had paid them a visit, and things got quite out of hand. She and Tsubaki had been talking in the living room, when all of a sudden Black Star came rampaging down the stairs, with a rather aggressive and angry Vizy in tow. Whatever the assasin had done, it was more than enough to put the taller boy in a blind rage. Without warning the two boys plowed right into the female meister, knocking her out cold. That was all Ayelis could remember, but it did explain the pain she was experiencing. She had a feeling she knew what happened after that anyway, considering the white ball of fur now sitting on her chest. He was making it a little hard to breath right, and she only wondered if he had been there all night.

She went to sit up, slowly letting the cat fall from her chest to her lap, as he stirred. Letting out a huge yawn, Loup opened his eyes to gaze up at her. A grin ran accross his face as he saw she was awake, and she gave him a scratch behind his ear.

"So have you been here all night?" Ayelis let her curiousity ask the question.

"Not all night, but I did check on you several times." the white cat replied, the familliar look of mischeif in his eyes. "And don't worry I didn't take your cloths off this time."

Seeing she was still in her cloths from the night before, Ayelis only tensed a little at his coy remark. "Thank you." was the only thing she could think to say, as her face flushed from the memory.

The cat mearly grinned wider, as he saw her reaction. He was content to simply play with her thoughts for the time being, as he stretched out and leaped down to the floor. He could hear the faint noises coming from downstairs, and assumed the boys were already awake. Ayelis let out a sleepy yawn, stretching out her back a little. She felt the pain in her body subside as a small amount of relief snaked its way across her sore muscles. Her partner Vizy, and Black Star had rammed her like a freight train, but she'd be fine. She was already pretty well recovered, and just needed a day or two before she could get back into classes.

Making her way from her room after nearly falling out of her bed in a tangle of sheets, Ayelis headed down to the kitchen to find out what all the commotion was about. When she arrived, she found Lyall and Vizy both working on what looked to be a huge and delicious breakfast spread. Pancakes, sausages, boiled eggs, hashbrown and all kinds more were all layed out on the table. Ayelis had to hold herself back from drooling over the enticing meal, as she made her way in to take a seat.

"Lyall... why did you guys make all this?" she continued to gaze at the ammount of food in front of her.

"Oh hey Ayelis. Glad to see you're feeling ok." the younger of the two brothers was releived to see her unharmed from the previous night. He smiled at her, knowing she was wondering about the big breakfast. "I guess you didn't know after you blacked out, but everyones heading over here this morning. So we though it would be a good idea to make breakfast for us all."

"You mean everyone as in, the whole group?" Ayelis was still half asleep as she stared at Lyall with a blank expression.

"Duh, who do you think he's talkin about?" Vizy piped up from working in the sink, washing dishes as his brother finished cooking.

Ayelis ignorred his snide little coment, and turned around to head back upstairs. She needed to get a shower right away if they were going to have company. Hopefully this time nobody would be plowing into her at full force. She almost wished Tsubaki could keep Black Star on a leash, or maybe she could keep Vizy on one. Either way the two boys were far too aggressive, but thats who they are. She sighed heavilly as she made her way to her bedroom once again. Shutting the door behind her to gain the privacy she needed. She was nearly finished dressing, when she heard Loup's voice outside her door.

"Miss Ayelis, there was a letter here for you yesterday, but seeing as you were unconscious." he waited a moment, before the door was opened to reveil the fifteen year old girl he had taken to call ing his mistress. "Here, I thought you might want to see it."

Ayelis blinked, curious as to who it was from. She took the letter from Loup's hand and tore open the envelope, eagerly taking out the paper inside to read what it said. There was a photo as well, and Ayelis imediately deadpanned. Loup was confused by her reaction, and looked over her shoulder to see what was the matter. The photo was of a couple in their mid-thirties, standing on a beach in god knows where. Both were smiling, and acting foolish in the photo.

"Who are they?" the feline inquired.

"Those are my parents." Ayelis replied, but her voice was faint, as she was slowly walking towards the stairs, still reading the letter. Her green eyes nearly popped out of her skull, as she skimmed across one paragraph in particular. She took a minute to read over the entire thing at least three times as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

Dear Ayelis

Hello honey! How are things? We hope you're not doing anything too irrisponsible. I certainly hope you're keeping the house tidy, I find nothing worse than living like a slob you know. I hope those boys of yours are behaving themselves.

Your father and I do worry about you a lot. Speaking of which, that brings me to the point of this letter. We're coming for a visit! Isn't that great? We've been travelling so much, and I miss my little girl so we decided to come and see you and the boys. We'll be there in about a week, hmm I guess thats about when this letter will actually get to you. Oh well, see you soon honey!

Love Mom and Dad

Ayelis stood completely still, eyes not moving from the last two sentences on the paper. Loup was waving a hand in front of her face, when vizy and Lyall noticed her standing in the doorway.

"Ayelis? whats wrong?" Lyall was afraid to ask.

"Its... my parents." her voice had gone up an octave as she spoke, making all three boys a little nervous now.

"What about em? Whats up Aye?" Vizy cocked his head to the side. She looked up at them, and the look on her face was almost telling them to run for their lives. She swallowed a dry knott in her throat, and proceeded to answer her partners.

"They're coming to visit...today!"

Silence spread across the appartment, as the news hit home. Both Vizy and Lyall paled at what their meister had just reveiled to them. Loup had a feeling he would soon find out why, and didn't like it in any way. What was to start off as a day shared with friends, would soon be turning into an all out nightmare.

Someone knocking at the door broke the uncomfortable silence, and now was giving the four a sense of dread, as Ayelis slowly made her way to the door to greet who ever it was. She opened the door and braced herself, but was almost overjoyed to see the three people standing on her front step. Instead of finding her parents, she found three familliar faces that were a little put off by her gasp of relief, as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Death the Kid, Liz and Patty all stared at her in confusion.

"Okay, so do you always gasp for air when you meet someone at the front door?" the tall blond raised one eyebrow at the girl who had greeted them.

"I'm sorry Liz, I thought it was someone else actually." Ayelis gave an appologetic look, and stepped aside to let the trio in.

Patty was excited about eating breakfast somehwere else other than Kid's mannor, "Wow! Something smells reeeaaally good huh sis." she chimed happily.

"Sorry, we are a bit early. I told the girls we should have waited until eight but Liz was insisting." Kid only glared at the older weapon beside him. Liz just shrugged it off and followed Ayelis inside.

"Its not like it matters, breakfast is breakfast. Besides, it's fifteen minutes before eight. We aren't that early."

"She's right, it's perfectly fine. Maka and the others should be here shortly too." Ayelis smiled, closing the door once the three were inside. She only hoped her perents didn't show up while her friends were all there. Then she noticed what Kid was holding, "Are those belgian waffles?"

"Of course. They are the perfect symmetrical breakfast food." he smiled brightly at the thought. Liz only rolled her eyes, while Ayelis smiled back nervously. It still weirded her out whenever he did it.

It didn't take long for the others to make their way to the appartment. Maka and Soul had arrived with a bowl of fruit salad to add to the breakfast table, and Tsubaki and Black Star showed up shortly after them with a batch of fresh baked muffins. All in all it was quite the spread of food. Ayelis was smiling ear to ear, happy that her partners had planned all of this. She had been out of comission for a while now, but her friends seemed to make the time go much faster.

The group had just finished eating, and they were all sitting in the living room discussing a few things from class and the missions that Maka and Soul had been on since Ayelis' mishap. The scythe meister was well on her way to becoming a school celebrity, and Ayelis was a bit envious of the blonde haired girl. While she was getting better at hunting down kishin souls, she was still far behind in collecting her share and the witch souls for each of her weapons.

The axe meister's face turned sullen, and her feet became the focus of her interest as the others continued to chat. It was Liz who noticed the girl's sudden change of mood, and opted to sit next to her. She nudged the younger teen gently, and Ayelis looked up at her with an unreadable expression. It wasn't hard for Liz to figure out that something was really bothering her, and by now the older of the two thompsons was a pro at trying to cheer people up. With all her experience from dealing with Kid, she could almost always tell when someone was feeling down about themselves. Liz whispered to her so as not to attract attention from the others right away.

"So whats eating you? Something on your mind?" she asked, a soft tone of comfort laced into her voice.

"Oh, no... it's... it's nothing." Ayelis smiled up at the older girl, "I'm okay Liz."

The pistol only snorted at her response, knowing it was a poor lie. "You can tell me if somethings wrong you know. We're all here for you, so speak up."

Liz placed a hand on Ayelis' shoulder, trying to reassure her that she could trust all of them. By this time the group had already caught on that something was up, and they all had turned their attention to listen. Patty smiled wide, stating that Kid always had problems he had to talk about. Though most of them were about some sort of flaw, or lack of symmetry. Maka agreed, as she and Soul had gone through plenty of hardships, and they had supported each other through all of it. Tsubaki smiled wide and simply said that they were always there. She didn't have to sit alone all the time and stew in her own worries. Vizy and Lyall both nodded their agreement, and Ayelis was finding herself feeling a little better about everything.

She would have continued with the conversation to thank all of them, if it hadn't been for the loud knocking at the door and a shrill voice coming from the other side. Ayelis and both her partners froze, knowing exactly who it was outside. Loup, who had been sitting on the sidelines for most of the morning, cringed as he could only imagine what was about to take place. Whatever relief Ayelis got from the talk with everyone was thrown out the window, down the street, into the gutter and landed in a pile of sewage. As if the knock wasn't enough to annouce the comming of doom, someone had to ask the question Ayelis didn't want to answer.

"Who is that? I thought we were all here already." Kid had turned his attention to the door with everyone else. All of them curious as to who was interrupting their morning.

"They are. Thats..."

The poor girl couldn't finish her sentence, as the door burst open. A tall and rather slim looking woman stood in the doorway. Arms folded over her chest as she scanned the interrior of the building, before spotting the individual she was looking for.

"Ayelis! There you are my little girl!" the woman's voice was nothing to be proud of, as it reached the ears of everyone inside. If nails on a chalkboard was bad, then this was ten times that.

Making a beeline for the teenage girl, the woman took barely any notice of the company she had. Ayelis had no time to get away, as she was quickly brought into the strongest barehug she had experienced in a long time. She always thought it was considered more of a mauling than anything, and her breath escaped her the second the woman's arms were around her. everyone watched the display, confused as to who exactly this woman was. That was, everyone but Vizy, Lyall, and Loup. At first sight of her though, even the flirt of a feline had decided to steer clear of her, as he made his escape out through the kitchen.

"Oh my little baby! I missed you so much!" the woman let loose her death grip, and Ayelis tried to collect her breath once again. "You've grown so much sweetheart, I certainly hope you're behaving while we aren't around." her face was scrutinizing as she looked the girl up and down.

"Mrs. Quinn, I can promise you Ayelis hasn't done anything like that." Lyall spoke up, knowing exactly what this woman was implying of his meister.

"Oh, hello...Lenard was it? And your brother, I trust the two of you haven't done anything shameful either?" she spat, glaring at both boys with disgust. Her brown eyes thin and narrow as she tried to pierce them with her didstaste.

"It's Lyall, and no we haven't." he sent an equally hard stare back at her.

Ayelis was getting more uncomfortable by the second, and she hated that all of her friends were present to whitness everything. Liz, Maka and everyone else were watching the entire scene. Completely baffled as to what was going on. Ayelis sighed heavilly, and decided that she owed them an explanation.

"Everyone, this is my mother. Devilda Quinn." all eyes were now on the slim woman in the center of the room. Devilda only scoffed at the group of teenagers around her. To her they looked like nothing more than a bunch of delinquents. She would have thrown them all out that instant, if it wasn't for her husband standing in the entrance. Ayelis caught sight of him, and smiled as she went to greet him.

"Well now, it seems we've come at a bad time. I'm sorry Ayelis, we didn't realize you would be having company." her father grinned in an appology.

"It's okay. Everyone this is my dad, Angello." Ayelis actually beamed as she said her father's name. She had missed him at least, but her mother was a different story all together.

Angello's tall frame seemed to tower over his daughter, though his presence was much less threatenning than his wife. He nodded a greeting towards Lyall and Vizy, silently appologizing for Devilda's accusations. Both boys only smiled sheepishly, knowing it wasn't his fault.

While all of this had been taking place, Black star was getting frustrated seeing as he wasn't the current center of attention. His ego had had enough of sitting quietly, and he wouldn't allow anyone to steal his spotlight. The assasin felt that his own intruduction was necessary. Though Tsubaki tried to convince him otherwise, her meister was too stubborn to care.

"HEY! NICE TO MEET YA! I'M BLACK STAR, THE GREATEST ASSASIN EVER!" he belted out every word, laughing like a madman as he pointed to himself. Tsubaki groaned, as they watched the wild young meister. "Your daughter's pretty lucky, to know someone as big of a star as I am!"

While Angello only smirked at the boy, Devilda was utterly mortified by him. She turned to Ayelis, eyes glaring hard, "You are FRIENDS with THIS? Ayelis what is WRONG with you!" her voice screetching harshly in her daughter's ears. Ayelis only cringed, and ignorred her mother's wailing.

"Come on now dear, thats enough. We better get going to the hotel." Angello sighed, knowing that she was making things hard for Ayelis.

"Honestly, the only one out of this bunch that doesn't look like some hooligan besides our daughter is this boy!" Devilda pointed an angry finger in Kid's direction. The young reaper only scoweled at her. None of them had taken kindly to anything Mrs. quinn had said.

"Mom, stop ridiculing my friends and please leave." Ayelis only gave her mother a flatt expression, as she asked her to vacate her home.

"Fine, but I promise you I'll be approching Lord Death himself on this issue young lady. I'm sure he would dissaprove of such lowlifes hanging around my daughter." Devilda gave a wicked sneer to the group, thinking that bringing the grim reaper himself into the argument would shut them all up. Ayelis only clenched her fists, but other members of the group were a little more offended.

"My father was the one who assigned this group. I can assure you whatever you might think, he's done it to benefit Ayelis, and the rest of us." Kid frowned at her, keeping his composure as she sent venomous eyes in his direction. He didn't care for the lack of respect this woman gave her own daughter, let alone the rest of them. "I would advise you to be careful what you say Mrs. Quinn."

Devilda stood with her mouth agape, starring at the boy who had just claimed Lord Death to be his father. Straitening up, she turned on her heal and stormed out of the appartment. Angello following behind her after appologizing once more to the teens, and giving his daughter a pat on the head. Ayelis sat down, breathing out a frustrated sigh as she heard her parents car start and drive away. This was not the morning she had hoped for at all. She started appologising repeatedly for her mother's behaviour, knowing that she had no right to say such things to them. Maka and Tsubaki assured her it wasn't her fault, and Soul simply shrugged it off saying it was fine. Apparently cool guys don't get upset over hags screaming at them. They all stayed to help clean up the breakfast mess, and to cheer up Ayelis. Liz was talking with Vizy and Lyall, as the rest of the group mingled in the living room again after the cleanup was done.

"So is her mom always such a riot?" Liz watched the younger girl closely as she spoke.

"She's been hateful ever since Ayelis chose to attend the DWMA." Lyall explained, "Even more so when she found out we were her partners."

"The only freedom Aye ever got was when Angello was around."Vizy joined in his brother's explanation, clenching his teeth as he continued, "Tell you the truth, I think she blackmailed him into marrying her or something. Nobody would wanna stick with a bitch like her. She's got some nerve thinkin we'd take advantage of Ayelis like that."

Liz knew how they felt. Protecting Ayelis was just as important to them, as protecting Patty or Kid was to her. They were her brothers, weather Ayelis' mom liked it or not. Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, and even Black Star could see that Devilda was not a welcome guest for any of them. It was no wonder Ayelis acted the way she did. Kind but withdrawn, and Liz hated to see it. She could tell that having her mother around was going to bring Ayelis down in more ways than she wanted to think. At least Kid had put the hag in her place, that alone would make a big difference for their shy little axe meister.

Later that night, when Devilda and Angello arrived at their hotel, The Deathbed and Breakfast, the woman nearly lost it. She couldn't believe her own daughter had told her to get out, and the nerve of that boy speaking to her as if she were nothing more than a street rat herself. She didn't want to think about how far those trashy kids had corrupted her little girl. Devilda paced around their hotel room angrilly, grumbling to herself and occasionally griping to her husband about how they were going to get Ayelis away from that disgusting group of delinquents.

"Those brats have no idea who they're dealing with. I'll tear my daughter away from them if I have to!" she shreaked into the mirror, looking at herself proudly as if she had accomplished the impossible.

Angello sighed, letting his wife go on with her rediculous train of thoughts. He knew Ayelis was in good hands, and he trusted Lord Death's decision to have her in that particular group. He had liked Vizy and Lyall from the day he'd met them, and he trusted both boys to look after his daughter. Though he wasn't sure exactly what to think about Black Star, he was sure the crazy boy would be a good companion, and he had a good feeling about the others, especially Lord Death's son. What ever his wife was worried about, he wished she would just give it up.

Devilda had proceeded to plot how she would rescue her daughter, when Angello had finally had enough of her ranting. He sat up in bed, and took a breath, "Devilda! Would you get off our daughter"s case and GO... TO... SLEEP!" with that, he scooted back down under the blankets, rolled over and closed his eyes. A wide grin plastered on his face as he heard his wife's nearly silent protest.

I want a breakfast buffet now O.o Waffles!

So what did you think? Poor Ayelis doesn't catch a break does she XD I really do pick on her too much. But oh well. R&R please?