Chapter 6 – What You Make It
AN: Final chapter! Thanks for all your enthusiasm and support along the way, guys—it means a pathetically large amount to me. :) And I'm way psyched to have finished a chaptered story. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Don't we all wish?
"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." –Louis L'Amour
Maka blinks, slowly returning to the present where the sun has set and the moon risen, peeking out at the city between cloud-breaks. On the hill above it all, fireflies duck near and close, flickering in and out lazily.
Maka smiles, more at peace with herself than she's been in a long time. Across from her, Soul lies in the grass, arms crossed beneath his head. He scowls up into the starless sky, reaching out a hand to snatch at the fireflies that drift close to him.
The grass stirs in the wake of a faint wind. Neither so much as looks at the other.
~*~
"Hey, Stein, what's this I hear about you bullying my Maka?" Spirit Albarn gripes darkly, slouching into the room and sticking his face in front of his old friend's.
Stein sighs, leaning back in his chair and lighting a cigarette, abandoning thoroughly now the idea of getting any work done tonight. "For such a big place, Shibusen's grapevine is pretty small if it's reached you already," he comments dryly.
"Of course I'd know quickly when my Maka is upset!" Spirit rages. "I am her Papa, and Papas know these kinds of things instinctively, Stein—instinctively!"
Steins steps carefully around that minefield, saying instead, "I told Maka and Soul a riddle, and they couldn't figure it out—or rather, just didn't like the answer."
"A riddle?" Spirit relaxes, raising an eyebrow skeptically. Stein relays it to the mystified father.
"But the answer's obvious, isn't it?" Spirit puzzles, more confused than before. "It's…'love', isn't it?"
"Ah, that's just the thing," Stein says, sending a stream of smoke twining towards the high ceiling. "There isn't a single answer to that riddle—not a single answer. The answer that you give tells more about who you are and where you intend to go than anything else.
"I told them that the answer to that riddle would reveal a very powerful secret that could make them stronger than they could ever dream. And I suspect that it will do just that once they understand it for what it really is. But they were going about it all wrong at the beginning…"
"I don't understand," admits Spirit frankly.
"No, you never did…But I think they will…"
…
Away on the hillside, Soul breaks the silence. "Blair will be wondering where we are."
"Mmm," Maka agrees, and this time she understands that he means simply that—that he means their cat is getting hungry. No double meanings, no secret message.
Soul picks himself up from the soft grass, waiting until Maka has risen and joined him to start down the hill. A little cloud of fireflies follows in their wake.
"How long do you think it will take them to figure it out?" Spirit asks back in the room.
"Not long, I should think," Stein replies, untroubled. "But I wouldn't expect to know for a while. It will be a very subtle change—on the surface, at least…"
They never really were the kind for confessions.
They walk home that night through the quiet grounds and city streets without speaking. Each is intent on their own thoughts, but are far from being lost in them.
"And what do you think their answer will be?" Spirit asks.
They walk close together, shoulders touching with each step as naturally as two trees brushing together in the wind.
Stein grins crookedly. "Well, riddles are always quite literal, aren't they? But as far as it concerns you, Senpai, you may want to know this…"
Maka slips her hand into his, and Soul's fingers close around it, calluses meeting calluses –no glove in between to stop the spread of warmth.
"What fastens two people together but touches only one?"
The End.
AN: Comments, reviews, and closing thoughts would be much enjoyed. I'll post the answer to this last riddle on my homepage if you really want to know it.