10: In Which Maka Suddenly Finds Herself as a Babysitter
The next day proved to be wonderful. It was if the rain had never fallen, much to Maka's chagrin. She redid the laundry in the warm morning and spent most of the time until lunch hour cleaning her room. She checked on Miss Marie every thirty minutes. The woman was doing considerably better and was beginning to get irritated about being stuck in bed. Maka knew she would be okay.
"Thank you so much for that herbal remedy," Marie said as Maka came in to set a fresh bowl of soup and a slice of bread on the bedside table for lunch. "I think it's really helping. You shouldn't have had to stay up so late taking care of me."
"It's no trouble, Miss Marie. I'm glad I could be a bit of help. Though I'm nothing like your husband. I do hope he's on his way back."
Marie laughed. "He'll be home soon. Don't worry so much about me! I can hold up until Franken gets back."
True to her word Dr. Stein returned within the hour. As soon as he crossed the doorway it was as if he knew his wife was sick. Maka wouldn't be surprised if that part of his superior soul perception. He was by Marie's side in an instant. After she insisted she was fine he went to his office to make her a new batch of sleeping aids and hot drinks.
As expected, the café was closed for the day. Maka had no idea what to do. After all, she rarely had business on days the café was closed. Almost all her deliveries were walk-ins. Once two o'clock rolled around Maka decided to head next door. Stein was quick to shoo her out.
"I have all the help I need. Besides, today is Saturday. Most of the kids take the day off. Only Kim's here, and she will take care of closing up. Why don't you go out for a bit?"
Maka went back to her room and considered leaving for a bit. She had a bit of spare money considering how much she was paid for the last delivery. Maka pulled out some of the smaller change. Perhaps she could go down to a park and read. She did want to get a bit more done in her herbology studies. Ever since opening the business Maka had been slacking a bit.
Making up her mind Maka headed out of her room and out to town, the book under her arm. She flew from the coffee shop to a large park with a lake. She'd never been there before. Maka had to admit that she was enjoying herself. Taking a stroll through a new part of town was really something. Finding a relatively quiet area under a tree Maka took a seat and pulled out her heavy tome. Time to read.
Half an hour of frustrating translation passed. Maka was sighing almost every minute at the words on the page. Not only was her Old Tongue rusty, but the writing was small and in inky cursive. Considering the book had been in her family for many generations it was probably written with a quill. Magic kept it from being smudged or damaged. But that didn't make it any easier to read.
Just then two children came up to her. They looked identical, with cocoa-colored skin, blond hair, and bright blue eyes. The only difference was that one was wearing a red shirt, the other orange. Their jeans were stained with grass and dirt around the ankles. They were laughing as they ran circles around Maka and the tree. She watched them with a smile.
"Brasa! Åska!"
The two children ran back towards the voice, giggling. The owner of the voice sighed, taking off his hat and wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Though he was wearing a completely different outfit from the t-shirt and overalls Maka had first met him in she recognized the dark-skinned boy.
"Kilik?"
"Maka?" The boy laughed at the recognition. "Would you look at that? I haven't seen much of you since coming here! How's Dödenstad treating you? I see you're still here so I'm guessing well."
"Well enough," she said.
Kilik slumped down next to her. "So have you been working?"
"I started a delivery service. I'm still trying to polish up some of my other skills."
"Did you end up finding your friend?"
"I did," Maka said, "a week late. She was in Japan, so I ended up staying at a café owned by Miss Marie."
"Oh, Tsubaki? Black*Star's girlfriend?"
"How am I not surprised you know them?"
He laughed. "Well, Japan was a big hint. That and Black*Star and I have been friends since primary school. He's absolutely crazy sometimes. We actually go to the same sports club to work out almost every day. Well, days I don't have to work or babysit these rascals."
He grabbed the twin wearing the red shirt playfully. The child squealed with delight as he turned her upside-down and tickled her belly. Their twin looked slightly disgruntled until Maka ruffled the child's hair. They beamed up at Maka.
"That's Brasa," said Kilik. "He's the older one. And this here is his little sister Åska. Just six and a half minutes younger though."
"Nice to meet you two," she said. The twins both grinned. Maka smiled back.
"Are you staying long?" she asked.
"I'm actually going to the Diehl's house. I'm supposed to babysit Angela until her dad or older sister gets home so I thought I should bring these two along!" He said this while picking up one kid in each arm, causing them to start giggling uncontrollably. "Do you want to come along? I know I've already interrupted your studying long enough."
"If you don't mind," Maka said, plucking her book off the ground.
Kilik grinned. "Great. It's not too far from here. This way."
Still carrying the children under his arms Kilik led Maka out of the eastern entrance to the park that went to a neighborhood with two-story houses. They climbed up a steep hill to a brick home with a white picket fence. Kilik finally put the kids down. They immediately opened the gate and rushed into the grassy yard.
"Angela! Angela!" they called.
A girl a couple of years older than them ran out of the house. Kilik waved to her.
"Hi Angela. Sorry I'm a bit late."
"Good, you're here!" she said. "Daddy just left!"
Kilik breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, that is good. If not, you might've hurt yourself again. And we wouldn't want to make your sister come all the way from work to help, now would we?"
"Nope!"
"This is my friend Maka. She's a witch, just like you and your sister. Isn't that cool?"
Angela gave Maka a skeptical look. "What kind of magic can you do?"
Not the least bit phased, Maka winked and said, "Maybe I'll show you later if you're good."
Angela's eyes flashed a bit at the challenge. Kilik grinned.
"You're a natural," he murmured to Maka, before addressing the three children. "Do you guys wanna play inside or outside?"
The kids exchanged a quick look before nodding and shouting in unison, "OUTSIDE!"
"Okay then. You know the rules. Stay in the yard, if you need anything from inside I have to come with you, and don't eat anything on the ground. If you do—"
"NO SNACKS!" they shouted.
"Good." Kilik clapped his hands together. "Now you may play!"
The kids ran around the yard. Maka wasn't sure what game they were playing. Kilik went inside and came out with two chairs. He set them in the shade of the house.
"Here, Maka. We can sit here while they entertain themselves."
Maka sat, watching the children with interest. "What in the world are they doing?"
"Honestly? I have no idea. Sometimes they just do things. The other day they told me they were defending a castle from the mighty dragon that shot tigers out of its mouth."
Maka couldn't help but laugh. She and Kilik sat for about half an hour talking before a tugging on the edge of her dress interrupted her. She looked down to find Brasa looking at her.
"I'm bored," he declared.
"Okay." Kilik wiped under his glasses, thinking. "Okay, how about a story?"
"No!" said Åska. "Boring!"
"I wanna do something where we can run around real fast," said Angela. "Like fly!"
"You can't fly now, Angela. If you fall, then I can't help you."
The little witch huffed in irritation. "But Maka can catch me. She has her broom."
"I actually have an idea," said Maka, remembering her readings from the park. "Do you guys have some dish soap and water? And a few bubble wands?"
"I can get those!" Angela exclaimed.
Kilik went inside to help Angela while Maka flipped open to the page she had been reading in the park. It was a very simple incantation, and useful for brewing. But Maka had a hunch she could do something with it. Brasa and Åska were watching curiously, but gave up when they realized the book had no pictures aside from a few detailed black-and-white plants.
Kilik returned with everything needed to make bubbles. "Not bad," he said.
"You don't even know what I'm going to do yet!" said Maka. "Trust me, if it goes well it'll be way cooler than just a few bubbles."
She picked up one of the bubble wands (the smallest of the five Kilik brought with him). Brasa, Åska, and Angela were watching.
"Ready?"
The three children nodded eagerly. Maka took a deep breath and dipped the bubble wand into the rainbow-colored concoction. Maka concentrated her magic into her hand holding the bubble wand. She forced it into the unyielding stick.
"Unbræcee wapulas," she murmured. The liquid didn't change at all, but Maka saw it glint like gold for just a second.
Please work, she willed as she pulled up the plastic stick and blew.
Several small bubbles burst forth. The moment they left the wand they floated around Maka. So far so good. She sifted through her limited Old Tongue before shouting, "Bærsas!"
The bubbles transformed from regular spherical bubbles to several tiny fish, ranging in colors all across the spectrum. They swam in the air around the three children. Even when Angela did her best to clap a couple between her hands they didn't pop, instead splitting into multiple smaller fish.
The children were delighted to say the least.
Maka redipped the wand and blew a few more times while her magic was still concentrated in her right hand. Then she switched to a few bigger ones and repeated the process. Before long the little backyard was swarming with shimmering translucent fish of various sized. The smaller ones swam around Maka's waist height in great swarms, while the larger ones did lazy laps in the fenced area by her ankles, sweeping along the grass languidly. The children chased them excitedly.
Kilik whistled lowly. "Well isn't that something?"
Maka fell to her knees, a mixture of exhaustion and relief. At least she hadn't made a fool of herself. Kilik helped her into a chair.
"So where'd you learn to do that?"
"My mama's book. It's an herbology tome, but it also contains many useful incantations used in potion brewing. I've never done it before, but it was worth a shot." Maka smiled at the result. "The incantation meant 'unbreakable' which is used for any fragile ingredients to stop them from dissolving all at once. I just applied it with the word bubble and said 'fish' afterwards."
"Why fish?"
"The only animals I know how to say in Old Tongue are 'fish' and 'cat.' I only know them because my mama would say them all the time. She would call my papa a fish whenever he lied. He had this face where his mouth hangs open a bit like one."
The two teens laughed at how ridiculous Maka's limited vocabulary was.
A thin white-haired man wearing a white button up, sandals, and blue slacks came in from the gate. He looked around at the fish. Somehow he masked his shock very well.
"Daddy!" Angela shriek before launching herself into his arms. The man easily scooped her up before walking over to where Kilik was.
"Hello Kilik."
"Mr. Diehl."
He frowned. "Mifune. Only my students call me Mr. Diehl, and you've graduated second grade long ago."
"Yessir!" Kilik grinned before introducing them. "Maka, this is Mr. Die—Mifune. He's Kim and Angela's dad. Mifune, this is Maka. She's the new witch who moved into town."
"A witch? First year out?" Maka nodded. Mifune didn't smile, but he seemed to understand.
"I'd like to talk with you a little more about it," he said. "But first we need to distract the kids. Kilik, can you take Angela? I've got a few things to prepare in the kitchen."
The girl was handed to Kilik. Mifune went inside for a minute before coming out with a tray.
"Snack time!" he called.
It immediately got the attention of the three kids, who dashed over to where he was standing with a bowl of assorted berries and three glasses of lemonade.
"Straws?" asked Angela.
"Yes, I have straws. Now go wash your hands and sit down at the table when you're all clean."
The children went inside. They sat in the center of the yard when they were done. Mifune gave them each a plastic cup with a straw and set the berries on the ground in the middle of their little circle. He went back inside with the tray and came out with a pitcher of lemonade, three more glasses, and a chair for himself. He set it next to Maka.
Mifune nodded towards his yard as he handed Maka a glass of lemonade. "That's a beautiful thing you've done."
Maka accepted the drink gratefully. "It's not much, just a little magic. It's the least I can do."
"You definitely made my job much easier, that's for sure!" Kilik replied with a laugh. He accepted the lemonade with a smile. "Those guys get bored of everything too fast. Having something less mundane might be all they need."
Mifune sat with them in the shade. The children were sitting in the middle of the yard with their food. Bubble fish were floating around them still. Maka could tell a lot of them had finally popped. The spell was only temporary after all.
Once they finished it was time for the Rung family to leave. Kilik was rounding up his siblings, who were complaining about not wanting to leave. Mifune spoke with Maka for a few seconds.
"Thank you. My older daughter told me she finally let you know she's also a witch. I know Kimial can be a handful sometimes. She has a lot of potential, and I'm glad she's making friends. After meeting Jacqueline everything's been better for her. I know that she chose not to pursue magic and I respect her decision. I'm positive Angela will choose to leave though."
Mifune was looking wistfully at his younger daughter as she ran over.
"It's hard," he said. "I know next to nothing about magic. It doesn't help that Angela's very gifted. Kim can only do so much. Maybe when she's a bit older you could help? Just to teach her the basics. I want both Kim and Angela to have the lives they want to live."
"If it means anything, I think you're a wonderful father," Maka said. "Kim's never said a bad thing about you, and Angela obviously adores you. What else could a father ask for?"
"You do have a point."
Mifune smiled. He held up Angela as he waved the teens goodbye. They waved back. Then Kilik took Brasa's hand in his left and Åska's in his right.
"I'm going to head home. These two need a bath before dinner."
"I'll walk with you," said Maka. "I can fly pretty quickly from anywhere."
"Great! It's not far, just five minutes."
The walk was pretty quiet, as it seemed the twins had exhausted themselves from running around. Kilik encouraged them to walk before giving up. He gave Brasa a piggyback ride. Maka did the same for Åska after adjusting the way she held her broom.
"Thank you so much for this," said Kilik. "They'll probably wake up the moment we get back to my place."
"My pleasure! They're both sweethearts." Maka hiked the dozing girl up before asking Kilik. "So you know that Kim's a witch? You mentioned it to Angela earlier."
Kilik nodded. "Ever since I started watching Angela. She fell one day and broke her wrist. I was in a bit of a panic when I ran into the house looking for a phone. Then Angela told me to call Kim because 'she can fix it really fast.' So I called Kim instead of a doctor."
"Let me guess. She made you swear not to tell anyone."
Kilik laughed. "Yep. Sworn to secrecy! Same as you, right?"
"Same as me."
"Then we're one of the few who know."
They arrived to Kilik's house soon after that. Maka bid the boy goodbye with promises to meet up again. She also carried Åska to the bathroom. The girl gave her a sleepy wave before Maka mounted her broom and headed back to the café.
Maka came home to find Marie at the stove making dinner. She assured Maka she was feeling fine, then resigned to sitting as Maka finished cooking instead. Stein laughed when he came in to find his pouting wife.
"It's best if you don't push yourself dear," he said warmly. "You don't want to push yourself, do you?"
"I'm fine!" she huffed, banging hard enough on the table that it cracked underneath her fist.
Needless to say Stein went out to buy a new table that night. Dinner was delayed until he came back with one. Maka recounted it with joy as she ate, and bid the couple a very sleepy goodnight.
"Did you have a good day off?" Blair asked when Maka entered the room.
"The best!"
Maka went to bed with a smile on her face.
So I obviously changed some things because I wanted a nice AU where Mifune's alive.
Also, what's with me making all the mothers die or leave? This is the third one in a relatively small group of teens!
Translation notes:
Swedish: Brasa = fire, Åska = thunder
The "Old Tongue" (it's Old English fyi): unbræcee wapulas = unbreakable bubbles, bærsas = fish
Next chapter: Maka starts studying with Stein. Lots of lore ensues.