"YAHOO!"

Black Star, Tsubaki and Soul arrived at the bar not a moment after six, dressed in their finest casual clothes. Tsubaki took a booth while Black Star and Soul went up to the bartender. "I'LL TAKE YOUR FINEST WHISKEY!... and an orange juice for the lady, please" he turned to his friend "What's your poison?"

"Just a beer, thanks" Soul smiled.

Black Star handed the money over to the bar tender in exchange for the drinks, "Thank you, my good man, keep the change". They carried the drinks over to Tsubaki.

"Here's Kidd, Liz and Patty" Tsubaki smiled as she sipped her orange juice. The trio walked in and sat with them. They all said their hellos.

Black Star stood up again "What'll you have?"

"Two Vodka and Cokes and glass of lemonade, thanks" Kidd replied.

"This is nice, been a long time since all of us have been together" Liz smiled

"Huh? All of us?" Patty questioned.

"Yeah, I told Maka if she wanted a break from wedding planning to come along and to bring Tristan if he was up for it" she smiled in reply.

"What!?" Tsubaki went slightly pale.

"What's the matter Tsubaki?" Patty asked

Soul saw Tsubaki looking in his direction. He sighed "Geez! You know I did come back here for her wedding, right?"

The group was silent

"You guys need to relax" he showed his shark-like teeth in a wide grin "It'll be great to see her again"

Inside his heart was breaking. It took all his strength to come back home, he didn't know if he had any left. He was about to see her, he was about to see her happy, he was about to see her happy without him. Bitter sweet.

"What's the matter? I leave for five seconds and you guys run out of things to talk about?" Black Star came back with the drinks.

Tsubaki laughed nervously "Say, anyone heard from Chrona lately?"

"Yeah" Patty smiled "He's in Peru! He says it's nice and quiet, he can deal with peace and quiet"

"He should have visited me in Ocianica; there's nothing but peace and quiet there" Soul laughed

After about fifteen minutes of painful tension, the conversations began to blossom again, they had just gotten over the awkwardness when-

"Maka!" Patty squealed.

Soul turned to see her standing in the doorway. She looked like she had come straight from a hard day's work; black fitted suit jacket and pencil skirt, white shirt and her trademark green and white striped tie. She hadn't changed a bit since the last time he saw her. She began to walk towards them. He could feel the pieces of his shattered heart fluttering like butterflies, he was nervous, oh so nervous, his gut was doing summersaults, his hair was on end and he could feel his hands becoming clammy. He didn't know what to do, he wasn't sure he-

"Soul?" She stopped, eyes wide.

He gulped. "Hey" He stood up and faced his former meister who was standing no more than three feet from him.

"You're home?" her voice was weak

"I told you I'd come. I'm a man of my word, you know that" he was speaking automatically, without thought.

She half jumped, half fell into his arms and buried her face in his chest. He stood there, shocked for a moment before the old habit of holding her came into play.

"Hi there" he smiled trying his best to hide the fact that he was on the verge of tears.

She withdrew and turned away from him red faced. He couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or crying… or both.

She let out a little laugh "Hey guys" she sat down.

"What'll you have?" Soul asked

"Something strong please" she answered.

The night was going far better than expected. Everyone was talking and laughing and drinking it was almost like old times… almost. Soul had noticed that Maka wasn't really engaging with him, she was kind of ignoring him. He wanted nothing more than to talk to her. Eventually, the night began to slow down; Black Star brought Tsubaki home and left Soul with the spare key, Kidd was well on his way to a terrible hangover leaving his barely able weapons to call a cab. At one point Soul and Maka were alone.

You could have cut the tension with a knife.

"So" Soul rocked on his heals with his hands in his pockets.

"That's all you have to say?" she clenched her fist

He shrugged. She hit him

"Ow! Maka!"

"Three years! Three years and all you say is 'So'!" She downed her drink

"It's far more than what you were saying!" he argued

"What is there to say, Soul!? Hm? We've barely talked in a year"

"And who's fault is that!? There's so much to say, Maka"

"Really, Soul!? Like what!?" Her speech was slurred

He bit his tongue "You know!"

"I know what?!"

"Don't make me say it, Maka"

"Say it, Soul. Say 'Maka's getting married'!" she began to stumble

"You've had way too much to drink" He held her up

"No, no, you see, what was I supposed to do? I heard you had gotten yourself a new meister!"

FLASH BACK!

He was walking along the street he would now call home. Passing shops, watching everyone go about their business. "These people haven't got the slightest clue about danger" he smiled. Boom! He was knocked to his feet by a tuft of green. A moment or two later, three very angry men came by him.

"You seen a kid run by here with green hair?" one of them asked as the others helped him to his feet "He stole from my store!"

"Can't say I have" He replied as he brushed dirt out of his white hair.

"Then what knocked you over?" One of the men asked with his patience wearing thin.

"A strong gust of wind" he smiled.

One of the men grabbed his collar and lifted him off of his feet "Listen here, funny-man, if you don't tell me where that kid went, so help me, Death, I will beat you until you confess to the crime!"

He bared his shark-teeth grin "Do you really think that'll scare me?"

"Ted, hold his arms, I'm going to make him wish he'd never been born!"

One of the three held his arms behind his back as another began to wind up his arm in preparation to punch.

"Do it, Kinsen!" the third man laughed.

"STOP!"

"Huh? Who said that?" The one named Kinsen asked.

"I did!" stood not too far away from them was none the less but the green haired boy.

"You! You little theif!" Kinsen rolled up his sleeve and marched towards the boy.

The boy took a pathetic fighting stance.

"I'll teach you to steal from hard working people!" the man threatened as he swung his fist.

The other two were holding back the white haired man as the boy and shop keeper fought "What the hell did he steal anyway?" he asked as he jerked to get free.

"Two loafs of bread and a stick of butter" one of them answered

"Is that all!?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yup"

"Ted, Marnie; take care of the other guy, I'm sure they're working together" Kinsen called

The one of the men kept holding Soul as the other punched his gut with such force that he could have sworn he felt his intestines touching the underside of his lungs.

"That's it!" the white haired man yelled before turning one of his arms into the blade of a scythe.

"What the!" the three men looked at him. One of them spoke "Are you the- the new-"

"I suggest you all go back to wherever the hell you came from and leave me and this kid alone!" he reached into his pocket and threw something at one of the men "Here's ten bucks, that should be more than enough to cover the costs of bread and butter!"

"Yes sir, Mr Death Scythe sir" one of them bowed as backed away "Let's get out of here!" they ran.

He walked over to the boy on the ground and helped him to his feet "Thanks, kid"

"Huh? For what? I should be thanking you!"

"Thank you for coming back. That was brave. What's your name?

"Phoenix Barkwell, but everybody calls me Phil"

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"So you got a boyfriend?" he questioned

"You left, Soul!" she could barely stand.

"I'm taking you home before you hurt yourself" he sighed as he picked her up.