Author's Note: Glad people are interested in Travis's character he's definitely not the type of guy Maka has had to deal with before.
Chapter 12: The Faux Maka Albarn
"Alright explain to me how this photo is possible before I punch that idiotic grin off your face." Maka asked flatly, as she blinked away some tears.
Travis looked unaffected by Maka's threat and just grinned coyly.
"Well it looks like to me that it's you lip-locked with Soul." Travis replied back.
"You know damn well that's not what I meant! How can I be kissing Soul in this photo when we've never kissed at school before, that isn't me!" Maka snapped out.
Travis just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you have somebody impersonating you at this school and your so called partner couldn't even tell the difference between the two of you."
Maka's eyes widened a bit at Travis's comment.
'He's right Soul didn't even seem to realize that whoever that girl is in that photo wasn't me. Does he really not know me that well that he made such a simple mistake like that?'
Travis noticed Maka had become distressed and smirked. 'Playing with your emotions is one of your fatal flaws Maka.'
"See you wouldn't have problems like this if you had just agreed to become my partner in the first place." Travis explained smugly.
Immediately, Maka's sadness quickly turned back to anger.
"I know you had something to do with this Travis and when I find out; I'll make sure that you pay for it." Maka growled out before she walked off in the direction of outside.
Travis just let Maka go, not amused or impressed by her warnings.
'All I know is that bitch better have kept up her end of the deal so everything can go according to plan. It took forever just to make sure all the information I had was correct.' Travis frowned as he mulled over the research he had done over the past few days and last couple of hours just to prepare for today.
FLASHBACK
"So these are Soul Eater's and Maka Albarn's files. It took forever to get these without someone noticing. I better find something good out of this." Travis whispered under his breath as he sat in an isolated corner of the library.
Travis first looked over Soul's file and didn't find anything too significant until he came down to a section labeled Past Health History.
"Hmm what do we have under here? It seems like he had surgery around last year for a slash he got to the chest." Travis quietly read aloud as he read over the section and summary of the incident.
Accident Report Summary:
While on a mission in Italy, one star meisters Maka Albarn and Soul Eater were attacked in battle by the demon weapon Crona. No major injuries were reported to be found on Maka, but Soul's blood was mixed with the Black blood he gained from a slash to a chest while protecting his meister from harm.
Travis read over the section again more carefully.
"This is my first time hearing about something like black blood. I wonder what it does to Soul's body? He's been having it in his system for a little over a year now." Travis muttered to himself.
After a few more minutes of looking through Soul's file, Travis turned his attention towards Maka's.
"Well Soul's didn't have anything really of interest besides that black blood thing I need to investigate more into, but I'm sure Maka's file will have something good." Travis thought gleefully.
Travis went through Maka's file in the same manner as he went through Soul's: Reading every section once then double checking to make sure he hadn't missed anything unusual.
Travis's eyes lit up immediately, it didn't take him long to find something that caught his attention under Maka's personal info.
Besides having a father who was a death scythe and an apparently missing mother who was also a respectable meister herself, what stood out to Travis the most what that Maka had a grigori soul.
'Maka has a grigori soul; that's one of the rarest souls one could have! I've read about that type of soul in books before, but I never thought I would actually find someone who had it. I can't let an opportunity like this pass me up. I have to add that soul to my collection." Travis thought, a sickening smile growing on his face.
"But first things first, I need to start my end of the deal that I promised to that annoying girl Rachel and give her that elixir that makes you look like someone else temporarily." Travis grumbled as he closed both files and snuck off to return them back to their original place.
FLASHBACK END
~X~
"Oh Soul. has so much explaining to do when I get home! I'm going to chop him so many times until his head goes through the floor!" Maka hissed under her breathe as she stomped home.
Once Maka got inside and locked the doors behind her she found Soul asleep on the couch.
Maka stared at him for a second before deciding to wake him up with a blow to the head.
"Ow, what the hell did I do deserve being awakened like that!" Soul shouted as fell off the couch and rubbed his head.
"Explain to me what you were doing behind the school earlier this afternoon with me?" Maka snapped ignoring the look confusion that came onto Soul's face.
"Uh what do you mean? Weren't you behind the school with me?" Soul stated not sure what Maka meant.
"No I wasn't! I was waiting for you by my locker like you had said for me to do. So again I ask what you were doing with that imposter Maka?" Maka growled out.
"Whoa wait a minute! That wasn't you earlier? I thought it was I mean it looked like you." Soul stated surprised and now a bit nervous.
"Ugh how could you be so stupid?! I'm sure she was acting out in some way that should have gave away that it wasn't me, but instead you were so blind that you had to go and kiss her!" Maka cried feeling her voice begin to crack a bit.
"I wasn't the one who initiated the kiss! She forced herself on me and how do you know that we kissed if you weren't even there?" Soul retorted back.
"Don't worry about how I know that! The main thing is you didn't even seem to notice anything odd about her do you really not know me that well?" Maka asked.
"After all we've been through do you really think that? Geez it's not that it's just that well…" Soul frowned unsure how to finish his statement. 'When we were behind the school you actually told me you loved me… and now I'm finding out that wasn't even you.'
"Just what? I bet you probably got caught up in the fact that she was seducing you and you fell for it just like any other guy." Maka stated not letting Soul speak.
Soul became pissed, but didn't answer back. 'I thought Maka had gotten past her hating men fiasco, but she still obviously has issues over it and this situation definitely isn't helping.' Soul sighed and was about to speak up again when Maka cut in.
"I don't want to hear your excuses I have homework to do. You can go back to sleeping now." Maka huffed out and slammed the door to her room.
Both Maka and Soul knew that was just a cover up to hide the tears already slipping down Maka's cheeks.
~X~
Later that evening on the other side of town:
"I rather as well get this over with and call Rachel to confirm everything went as planned." Travis grumbled as he took out his phone.
Meanwhile Rachel was back at the girl's dorms when she noticed her phone going off.
"Oh hold on guys I'll be right back, I have to take this call." Rachel stated as she got up off her bed.
"Okay, but hurry back the movie is getting to best part soon!" Nancy said giving her a side glance.
Rachel stepped out of the room and walked towards a quieter area of the hallway.
"You better have a good reason for calling me all of a sudden." Rachel hissed into her phone.
"I'm just calling to make sure that you kept your end of the deal like I asked you to." Travis questioned.
"Oh that? Yeah I did as you wanted me to and broke into Dr. Stein's office and messed up the place and got you what wanted out of flirting with Hiro tpp. I'm pretty sure the cameras in and around the school could clearly see me. Plus I even got to get that kiss from Soul, though I wish it hadn't been while I looked like that nerd Maka." Rachel said squealing a bit when she thought back over everything.
"I told you the plan wouldn't have worked if you looked like yourself. I'm just glad you were able to cause a big enough scene to Stein's office in order to frame Maka. By the way, I need you to text me what Hiro told you." Travis replied back.
"Yes. I now you reminded me to send you the stuff and anything to make Maka look bad is fine with me, I just hate that you had to pick Dr. Stein's office of all places; it was so creepy being in there." Rachel added shivering a bit.
"I have my reasons for what I do." Travis muttered before hanging up.
'Now all that's left is to just wait until Monday to see the final parts of the plan completed.'
Maka was sure that by the time she had reached class on Monday morning she had heard at least ten people whispering behind her back.
'What is everyone talking about? It must be something about me at least and not hopefully anything involving Emerald.' Maka thought tiredly as she peeked at Soul from the corner of her eye.
Ever since the incident had happened back on Friday the two of them hadn't been on speaking terms and it was not only causing a rift in their wavelengths, but also in their friendship.
"Alright class, settle down were going to be having a pop quiz to start things off to make sure you've been reading." Stein stated as he handed a paper to each student.
Maka took her paper and noticed that there was a sticky note attached to hers that didn't seem to be on anyone else's paper.
'Why is this on my paper?' Maka thought feeling on edge as she read over the short message.
I need you to meet me in my office after school at 3 pm to discuss something. - Stein
'Great as if I wasn't already dealing with enough problems; my impersonator must have done more around the school than just kiss Soul.' Maka sighed.
The rest of the day went by slowly for Maka, at least most of her friends like Liz and Tsubaki didn't think she had done anything wrong, but Maka still had to face hearing people whisper and taunt her behind her back when they thought she didn't notice.
As 3 o clock rolled around, Maka trudged inside Professor Stein's office and was surprised to see it in shambles with papers and books scattered all about the floor and dirt and mud even along some of the walls.
Professor Stein looked up from his papers and maintained the same rigid expression he had given her earlier in class.
"Do you know why I called you in here Maka?" Stein asked after a few minutes of silence passed.
"If it's anything like what I've heard people talking about, it must be something to do with your office being like this." Maka replied back taking a seat in the chair across from him.
"Well yes that and the fact that my cameras show that it's you who caused my office to look like this in the first place." Stein stated as he took out of one of his cameras and played the recording back to her.
Maka gazed at the video for a few minutes before looking away.
"You know that isn't me, right? I wasn't anywhere near your office at the time this incident happened." Maka said.
"Well you're going to have to provide more information than just that in order to provide a reliable alibi." Stein answered back.
Maka bit her lip. Back on Friday at the time the video showed the accident had occurred she had been walking to her locker alone. It wasn't as if anyone had really seen her unless they took a look at one of the hallway's cameras or asked anyone who had a locker close to hers.
Stein noticed Maka looked uneasy and decided to calm her down.
"Relax Maka I know that this isn't you in this recording. I might expect maybe Black Star to try to break into my office, but not you." Stein explained, smiling a bit to ease her fears.
Maka groaned. "Then why did you just let me sit here worried I was going to get in trouble for a crime I didn't commit?"
Stein simply shrugged. "I like to mess with my students, but seriously though. do you have any idea who would want to set you up like this?" Stein asked.
Immediately the thought of Travis or Soul's fan-girls popped into Maka's head.
"There is this one guy in the NOT class, he's not exactly that popular. I think he mostly just keeps to himself, but he has been bothering me lately along with Soul's fans." Maka answered.
"This wouldn't happen to be the same guy that you sensed also back at the Gala?" Stein asked.
"Wait a minute; you noticed his presence also on that day?" Maka questioned in shock.
"Yes, when that blackout occurred, Marie wanted me to use my Soul Perception to look around for anyone that seemed unusual; I told her I did notice something odd and that you went off after him." Stein clarified.
'If Stein noticed that I left the party does that mean he watched for when I came back in?" Maka thought, beginning to feel anxious all over again.
Just to confirm Maka's thoughts Stein spoke up again.
"You know I thought it was odd that it took you so long to come back. especially in the condition you came back in. I also thought it was strange that right around the time Emerald and Diamond stopped performing that you arrived in also. What an odd coincidence that is!" Stein said with a grin as he watched Maka squirm a bit in her seat.
Maka just glared at Stein for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. "Okay what's it going to take for you not to tell anyone?"
Stein yawned becoming a bit bored with his teasing. "I don't care that you and Emerald are the same person. The only reason I really know is because I looked at everyone's soul who came in and out of the party and I highly doubt there is another girl around your age walking around with a grigori soul also."
Maka felt a bit better when he said that, but that didn't stop the anxiety she was still feeling.
"What should I do about Travis though? He wants something out of me besides just being his meister." Maka asked.
"For now he really hasn't done anything to the school that we can pin him with. We'll just have to watch him closely and since he seems to be focusing on you, you'll have to really make sure he doesn't try anything." Stein said, twirling a pen in hands.
"What? You want me to put myself in possible danger as bait for him; who knows what he might try though?" Maka snapped becoming angry at his decision.
"He obviously doesn't want to hurt you too bad physically just yet or he would have done it back on the night of the gala." Stein answered back.
'Well he's got me there.' Maka thought, still unhappy with where this situation was going to lead her.
"Anyways, I'll let you go now. I have to get to cleaning up this mess you know. It's disappointing that whoever came in here knocked down and destroyed some of my dissections and experiments. Marie won't let me carry any of them home anymore because she's afraid all the bacteria and germs might make the baby sick." Stein said with a sigh as he picked up some fallen papers.
"Well she does have a good point you don't want your child to be getting sick when they're only a few months old and haven't built up a good immune system yet." Maka mentioned.
"True hey maybe you could help me finish some of these dissections! Like this squirrel I found I wanted to mix his brains with a-"Stein paused and looked up and noticed Maka was no longer in the room.
"Hmm well if being Emerald has taught her anything, then it's how to escape from situations especially when they get uncomfortable for her." Stein said with a laugh.
~X~
'I'm not sure where Stein got the idea that I would ever want to help with his dissections 'that's disgusting even just thinking about it.' Maka thought scrunching up her face.
Unfortunately more bad news was coming her way because when Maka opened her locker she found a letter for her from Travis.
Hello Maka it's been about a week now. It's time for you to make a decision.
"Oh, I see you got my letter good. I was a bit worried you were going to go running off trying to hide from me." Travis stated popping up behind Maka just as she finished reading it.
Maka just rolled her eyes and faced him. "I'm not a coward for your information."
Travis just grinned at her stubborn behavior. "I know you aren't Maka you really aren't anything like Hiro, he was quite a wimp when I confronted him even with all the training and advice you gave him. Spilled everything to me about what's really been going on in only a matter of seconds."
Maka eyes narrowed a bit. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Travis only smirked and continued on. "Oh, you know what I'm talking about Maka; don't play dumb. Even though I had to ask Rachel to flirt with him a bit to get the information I needed. I already had that photo of you two and other data for me to come to a conclusion."
Maka bit her lip, this situation already looked horrible; it really couldn't possibly get any worse, right?
"It surprised me Hiro did put up a fight at first, he denied everything about the photo being a picture of you and him and he even denied that Rachel had gotten anything out of him, but he finally started talking when I made my arm into a sickle." Travis explained with a laugh.
Maka eyes widened a bit as Travis showed her his sickle arm. There was a mix of fresh and dried blood still on it.
"Now that you are all caught up with the story, let's just get to the point. I know that you and Hiro are Emerald and Diamond respectively." Travis finished calmly.
"So now that you know what are you going to do with that information?" Maka asked quietly.
To Maka's shock Travis pulled her close and whispered the response in her ear.
"Now that I know who you two really are I'm going to become a member of your little group. Don't worry Hiro already agreed to it. Starting on Wednesday Masquerade has a third group member and you have a new partner."
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 12, let me know what you think and as always thanks for reading!