Good evening, good morning, good afternoon. Whatever applies to you, I hope you're doing well! It's almost two in the morning here, but I figured it's never a bad time to update a story, right?

Now, I'd like to thank everyone for the reviews and faves! I honestly didn't expect what I was blessed with, so THANK YOU! I love you all! And now, as promised to my reviewers as of right now, here are some shoutouts:

: tysm! Ugh, this is mainly a 'get to know what's up' chapter too, but I promise, next chapter is when the basics are over and the story really begins!

emilykim1504: thaaaank you! This story will definitely be continued!

TwilightEternal412: oh STAHP IT! You're so sweet, thank you!

Indythewolf: you should write a SoMa story! I would certainly LOVE to read it, I really do hope you post one! And thank you asdfghjkl

JellyRain: I am sure considering it! The rating will most likely change sometime in a later chapter, so I'll wait a tad longer until I try to take on the M category!

Israelle ParadiseIsis Hypnosis: wait no longer! Here's the next chapter (:

Kaoru97: I am SO glad you enjoyed my writing style! Thank you for the review not only on this, but on my other-fandom fic as well! (it means so very much) I am now going to have to go through your gallery of stories, and might I say I'm looking forward to reading them!

*here's a shout to everyone who faved and followed, as well. I love you*

Now for this chapter, it's pretty straight forward and faced paced. I'm ready to get into the actual plot next chapter, and since it's early in the morning I didn't look over this for mistakes so I apologise for any!

Disclaimer: Soul Eater ain't mine, bro. But the plot... Yeah. That's mine.

Leaning back in the not-so-comfortable window seat during her flight, Maka smiled to herself and inaudibly hummed to the music that was silently reverberating through the headphones she'd been wearing the past hour.

The week had gone by well, she thought; replaying every detail in her head. Tsubaki handled the situation with more excitement than sadness as she repeatedly told Maka 'oh, you're going to have to send me lots of pictures! Did you know they get snow over there in the winter? I'm going to have to come visit you!' All the while bouncing with glee as her friend told her about her new responsibilities that lay ahead of her.

Maka had also called The Springs - discovering a great staff, good pay, a well amount of freedom, but tight hours Monday to Saturday. She wouldn't be required to work on Sunday, which she thought would give her a substantial amount of time for shopping, sleeping in, hiking… whatever she felt like.

When she included the fact that her flight and apartment expenses were already taken care of, Maka couldn't be happier… except for the fact that an annoying ass dude got the seat directly to the side of her. Well, at least I got the window seat.

After the approximately 3 hour not-so-classy flight and the hour-long drive to actually get to Colorado Springs from the airport, (she'd had to land in Denver) Maka struggled with her luggage as she hauled it up the side stairs to her small apartment. It was dark outside, and much colder than she'd originally thought it'd be in the beginning of September, yet she had managed to unload her things and pay the friendly cab driver her fares. Wanting nothing more than to take a hot shower and sleep, she saved the unpacking business for tomorrow along with everything else she had to do.

"Hmmm.." Maka wondered aloud, thoughtfully observing the heating unit to her flat that was built into the wall. "Now, how do I turn this on- AHH!" She jumped backwards, yelping as her hand was almost scorched by the small flame that erupted from the bottom of the contraption. All she'd done was pull the lever! It was just a flicker though, she later discovered after reading up online about those things. She'd never had anything like it in Miami – it simply wasn't necessary.

It took her practically all day, but she was finally unpacked and warm. The only thing left to do was see what time she had to be at The Springs for orientation the following day.

So picking up her near-dead cell phone, she gave a quick ring to the service desk, earning an almost immediate pick up:

"Hello! This is Liz Thompson at The Springs, how may I be of assistance?"

"Hello, Miss Thompson. I'm Maka Albarn and I'll be coming in for orientation tomorrow. I just wanted to confirm a time, and I'd also like to know if I should be bringing anything with me?"

"Ah, yes. Orientation is at 10 o'clock a.m., and you needn't bring anything; schedules will be handed out with everything you'll need to know including what patient you'll be attending to and their special needs."

"Very well, thank you!"

Hanging up the device, she nearly tripped over her coffee table trying to get to her charger before the phone died. Once plugged in, she sauntered over to her small yet lavish kitchen to prepare a quick meal before bed.

While munching on her sandwich, Maka's mind drifted toward the patients at The Springs. Depression, prolonged anxiety, muteness…the words Mr DeAnda spoke to her not even a week ago rung loud in her ears as she considered every possible thing that could be manifesting the souls of the teenagers that were held there. Being a newbie would she get an easier case to look after? Or would being the top of her class start her off with someone a bit more difficult?

Only time would tell. And speaking of time, Maka loaded her dishes into the dishwasher and crawled into bed at almost midnight; looking forward to meeting the hopefully happy person she'd soon be able to call her first patient.

"Welcome! And I thank you for generously giving us, The Springs Institute, your much valued time. I've never been much of a person for formalities, so please, call me Kid. I am your 'boss' per say, but you will each have a personal trainer to get you acquainted with the building and scheduling today. Now remember, you start tomorrow, officially! So listen carefully to your helper; be attentive and ask any questions you may have. I do hope you will then join us all for dinner tonight, as we have much to discuss!"

Short speech coming to a close, Maka took in her surroundings, realizing what an enormous project this was. There were 3 separate buildings, each 2 stories high, and the grounds were immaculate; one could almost say they were completely symmetrical. Though hoping to find her trainer soon and henceforth deciding she'd try to make time to scroll through the gardens later, she stood up straighter and walked a bit faster towards the entrance to the centre building where a few dozen people were holding up signs with the newcomers names written across them. Locating the yellow paper with her named neatly scribbled across, she successfully made her way to the lady with the short blonde hair without tripping in her new heels.

Smiling at the girl that couldn't be much older than herself, Maka held out her hand and politely said, "Hi, I'm Maka Albarn."

Beaming, the young lady accepted her hand and bubbly announced, "My name's Pattie, and I'll be your trainer today! I hope you're ready Maka, there's a lot to learn and not much time to do it! And by the way, it's great to finally meet you. I hear you're top of your class, am I right?"

"Yes, currently I'm top of my class."

"Well good for you!" Pattie near-shouted in a joyful manner, making Maka wonder if she was always this loud. Continuing, she toned down and spoke in a serious manner when she went on to say, "You're going to need some memorization skills for this position. And you specifically will need patience. I thought a girl as smart as you could handle that; you do have quite a patient to keep up with, after all."

Eyes glittering at the thought of who that person would be, Maka grinned and asked her supervisor as they began strolling through the front doors of the building, "Do I get to meet them today? Would you tell me about them?"

Laughing lightly, Pattie told her, "If we have time you can certainly meet him,but if not I will surely have told you what you need to know about him anyway. But we're getting of track! I've got to show you around first, so let's start here!" Throwing her hands up above her head, Pattie animatedly described everything that went on in the main building. In a nutshell: this was where patients were checked in and out, this is where any visitations were held, and the top floor was the storage area of all the paper work that needed to be kept and filed. "On Saturdays, you'll work short hours. All you'll need to do is come in here and file your patient's paper work for the week. If there's ever a conflict with times or scheduling, you'll come to one of the receptionists who work in here. Now!" She clapped her hands, "To building two!"

Building two as Pattie called it, was located to the right of the main building. According to the bouncy nurse, this would surely be her favorite place here.

Entering the already-open doors, Maka quickly determined for herself that this was a building for the nurses: there were lounge chairs and couches paired with coffee brewers and television sets placed in a symmetrical fashion all along the tile floors. "Here is where you can come on your break time. There of course is the cafeteria - and I promise you it's better than 'normal' cafeteria food! - and it's also just a place to relax and have a cup of coffee or whatever. Plus, the best cell phone connection is in this building, so if you ever want to make a call here's where you'd come." Leaning down to whisper closer to her apprentices ear, Pattie hushed, "Upstairs, though, is the place for the really crazy cases. Only the specialty doctors can give you the permission to go up there, so it's best if you don't."

Nodding in quaint understanding, Maka then changed the subject and questioned, "Is there a separate cafeteria for the patients?"

"Oh yes," Pattie explained, "It's very small though, so it was able to fit on the bottom floor of building three - that's where the rest of the patients are located. It's so small because most of the people just decide they want to eat in their rooms instead of trying to socialize with everyone else, or they'd rather eat out back in the gardens. They're allowed outside the building only under their nurses watch at anytime of day they please. Some like staying outside all day, while others prefer the indoors. Your patient might I add, prefers staying indoors."

Adding another piece of information to her so far minuscule mental list of things about whoever he was, Maka asked once more, "Do you think there'll be time to meet him today?"

"Be patient!" Pattie ordered while giggling, causing Maka to raise her hands up in a defensive way as to say 'I'm sorry, I will.'

"You'll meet him soon enough. Anyway, let's walk over the the last building so I can at least show you where his room is before we depart for the dinner Kid invited us to."

Pace quickening as the sky grew ever-so-slightly darker, Maka followed her instructor inside the building where she immediately found it lacking a good central heater. "It's cold in here!" She stated aloud, hoping someone would hear her and turn up the heat for the poor people who stayed here.

"It's only cold because it's healthier. Bacteria grows in warmer places, so it's required that we keep it cold to prevent anything unnecessary happening. But let's see," Scanning the expanse of hallway visible to the pair, Pattie led them to a countertop on the right and explained, "Every morning when you come in, you'll pick up the medicine your patient will need. All you have to do is give the lady the name of the boy, and she'll give you what you're looking for. Next," Walking in the opposite direction towards the elevators, "You take the lift to the second floor." So, that's what they did.

Once arriving, Pattie took her to another countertop this time on the left side of them. "Here's where you'll pick up their breakfast. Again, give the person behind the counter the name and they'll give you what he needs. Got it so far?" Medicine, breakfast. Easy. "Yup. Then what?"

Pointing towards the very end of the long, bright white hallway, Pattie simply stated, "You take the stuff to him - he's in room 203. Make sure he takes his medicine first, then he can eat. Up until lunch time, you've got to do a basic round of checkups. You know, blood pressure and temperature. Write down the results and then figure out whatever you can do to keep him occupied until lunch... Just don't let him fall asleep. You can take him outside of he wants, you can take him to the cafeteria -before and after lunch there's a wide variety of activities available there, but they differ each day so you'll never know what you're gonna end up with- but in reality, your guy could have you sit and read to him for hours, honestly. He loves books. He also adores music, so if you ever get stuck, bring him to the main building in the visitors center. There's a piano in there he could play."

Perking up at the sound of getting to read for hours, Maka smiled as she mentally scanned through the books she had that she could possibly bring tomorrow to start out with. The piano was interesting as well though, she'd never learned to play an instrument as a child and she always found it fascinating to watch a musicians fingers glide across the ivory as if it were the skin of a lover.

The rest of the events for her day would be in tune with everything else: bring him medicine after all meals then keep him occupied until the next meal. Always keep a diligent record of the basics that surrounded his health: strong heart beat, good breathing patterns, temperatures, and so forth. All in all, it wasn't near as difficult as she expected. And of course, the obvious question came back around to haunt her, so she tried one last time with extra plea in her voice, "Pattie, may I please meet him today?" Smiling and clasping her hands together, she silently begged for a chance to come eye to eye with the mystery boy.

Placing a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder, Pattie reluctantly murmured, "We don't have time. We must be making our way down for dinner now, the restaurant is across town and we don't want to be late." Noting how the girl with the green eyes and pigtails lowered her head in defeat, she sympathized with her and decided, "Although we have to go, I'll answer any simple questions you have about him while we make our way down."

Eyes regaining their natural shimmer, Maka grinned gratefully, saying, "Okay, I have just three questions. 1. How old is he? 2. Who is he? 3. What's his condition?"

"He's 19 years old and his name is Soul Evans." Turning to face the visibly excited girl, Pattie once again placed a hand on Maka's shoulder and waited until their eyes met to say, "And since you want to know what's wrong with him, I'll tell you. It may not be what you're expecting though."

Brushing off the seriousness as nothing, Maka asked Pattie to just tell her because she needed to know now.

So, that's just what Pattie did. "You see, Maka. Soul is blind."

Dun dun dunn. Soul actually factually appears in the next chapter for those Soul-addicts like myself. Heads up.

Annnd also, because I honestly don't know. Is it spelled 'Kid' or 'Kidd'? I've seen it both ways. And is it 'Pattie' or 'Patty'? Again, it's confusing me! I guess either way is okay.

Review = Shoutout for you, endless joy for me. It's a win-win situation from my POV.