...Of course, one can imagine what sort of father and mentor such a man would be. As a father, he did precisely what was expected of him; that is, he totally and utterly abandoned his child by Adelaida Ivanonva, not out of malice towards him, and not from any wounded matrimonial feelings, but simply because he totally forgot about him. While he was pestering everyone with his tears and complaints, and turning his house into an iniquitous den, a faithful family servant, Grigory, took the three-year-old Mitya into his care, and if Grigory had not looked after him then, there would perhaps have been no one to change the child's shirt...

Maka took a deep breath, placed a bookmark between the pages, and closed the book. As she stared out the plane window she felt the heavy tome slipped from beneath her hands.

"The Brothers Karamazov? What's this about, Maka?"

Maka turned toward Tsubaki, who had taken the seat next to her.

"It's about a father who's a drunken man-whore bastard and his sons..."

Tsubaki looked concerned.

"I mean, a lot of other stuff too..." Maka added

"Oh. Sounds interesting..." Tsubaki smiled, opening the front cover to read the dust jacket.

"It's set in Russia?"

"The first time we were in Moscow, before Feodor and Tsar...well... you know... anyway, when I first met him, Feodor gave me this. He knew my father from way back when, and kind of took an interest in me. We talked a lot about Russian literature...He said I should read this if I wanted to know Russia. And basically everything about life...and human nature."

"Looks like you're just starting it now..." Tsubaki said

"Yeah...well...I didn't feel like picking it up for a while after what happened, but since we're going back..."

"I can understand that." Tsubaki said.

"What have you heard about the mission?" Maka asked.

"Not too much. We're meeting up with the Russian Branch in Moscow and I think heading out to the countryside from there. Something about a disturbance happening out there."

"I wonder why they called us over. They're usually fine at handling things themselves."

"I don't know. Things have been pretty quiet since we defeated the kishin."

"I guess Shinigami said it was only matter of time before corrupt individuals began to accumulate power again. What was it he said...something like what we did will go down in the history books, but in the big scheme of things, it was just a temporary redistribution of power.

"Job security!" Blackstar crowed from the row in front of the girls, cracking his knuckles, folding his arms behind his head, and reclining his seat so far he was practically laying in Tsubaki's lap.

"Mind your own business, ninja turd!" Maka growled, recovering her book, and wielding it dangerously.

"Baahh - you're no fun" Blackstar grumbled, returning the seatback to a reasonable position, and slipping into the aisle to stalk someone else.

"This flight is soooo freaking loooongggg..." he wailed

"I remember everything, Alyosha, I remember you till you were eleven, I was nearly fifteen then. Fifteen and eleven, it's such a difference that brothers of those ages are never friends. I don't even know if I loved you. When I left for Moscow, in the first years I didn't even think of you at all. Later, when you got to Moscow yourself, it seems to be that we met only once somewhere. And now it's already the fourth month that I've been living here, and so far you and I have not exchanged a single word. I'm leaving tomorrow, and I was sitting here now, wondering how I could see you to say good-bye, and you came walking along."

"So you wished very much to see me?"

"Very much. I want to get acquainted with you once and for all, and I want you to get acquainted with me. And with that, to say good-bye. I think it's best to get acquainted before parting."

"SOOuuuuullll! What are you listening to?"

Blackstar yanked one of Soul's earbuds out and rammed it in his own ear. Soul tried to grab it, but was outmatched by the ninja's quick reflexes.

"What the hell?" Blackstar quickly pulled out the earbud and tossed it back at Soul's head in disgust.

Soul punched him in the shoulder. "You dick! You think I want whatever lives in your nasty ears on my stuff?" He pulled out the other earbud, turned off his mp3 player, and shoved the whole thing back in his jacket pocket.

"Were you listening to a book?" Blackstar asked. His expression hovered between horror and glee.

"So what." Soul said, shrugging.

"Did She put you up to this?"

He put his excessively muscled arm around Soul's shoulders. "Come on man, you should spend more time around me - I'll help you get your cohones back."

"It's doesn't have anything to do with Maka." Soul grumbled

"Sure, man. Whatever you say..."

"Blackstar, what do you want?"

"I'm BORED! This is the MOST BORING FLIGHT EVER!"

"We've only been in the air for two hours. We have like seven to go." Soul said, yawning. "You should just sleep or something."

"The great BlackStar does not require sleep!"

Soul sighed. He pulled his backpack from underneath the seat and retrieved a pack of playing cards from the front pocket. BlackStar's eyes brightened.

"Okay, you eighteen-year-old toddler, wanna play a game?"

"You know it!"

"Loser buys the winner a meal. Once a day. For a month."

"I'll never lose." BlackStar cracked his knuckles.

Soul pulled the tray table down and started dealing.

"What are we playing?" BlackStar asked.

"Shithead." Soul grinned.

Note - Quotes from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky