CHAPTER 22

A/N – Greetings my dear readers! First of all, thank you so much for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, despite all the drama… ;) Now the main villain is gone, but things got complicated… Will Maka and Kid work it out or will she never be able to forgive him? Hmm… who knows ;) Anyway, time to make it public – only one more chapter to go of this epic tale aside from this one!

The gunfire resounded rhythmically and the shots continued to hit the center of the target, never missing once. Yet the cold scowl on the young shinigami's face did not fade even a little bit as he continued to shoot, frozen in that rigid stance.

"Kid! Kid, that's enough! Stop!" Liz shouted, causing his arms to instantly drop limply to his sides and the reaper only let out a shaky breath as he released the two pistols. His gaze carefully avoided the girls, wandering past the exercise area. His cold fury seemed to have simply vanished, leaving him feeling drained and exhausted and wanting nothing else than to just drop to the ground and lie there like a dead thing. Then the older girl's hand rested gently on his shoulder, her numerous bracelets ringing softly with the movement.

"Father hopes you'd speak to him," she said, briefly motioning to a puzzled and curious Patty to run off to play somewhere else. The smaller blonde didn't need to be told twice, as she quickly started off in the direction of the palace, already giggling.

The shinigami's gaze shifted to the ground as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked a pebble with the tip of his boot, watching it as it rolled in the dust. He knew that Liz had found out all the details of his mission and that had brought a sudden awkwardness between them, on top of increasing the already existing awkwardness between him and Lord Death. He also knew that Liz felt somehow responsible for it (and it broke his heart) – because she and Patty had been the weakness Eibon had used to force him to do the job.

"Liz, I already know what he wants to say – we did the right thing, blab la bla. I really… heard all of this before again and again, I don't want to hear it anymore, "he grumbled, ill-humored.

"But Kid, he loves you! All he wants is-"

"No, Liz. He's loyal to the man who imprisoned and threatened you and Patty!" The reaper shook his head. "Just… fuck that! If he would for once say 'you know what, we need to put up with this shit because we don't have a choice' instead of claiming that we must do it because it's the right thing! How the fuck is it the right thing?!"

The blonde sighed, pushing away a strand ruffled by the warm desert breeze out of her face. She glanced thoughtfully back towards Great Wizard Eibon's palace and their own quarters, very nearly attached to it, as the grey buildings profiled against the blue sky and the sandy, barren grounds. Liz Thompson had had it rough for a big part of her life, but she'd always spoken her mind. And now she'd not hold back, knowing what ate her brother.

"But there's more, isn't it? You had shit jobs before, but this one is different, isn't it?" she asked softly. "The Emerald girl, Maka. She's grown on you, didn't she?"

Kid looked up at last, hating that his sister had to see him look this helpless and vulnerable. He was adept at concealing his emotions from most people, but not her, they'd been too close for too long for that to work now. And the last thing he wanted was to burden her with his pain. But then he figured it would hurt Liz more to think he wouldn't consider her close enough to open up to her.

"If you know what happened then you know I've treated her very badly…"

"Not much of a choice there, was it?" the blonde replied. "And that's not what I asked, Kid…"

The young shinigami rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly. "Well… to put it simply it's hard not to like her, Liz and she really is a special person… I just can't keep thinking that she deserves better than this, you know? Than all this bullshit and… and Eibon!" he snorted, shaking his head. "And yeah, if we were free, if she didn't belong to him we could-… I don't want to think of it, Liz, it's just too damn much!"

The blonde sighed again and wrapped her arms around her stepbrother, lightly kissing his hair.

Green orbs wandered past the window, over the luxurious gardens outside, the top of high, slender trees hugged by leaf-laden ivy strains swaying a bit under the warm breeze. It was quiet here, if nothing else, Maka thought, playing absentmindedly with her necklace, while the two servants did her hair. After wearing simple, rough leather on her bare skin for so long, the silk dress felt rather odd. She stared in her lap, fingers running slowly over the smooth, saffron colored fabric.

Merely three weeks had passed since the day she'd singlehandedly put an end to the rule of almost four hundred years of the High Priest Moro Pellemargaroth – the Ourouboros - but it had felt like ages. She'd been bedridden for the most part though - due to the poisonous bad blood she'd apparently inhaled and permeated her skin – after passing out nearly on the spot and waking up sometimes later here, in her uncle's palace in the Provinces.

'Her uncle' was a way of putting it, though, a title he'd assumed with badly concealed reluctance. Maka knew that the Great Wizard Eibon was cruelly disappointed by the fact that the only descendant of Emerald blood had to be an illegitimate child, but he figured she would have to do. In fact, she'd already served the very purpose of her birth – to bring him and implicitly the Emeralds back on the throne of Styx. The blonde had hardly any interest in politics and Eibon hadn't bothered excessively with the explanations either, but he'd asked the magical child Chrona to speak to her and keep her company.

Maka was grateful for that – Chrona wasn't like the other servants she'd found rather intimidating, he'd turned out to be unexpectedly pleasant. Apparently, the magical child could be both a boy and a girl, whichever was needed (she had not really understood how that worked, but it didn't matter). So she'd asked Chrona – who happened to be a very efficient spy – everything she needed to know about what had happened. Her father was fine and truly no longer in debt for one, and the blonde had breathed in relief at the thought that at least everything she'd done had at least accomplished that much.

Soul and Blair had been freed according to the deal and the scythe-boy had returned to his job as a scribe – the true job he'd been trained for since birth. Still, Maka had some trouble imagining Evans among books and scrolls and not chopping anyone to pieces. The Star clan was to serve Eibon now, even if they'd no longer rule, but the prince and his wife had been allowed to leave the Citadel and apparently had withdrawn to a remote Star estate somewhere in the Provinces, as a reward for their contribution. The Ourouboros' shinigamis, now left without a master, were also going to serve Eibon from now on.

Eibon had told his niece that Chrona was actually Kid's servant and her heart had jumped at hearing this, yet she'd not dared ask the pink-haired boy anything about his master. Her uncle had been clear about it – she wasn't to think of him too much. Eibon had offered to punish the young shinigami, if she should desire it, but pointed that he was a precious servant and his life could not be taken. Maka had been utterly horrified by the suggestion, all the more since the Great Wizard had fully admitted that everything had been his plan and his instructions. Of course, he'd merely pointed that it was the right thing to do under the circumstances. At any rate, he'd not discussed the subject extensively, being clearly more preoccupied about the future. Maka was his heir, so she was to be trained properly for the job – she'd study (Eibon had been surprised to find out that she could read and write) and above all master her dormant mage abilities. Maybe with a lot of work she'd make a proper princess, the mage reckoned.

After the darkness of the dungeons she'd spent so much time in, Maka was grateful that at least here there was plenty of sun and she could go out into the gardens and enjoy the coolness of the artesian fountains and the pleasant breeze through the leaves while she read. Somewhat to her surprise, the books Eibon had given her to read were rather captivating and a pleasant company. As soon as the women were done and retired wordlessly, the blonde picked one and walked out of her room, still careful not to get lost in the complicated corridors.

Maka felt him before she saw him, and the first thing she saw – and made her heart nearly jump out of her chest – was a black shadow moving across the white marble of the floor, his steps light and soundless. There was no white skull mask concealing his face now and the black cloak was gone, replaced by a simple, black suit over a crisp white shirt and he was still so strikingly handsome despite the unnatural pallor of his face. She stopped dead in her tracks, clutching the thick tome to her chest helplessly.

The reaper halted his steps too, quickly lowering his gaze as he took a small bow. "Mistress," he said in a hushed tone, before moving slightly as if to continue on his way, past her.

"My name is Maka," the blonde murmured. "Please, stop."

"Mistress Maka," he conceded reluctantly as she stepped closer, a bit unsteady, until she was standing right in front of him. His gaze was still on the ground, carefully avoiding to meet hers.

Maka took a deep breath, gulping. "I just wanted to say-…" Her hand flew to her mouth all the sudden, by the Gods, what had she wanted to say?! It had all slipped from her mind! Her fingers dug into her upper lip as she struggled to come up with something, anything worth saying, anything of relevance to what she truly felt.

"My uncle thinks I should ask him to punish you." Oh no, that wasn't….Well, it would be a good thing to see his reaction maybe.

But the young shinigami's face remained blank, expressionless. "Maybe you should," he said.

"W-what?"

The golden eyes finally looked up to meet her widened green orbs. "I won't beg for forgiveness like a coward, Mistress Maka. I will take it if you want it."

The blonde shook her head, her face scrunching up in pain. "You think I'm like him? Like my uncle?" she whispered breathlessly. "Do you hate me for being of his blood? Is that why… why-…" She stopped brusquely, burying her face in her free hand.

"I don't think anyone is quite like your uncle…" Kid said softly, sighing. "And I don't hate you, or think that you are bad. I just want you to do whatever you need to get over this, if possible. I know you don't want to hear this and it's not meant as an excuse, but whatever Master Eibon has told you about me is true. I am a mercenary and all my life is given to my job, serving the House of Emerald. If it hadn't been for this mission, I would never have spared you a second glance, but not because I despise you, but because… I'm just not meant for this kind of thing. Have your revenge if you must, but in the end the best thing you can do is forget about me."

"How can you say that?!" Maka snapped. "Have my revenge if I must?! First of all, I would not have my revenge on you! And second – I know that he kept your sisters here as a guarantee that you did your job! And all those things you said to me back at the Temple were lies!" She paused, uselessly trying to blink back her tears. "You're lying right now too and I wish you'd just stop it! If you didn't love me, you wouldn't offer yourself to be punished just so that I'd feel better! If you didn't love me you wouldn't have told me the truth about my uncle's plan before it was done, hoping to stop me, to save me! Because you simply wouldn't care!"

The blonde flinched when her wrists were grabbed firmly and she nearly dropped her book, staring into his eyes – which despite their warm color were now cold as ice.

"Mistress Maka, the truth is I don't care. Like you pointed yourself, I only do my job because I have no choice. I don't hate you, but I hate your uncle, however unlike him you are unable to control me, so don't think I'll ever obey you. You don't know me at all, so don't delude yourself that you do. You are an Emerald and I am servant of the Emeralds, but that's all there is."

And with that the reaper just walked away, in perfect indifference, no haste in his step as he went about his business, leaving her all alone in the middle of the hallway.

I am unable to control you, am I? Well… we shall see about that, Kid…

To be continued