A/N - Sorry for the huge gap in between chapters (At least it wasn't seven months, eheh?). Yeah a wild holiday season appeared and then I sort of lost the Tempus Fugit spark and had to regain it back by working on my Fairy Tail fic.

SPEAKING OF WHICH. You can go read (and review ;3) the prologue and first four chapters of my Fairy Tail fic, Skin Deep, right now! The main character uses ink to fight, it's pretty cool. Anyway, back to the Soul Eater stuff

Like I said before, this chapter is going to be the one that wraps up the tea date arc, but it won't be the end of the development between Alecto and Tempus. (Or the fluff between Alecto and Kid, wink wink nudge nudge. ;D) Next arc'll definitely be a short-but-sweet one. After that it's a canon arc, a couple of original arcs, and then back to canon arcs for a while up to about the halfway point. And I know it sounds like we're not far off from that, but given how it's taken us 200K words to get this far, we've got a ways to go. And that's just to the halfway point. Second half's going to be a wild ride, let me tell you.

I am sorry that the visual reference links on my profile aren't working anymore. I'm trying to figure out how to best get those sorted out and set up.

Also, none of you noticed the blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Stein. I am very sad now.

OfAllTheShizz: Heh, that's one of the downsides to writing about the Plenitude. I keep getting cravings for all the pizzas I'm writing about, even the super unhealthy ones. (Cheeseburger pizza doesn't even sound like it would taste good why do I want one so bad. Me, you are a glutton and you need to cease.) And yeah, Crona's such a great character. Actually showed up for a few lines during chapter thirty. Not much happened. But Crona was there.

Doragon no Namida: It's not a question I've actually answered, and it's not a spoiler or anything so I can answer it right now! The answer is: she likes it. Yeah, there's not a whole backstory beyond the hair that ties itself wonderfully into her overall character arc. It's like the tea thing, it's just a weird little quirk of hers that she does because she's Alecto. Well, it does tie into her story a little bit, but not super significantly? Originally her hair color was going to be natural (between Kim and Black Star, it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary) but I ended up changing it. I don't exactly remember why. I guess I just thought it would be a neat trait.

Menou Rontu: Thanks! (For both reviews). Jeez, can't believe it's been over two years since I started this baby. Can't believe it's been over 200K words, I've never written something this intense before.

MegglesGG: Oh, trust me, I have plans. Like I've said, the next three arcs or so are going to put a bit more focus on character over plot, developing relationships further and exploring some things that have been hinted at but not fully realized, you know.

cyber samra: Well, uh, goodness. I'm glad you thought it was so entertaining. I do try my best!

Midnight15: Oh, don't worry, I totally understand! Well, not the college part specifically, but real life has that nasty habit of rearing up and being like "Hey. Pay attention to me." right when it's the most convenient.

Guest: Heh, sorry about that! Like I said, the holidays just sort of snuck up on me and were like "HI I EXIST." And then writer's block happened.

ShadowPhoenix34: I have hair that could be described as "barely wavy" at best, so I've never had much experience with dealing with curls, but I can't imagine that it's easy. I mean, geez, the knots alone must be a pain in the ass to brush out.

Lightsbane1905: I want to think of a really witty response to this, but all I can think about is "why would someone lie about liking big goats? What context was this phrase even said? I have so many questions."

Notes and translations of the Latin will be at the end of the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: Soul Eater is the intellectual property Atsushi Ōkubo. I have no intention of monetizing my fanwork, and this is merely an enjoyable passer of time.


Chapter Forty-Five - Peppermint and Strawberry - Inexperienced Against the Snake Man, Part 2


"Whoa!" Patti gaped at Tempu with wide, sky-blue eyes. "That's super creepy. Did you two die?"

Tempus gave her a flat stare in return. "Yes, Patti," he deadpanned. "Alecto and I both died. We've been lying to you this whole time, we're not actually time meisters, we're just teleporting ghosts. Ooohhhhh." He waggled his fingers in her direction before dropping his hands to his lap in exasperation. "Of course we're not dead. Go ahead, poke me, I have a body. A rather nice body, I'd like to add." Not that he was particularly muscular or anything; in fact, he was downright lanky, and being a passive participant in every battle he'd ever been in didn't help matters. But he took pride in his pretty-boy features, damn it.

Patti immediately took him up on his offer, reaching out and poking at the soft, dark skin of his cheek. "Well, I don't know," she said matter-of-factly. "Maybe dead people look like you. I've never met one before."

"And thank goodness for that," Liz grumbled, pulling in on herself slightly as a look of revulsion crossed her face at the very idea. "God, can you even imagine you as a ghost? You'd be the worst."

Tempus grinned devilishly. "Oh, yes, I'd be just awful. You'd come home from day only to find that your entire house has been completely reorganized! Your bookshelves now follow the Dewey Decimal system, your nicest chair has now been moved over next to the lamp with the most optimal lighting. And worst of all? Sometimes you wake up to find a Philip K. Dick anthology on your bed… and you don't know how it got there."

"Holy shit, you're so insufferable sometimes. Look, just get on with the story, would ya? It feels like you've been telling it for months, and we haven't even gotten to the good part."

Tempus sighed. "Yeah, fine, okay. So, the snake man had shot Ally with some sort of tranquilizer dart and had dragged her back to his cave out in the middle of the mountains. I, being the brave soul that I am, refused to change back into my human form for fear of getting gutted or something like that. Truly, a regular knight in shining armor, I was. Anyway, Yamakagashi hadn't bothered to kill us and eat our souls right away, which was good for us. Not so good for him once Ally woke up, of course…"


"Ally?!"

Alecto stirred slightly, her body still numb and tingly from whatever her attacker had shot her with. "Nnh?"

"Oh, wow, you're actually alive." A hazy image of Temperance's face appeared in the back of Alecto's thoughts, his expression a mixture of terror and relief. "I thought for sure that creepy dude was gonna kill us both before you had the chance to wake up." He paused. "Well, maybe just you. I don't know if he knows if I'm a person or not."

"C'n't m've. Wh' didn't you t'rn h'm'n?"

Temperance faltered, brows furrowing over his golden eyes. "What? Oh. I, uh… I guess I was freaked out a bit. Survival instinct kicked in, you know, figured I'd have a better chance at not getting eaten if I stayed a metal disc with pointy bits. Look, you can ditch my worthless ass for being a shit shield later, we've gotta focus on getting the hell out of here."

"W'ldn't do th't."

"What?"

"Wouldn't ab'ndon you." Alecto was starting to regain control over her muscles, and she could actually get a bit of a bearing on where she was. She was sprawled face-down on the ground, her cheek pressed against cold, damp stone. The sounds of rushing water roared in her ears from a source not too far to her right. Was she near some sort of waterfall? She shifted slightly, trying to push herself up. "Y're my w'pon. M'partner."

"I…" Temperance seemed genuinely at a loss for words. "Wow, uh, okay. L-let's just get out of here, shall we? Don't want to be here when that creeplord gets back and decides that he wants Italian for dinner."

"Nnnnnn."

"What now?"

"N'd to… need to find…" Alecto pushed herself into a kneeling position, ignoring the swimming vision and the nausea as best she could. That bastard's poison really did a number on her. "Need to fight."

"Wait, wait?!" Temperance exclaimed. "Did your brains get scrambled by that transquilizer dart? You'll get yourself killed, you'll get me killed, no one wins here!"

"Non cūrō." That was only partially true; she did care about getting Temperance out of here safe. She was his meister, his safety was one of her main concerns. But her other main concern was ensuring that Yamakagashi didn't take another soul, and she would happily give her life if it meant taking him with her.

It wasn't like she had anything else.


"You were really so willing to give up your own life that quickly?"

Alecto looked over the rim of her teacup at Kid. He was staring at her aghast, his amber gaze suddenly sharp with disapproval. She could understand why; as a junior Grim Reaper, a wasteful death must have been downright offensive to him. "N-not now," she hastily added. Not as wantonly, anyway. "I was thirteen, Kid, stultus eram! Sunt pueri pueri, pueri puerilia tractant. Nothing I really knew made sense, I'd never been the most talented or useful person… as far as I was concerned, dying to ensure that other people were safe was a far better way to go that living to age eighty and having achieved nothing with my life." She'd be lying if she still didn't believe that in a way. She didn't go into every battle just assuming that she'd have to die to assure a victory anymore, but given the choice between living and letting some monster run free or giving her life to ensure its destruction…

Well, there really was no choice, was there?

"There's more choices in life than being old and useless or dying young," Kid retorted.

"I know, Kid. I was thirteen at the time, remember? Besides, it's irrelevant, because not only am I still alive, but Tempus and I actually managed to kill Yamakagashi right there, in that cave…"


"I'm serious, Ally, if we don't get out of here soon-"

"That's not our job, T'mp'rance." Alecto ran a hair through her thick, curly black hair that ended at the nape of her neck. "That's not my job. I can't run away from this."

A voice behind her echoed through the cave, little more than a weedy whisper that still managed to chill her straight to the bone. "Good… wouldn't want the little children running around outside… they could get hurt, you see."

Alecto froze in place, her breath coming out in short puffy gasps as she felt a presence rise up behind her. In her head, she could hear Temperance shouting something, but she was so petrified that she could barely make it out. It took all of her willpower just to turn around and face her foe.

Yamakagashi the Snake Man was horrifying. That was the only word for what she felt as she gazed upon the skeletal man silhouetted by the rushing water of the falls outside: horror. His skin had yellowed with disease and malnutrition and was stretched taut across his thin frame, giving him an almost corpse-like appearance. The stringy black hair falling in wet strands cross his face and the disturbed grin pushing at his cheeks didn't help matters. He was clothed in a tattered, dirt-streaked kimono that hung loosely from his shoulders, and dangling from one hand was a fukiya, a Japanese blowgun. That must have been what he used to knock me out, she thought. "It's so nice to see children again," he said, taking a few steps forward. Every step rocked his body violently, as if he was going to fall over at any moment. "We used to love them so much. We always wanted some kids of our own. But it's dangerous outside, you see. Someone could get sick. Someone could get…" his fingers tightened around the fukiya, "hurt."

"Oh, boy!" Temperance shouted in her ear. "Ally, remember what you learned in defense classes!"

"Right!" Alecto raised her right arm to block just as Yamakagashi raised the fukiya to his lips with a startling speed and blew. A pair of darts bounced harmlessly off of the burnished metal of Temperance's form, one after another. This was it, this was now or never. Blocking another dart, she started to run in a wide arc around the snake man, hoping to find an opening. But it was no use. His pale gaze, with pupils thin and serpentine, stalked her with every move she made, and his stance shifted accordingly, his lips still pressed against the blowgun and firing dart after dart in a trail of poison that barely missed her.

This wasn't working. She didn't have a choice but to charge right in. "Temperance, Praeparābam ipse!" she shouted, raising her spear arm.

Temperance may not have understood her words, but he understood the intent behind them well enough "Wait, what?!"

Alecto lunged forward, swinging Temperance in a broad, underhand arc. She could hit his chest and do some serious damage, she just had to-

Twak! Faster than she could counter, Yamakagashi had cracked the fukiya across her cheekbone, sending her reeling. He took advantage of her momentary imbalance by grabbing her by the back of the neck and tossing her into the cave wall, driving the breath from her lungs and sending her sliding to the ground. "See? This is why it's bad to go out alone," he said. "Your parents will be so sad when they hear you died because you were being a foolish little child."

Alecto could feel Temperance flinch at the mention of parents, and she gritted her teeth together to keep herself from cussing the Kishin Egg out in a way he wouldn't understand. (Her parents may have never taught her not to pick fights with evil Japanese demon men with blowguns, but they taught her to keep her cursing to a relative minimum, even in Latin.) "We won't die here," she snarled instead. It wasn't faith in her abilities that drove her to say this, but sheer tenacity and a refusal to let the snake-man to be smug in his victory. She charged again, and again he struck her down, only this time she was able to right herself and block his strike before he attacked again. So it went, again and again; she would attack him, and he would knock her away, all with a thin, amused smile on her face.


"Ally, would you slow down and stop proving Einstein right?!" Temperance yelled after yet another failed attempt. "Clearly this isn't working. He's too fast! And avoiding him is only going to work for so long until… we need to desynchronize!"

"What?!" Alecto shouted, rolling out of the way to dodge another barrage of poisoned darts. "We haven't managed to pull that off together yet! Not good enough for a fight, anyway!"

"Does it look like we have a choice?" Temperance retorted. "No matter how we try attacking him, he's just going to counter it! He's got the reaction time of a damn snake, that's for sure. We need to advantage in speed."

Alecto yelped as a dart barely missed her face, shooting by close enough to ruffle her hair and with enough force to embed itself in the stone behind her. "L-look, I just need a few seconds to get my wavelength ready for a time distortion, okay?" she shouted, returning back to her first strategy of "run in circles and avoid getting paralysed or worse by one of Yamakagashi's darts."

"And you won't be able to get the time to desynchronize without… well, desynchronizing," Temperance said. For a couple of moments, he was quiet, the thoughtfulness radiating off of his soul in waves as he tried to figure out a solution. After what felt like far too long, the mental image of him that lingered in the back of her mind's eye snapped his fingers together. "I've got it!"


"Why didn't one of you pull the other into a singular distortion?"

"Wouldn't have worked," Alecto replied. It was now well after nine, and her and Kid had permanently relocated to the couch, sitting a couple feet apart as she told her story. "We just didn't have the finesse or the wavelength strength necessary to pull that off. More to the point, we were younger and in our first real fight against a Kishin Egg. We weren't thinking clearly about much of anything beyond 'stop this guy' and 'try really hard not to die in the process.'"

Kid shrugged his acceptance of his answer. "True. I keep forgetting that other meisters haven't had the lifelong experience with Kishin Eggs that I have. Going from a relatively mundane life to fighting something like that so quickly… Did you ever find out why he was obsessed with children behaving poorly? That seems a strange detail for him to focus on, especially when he didn't have any children of his own."

"Well, we took the diary with us and ended up having it translated for the Academy's records," Alecto said. "It turned out that Yamakagashi and his wife were pretty eager about the prospect of having kids, but were worried that because they lived in such a remote area, said kids might wander off and get lost forever. They had been talking about moving into one of the nearby villages when Yamakagashi's wife fell ill and died." She frowned. "It would almost be sad, if it weren't for the fact that he went crazy and killed several people."

"That does tend to be the way of it with most Kishin Eggs," Kid agreed. "As contradictory as it may sound, sometimes I think the purely homicidal or power-hungry ones are the easiest to deal with. They barely had souls to be corrupted in the first place."

Alecto thought about Hudine, and how he only seemed to care about the show of the kill, compared to Lizzie Borden, who had been forced into her madness at a young age by the outside influence of a witch. One had definitely been easier to face down than the other. "Can't say I disagree with that assessment," she said before letting out a huge yawn. Hey eyelids were starting to droop, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Kid trying to rub the encroaching sleep from his eyes. Was it really that late? "Killing Yamakagashi was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Tempus had to talk me through it, as well as through most of that fight. After all remember, he's been in the DWMA a few months longer than I have. He'd had more time to get used to the idea of combat. And he didn't have to be the one to actually make the final blow..."


"You ready?"

"Paratus sum," was Alecto's reply.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. Remember, wait for him to attack, and then duck at my word."

Yamakagashi regarded them both with his snake-like gaze, tongue darting out and flicking against his lips as he no doubt imagined how good her soul would taste. "Who are you talking to, little girl?" he asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "Little girls shouldn't talk to strangers."

He still didn't recognize Temperance as a Demon Weapon, then. Good. "Aren't you a stranger?" Alecto retorted in a rare moment of boldness.

Yamamkagashi tilted his head, mulling over her question. "You're right," he said. "I am a stranger. Just some stranger in the woods. The sort that good parents warn bad children about." He loosened his grip on the fukiya ever so slightly, so that is slipped down his palm and settled in his hand like a dagger It was then that Alecto noticed that the and of the dartgun was sharped to a fine, bladed point. "Allow me to introduce myself."

In a flash he was in front of her, fukiya glinting in the faint moonlight that streamed through the waterfall as he raised it high above his head, a mad grin on his face. "Now!" Temperance shouted. Alecto promptly dropped to one knee, raising her right arm to protect her face just as Temperance began to glow with a golden-white light. At the same time, Yamakagashi brought the fukiya down with a cry.

Tnk.

Yamakagashi's eyes widened in shock as Temperance, now fully human save for the shield that was currently replacing his right hand and forearm, stood in front of him, having blocked his attack. With an animalistic snarl, Yamakagashi pushed down further he golden-haired boy gritte.

Alecto quickly reached her soul out towards both Temperance's wavelength and the flow of time around them, grabbing hold of the latter while trying to get a strong read on the former. After a second or two, he could sense him grab hold of time too, and the two exchanged a black-and-gold glance and a nod before pulling as hard as their wavelengths would allow them.

Tick.

Time ground to a near halt, with everything from the snake-man to the water outside freezing in place. Alecto moved forward just as Temperance turned back to weapon form and stretched her arm out so that he could settle back into position. "Good, that was good!" Temperance said, a little breathless. "Right. We just gotta stab this bastard and be done with it." His gears whirred as his spears spun into place, the shorter spear rotating around to jut outwards while the longer spear rested by Alecto's arm. "There. If my third-grade knowledge of leverage is correct, it'll be easier for you to do the actually stabbing this way, at least until you build up body strength."

"R-r-right." Alecto took a deep breath, staring at the timeless scene in front of her. Here she was. Her first mission. All she had to do was kill this monster… this man… this monster, let Temperance eat his soul, and then they could go back to Nevada and report to Lord Death that they had successfully completed their first mission. It was as easy as that. She shifted into a preparatory stance. "J-just need to… move forward…" He wasn't even moving. He wouldn't even know what would happen.

"Quickly, please. The desynchronization isn't going to last forever."

It was true; she could already feel time start to wobble around her. She gave a stiff nod, and then, after taking another breath to steady her shaking legs, darted forward. She pulled her right arm back, thrust it forward, and-

Stopped. She stopped, with Temperance's hour-hand spearhead just millimeters away from Yamakagashi's vulnerable chest.

"Ally, what the hell?!" Temperance exclaimed. "We almost have him, hurry up!"

"I can't!" Alecto cried. Her eyes began to water. "I-I can't, I can't kill him, I can't, I just c-can't…"

"What are you talking about?! He's a Kishin Egg, of course you can! This is our job now! Don't tell me you're going to flake out after all the crap we had to endure just to get here!" There was anger in Temperance's voice, but there was something else, too: desperation.

"He's still alive, isnt he?!" Alecto had sank to her knees, the tears coming fast and freely now. "Even if he isn't h-human anymore, he still sees things, and feels, and thinks. He's still alive!" The distortion reacted to her emotions, warping and wobbling with each sob. It was going to break, soon.

"Yeah, but think of all the people he's going to kill if we don't make him un-alive!"

"I know that! I just… I-I just…"

For an agonizing few seconds, Temperance didn't speak. "Listen," he finally said. "Look at how he's frozen. He's was still pushing against me when we desynchronized, the momentum will make him fall forward. You don't have to kill him. Just… position me right. He'll do the rest himself."

"O...okay." Alecto moved her hand upwards so that Temperance's spear was resting at the hollow of Yamakagashi's throat. "Here?"

"Yeah, there's great. On the count of three, okay? One…"

"D-d-duo…"

"Three."

Tock.

Alecto didn't look. She closed her eyes and turned away. But she still felt it as Yamakagashi fell against the spear, still heard the last breath bubble out through his torn throat. When all was said and done, she fell for her knees and didn't move for a long, long time.

She didn't know when Temperance had turned into his human form, or how long he had sat there silently, watching her through his goldenrod bangs. It felt like an eternity either way. "So, you're probably going to go back home, huh?" he said finally. "I guess that makes sense. A lot of students go home after their first mission. It's all fun and games until you actually have to pull the trigger, am I right?" Alecto didn't respond. Clearly nonplussed, Temperance continued. "When we get back to Death City, I can go tell Lord Death that you're not staying on and then bring you the transfer paperwork. You don't have to do a thi-"

"No."

Temperance balked. "What?"

"I s-said, no." Alecto looked up at him, a newfound determination flooding through her. "How many people did we save? By k-killing him, I mean."

"Um." Temperance looked like he was at a loss for words. "I don't exactly know how many people go hiking through this part of the woods or how long it would've taken for another meister to pick this up, but given how many people that we know he snatched… I guess a few? Missions this remote tend to get left on the board for a while."

"Then it's worth, it, isn't it?" Alecto said stubbornly. "Better that I have to deal with… t-this… than more innocent people get killed by a monster like that. Besides…" her lips tugged upwards into a small, unsure smile, "we're p-partners, aren't we? Even if we don't always like each other, I promised I would stick with you thick and thin, and I meant it. I'm not going to abandon you just because things are a little rough."

Temperance stared at her like she had just started speaking in tongues. (At least, different tongues than the ones she usually spoke in.) She frowned at him, anxiety beginning to creep into her thoughts like an unwanted houseguest. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Did I say something wro-"

She was cut off by Temperance lunging forward and throwing his arms around her, wrapping her into a bruising hug. "Tempus!" Alecto exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that he didn't like that nickname, and raised her hands to his shoulders. She noticed that his shoulders were trembling wildly, but it was only when she felt a wetness against her shoulder and heard what could only be a choked sob that she realized that he was crying.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you…"


"...Damn."

"Yup." Tempus leaned back against the boot seat, gaze turned upwards at the thin twins of cobweb that decorated the point where wall met ceiling. "All in all, we could have had a better first mission. It really shook her for a while. I think that's a little bit part of why she throws herself into that whole 'being the hero and saving people' thing so much. I mean, most of it is just because she's Ally and she does half-measures like I do shitty rom-coms, but maybe focusing so much on the people she thinks she needs to save distracts her from the fact that she's making a living out of killing things that once were human. I mean, hell, out of all of us she probably had the most 'normal' life before learning she was a time meister."

"I guess," Liz said. "Can't help but noticing you're sort of glossing over your own reaction to this whole thing."

"Yeah! You totally cried like a big baby!" Patti laughed.

Tempus clutched a hand to his chest in mock horror. "So this is what I get?" he replied. "I open my heart to you, bare my darkest insecurities, and I get laughed at by a girl who's been eating my allowance dry for the last hour? Some friends you are."

"Oh, come on, clockboy, you know we're joking," Liz said. "Seriously, though, you don't strike me as the crying type."

Clearly, she hadn't seen him just after he'd finished reading Charlotte's Web. Seriously, he had been a mess for a weeks. Of course, he'd also been eight. But Tempus could sense that Liz wasn't interested in hearing him try and deflect the question, so he leaned forward, propped his elbows on the table, folded his hands underneath his chin, and answered honestly. "The truth is, Alecto Bellatore was the first person who ever told me that," he said. "Even my social worker only took me on because it was her job. Ally could have left at any time. But she didn't." A smile dances at the crease of his lips. "As soon as we got back to the Academy, I marched straight on down to the receptionists and got a stage name form so I could change my name to Tempus."

After a few seconds, he promptly sat back up. "But enough of that. If this booth gets too much maudlin we're going to taint the atmosphere of this place. Besides, we really should get leaving, it's late." He looked over at Nadia, who was sweeping the floors and trying her hardest to act like she hadn't been listening in on every word. "Hey, Nadia! Bring the check over, will you? I think Patti's finally eaten her fill."

"'Bout time, you lot," Nadia replied, casually tossing the broom to one side and wiping her hands on her apron. "We close in ten minutes, I was just about to throw you out. Give me a minute." She disappeared into the back room.

"Damn," Liz said. "Is it nine-fifty already? We were here longer than I thought."

"Nine-fifty and forty-six seconds, to be precise."

"Show-off."

Nadia reappeared with the bill in hand. "Here you go. It's a good thing you're getting a discount, Tempus," she added, tossing the check into his lap. "Your friends there racked up quite the tab. I think we might be able to buy next month's groceries solely on your dinner tonight."

Tempus looked at the price. His wallet wept.


"That's the last time I take either of you out for dinner."

"Come on, Tempus, don't you think you're overreacting?"

"You two drained my entire allowance! How am I supposed to explain to the van Dales that my friend ate up my spending cash for the month?"

"The van who?"

"Mr. and Mrs. van Dale. Ally's folks."

"Wait, how come she has a different name than her parents? Does she have a stage name, too?"

"Nah, I think she just came with the name when they adopted her. Far lot of good it did in finding her bio parents, but I guess it at least fits her better than 'Alecto van Dale.' Here we are." Tempus stopped in front of his apartment building, climbing the flight of stairs separating him and his front door. "You ladies coming in?" he called over the railing. "Or are you just going to stand down there and wait for me to toss Kid down to you."

"Get your pants out of a twist, Tempus, we're coming," Liz grumbled, following him up the stairs with Patti trailing close behind.

Tempus opening the door, taking a couple of steps inside. "Ally, pipsqueak!" he said, not bothering to raise his voice. It was a small enough apartment where he didn't need to shout for her to hear him. "I'm back. I ran into the Thompsons while I was out, so we went for pizza, I hope you don't mind that I brought them-" He stopped in his tracks when he saw the scene on the couch. "Oh my goodness."

"What?" Patti peered inside. Her eyes widened as she saw what he was looking at. "Ohhhh."

The lateness of the hour had clearly caught up to Alecto and Kid, as both had fallen asleep on the couch. They were leaning up against one another, with Alecto's head snuggled against Kid's shoulder and Kid's cheek resting on the top of Alecto's head. A pair of long-forgotten teacups sat on the coffee table, their contents long-since forgotten. It was downright precious. "This is illegally adorable," Tempus whispered.

"Aww, that's pretty cute." Liz had entered in after her sister. She cast a cursory glance around the apartment. "Nice place. Kinda cluttered, though. Man, I wish I had a camera. Kid's never gonna live this down."

Tempus grinned. "You know, I think I have my old Polaroid somewhere in my room..."


A/N - And that is the end of the Peppermint and Strawberry arc! Only took over a goddamn year. I swear there's a main plot in here somewhere.

And yeah, I did sort of use an arc about Alecto and Kid's date to wax on about meister + weapon dynamics. Timelessshippers, please feel free to throw rotten tomatoes at your discretion.

I don't recall if I gave Alecto's parents names before this (I don't believe I did), but even if I did, fuck it, they're Mr. and Mrs. van Dale now. They're Dutch architects who live in Maine and I promise this all will be relevant sooner than you think.

The part just before the fight with Yamakagashi was where I ended up stumbling and losing my spark. Man, I knew I hated writing fight scenes, but four months? Aheh. That moment with Tempus and Alecto at the end of the fight was what this entire arc was building towards (I hope it was sufficiently arrow-to-the-heart levels of feelings), so it was worth it. At least, it was for me. Maybe not for you. But people seem to like the Alecto + Tempus dynamic, so I'm hoping this tickled their fancies!

That came out weird. Latin!

Non cūrō: "I don't care." (I love it.)

Stultus eram!: "I was stupid!" or "I was a fool!"

Sunt pueri pueri, pueri puerilia tractant: An anonymous proverb meaning "Children are children, and children do childish things." Basically a fancy-pants way of saying that kids are dumb.

Praeparābam ipse!: "Prepare yourself!" Or, less literally, "get ready!"

Paratus sum: "I'm ready."

SO MUCH LATIN. I've missed this crazy dead language.

Chapter forty-six will start a new arc, and will be up relatively soon. Might put a few more chapters into Skin Deep (which you all should totally go read) before, but it'll definitely be out. In the meantime, feel free to favorite and leave a review!

- Diana "Nocte"