"Who are you?!" Robin growled, trotting out of the cave as he looked over the three newcomers emerging from the bushes. Soul stopped at the tiny voice and looked down.
"I could ask you the same." The white haired teen tilted his head, squinting his eyes at the small black haired boy.
"Robin? What's all the commotion, are they ba-" Liz stopped dead in her tracks as she took in her long lost friends. "Soul! Tsubaki! Blackstar!" The elder twin pistol screeched, drawing the three of them into a bone crushing hug. "You guys are ok!"
"Nice… to see you too… Liz…" Soul choked out, then let out a sigh and the blonde let the three of them go. "Hey Maka, whose the kid?" He questioned, his red eyes returning to the growling child.
"Oh, that's right. You guys haven't met yet. Soul, this is Robin. We found him not long after we all got split up. Robin, this is Soul. He's my weapon partner. Kind of like Liz and Patty are to Kid… Speaking of Patty, where is she?"
"The suns been up for a few hours and she's still sleeping." Liz rolled her eyes. "I'm not even sure if she realized what's going on."
"So you turn into a gun?" Robin questioned, beginning to pull at and examine Soul's clothing. "And who are you? Why is your hair blue?" He looked over at Blackstar, who beamed, happy the attention was on himself. "And you! Who are you? You're kinda pretty, so I don't think you're a weapon. What do you do?"
"So… What happened to you guys?" Maka asked, looking up at her weapon partner who had draped his arm comfortably around her. They had all agreed to put a hold on all the questions until they got back to the safety of the cave, but now that they were all together, the blonde couldn't hold back any longer.
"Well, where do you want me to start?" He chuckled. "It's been a long… How long has it been? I lost count a few months ago… Or at least I think it was a few months ago…" He trailed off.
Maka shrugged, and no one else seemed to have any idea either. "Start from the beginning, when I passed out."
"Oh. Right." Soul cleared his throat, getting ready for his long winded speech. "After I told Blackstar to take you away, I knew I wouldn't stand a chance. I was almost sure I was done for, and I would have been if Tsubaki hadn't come back." He looked over at the dark haired girl with a grateful smile, who in turn, blushed. "Initially she was looking for Blackstar, not wanting to leave her meister's side, but when she saw my state, she stayed and helped me. I was still swinging my blade around, as much as I could with my injuries anyways, I wasn't going to let those flesh eaters have me without a fight," He showed off his sharky grin. "Just as I was almost completely over run, Tsubaki showed up. We were able to hack down a few more, but they just kept coming. Then Tsubaki had the idea of using her smoke bomb so we could get away. Luckily, the bomb caught them off guard and they just froze for a moment, like they were stunned. I never understood why, but I was grateful for it."
"That's like what happened when I would jump on them from the trees!" Robin squeaked. "They just froze."
Kid's eyes widened, surprised that he was able to make this connection. But why? He thought, completely perplexed. Why would they just freeze out of no where like that? Was it some sort of kryptonite? Was there some connection between the two very different attacks he was over looking? Soul's story brought him out of his thoughts.
"Anyways, the rotters were stunned long enough for Tsubaki and I to get into one of the lower levels of the building. I knew Blackstar would come back for me, and once he did, we were all able to make it out of there ok. We went back to where Blackstar had left you… But you were gone… And we thought…" He trailed off, his arm tightening around Maka. Robin squinted his eyes at the two. He didn't like this white haired person. He just looked like a bad guy; with his sharp pointy teeth and his bright red eyes… And why was he all over Maka? Weren't Kid and Maka supposed to be together? He looked over at the reaper with a questioning look to find him watching the scythe and meister just as closely as he was. The small boy couldn't help but smirk to himself; if he needed to, Kid could beat up this guy, no problem. At least he wasn't the only one sensing an off vibe about him.
And the blue haired guy. Robin turned his icy colored eyes to Blackstar, who was now flipping a small knife around on his fingers. The boy watched in awe as the ninja didn't seem to be cutting himself, not once, but was still able to get the blade to move across his fingers so rapidly. He had to admit, he seemed pretty cool. That led him to Tsubaki. He eyed her for a minute then shrugged. She was a girl. He didn't expect to be spending much time around her anyways.
That same day, Blackstar, Soul and Maka went to retrieve the items from their old camp and bring them back to the cave. It seemed they had been living primarily off of scavenged goods rather than off the land seeing as they had cases filled with instant ramen, soups and a variety of other goods (and even some tea, much to Maka's delight). Though they obviously had a surplus of store not-so-bought items, they still decided it would be best to continue fishing and hunting for some of their food.
"Wow, Tsubaki! This is amazing! You didn't have to go all out like this!" Liz spoke through a mouthful of rice and freshly caught fish.
"Well, it is sort of a special occasion. We're finally all back together again. And even with a few new friends." She smiled over at Robin who was gorging himself on instant mashed potatoes. She really had over done herself. After Staz had returned with four large catfish and Maka and Robin returned with two squirrels (one of which, Robin proudly announced, he had caught), they had skinned and cleaned them then handed them over to Tsubaki, who in turn cooked them as well as open their large bag of rice and a box of instant mashed potatoes. Though they had used some of their supplies, none of them seemed to be complaining. It was a special occasion, after all. "You know, Maka." The blonde looked over at the dark haired weapon. "I never knew Soul had such a low pain tolerance." She giggled, trying to make dinner conversation.
"What?! Do not! I fight and get hurt just as much as you guys!" The white haired boy growled defensively, caught off guard by the sudden attack.
"Oh, no. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you don't do your fair share of fighting. I'm just recalling that bee sting on your wrist…" Tsubaki smiled innocently, gently taking a bite of cooked squirrel.
"A bee sting?" Maka laughed.
"Oh yeah! I remember that!" Blackstar announced, louder than was necessary. "He was whining about it for days! You'd've though someone cut his arm off!" He laughed, causing Patty to let off a chortle of her own.
"Did not!" Soul grumbled, stuffing his mouth to give him an excuse for lack of come backs.
"You know, Soul. I guess I could understand." Kid smirked, not wanting to pass up a chance of poking fun at the scythe. "Bee stings are pretty nasty… And I can only assume it stung you on one wrist and not the other, leaving it terribly asymmetrical…" He tried to hold back a chuckle, but full on grinned as everyone, including Maka and excluding Soul, almost died in terrible fits of laughter.
"In my defense I'm not used to living outside in all this." Soul gestured his hand vaguely around. "And it was where my wrist bends!... So uncool…" He muttered, poking at his rice.
Maka sighed in content as the laughter died down. "It's good to have my family back." She smiled.
Friendly reminder about the drawing contest! This fiction is rapidly drawing to a close and I unfortunately have a lack of contest entries. All entries are much appreciated! Thanks for being such awesome reader you guys!
Replies~!
Shell-kun- Haha yeah, I am proud to say I painted a life sized silhouette of Nny on the back of my door. 'Tiz beautiful. And yeah, daggers are pretty fun, I'm not sure what my weapon would be… I really like archery, but its so limited… I'd probably end up with a scythe or chained scythe… I made you fangirl? Whoo hoo! I'll take that as a compliment XD Cyberfive back at ya!
Giraffe Overlord- The description says KiMa, but I'm starting to make you wonder, huh? :) and cool! I'm happy to be an inspiration ^^
Checkered Brooke- Oh yes, and fun it will be… Or won't be… I'm trying hard to not make this your average zombie apocalypse…
Pensketch- Yeah poor Kidd. In comes Soul to steal his girl :( Oh well, lets see how things play out.
Courage- Earthworm, yes? Haha and yes, jealous Kidd is jealous.
SecretFantics- Sorry Kidd! *gives cookie* hang in there! And as much as I would like to comfort him; I do fear the Maka-chops I may receive…
Mikaela- Thank you so much for that! I was really iffy on the fight scene, I even wrote the whole chapter then realized Staz just disappeared from my writing and I had to go re-write him back in the chapter . but thank you for that reassurance!
Hawkllama- Oh yes, a possible love triangle indeed.
Khfan- *queue dramatic music here*
D.T.K.D.R- Sorry for the bombardment of chapters! ^^'
Juvieyumi2500- Yeah, the reunion of Soul and Maka bring around so many possibilities… *wrings hands together evilly*