"What did he tell you?" Maka asked Carlo as he slowly approached her.
"Nothin', why?" he asked her with a shrug as she handed him his motorcycle helmet and got off the bike.
"Don't put too much weight on your leg there." Carlo told her.
"Sure, could I have my crutch back?" she asked him.
"Why do you need it? You could walk now." Carlo said, shoving his hands into his jean pockets.
"I'm scared to walk okay." Maka mumbled a light blush on her cheeks.
"Just a few hours ago you sprinted towards me and pushed me against a wall." Carlo exclaimed.
"I said I was sorry!" Maka growled.
"Fine, wait here." Carlo grumbled as he walked over to his house, Pops words ringing in his head. 'Don't let her go anywhere near my house. Jared was being careless and dragged Maka's weapon into our lives, I don't want her anymore hurt than she already is because of this boy. We're trying to find out what to do with him.'
Jared grabbed Maka's crutch and walked back over to her, handing it to her. "Here, take it." he grumbled. "I need to go smoke a joint, see ya tomorrow." Carlo mumbled walking back over to his house only to be pulled back from the collar. "Let go Maka." He warned.
"Nope, we are going to talk about this Carlo." Maka said as she began to hobble in the direction of her house, tugging Carlo along with her.
"You can't have any of my drugs Maka; Jared would kill me if he found out." Carlo told her, letting her drag him inside of the house.
Maka sat him down on the couch and scowled at him as she sat down next to him. "Give me the drugs." Maka said, stretching her hand out.
"Hell no!" Carlo exclaimed, outraged.
"Hand them over!" Maka growled at him.
"No." he said childishly.
"Those things are killing you, Carlo!" Maka growled at him.
Carlo glared at her and stood up, making his way to the door. "Where do you think you're going?" Maka called out.
"Pops is back, I don't have to babysit you anymore." Carlo said coldly before slamming the door shut, leaving behind a stunned Maka.
-Page Break-
Pops walked into his home, setting Soul down on the couch next to Dagger, it seemed as if Soul was about to wake up. After going to grab some rope he handed some to Jared so that he could help tie up both of the guys that lay unconscious on their sofa. "Well Jared, what now?" Pops asked once they were finished and looked over his shoulder to follow Jared, seeing that he was leaning against the wall.
"Maka loves him you know, killing him would be like killing her." Jared informed him, deep into thought.
"Look, after everything you told me, I understand that I can't kill Soul… but this other boy on the other hand…" Pops trailed off.
"We'll talk about that one later; Soul is the one I'm worried about." Jared murmured, walking over to get a closer look of Soul. "I have an idea." He murmured.
"And what might that be?" Pops asked.
"I don't think you'll like it all that much." Jared muttered.
"Any idea is good right now." Pops muttered.
Jared stayed quiet for a few seconds. "What if we ask him to join the clan?" he muttered.
"And why is that?" Pops asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Think about it Pops, he does know a bit too much information so we might as well tell him everything, that way he could join, Maka would be happy to see him, they kiss and make up and best of all we won't have to kill them." Jared muttered, cupping his chin in a thinking motion.
Pops soaked in the information. "Jared… he attends the school of the enemy." Pops said.
"So did Maka, remember, they were partners." Jared mumbled.
"He isn't anywhere near family though, Maka is Kami's daughter, your wife Kami, so my granddaughter." Pops explained.
"I knew it was a longshot, but it was worth a shot, I just wanted to see Maka happy, not tell her the horrible news of us killing the love of her life." Jared said with a shrug.
"I'm just pointing out the negatives Jared, don't get ahead of yourself, the possibility of him being in the clan is still very much under consideration… but what if he doesn't agree?" Pops asked.
"Then we will have no other choice but to kill him." Jared sighed, sitting down on the couch across from the one that Soul and Dagger were passed out on, Pops sitting next to him.
"Let's think this more thoroughly; he'll be of no use to us if he can't fight." Pops stated.
"I'll taunt him until he snaps and attacks me, how's about that?" Jared asked Pops with an eye roll.
"It'll be good enough for now, but we can't guarantee acceptance into the clan, he has to go through with the initiation if he accepts the offer we give him." Pops stated. "Should we extend the invitation to the other one?" Pops asked, letting Jared take complete control of the situation.
"I don't know." Jared mumbled. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there I guess."
"Jared… you can't be so careless over these kinds of decisions." Pops warned.
Soul groaned and sat up straight, his eyes blinking open.
"Hey, I think he's up." Jared mumbled, standing up to go shake Soul gently. "Hey, you up yet?" Jared asked him.
Soul blinked and looked up at Jared, baring his teeth at him. "What do you want with me?" he growled through his clenched teeth, feeling his arms and legs bound together.
"I have a proposition to offer to you." Jared told him, bending to his knees to look him in the eyes.
"I don't want anything to do with you." Soul spat at him, his arm twitching to turn into a blade… but his curiosity got the best of him as he saw Jared's smirk.
"It has to do with Maka." Jared taunted.
Soul stayed quiet, rather than flipping Jared the bird.
"That's what I thought, now, just so you know… if I tell you this, and you choose not to go through with it, we are going to kill you." Jared said as calmly as he possibly could.
"I see no other way around it then." Soul retorted.
"Very well then…" Jared said as he went to sit next to Pops. "Have you heard of the Star Clan?" Jared started as Pops pulled out one of his cigars from his coat pocket and a lighter with the other.
Bringing the cigar to his mouth, he lit it and took a long drag before letting it out with a puff. "This is going to take a while." He muttered around the cigar as he took another long drag of it. "Jared, taunt him." Pops said under his breath so that only Jared could hear him.
Jared gave him a tight nod. "But first… would you like to know about Maka?" Jared asked Soul.
Soul looked him in the eyes. "What did you mean back there? What did you mean when you said that it would be better if I just left Maka alone?" Soul asked him, grinding his teeth together; his hands balling up.
Jared saw this and let out a small chuckle. "I'm her step-father, Jared." Jared said as he patted Pops' back. "My father is White*Star's brother, Red*Star." Jared told him, a sly grin.
"Red*Star… what does he have to do with Maka?" Soul growled.
"I'd watch that tone if I were you." Pops warned puffing out another ring of smoke.
"This is between your son and me, Mr. Star." Soul said standing up, his arms becoming blades and in the process ripping the rope that bound them together into shreds. He leaned over and ripped the ones that bound his legs together. "Tell me about Maka." Soul demanded.
"So, he's up?" Carlo asked, walking inside of the house, making sure to close the door behind him before going to stand next to the couch, leaning against the wall, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"Who are you?" Soul asked, looking Carlo over.
"My names Carlo, you must be Maka's weapon, the one that caused her all the damage." Carlo growled, his eye twitching in anger.
"What are you talking about?" Soul asked him, trying to calm his anger down. "Where is Maka?" he asked.
"So that you could go and rip her other cheek? So that you could go ahead and mess up her leg just like you did last time? There is no way that I would let you anywhere near Maka." Carlo growled a glow coming from his arm as it turned into a grappling hook.
-Page Break-
"That guy is so getting a Maka-chop next time I see him." She growled angrily when Carlo had left. She angrily shuffled to her bedroom, opening the door and slamming it shut and falling face first on her bed, shouting angrily into her pillow.
"Maka… are you okay?" she heard a sweet, familiar voice ask her.
Maka froze and sat up to see Tsubaki sitting there on the bed, a worried look on her face.
"No way! Tsubaki!" Maka screeched and pulled her into a tight hug. "I missed you so much!" Maka exclaimed tears in her eyes.
"I missed you too!" Tsubaki said hugging her back.
"Maka, what's wrong?" Black*Star asked her from the door way, a smile lighting up his face.
"Carlo's being stupid." Maka muttered.
"Who's Carlo?" Tsubaki asked her.
"Yeah Maka, who is he?" Black*Star hinted, the smile vanishing.
Maka's eyes widened. "No one important." Maka said quickly.
Tsubaki eyed her while Black*Star slapped his forehead.
"Maka… why don't you come visit us back at Death City? I'm pretty sure that Kilik would love to see you again." Tsubaki said sending her a smile.
"I miss you guys… but I already started a new life here, I don't want to give it up." Maka explained.
"Oh…" Tsubaki muttered, a little down.
"How did you guys get here by the way?" Maka asked them, wanting to change the topic.
"Pops invited me over to see you and your new life for the first time, and I just had to drag Tsubaki along." Black*Star said, plastering a fake smile on his face.
"So Pops brought you guys huh?" Maka said a smile on her face. "Speaking of Pops, I have to go visit him, would you guys like to go with me?" Maka asked.
"I don't want to bo-" Black*Star started but Tsubaki interrupted him.
"Of course, I didn't get the chance to thank him once we got off the plane." Tsubaki said, standing up and helping Maka up.
Black*Star sighed. "He lives next door right Maka? I could have sworn that I saw his car parked there." Black*Star said, hurryingly walking out of the house, not waiting for Maka and Tsubaki, and heading straight next door, pounding on the door and opening it, stepping inside.
"Carlo, there is no time for that stuff now! Maka is on her way with my weapon, we have to hide Soul!" Black*Star exclaimed as he grabbed onto Carlo's grappling hook that was about to swing at Soul.
"Maka's coming?" Soul asked hopefully, as he tried to run past Black*Star and Carlo only to be pulled back by the collar by Jared. "Where could we hide the boys?" Jared asked Pops.
-Page Break-
"Tsubaki, hold up, where are you going without me?" Maka asked as she stood up but fell back on the bed on 'accident' in order to buy more time for Black*Star, it was the least she could do, she had brought up visiting him.
"Maka hurry up, I don't want Black*Star running all over the place the way he is right now." Tsubaki said, getting a bit jumpy.
Maka frowned. "Well, I'm sorry for having a healing leg." She grumbled.
Tsubaki froze and slapped her forehead. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry Maka, I forgot." She mumbled.
"It's fine Tsubaki. Come here, sit down. It's obvious that you need to let a few things out." Maka said, motioning for Tsubaki to sit next to her on the bed.
Tsubaki looked anxiously at the door and then sighed and sat down next to Maka. "Every time he comes back from these trips he has, he looks at me as if he wants to tell me something… but he doesn't…" Tsubaki started to say.
A/N: What do you guys think, a grappling hook is a good weapon for Carlo. I think it matches his personality.