"Let's head over to my house, I left the other boy unattended and I don't want him pulling the card that Soul pulled a few minutes ago." Pops said motioning them to follow him.
Maka silently helped Soul up and without looking back at him, followed Pops through the house and out the door, Soul following them closely.
"Why is he here Pops?" Maka growled once they were inside of his home.
"He was a witness and Black*Star didn't want to kill him so we had very little choice left. I brought him here." Pops responded as he closed the door behind them and went to sit down on the sofa. "Have a seat Maka…. Soul… that is your name correct?" Pops asked.
"Yeah, my name is Soul." He muttered sitting down next to Maka on the couch where Dagger was starting to move a little.
"Alright then Soul, tell me when all this trouble started for you two." Pops said.
Soul looked at Maka and then at Pops. "If it is all right with you, I would prefer that Maka tell her side of the story first."
"It is fine, Maka, do you mind?" Pops asked her.
Maka put on a tight smile and took in a deep breath. "Well for me it started a while back…" she started and trailed off… if she told him the truth Blair would defiantly hurt him, she didn't want that to happen to him. "Pops… I don't think I can talk… not with Soul here."
Pops blinked but before he could respond to her, Soul responded. "Why not Maka?" Soul asked her.
Maka looked him in the eyes and there was nothing more that she wanted to do than to pull him into a hug… but she couldn't. "Because if I do tell you you would be in so much danger." Maka told him, this wasn't telling him about Blair.
Soul stared at her, if she was concerned about his safety that shows that she does care for him. A small smile graced his face.
"Maka, you do realize that you are part of one of the strongest clans out there. If you want Soul to be safe, we could all take turns making sure that that happens. After all, if he doesn't agree to join the clan then we will have to kill him. So technically, he is going to be one of us whether he wants to or not." Pops informed her.
Maka stared at him as her head shook slowly. "No… I won't let that happen." Maka growled.
"Maka, you don't really have a say in this." Pops said.
"No! No, he cannot join!" Maka growled, furious. She stood up and was about to jump at Pops but she was pulled back by Soul.
"It's alright Maka, I mean, if you are in it that it can't be all that bad." Soul reasoned sending a smile her way.
"No Soul, you don't understand there are things that you don't know, there are things even I don't know… I don't want you to join." Make told him, her hand settling on his shoulder. Maka turned to look at Pops. "Who was the smart-ass that came up with this idea?" Maka growled.
"Language Maka, and watch your tone when you are talking to me." Pops responded as he took in a deep breath.
"Well?" Maka asked after a few seconds of deep breathing to calm herself down.
"Relax Maka." Soul told her, his hand going to rub soothing circles on her back.
"Jared was the one that decided not to kill Soul Maka. He did it with you in mind. He knew you would be heartbroken if you found out that we had killed him, so he came up with the next best thing. That way you two would be closer than ever. You should thank him Maka." Pops stated as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his lighter and a cigar.
"But what about Blair?" Maka growled at him.
"The tone Maka." Pops warned her as he lit his cigar.
"So Blair is the real reason that you left me." Soul muttered.
"Not now Soul." Maka told him and turned her attention back to Pops. "Look Pops, I really don't think that having him join the clan is such a good idea." Maka stated.
"I noticed." Pops said and then pulled out a gun and slid it across the floor. It stopped near Maka's feet. "Would you do the honors of getting rid of him then?" he asked.
Soul tensed as he saw Maka pick up the gun. "I don't fancy the idea of killing him either." Maka said through clenched teeth as she slid it across the floor back to him.
"You want me to do it then?" Pops asked her as he put his lighter back in his pocket and puffed out a cloud of smoke.
"I don't want anyone to kill him." She told him.
"Then you have no other choice but to let him join Maka." Pops stated as he reached to grab his gun and put it away in to his other pocket.
Maka sighed in frustration and tried to relax as Soul rubbed her back.
"Fine… but he stays near me. We have to find out what to do with the cat." Maka growled.
Soul felt happy for the first time since Maka had left him. He let his arm go around and hook over her shoulder and Maka let him.
Pops eyed the hand on her shoulder and smirked. "Maka, why don't you tell me when you and Carlo started to go out?" he asked her.
Soul stiffened and his hand tightened around her shoulder.
Maka winced and elbowed his stomach, a sign to tell him to calm down. "I don't know where he came up with such a stupid thing." She mumbled, a blush spreading through her cheeks.
"There is one thing that I forgot to tell you… Jared isn't your weapon anymore, I reassigned you so that Carlo is your weapon, I've been meaning to tell you but it kept slipping out of my mind. I talked with Jared before he left to kill the cat." Pops said with a small chuckle as he watched Maka's shocked face and Soul start to twitch in anger.
"I could always become her weapon again." Soul rushed.
"It's nothing against you Soul, but I don't know you enough to trust you like I do Carlo, plus the decision has already been made. Sorry." Pops said with another huff of smoke.
Maka sighed and patted Souls hand in hope to get him to loosen his grip on her shoulder and once he did, she turned to Pops. "Anyways, what happened, did he kill the cat?" she asked him.
"Nope, the idiot didn't take backup and he failed miserably." Pops told her.
"So Blair is still out there?" she asked him.
"Yep. I advise you to be extra careful if you are going to drag this one along with you, I will assign someone to be with you at all times so that we won't take any chances." Pops told her with a tight nod.
"Okay." She murmured.
-Page Break-
"What the hell was that about?" Jared exclaimed slamming his fist on his desk.
This didn't affect Carlo, who was sitting on the other side of the desk. "What do you mean?" he asked him.
"You know damn well what I mean." He growled.
"Actually, no I don't, could you please clarify?" he asked him with a small yawn.
Jared's right eye twitched out of anger. "Girlfriend? Really? When the hell did this happen?" he growled.
"Oh that thing." Carlo muttered and a smirk appeared. "It never did, I just don't like the white haired boy." Carlo said with a shrug
"Carlo… his name is Soul." Jared said falling into the seat behind his desk.
"I don't really give a damn; I don't want him anywhere near Maka." Carlo stated with a bored expression on his face.
"Not everyone gets what they want Carlo." Jared told him.
"Yeah, well, this is the guy that hurt Maka both physically and emotionally. As her step father I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want him anywhere near her either." Carlo told him.
"He is a good kid, I'm glad Maka and him will have the chance at being back together again." Jared told him.
Carlo glared at him. "I don't want Maka to be hurting again, I don't want her to suffer the way I do." He growled.
"Look, we all understand where you are coming from Carlo, but I honestly do believe that this is in best interest for Maka." Jared told him.
"Maka is going to end up hurt because of all of this and you know it." Carlo responded.
"Carlo, you are just making wild assumptions." Jared exclaimed.
"Whatever, did you just want to yell at me or did you want to talk to me about something?" Carlo asked him.
"You're Maka's weapon now." Jared told him.
Carlo stared at him for what seemed like a few minutes. "Come again?" he asked.
"After talking about it with Pops before I left for my mission, we decided that you were the best option as a weapon for her. So you are her weapon now." Jared told him. "Now get out of my office." Jared said pointing to the door.
Quietly, Jared stood up, gave a little bow in Jared's direction out of custom and left the home to walk across the street and into his home in silence. "I can't believe it… I'm her weapon." He muttered, wide eyed in shock.