A/N: Jezz, every time I listen to the song 'I Don't Care' by Apocalyptica, I get all dark and depressed…
Maka rode to the hospital numbness filling her body as she parked in the parking lot.
"What room is Black*Star in?" Carlo asked Maka.
"Pops said he was going to meet us outside." Maka muttered as she turned the car off and stuffed the keys in her jean pocket and slowly got out of the car, Carlo following her.
"Maka… what's wrong?" Carlo asked her. "If it's Black*Star, I'm sure he's fine." Carlo started.
That's when the shock wore off and tears started to roll down her face. "She can't be dead Carlo! You're lying! Tsubaki can't be dead!" Maka exclaimed. "I bet she's in the same room as Black*Star and she is fine!" Maka yelled out and started to run towards the hospital. "She's fine!" she yelled.
"Maka! Your leg! Be careful!" Carlo yelled out after her, running to catch up.
"Maka!" she heard someone yell.
Her head snapped in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Pops. He was leaning against the wall of the building, a lit cigar in his mouth, his hands shoved into the pockets of his black trench coat.
"Pops! Tell me Tsubaki is alive!" she exclaimed, running in his direction rather than in the direction of the entrance.
"She's in denial Pops." Carlo explained when he was able to catch up.
"Maka, I'd rather you calm down and listen to me without a peep. I have had a long day and you do not want to be on my bad side. Now, do you want me to explain what happened, or do you want to skip that part and go see Black*Star?" Pops asked before taking a long drag of his cigar and puffing out smoke rings, by the way his jaw tensed, it was easy to tell that he was about to break, but Maka didn't see that, she was hyperventilating.
"I need to talk to Black*Star. He was with her; I need to know what happened from him." Maka said after quickly wiping away her tears.
"Maka, calm down, take deep breaths." Carlo tried to tell her but Maka was breaking down.
"Tsubaki can't be dead!" Maka exclaimed.
Pops growled. "Maka, stop acting so childish before you make me regret something." He said as he let his cigar drop on the ground and stomped on it.
Maka's eyes began to water again. "You were the one that ordered the kill… why would you send out to kill someone that is so special to one of the Star Clan members? She was my friend! She was Black*Stars weapon! You are cold and heartless!" Maka exclaimed.
Pops lifted his hand in the air and before Carlo could step in and stop it, Pops slapped Maka.
Maka's head snapped to the side, her eyes widening in shock. Maka's cheek burned, a red hand print appeared on it. She had never been slapped before.
"You're still very immature, I should have the trainer fix that." Pops growled.
"What the hell was that for?" Carlo exclaimed, getting in front of Maka so that Pops wouldn't touch her again. "She's your granddaughter; she's going through a hard time. Her friend just died and she's going into training! You have no reason to hit her." Carlo growled.
Pops glared at him. "Don't step out of line Carlo." He warned.
"No! This is my meister and there is no way in hell that I would let you hurt her like that ever again. I'm going to defend her." Carlo growled, crouching into his attack position.
"Know your place Carlo. I'm the head of the Clan, if one of the members steps out of line; I could easily have them executed." Pops warned.
"You had no just reason to slap my meister." Carlo growled, straightening his back so that he looked into Pops eyes.
"I could easily make sure that she receives a different weapon, Carlo. Don't play with fire, boy, you'll get burned." Pops told him.
Carlo took in a deep breath and then let it out. "What room is Black*Star in?" he grumbled.
Pops looked him in the eyes and nodded. "Third floor, second room to the left." Pops said after taking out another cigar from his pocket and lighting it, taking a deep drag of it.
Carlo shook his head in disappointment at Pops and looked back at Maka.
Maka was still standing there in shock, looking down at the ground with wide, innocent eyes.
Carlo put his arm around her shoulder in reassurance and pulled her along with him as he walked towards the main entrance.
"Come on Maka. Let's forget that happened. Pops gets that way when he's stressed out. It's been a long day for him." Carlo muttered.
Maka didn't find the energy in her to respond though, her cheek still stung and her heart ached. Her best friend was gone because of the orders of one man she thought she could trust. "I'm sorry Tsubaki." She muttered.
"What was that Maka?" Carlo asked.
"Nothing, forget about It." she muttered, her hand going up to her cheek.
"Maka, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." Carlo told her as they entered the hospital giving her shoulder a squeeze.
"It's okay, I stepped out of line, I shouldn't have accused Pops." Maka muttered.
"You had every right to; it's his fault after all. You just said it at the wrong time, Pops wasn't being reasonable." Carlo told her.
Maka looked up at him. "Thanks for trying though." She mumbled.
"You're my meister… I should have stepped in before he slapped you, I should have taken the blow." He muttered.
"It wasn't your fault he slapped me, Carlo, stop blaming yourself." Maka told him as they went up to the registration desk.
"We're here to see Black*Star." Carlo told the person behind the desk.
"Third floor, second room to the left." The person told them, pointing to the elevator.
"I can't help but feel that Tsubaki's death is my fault…" Maka muttered as they stepped into the elevator, pressing the button with the number three on it.
"It's not your fault Maka, she was going to die anyways. Pops already had a plan to take her family down after he took down the DWMA." Carlo told her.
"She died way too soon then." Maka whispered.
"Maka… you do realize that you will have to kill a lot of your old friends. They are, in fact, part of the DWMA. If Soul doesn't agree to be part of the clan, his head is going to roll. Maka, you have to be mentally prepared for that kind of stuff." Carlo warned her.
Maka stayed quiet. Carlo is right, she will have to kill a lot of her friends… would she be able to? Kid is such a great meister… what about Kilik? He doesn't have weapons to defend himself… at least she doesn't think he does. But over all of that, would she be able to look them in the eyes when she is forced to kill them? Or will she have to throw a bunch of cheap shots? Maka won't be able to live with herself because of the guilt that would fill her. She won't be able to do it, right after the battle, would she start to think of killing herself.
"Maka, calm down, I know what you're thinking, and after training, you won't have to worry about a thing." Carlo told her.
Maka looked up at Carlo. Will they take away her humanity then?
Before Maka could think it through again, the elevator door opened and they stepped out. "Second door to the left." Carlo muttered and pulled Maka along with him. "Are you sure you want to talk to him Maka? You don't have to if you don't want to." Carlo told her.
"I'm sure." She mumbled and opened the door.
"I'll wait right here. Call me if you need anything." Carlo told her as he sat in one of the seats that were against the wall next to the door frame.
Maka nodded at him and walked inside, closing the door behind her. "Black*Star?" she asked.
Black*Star was lying in bed, his unblinking eyes looking up at the ceiling.
"What happened?" Maka asked him, grabbing a near by chair and setting it next to the bed and sitting down on it.
"I'm sorry Maka… I'm so sorry." Black*Star whispered.
"What are you talking about Black*Star?" Maka asked him.
"Tsubaki is dead." He told her.
"I know." Maka whispered after a pause.
"What happened to your cheek?" Black*Star asked her.
Maka's hand went up to cover it. "Pops slapped me after I acused him of Tsubaki's death." She muttered.
"Maka… it wasn't Pops fault that Tsubaki died." Black*Star told her.
"What are you talking about Black*Star?" Maka asked him, leaning in.
"I was the one that killed her Maka." Black*Star said, his eyes tearing up for the second time that day.
Maka stared at him. "Because Pops told you to… right?" Maka whispered.
Black*Star shook his head. "I shot her Maka." He told her, his voice trembling.
Maka shook her head. "Black*Star…" she started. "But… how?" she asked.
"I'm a weapon Maka, a shot gun." He told her. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"She was your weapon Black*Star! How could you?" Maka asked, tears of anger starting to appear.
"She pleaded me to do it Maka!" Black*Star told her, sitting up in his bed. "I couldn't say no to her. She had already said goodbye, she took her seat belt off, she had called her dad. Maka, she was ready to die… and she asked me to kill her. She didn't want to die a slow painful death, she didn't want to be used as bait… Maka… she trusted me enough to make it fast… and I did. Maka, help me." He whispered. "I need your help." Black*Star pleaded, stretching over the bed and embracing Maka, pulling her to him. "I need your help…" he said as he started to sob, tears streaming down his cheeks and onto Maka's sleeve.
Maka broke down with him, her arms circling around him and squeezing with all her might as she cried for her fallen friend. "I'm sorry Black*Star… I can't help you. I'm being sent off to training." She managed to say between sobs.
"Don't leave me alone Maka. I don't trust myself." Black*Star pleaded, desperately scratching at the back of her shirt.
"Calm down Black*Star. I'm here now. Breathe." Maka whispered, controlling her tears. She had to be strong around Black*Star. "I'll stay with you here until they take me away.
"Promise?" Black*Star whispered against her shoulder.
"I promise." Maka said as she sat down on the bed next to him and started to rub soothing circles on his back. "You did what you had to do Black*Star. You did what was best for Tsubaki, not for the Star Clan." Maka told him.
"I want to believe that Maka… but I still killed my best friend, I killed her." Black*Star said as he let go of Maka and let himself fall back on his bed, wiping the tears away from his eyes and cheeks.
"Scooch over Black*Star." Maka told him.
Black*Star did as he was told and curled into Maka. "I'm a walking time bomb Maka. I'm a portable shot gun with suicidal thoughts." Black*Star told her.
"You have to promise me one thing Black*Star." Maka muttered.
"What?" he asked as his eyes slowly started to close.
"That you won't kill yourself. You are one of the only things left keeping me human Black*Star… don't take that away from me." She whispered, she knew she was being selfish, but she needed him, he was like the brother she never had.
Black*Star responded with a light snore.
Maka sighed and looked down to see that Black*Star had fallen asleep on her shoulder. "Sleep well Black*Star." She whispered as her own eyes started to close.
Carlo stepped away from the door with a sigh. "Wow… Black*Star protected his weapon by killing her." He mumbled to himself as he sat back down.
If Pops found out about this, Black*Star would die. But he's already having suicidal thoughts, he would want that. Maka would be crushed though.
"I should keep quiet about it. I need to talk to Pops." He muttered to himself. Pulling his cellphone out of his pocket, he dialed Pop's number.
"Hello?" Pops answered.
"Pops, I found out that Black*Star is having suicidal thoughts." Carlo told him.
"Why is that?" Pops asked.
"The man killed his weapon because she was the enemy. Pops, you should go easy on him. I think there is a chance that he might try to provoke you so that you would be the one to kill him." Carlo said.
Pops sighed. "I'll be sure to keep an eye on him." Pops promised.
"Thank you. Maka would appreciate it." Carlo said with a small smile.
"By the way, tell Maka she has about three hours to say goodbye to Black*Star. From the hospital you guys are going straight to the airport. Jared is already packing Maka's stuff and Frank is packing your stuff. They're taking my car over here since Black*Star's weapon crashed Jared's and you guys took Franks." Pops explained.
"Alright then, I'll talk to you later than." Carlo said, hanging up with a smile. "Maka won't be able to see that Soul guy. That's one good thing that came out of this." Carlo mumbled with a smile.