These characters are under copyright by Atsushi Ōkubo, Squar Enix, Yen Press, Shōnen,
Akatsuki Yamatoya. Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Funimation, and/or others. This is a work of fanfiction, for no monetary gain.
Chapter 13 – She's My Mother: How Can You Say That?
Kid was glad his father had allowed him to go too, that he hadn't tried to keep him in the house, to protect him. Spirit carried the radio, and Marie had the tape recorder. He didn't mind that they were the ones burdened, since the cast made carrying anything awkward, and his leg was still weak. Thankfully, his father hadn't insisted he use the wheelchair. As long as the others didn't walk too quickly, he could keep up, and the wheelchair had made him feel like an invalid, a victim, damaged.
"Kid? Are you alright?" Marie asked in concern.
"Damn it. We forgot your wheelchair," Spirit cursed, turning around.
"It's fine. I don't need it. I can walk. It's not that far," Kid urged. "My father would have said something, if he was worried."
"If you're sure?" Spirit asked reluctantly, appraising Kid carefully.
"Let's go," he urged, taking the lead, biting his lip against the pain in his leg.
"We'll let you walk, but you have to take it easy, Kid," Marie scolded gently, the way he imagined a mother would have, if he'd had one.
"Alright," he agreed, slowing his pace.
When they reached the Infirmary, they saw one of the backup physicians and nurses were checking on each of their patients.
Soul was back in the bed next to Maka, and Crona was standing beside her, while Liz's bed had been moved next to Patty's. Black*Star was still next to Tsubaki.
"Kid!" Patty greeted happily, and the others turned and smiled in greeting. But the welcoming smile on Crona's face froze, a look of horror replacing it.
"What are you doing with that?" they shrilled, their eyes riveted to the radio Spirit was carrying.
"Damn it. I should have realized Crona might be here, that they'd react like this," Spirit said.
"Honey, this isn't about you," Marie tried to soothe.
"What's going on? Why are you carrying that? Why do you all look so upset? I didn't do anything, I swear!" Crona denied, looking more and more frantic with every word.
"Leave Crona alone!" Maka demanded, sitting up in bed and trying to swing her legs over the side.
Spirit thrust the radio towards Kid and he awkwardly took it, as the Death Scythe rushed over to his daughter's bedside.
"Sweetie, you need to stay in bed," he scolded.
"Stop calling me that! My name is Maka. You should know: Mom said you were the one to name me," she complained angrily. "Why are you bullying Crona?"
"We're not. I told you, we didn't think this through, that the others would still be here with you, that Crona might be. Look, Maka, we need to talk to you in private. We can use Stein's office. He won't be needing it for a while," Spirit encouraged, wincing as he said it.
Marie pushed a wheelchair to her bed, the tape recorder tucked under her arm. "This won't take long, though I think you'll likely want to be alone with me for a while, after we speak to you. Or maybe with Kid."
"No. I should have thought of this before. I'm so stupid! Crona, Soul, after we're done speaking to Maka, she's going to need you both," Kid asserted.
"What's this all about, Kid?" Soul challenged.
"Whatever it is, it's something they don't want me or Tsubaki to hear," Black*Star stated, sounding both angry and hurt.
"Or me and Patty," Liz said, sounding the same.
"Or me and Mifune," Angela said, thankfully sounding intrigued, but not hurt.
"No, that's not it at all. It's just… it's private. The only reason Marie and I even know is because we were there, but this is really a private matter between my father, Spirit and Stein, and Maka's family," Kid tried to explain.
Maka's eyes widened in shock. "Marie! Why is there blood on your blouse?"
Marie's looked guilty as she looked down at herself. Kid cursed. He hadn't even noticed some of Julia's blood had splattered onto her. The asymmetry of it should have freaked him out, now that it had been brought to his attention, especially after what Giriko did to him, but he was still too furious with Julia. For a moment, he wished Marie's shirt was drenched in blood, for betraying and hurting his father and Spirit and Stein, he imagined how Julia would have looked if Giriko had been the one to attack her and then he felt sick for thinking something so horrible.
"Kid!" Soul cried, leaping out of his bed and running to his side, wrapping his arm protectively around him.
"Damn it. I should have realized this might be too stressful for him. Kid, Marie and I can speak to Maka, with Crona. You and Soul don't have to be there," Spirit soothed.
Kid hated it, hated being talked to like a child, coddled and protected. It made him feel so fragile, so breakable, so broken. He pushed out of Soul's arms. "No. Maka is my friend, and she needs to hear this from me. She wouldn't believe you, Spirit, and she might not even believe Marie, but she trusts me, and she knows I would never do anything to hurt her. I'm going."
"What's going on?" Maka demanded, but more anxiety than indignation in her voice this time.
"We'll tell you as soon as we're in Stein's office," Kid promised.
0 0 0
Maka got into the wheelchair without complaint but pushed away Soul and wheeled herself to Dr. Stein's office. The moment everyone was inside and the door was closed, she demanded, "Tell me what's going on!"
Spirit sighed, as he set the radio down on Stein's desk. "It's about your mother."
Maka paled. "Oh Lord Death! Did something happen to mom? She's hurt? She… she's not...?"
The fear in her eyes made Soul's heart clench.
"No, she's not dead, or hurt. Well, no, she is hurt, but not badly, and nothing she didn't deserve, nothing compared to what she did to Stein," Spirit claimed, to Soul's confusion.
"Damn it. He's going to hate this, that you all know. Look, even though it's not our fault, you can hate me all you want for this, you can hate Marie, just don't you dare take any of this out on Stein or Kid or Lord Death," Spirit demanded, sounding surprisingly angry.
"What? Why should I hate Marie? Wait. You philandering jerk! Don't tell me you slept with Marie!" Maka accused, incensed. "Is that what this is about? You two have been having an affair, and…"
"No, damn it! I take it back, you can hate me all you want, but don't you dare say another word against Marie, when all she did was save Stein's life, again! I don't care what that lying bitch who calls herself your mother told you, but I never once cheated on her!" Spirit roared.
Maka was staring in wide-eyed shock at her father and Soul didn't blame her. Spirit had never once raised his voice to his daughter, but right now, he was acting almost as insane as Lord Death had been.
Soul stepped protectively between them. "Back off!" he demanded, ready to take on the older Death Scythe.
"Spirit, you need to calm down. Maka has no idea what's going on. None of this is her fault. She's as much a victim as you and Stein and my father," Kid scolded, with the same air of maturity and command he'd displayed during the war against Asura.
Hearing it was a relief to Soul, for more than one reason.
Kid turned to Maka. "Maka, your father isn't your enemy. Your mother did some horrible things and she was finally caught, she's finally being punished for it. We have her confession on tape, and that's what you need to hear. It's up to you whether you want Soul and Crona to hear too. Father and Spirit and Marie and I were all there, we all heard, but no one else in the Academy knows about it, at least, not the details. Nygus and Sid know she's been arrested, but they don't know why, other than the fact that she's been charged with treason against Lord Death and the DWMA," Kid explained intently, inexorably.
Soul was stunned, but he could see from her face that Maka was in complete denial.
"Treason? My mother? Are you insane? My mother would never do something like that! It's a trick, someone's framing her, I don't care what you've heard, what you think you know. Or she was protecting someone, taking the blame for someone else. You! You did something, and she got blamed!" she accused her father, glaring at Spirit.
Soul expected Spirit to yell again, or to falter, to stammer and apologize, to beg her to understand. The last thing he expected was to see a complete lack of expression, as he reached over, took the recorder from Marie and pressed the "play" button.
There was the sound of a doorbell, and a door opening.
"I'm sorry. Was the restraining order my husband put against you lifted without my knowledge?"
Soul recognized Maka's mother's voice, from the few times she's actually been in Death City since he met Maka, but the tone was mocking, sickly sweet to the point of scathing.
"Ex-husband. But you won't need a restraining order after tonight," Stein said coolly.
"Oh? So you're finally admitting defeat and leaving? I'm disappointed, Franken. I thought you had more Spirit than that," she taunted.
Then there was a slapping sound, so unexpected it almost made Soul jump. Had Stein actually hit Maka's mother? The thought of any man hitting a woman infuriated him.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, freak!" Maka's mother snapped, her voice vicious.
Soul was stunned. Maka's mother hit Stein?
"Why? Why did you take him from me? You didn't even want him. You threw him out of your bed, your house, your life. You divorced him. What did you gain? Maka? If you just wanted a child…" Stein asked dispassionately, as if he were idly curious. Soul knew Stein well enough to know that he sounded the most remote when he was the most deeply upset by something.
There was laughter, cruel and biting. "You poor, pathetic, stupid, naïve, gullible, bumbling ass! All this time, and you still don't understand? I wanted him because I couldn't have him. Because he was yours. Because he was pretty. Because Death wanted him, and I wanted something even a God couldn't possess. But you both made it so easy. Too easy. You took all the fun out of the game. A few carefully whispered lies to get people to doubt your sanity. A little drug in his coffee, and the next thing he knows, I'm 'rescuing' him from your evil clutches. A few strategically placed holes in a box of condoms, and I'm pregnant," she said smugly.
Maka slammed her hand across the buttons, stopping the recording. "Stop it! That's not her! That's not my mother! She wouldn't say that! It's a trick, a fake!"
"Maka, I'm so sorry honey, but you need to hear the rest," Spirit said reaching a hand towards her.
"This is your doing, it's all your fault, I know it is! Get out! Get away from me! I don't want you here!" Maka shrieked.
The door flew open and Black*Star was there. "What are you doing to Maka! Soul, Kid, how can you just be standing there, when she's screaming like that?" he demanded.
"Spirit, I think you'd better leave with Black*Star. We'll make sure she hears the rest," Marie urged.
"I'm not abandoning my daughter," Spirit argued.
"Oh, that'll be a first! You abandoned us all the time, for whatever new woman caught your eye. Like you ever loved either of us! All you know how to do is hurt us! I hate you! I want you out of this room, out of my life! I don't ever want to talk to you again!" Maka screamed, shaking.
"Fine. If that's the only thing left I can do for you, then that's what I'll do," Spirit said, heading for the door without a backward glance.
"Spirit, wait! I'm going with you. Maybe she won't feel so ganged up on if it's only Kid explaining, and Soul and Crona listening. Black*Star, I know you're worried about your friends, but please get back to bed," Marie urged.
"Fine. But if I hear any more screaming, I'm coming back in. No one hurts Maka," Black*Star said protectively, looking at Soul and Kid, as if he was exacting a promise.
"I'm sorry, Black*Star, but sometimes the most severe wounds are the ones you don't feel right away. But I'll do all I can to explain," Kid promised.
Black*Star nodded, and closed the door after Stein and Marie left the room.
"Maka, I'm going to turn it back on. You need to hear the rest," Kid said inexorably.
"Why are you doing this? How can you believe these lies? It's not her! She wouldn't say things like that!" Maka insisted, but her voice was catching, and Soul could see she was on the verge of tears.
"I'm sorry, Maka, but it's her. We were there when Father brought her and Stein out through the mirror. She doesn't even deny what she said, though she argued she was forced, when she realized Stein had been recording her without her knowledge. You need to hear the rest," Kid explained. Then, without waiting for her approval, he pressed the "play" button again.
"You're the poor pathetic moron, Julia. You never saw the value of what you stole. You never loved Spirit or Maka. When you got tired of Spirit, when your new toy wasn't fun to play with anymore, you fabricated a pack of lies about adultery, screeching about how he was cheating on you, how he was a terrible husband and father, turning his own daughter against him, thinking your lies would destroy him, the way you destroyed me. You were no better than the Witch Medusa. You used your own child as a weapon. "
Crona shuddered, wide-eyed, and Maka hugged them protectively and glared at Kid.
"But you underestimated everyone. You never realized how much Maka loved her father. You never realized how much Lord Death loved your husband. You never realized how much I loved both of them. You thought you destroyed me, when I'm the one who's destroyed you," Stein said confidently.
Soul watched Maka intently as her mother continued to goad and taunt Stein, until finally there were the sounds of fighting and Maka's eyes filled with panic.
"Don't worry. Your mother wasn't injured. My father and Spirit subdued Stein before he could hurt her or himself, Father used his shadow to render him unconscious," Kid assured her.
They listened as Death and Spirit intervened, as Julia tried to blame Stein for what she'd said, tried to get him locked away. Finally, Kid stopped the recording. "The rest is when Father and Spirit stepped through the mirror with Stein and your mother. She tried to destroy the radio and recorder, but Marie fought her, and then my father used his shadow to render her unconscious."
Crap. Soul had never liked Maka's mother, she'd spent way too much time away from the daughter she had claimed to love, accepting the Middle Eastern post while insisting Maka stay at the North American DWMA. All that time, Spirit had been the better parent, by far, except for his cheating. But that part had apparently been a lie. Soul remembered all the times Spirit had tried to deny it to Maka.
"Wait. Why didn't he fight it more? All those times she accused him of cheating. Agreeing to divorce her because of it?" Soul asked, confused.
"From what I've seen over the years, and what I now know, what we heard, it's because Spirit and Stein were in a relationship before Julia and Spirit, and Spirit apparently still loved Stein, in spite of being tricked into thinking Stein betrayed him, that he was experimenting on him. Stein was exiled before Maka was born, I doubt Spirit ever did anything after he was with Maka's mother, but he apparently felt guilty for still loving Stein. And for loving my father," Kid admitted.
Soul frowned. "Wait. You mean what Stein was saying…?"
Kid nodded. "I'm not surprised the rest of you didn't realize, it's not something any of them have made apparent to anyone else, but I've known my father loves both Spirit and Stein for quite some time. I know that the hardest thing Father ever did, next to imprisoning my brother Asura, was banishing Stein from the Academy."
So that was what Spirit meant, when he told me to never hurt Kid. He must have realized how we feel about one another, the way Kid knew about him and Stein and his father.
Maka was clinging silently to Crona. She hadn't said another word.
"Maka?" Soul asked gently.
"It's not true. It can't be true. My mother wouldn't do something so horrible. She's a good person, a good Meister. When Lord Death claimed Spirit as his new Death Scythe, she didn't just retire, fade away into the shadows, like other Meisters. She realized the hidden potential within her, she honed her dormant Weapon ability and became an Autonomous Weapon, like Justin. She had invented and perfected Genie Hunter, a technique that specifically targets evil. That's why Lord Death assigned her as the head of the Middle Eastern Division, because she was the only one powerful enough, kickass enough, dedicated enough to do the job.
"That's why I only get to see her once in a Happy Moon, why she only has time to send me postcards instead of letters, but she always sends me them. Every single word is that much more precious because she has to use so few. How could someone as twisted as that woman on the tape do something that amazing, if… It's not her. It's not real. It's a trick," Maka swore, as her eyes swam with frustrated tears.
"Maka," Soul tried again, but not insistently, more hesitantly, because there was something about what she was saying that was bugging him. Not just that it was making too much sense to argue against – because Maka was right, Julia Albarn was a legend, an icon every other Meister and Weapon on the planet strove to become – but something else, something deeper than that, but linked to that.
"It's not her! It can't be her! I love her and she loves me! And she loved dad, until he betrayed her! Why are you making her into the villain, when he's the one who always cheated on her? Even if that part is true, about the women, he still cheated, because he loves Stein, not her, he loves Lord Death, not her! She was his wife! He's supposed to love her more than anything, but he loved them instead! It's not right!" Maka yelled, and the tears started to fall.
She stood there, so brave and strong an alone, pitting herself against everyone in the room, against the damning truth of the recording, too strong and proud to make the first move, so Soul made it for her. He wrapped his arms around her and embraced her in a protective hug. And that was the moment she broke and began sobbing in his arms, the wordless kindness and support and loyalty too much for her to bear. Because no one could stand alone against something this huge, not even Maka, who'd faced off against the Kishin Asura all alone, the last Weapon and Meister left standing, and defeated him with the strength of her bravery.
That's when it hit him, what had been bothering him about all this. He could hear Maka's words again, as she defeated the Kishin, "Bravery's not special. But that means everybody has it."
And the Kishin's response, "Everybody, huh? Then it's just like madness."
The Kishin was the one who'd given Soul the key to overcoming the devil inside his head for good. If madness was everywhere, in everyone, not just him, and the whole world wasn't a madhouse, there had to be some reason for that, right? Maybe everyone else didn't fight against their madness. Maybe they ignored it, it was such a small part of them, they just didn't hear the voice whispering to them. Or maybe they did, but they accepted it, embraced it, as part of them, as part of what made them who and what they were.
That's when he'd stopped fighting against not just the devil inside him, but against the very idea of it, and instead accepted that he was part of him, that he'd be part of him forever, and swallowed him. It was ironic that the Kishin, who had instead dwelled in so much fear, of the world, of the people in it, of himself, of the devil inside him, had instead allowed his own madness to overtake and control him. He'd allowed the madness to embrace him, instead of embracing it.
But there was more to it than that. The Kishin had been alone: he'd isolated himself from everyone, convinced himself to rely on others was a weakness, instead of a strength. Soul knew he'd been like that too, before meeting Maka, before seeing how amazing she was, knowing she'd be the one who could hone his power so that he could become Lord Death's new Death Scythe. Normally a Reaper only wields a single special Scythe, though he could wield any Weapon in the Academy. The problem was, Weapons break, they die.
The foes the Reaper faced would never last a single round of combat against him. But even the Reaper's Death Scythe sometimes needed replacing, once they were too old and retired, or if they died in combat, or even if they were just too wounded to fight, to continue a battle.
He hadn't minded the thought of being Lord Death's Back-up Death Scythe. He didn't want Spirit to die. He was Maka's father and she loved him, but also, he was a pretty cool guy, except for the cheating thing, and hey, it looked like now he hadn't really done that, right?
Damn it, Evans, concentrate! That's not the point! What is the point? Oh, that's right.
The point was, as much as he needed Maka, she needed him just as much. A Weapon was nothing without his Meister, but a Meister was nothing without her Weapon. They were a team: it was together that they were strongest. The reason there were so few Weapon Meisters, Autonomous Weapons, was because they were so unstable: they didn't usually live long enough to realize their potential. Most of them committed suicide during puberty. Though some lived to be adults, they usually wound up completely mad, if they lived.
Justin Law was the only Autonomous Weapon in ages who'd actually remained functional, and hey, he'd met the guy, and he'd seen what that calm façade hid, even if no one else realized it. He used those headphones of his to keep the madness at bay, the sound of the music to drown out the voice in his head. Unlike him, he didn't create his own music, play his own music in his head, he used other peoples', but strangers', anyone's, not people who mattered to him.
And that was the key to sanity. When Soul had defeated the devil inside him, it was because he wasn't alone. Maka had been with him, inside his head. She'd embraced him and shielded him from the madness, when it had flooded him, tried to drown him. She'd stood by his side while he swallowed the devil. She was always there, the strength of her courage giving him courage, the strength of her love and support allowing him to be strong.
Maka's mother, Julia, didn't have that. Spirit had loved Stein and Lord Death, not her. So she'd tricked him, gotten rid of Stein and swooped in, taken Spirit as her Weapon. But partnerships didn't work like that. They were based on trust, not desperation and lies and manipulation. She'd thought she'd make Spirit hate Stein, that he'd believe Stein had been using him, experimenting on him. But Spirit loved Stein too much. Even though he believed her, he thought Stein had betrayed him, ultimately, he'd forgiven him enough to work with him again, to partner with him again.
Had that been the turning point, what finally made her crack? No. She'd likely slowly been going mad the entire time, with no one to protect her from herself. But Stein had gone mad too, he'd succumbed to that same darkness inside of himself, that wellspring of insecurity and self-doubt and self-hatred. And he was whole now. Functional, at least, and once he woke up, and realized no one would believe Julia's lies anymore, he'd have Spirit and Lord Death. Who would Julia have, other than Maka?
"Maka, you're right. Your mother isn't evil," Soul said with conviction, making Maka pause mid-sob, still in his arms.
"What are you talking about? You heard the tape, Soul," Kid snapped, sounding far more agitated than he should.
But Soul understood. Kid was upset on his father's behalf, because Julia had hurt Lord Death as much as she'd hurt Stein and Spirit, because he loved them. And maybe because he was watching Soul hold Maka, and remembering how he'd been holding him while he was crying only a little while ago, and feeling jealous because of it, and hating himself for it, for being jealous of Maka, when Kid knew he loved her like a sister, and he loved Kid…
He froze on that thought, those words. Holy crap. I love Kid. Not just as a friend, the way I love Tsubaki and Patty and Liz, not like a sister, the way I love Maka, or like a brother, like Black*Star, but love. Love, love.
He smiled, he grinned, in spite of everything, Maka still teary eyed and devastated in his arms, Crona watching silently and Kid watching resentfully.
"Why are you smiling? How can you smile like that when Maka's crying? I don't know how to deal with it when she cries, but even I know you're not supposed to smile!" Crona shrilled, the final words an angry yell.
"Whoa! Take it easy, Crona. Just chill, alright? That's not why I was smiling. It's just, I've figured some things out, about Maka and her mother and me. Maka, you're right. Your mother isn't evil. She's the opposite of evil: she destroys evil, with Genie Hunter, right? But she's also an Autonomous Weapon.
"You know how dangerous that is. You told me, after the battle with Asura how much it freaked you out when we told you how you'd manifested your Weapon side while you were unconscious. You were afraid you wouldn't be strong enough to become an Autonomous Weapon. You wanted to suppress your Weapon side, instead of training to use it.
"Remember how angry I got, how I verbally kicked your ass? Because fear is what made Asura a Kishin. Fear is the enemy, as much as evil is. I told you that if you tried to suppress it, one day it would overcome you, and that you weren't alone, that I'd always be there to keep you safe, to keep you sane. But think about it, Maka. Your mother doesn't have that.
"She broke things off completely with your father. She doesn't have her Weapon's support, his stabilizing influence. But even before then, they were never in balance, like we are, because their foundation was built on lies, instead of trust. Hers, not his," Soul was quick to point out, when he saw the familiar scowl thinking about her father always brought to her face.
"But that doesn't mean she can't be saved. If we were able to bring Stein back, after he'd completely snapped, we can save her. There's got to be someone she works with in the Middle East who's at least a little bit close to her. We find whoever she trusts most, or someone like Marie from there, and help her," Soul stated confidently.
Kid's frown dissolved. "Soul's right, Maka. We just need to find the right person to help her. Maybe it could even be Mifune, if he's willing to try, if no one there can help. He's one of the most calm, sane, comforting people I've ever met. And maybe Angela, too, maybe her healing magic can help. Your father and mine might be ready to give up on your mother, but we're not.
"And I'm sure once we explain, once we present what happened in a different perspective, they might be willing to listen to other options than prison for her. After all the years of her life she's dedicated to the DWMA, the pressure we put her under, it's the least we can do for her," Kid agreed, to Soul's relief. With Kid on their side, they were a lot more likely to get the outcome they were hoping for.
Kid held out a handkerchief for Maka.
Maka sniffed and wiped her cheeks and nose with the handkerchief Kid gave her, and pocketed it. "Thanks Kid, Soul."
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to help," Crona apologized meekly, wistfully.
"Oh no, Crona, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to leave you out! You were a big help too, just by being here, by listening. I know how hard that must have been for you, after all the wonderful things I've told you about my mother, to have this happen out of the blue, it must have put your whole world view in skew. Are you OK?" she asked, with that sweet caring Soul loved her for.
"I'm fine. You're the one who was crying. But you're alright now? You won't give up until you help her, right?" Crona asked.
"Of course I won't. She's my mother, and I love her. I'll do anything I can to help her," Maka assured them.