SERIES A/N: Thirty-one prompts to exercise my writing muscles. All Soul Eater, mostly my faves Spirit and Stein. Other characters will show up. Check my AO3 posting for the prompt list. Each story's notes will name its prompt.

STORY A/N: Man I had SO many ideas for this short and I could have dragged it on and on and on... I forced myself to stop. But know...this could have really gone on. I really like this one.

2. Airport

Landing

The night was inky but for the blue and green lights laid out in a vast grid across acres of pavement, their purpose unknown to the lone observer in the nearby parking lot. But Spirit's focus was elsewhere anyway. The only red lights to be seen were flashing under the wings of the plane that distantly taxied down the runway, and he hugged himself against the cold as he watched the shape of the steel bird carrying the woman he'd chosen out of his life again.

The roar of the jet engines was deafening when it finally lifted away like magic, but Spirit didn't cover his ears nor move from his spot near the parking lot fence until he could no longer see the shape of the wings, and the red lights were mere pinpricks rising higher and higher into the night sky, soon to vanish among the stars.

Finally, when he couldn't tell one pair of flashing, distant beacons from another, he bowed his head as he rubbed his arms through the sleeves of his blazer and started trudging his way back across the huge expanse of asphalt toward some place where he could get a ride. Maybe there was still time for a drink at the airport before he had to catch the next train, and heaven knew he needed one.

Against his will, he was already replaying the entire incident in his head, from the long journey in the taxi where she wouldn't even look at him let alone speak to him, to his reluctant and humiliating signing of one paper after another in the tiny office of a county courthouse.

He really needed a drink.

"You didn't bring a coat."

Spirit jumped at the sound, his heart in his throat even though recognition was instant and his mind was relaxing before his body had fully processed the shock.

"Stein! What are you doing here?"

He had lurched back at the too-close sound out of the darkness but was hugging his arms tightly again almost instantly, suddenly realizing just how cold it was as he was forced out of his depressed reminiscence and back to the present.

"I followed you," Stein said simply.

Spirit noted the man's typical attire of lab coat, patchwork turtleneck, and time-faded black jeans, and how his hands sat comfortably in his coat pockets and a cigarette rested lazily between his lips. He had no winter coat in sight either, and Spirit did some quick calculations.

"But I left Death City before sundown," he protested. Stein said nothing, and Spirit's mind ran over the rest of the implications of his former meister's words. "You've been spying on me for over four hours!?"

"She made that take unnecessarily long."

Spirit shivered, felt his teeth chatter as he stared into Stein's knowing eyes, looked at the slight tightening at the corners of his old partner's mouth that only he would notice, indicative of his good humor.

Spirit finally sputtered something between a laugh and a scoff, and then hurried close to the younger man's side. Stein turned and set an arm around Spirit's shoulders as they started back across the parking lot and toward the shuttle station, and the weapon hesitated for barely a moment before leaning into the meister's side. It was only a mild relief—Stein was cold too—but it was better than nothing.

"Please tell me you drove."

"Ah, no, I wasn't thinking."

Spirit grimaced. The train would be warmer, but not nearly warm enough on the frosty Nevada winter's night. He didn't like the idea of buying overpriced outerwear in one of the airport shops, but he liked the idea of freezing to death even less. Even the air was starting to feel like ice, and it was becoming difficult to breathe.

"We'd better hurry before the shops close," he said, attempting to lengthen his stride despite the painful chill settling into his bones.

Stein matched his pace but didn't reply, and Spirit wondered at the man's silence after having devoted the entire evening to secretly following him and his ex-wife around.

"What is it?"

Stein didn't look at him, but Spirit noticed a change in the tension at the corners of his mouth.

"Nothing. What was it she wanted, anyway?"

A shiver ran through Spirit and he pressed in closer, matching Stein's step so their legs brushed as they walked. He hesitated in replying, but finally sighed and let it go, his throat tightening before he uttered a word.

"There was an entire folder of papers I'd forgotten to sign at the divorce proceeding. I was...distracted at the time."

For the second time that evening his mind was wrenched back to that dreadful day, the way his wife—ex-wife—had sat with such detachment and poise as he was falling apart, watching the judge nod agreement to everything her lawyer had put forth about his being an unfit parent.

"Her lawyer is on vacation for the holidays and the signing had to be witnessed by the judge who adjudicated the case for some reason. And he was in Las Vegas this weekend. Would have been nice to know before this morning..."

He recalled not for the first time that day the way Maka had sat as near to her mother as the court would allow those months ago, grinning all the while and occasionally sending dark looks in his direction. She had been visibly elated when the judge declared him stripped of all parental rights, despite the fact that Maka lived and attended school where he worked. And then he remembered the way Maka had hugged her mother after the decision... Remembered watching the brief exchange of words between the two from his lonely seat across the room, his wife caressing their daughter's face as Maka looked back into her mother's eyes with love... And then they had left together, his wife the one to bring Maka back to Death City that day before leaving again.

Despite being on the same train back, Spirit hadn't seen Maka again that day or for several weeks after. She had moved in with her weapon partner before he and his wife had officially separated, and without the court hearings forcing them together he was reduced to hanging around outside her classroom and taking his chances for fleeting, one-sided conversation. But those were fewer and farther between, and never appreciated.

Maka loved her mother. And she made it clear each time he tried to see her that there was no room left for him in her heart. It was in Spirit's nature to hold on to hope, but the hard truth was that since the divorce...he had been well and truly alone.

Except for the bottle, of course.

"If you ask me," Stein said, interrupting the downward spiral of Spirit's thoughts, "they should really change some of those custody laws."

Spirit hadn't realized tears were welling in his eyes from the memories until hearing Stein's voiced support, and he swallowed against the lump in his throat and attempted to blink the hot moisture away. Was it fogging up out there, or was that just his imagination?

"Thanks," he finally said, his voice hoarse. He hoped Stein knew he meant for more than the encouraging words.

Far more.

He felt Stein shiver, and after a moment, Spirit released himself from the tight hold he still had on one bicep to slide an arm around Stein's waist. They were only about twenty yards from the shuttle station, and distant headlights suggested they wouldn't have too long a wait once there.

"I'll buy you a drink. One drink," Stein said. Anyone else listening would have only heard the meister's usual monotone, but Spirit heard the command.

Unseen to Stein, the weapon smiled softly. There would be no drowning his memories and sorrows in too much alcohol this time. But perhaps, now that he wasn't alone... He wouldn't need to.