"Maka," Blackstar had called out, his eyebrows furrowing. "We can't just leave, you know that."
Despite the disappointment that laced her knight's voice urging her to rethink her decision, Maka couldn't be bothered to move from the window. Every bone in her body was telling her to move- to just leave without another word.
She knew how irresponsible this was of her, but did she care anymore? The answer to that was simple. She hadn't cared about anything for a long time now.
"We can," She'd returned, her hands dropping limply at her sides. "If you don't want to, then that's fine- but I'm going."
Blackstar loosened his grip around his sword carefully, leveling his eyes with Maka. "How long do you think you can just leave for? The first day of Spring is just a few days away, Maka. Do you think people will take your disappearance as just a fluke? If the kingdom gets a whiff of another ball gone wrong, do you understand the uproar that would come from it?"
"I understand," she'd said slowly, "that's why I would come back. I wouldn't be gone long- not if you came with me."
"How would me helping you essentially escape be of any help?" Blackstar questioned frantically.
With her throat growing tight, Maka took a sharp breath. "You'd be the only person stopping me from leaving completely," she confessed. "If I left on my own, I don't think I'd ever come back."
With his eyes wide, Blackstar took a step closer to the Princess. "If something were to go wrong, you understand I'd be under suspicion, don't you? You're not just putting yourself at risk- you're a Princess, you can't just make these rash decisions! You can't just leave and decide to never come back. You have a kingdom looking up to you-"
With hardened eyes, Maka found herself slipping over the side of the window. Her final straw had been plucked. This had been an outcome that had been boiling up for a while now. If she hadn't met Soul when she did, she probably would have found a way to leave sooner.
"Watch me."
Another second wasn't wasted stuck sitting in the window. With familiarity, Maka tumbled out the window, landing not so gracefully to the grass below her. Frantically pulling herself back to her feet, she hadn't even spared a glance back as she took off through the castle garden, her eyes set upon the stables.
If she were to retrace her steps from the past couple of months, Maka still couldn't explain to herself how she got into this situation.
It started off so simple with the disappearance of her personal guard. It wasn't uncommon for guards to go awol, not in their society. It was more common not that a guard would go awol or become disobedient.
So how the hell did her story go from finding a new guard to running from the castle?
There had been so many plot twists and unconventional turns. She'd met her damn knight in shining armor- she got her unexpected love story- but it had turned bitter and cold all too quick.
A story from love and romance, to gory forsaken death, to running helplessly through a field of flowers while her guard chased her down just to avoid getting married off to some unknown kingdom to come.
In a way, she almost felt sorry for the poor historian who would have to write out her story- keyword on almost, because on the other hand, she felt even worse for herself, who had to essentially piece together her story on her own without any guidance.
"I hate you," Blackstar had snarled out from her side. Despite the anger that lingered in his expression, Maka could tell that Blackstar hadn't really meant what he said. "I hate you so much."
With a raised eyebrow, Maka glanced up to Blackstar and then down to the horse she was mounted upon. "Oh, really?" she'd questioned playfully, pulling on the reigns of Ember. "I didn't know hating someone entailed sneaking out of a kingdom with them."
Her guard rolled his eyes at that, carefully maneuvering his own horse around the thick brush of the forest that surrounded Eibon. "Whatever," he huffed, "You know I only agreed to come for your own good. Someone has to watch after your irresponsible ass. If something were to happen to you, I know I would never hear the end of it from Soul."
Maka pretended she hadn't stilled at the mention of him. She'd pretended that Ember hadn't come to an obvious stop at Blackstar's side.
Pulling herself together, Maka found herself huffing out. "Yeah, if he ever comes back."
With his lips pressed together tightly, Blackstar turned his head over his shoulders carefully, his eyes looking far too sympathetic for Maka's liking.
"He will come back, you know that," Blackstar had said slowly. "I know you have your doubts, but believe me, I have known Soul for far too long. He doesn't just give up on things he loves that easily."
Loves.
Maka couldn't help but scoff.
"There's a reason I wanted to leave the castle," she points out matter of factly, "To avoid these thoughts exactly."
At that, Blackstar just shook his head in disappointment. "I am being serious, Maka. He will come back."
Admitting it out loud burns her throat at first. Her stomach becomes queasy at the thought of what he's implying, but she can't help but spill out every thought that has been bothering her for the past week.
"I haven't heard from them in weeks and now, after some secret correspondence with Cinder, my parents are suggesting I marry? You don't think that's weird at all? It was so obvious my parents really liked Soul, even after everything that happened! Not once have they tried butting into my love life like this- it's all too coincidental, Star."
Before her, Blackstar falters. He turned his head slightly, redirecting his horse as he did.
"I'd be lying if I didn't think the same," he agrees, turning back completely forward. "But I know Soul- I know him. He has something up his sleeve."
Staring at the back of her guard's head, Maka quietly hopes that he'd right.
"Take a right and follow the river," Maka calls out, "We're going to visit one of the villages down that way."
The all too familiar smell of fresh-baked cinnamon bread almost brings tears to Maka's eyes- but, she's a grown adult, and she should know better than to get so emotional over something so small.
"This place is… quaint," Blackstar offhandedly commented as he tied his own horse to the post beeside Ember. "Should I even ask how you knew about this place…" The guard pauses, eyes dancing around their surroundings until they land on a nearby sign. "Loew?"
Maka shook her head, glancing down at Blackstar's quite obvious armor. "No, you shouldn't," she'd answered, learning forward to grab at her guard's cloak. She readjusted the fabric rather quickly, pulling back when the cloak covered the majority of his outlandish armor and Blackstar's frantic hands swiped hers away. "Don't make us stand out or you'll be the reason we get caught."
"Me? The reason we get caught?" Blackstar gasped out offendedly, bringing his hands to his face in mock shock. "Yeah, okay, your highness. If we get caught you better pardon me or we're going to have some big issues."
"Isn't threatening a royal illegal?"
"And isn't running from the throne treason?"
With raised eyebrows, Maka folded her arms over her chest. "Touche."
"Okay, so, is there a place we can eat? I am starving dude."
With a simple hand gesture, Maka motioned for Blackstar to follow her into the village quietly.
Despite it having been months since she'd visited, Maka maneuvered her way around with familiarity. Not much had changed since she and Soul had visited- the shops all looked the same- the streets the same- the familiar smell of cinnamon bread filtering the air in a mile radius of them.
With her arms wrapped carefully around herself, Maka finally found the tavern she'd remembered. Blackstar almost looked like he was going to cry at the sight of the place.
"Hurry, please," he shouted as he made a jog for the door. "Hurry or I will eat your arm off."
"Chill, chill," Maka spoke, allowing Blackstar to open the door for her eagerly.
The tavern wasn't nearly as busy as it had been the night she first entered the establishment. In quiet agreement, the two of them ended up sliding into a booth in the corner of the room in silence.
They had been seated for a total of four seconds- just long enough for the two of them to settle into their seats to breathe- before there was a loud clanking of silverware across the tavern.
"Oh- oh my god, I'm sorry!" A voice exclaimed hurriedly.
Both the Princess and her knight had turned their heads at the sound, eyes wide as a woman and a man begun to approach them.
"Maka- you're here again!" A familiar woman- Tusbaki, to be exact- had shouted.
Relief had flooded through Maka's system.
"Tsubaki," she'd greeted, already standing again. "It's so good to see you again-"
Before she could get another word in, she was being pulled into a tight gripped hug. "I never thought I'd see you again around here!" she'd exclaimed into her shoulder. "I know you and Soul had promised to return, but man, it's been months!"
Disheartened, Maka stood in place as Tsubaki pulled away from her.
"Say, where is Soul?"
There wasn't time to answer when Maka's eyes drifted to the figure who stood patiently behind Tsubaki.
"Crona?"
"Maka," Crona returned, a half-amused smile dancing across their face as they turned toward the table, "Blackstar."
Between them, Tsubaki furrowed her brows. "Oh, you guys know each other?"
"Man, do we!" Crona had called out, practically pushing Tsubaki out of the way as they tugged Maka into a hug.
The Princess couldn't help but freeze at the contact.
What the actual fuck.
"You two are far from home," they'd commented, pulling away from the half-assed embrace. "Sure you guys really had to run away to get out here, huh?"
Finally, Blackstar was rising to his feet, his armor clanking as he did. "What are you doing here?"
Now, don't get them wrong, there was no bad blood held against Crona- but the fact that they were there in Loew with them- acting so different compared to when they had previously seen them- left a sour feeling in Maka's stomach.
"I should be asking the same, shouldn't I?" Crona shot back carefully as they dropped a hand onto Tsubaki's shoulder, who stood stiffly between the group. "Maybe we should all just sit and catch up, for now, you guys must be hungry if you were just traveling from Eibon."
As if something had clicked with Tsubaki, she gasped.
"Oh- OH!" She'd shouted, turning to Crona and then Blackstar with wide eyes. "Oh-kay…"
In a silent agreement, the four of them shuffled into the booth- Blackstar and Tsubaki situated across from Crona and Maka.
"Blackstar, was it?" Tsubaki asked politely, extending a hand toward Maka's guard. Blackstar had simply nodded, taking the other's hand carefully. "My name's Tsubaki! I'm guessing you're a guard of Eibon? The name- it's very obvious. It's not often you see other guards from other kingdoms taking on such names."
"Should I ask how you know that?"
"Well, Crona was a guard for Eibon, they told me all about the weird nick-name thing the guards had going on."
Blackstar had just nodded cautiously at that, carefully retracting his hand as he turned across the table to Maka.
"Now- should I ask you how you know Tsubaki?"
Maka sighed, bringing a hand to her temples. This was not what she had expected when she said she needed a minute out of the castle.
"We met a few months ago, Soul took me here the night before my birthday."
Blackstar had simply nodded, turning back to Tsubaki with cautious eyes.
"I have a feeling Maka is not just a traveler now," Tsubaki admitted out loud, glancing toward Crona. "And an even worse feeling that Soul wasn't either."
Over a bowl of warm rolls, Tsubaki learns the truth about Maka and her former personal guard. She isn't all too taken back by the news, especially since her friend, Crona, had such an absurd life.
"So, Maka," crona spoke in a soft whisper as they nudged their shoulder against Maka's. "What are you doing here? Isn't that big ball thing coming up soon?"
Watching from across the table as Blackstar and Tsubaki began engaging in their own conversation, Maka couldn't help bug shrug. "I needed a comment out of the castle, I think," she replies, eyes downcasting. "It's all too much right now- just… everything."
"I get that," Crona admits. "There's a reason I resigned from Cinder's court. Trust me, I understand how everything had really… affected everyone. Especially Soul. That was a really big decision everyone had to make."
Another mention of the person she was, quite literally, trying to run from.
"You know, the moment his voice started getting better, all he'd talk about was you and Eibon? I don't think that man shut up once about wanting to leave. You should have seen Wesley's face, those two would constantly get into it."
"When was the last time you even heard from him? I'm sure things have changed since."
Crona bumped their shoulders once again. "I doubt that, Maka. That man is like, obsessed with you- to the point where it's almost borderline unhealthy."
With her eyebrows raised, Maka raised her head and turned to glance at the person she once knew. Crona used to be such a formal and uptight person- but, she can see now that that must have all been an act with the goofy grin that was plastered across their face.
"He was so happy when Wesley had promised he could go and see you at the Spring Ball.I fully returned to Loew only a few weeks ago, trust me, I don't think much has changed since then. That man loves you so much it's sickening. Utterly sickening."
"Then- why haven't I heard from them in weeks? They've had time to correspond with the court but not me?" Maka simply jeered, turning to glance across the table.
Blackstar was already looking back at her, his eyes flickering back and forth between Crona and herself.
With a pause, Crona had turned their head and raised an eyebrow.
"What, did they not tell you or something?"
"Tell her what?"
Slapping a hand over their mouth, Crona bounced in their seat. "Oh my God, they really kept that a secret? That's fucked. That's so fucked!"
With wide eyes, Maka found herself sinking deeper into her seat, trying to avoid being hit by Crona's quick-moving hands. "What- what didn't they tell me- you're freaking me out-"
Slamming both of their hands onto the table, Crona laughed.
"They were planning an arranged marriage this whole time."
