Cassandra had been up for hours. Early in the night, she received news her son had snuck out of his room and had yet to return. One of the mission tablets had also been tampered with in that time. Assuming the worst, she stayed awake while her husband was in his office processing the report their orders had been disregarded in stages. She'd overheard bits about chaining their son to a radiator before devolving into further accusations of how in a compound hundreds strong, he'd been able to sneak out in the first place. It gave her the idea to leave an unguarded path back into the base, and it had paid off.
"Why are we sneaking around?" A girl's voice whispered. She was immediately silenced by Black Star.
"Because outsiders aren't welcome." Cassandra's voice struck fear into the hearts of both teens. A single gaslit flame flicked to life and painted her face in severe shadows. It was easier to count the number of rules he hadn't broken at this point. "You know how I feel about Death's weapons. Why would you bring one here?" She couldn't fathom how he thought everyone waking up to find a DWMA student walking around the base was a good idea, it would sooner cause a panic. He went to whisper something in his companion's ear. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."
"Because I wanted a weapon partner." Black Star had only said so a dozen times. "Maka's not poisonous, no one here's going to die just because I brought her here. Outsiders can join if they're strong enough, that's what you did." Mentally Cassandra took note that perhaps they needed to have the talk about how marriages were arranged sooner than they originally planned. However, Maka's ashen hair caught her eye and she had to take a seat.
"Your mother," Nova tried to address Maka kindly, "what is her name?"
"Kami, ma'm." She bowed curtly under Cassandra's icy glare. "I'm sorry, I was under the impression I was invited." Black Star flinched when Maka shot a sharp glare in his direction. "I- I can go, I just." The bags she'd been carrying suddenly felt cumbersome. All the voices in the hall had drawn attention to them and a golden light shone down the hall as White Star left his office. He'd been gearing up to start his hour long lecture when he finally saw Maka and burst out laughing instead.
"White." Cassandra chided. Their son's first choice in weapon was the daughter of an old enemy. According to tradition, that would be a perk, but there was more at stake than mere pride now. "Why don't you make sure someone makes it back to their room?" She gave both a pointed stare as Black Star was dragged off by his father for a good teasing and a long talk about when it was okay to bring girls home. "Not you." Cassandra said before Maka could follow. "My dear, I only say this, because I want what's best for my son." She prepared herself for the worst as Black Star was taken out of earshot. "None of this is real."
It had to be a lie.
Maka walked down the hallway, the twists and turns familiar with a different coat of paint. Though try as she might, she couldn't come up with an explanation other than the one everyone knew. The Star Clan assassinated Asura and have been in a power struggle with Lord Death ever since. Even though she never had spoken with Lord Death directly, her mother and father had. Which was why what Cassandra had said had to be a lie.
The witch her parents fought had been named Nova, not Cassanrda. Her mother retired from being a meister after making Spirit a deathscythe because she didn't want to have any other partners after that. They'd been together ever since, and they would be ecstatic that she had finally found something similar. She just hadn't told them yet.
It was the sort of thing people wrote about in story books. In theory, anyone could run into someone and just know them if they resonated well enough. Why would it be so hard to believe that she had found someone like that for her? It made just about as much sense as her supposedly actually knowing him and being caught in a dream world. At least her flight of fancy was based in an optimistic view on romance and not some conspiracy theory.
Even if it was some weird dream or magic, wasn't the fact they'd found each other anyway just proof that something actually was there? It was real, it had to be. If that lady really believe they were memories, or hopes, or whatever crazy thing she tried to say she could tell Black Star that herself. Asking Maka to do it was just cruel. Perhaps it was a test of some kind.
The light was still on in his room. A knee jerk reaction to keep going down the hall surprised her. There was no door down the hall. He mentioned they'd probably share a room, at least for the first night. Still, it seemed polite to knock first. Black Star had a second futon lied out for her and seemed to have been pacing back and forth before she arrived.
"What did she say?" He asked.
She had been told his family was all dead and forgotten. That all she had to do was try and actually use her soul perception and she'd see how broken the world around them was. The only thing allowing her to hear any of it, was that Black Star had hoped his family had cared about him.
"Nothing." She buckled under his worried gaze, unable to bring it up even to poke fun at how preposterous it was. All she had to do was look at his soul and she'd have proof it was a lie, but she couldn't bring herself to, not yet.
"You sure? They've been acting kind of weird since you showed up." He was used to his father being a little severe, so seeing him doubled over from his choice in weapon was insulting even if he had gotten enthusiastic approval. "I know sometimes they put people through tests to get in, so I wasn't sure." So it was a test.
"I must have aced it then." Though, if that was the case, maybe it wasn't over quite yet. She crawled up next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. Ever since they got back, he'd been on edge. With their fingers entwined, the tension in his shoulders finally relaxed, but his expression was far from content. When she reached out toward his soul, he lapped up the attention with a crackle of built up tension. Just being near him she felt more powerful. It had to be destiny, otherwise what were they to each other?
Their home in Death City was smaller than back in Japan, but it was easier for Tsubaki to manage. As much as they wanted to, her parents couldn't justify leaving their family home abandoned to follow their children out to the states. They'd already exhausted all of their options back home, as far as the doctors were concerned, something else was making her brother sick. He'd always had a frailer constitution, but as soon as he could tap into his weapon form, his health had deteriorated rapidly. With nothing to attach to, the uncanny sword was instead, feeding off his own soul.
Masume hated being babied. He continually pushed himself to his limits, just to prove he wasn't completely helpless, but it often left him drained by the end of the day. Tsubaki had made a few calls with the DWMA to see if any meisters were available, but the school was wary to send out a student. Even three-star meisters had their limits. She had gotten her hands on some of the water from the Kyukon territory and had to practically force her brother to touch it. It was an exhausting process, but finally after weeks of hell, he was showing improvements.
"Tsubaki," he said "what are you doing?" Okay, so he'd only been physically improving. From the moment they arrived, he'd had a defeatist attitude that it was too late to do anything, and she refused to hear a word of it.
"You'll improve faster if we can find you a strong meister." She had laid out a few match making profiles in front of him. "The Star Clan has a few warriors that showed interest. It's a bit unconventional, but it's not worth a try. The worst thing that could happen is nothing changes."
"You've asked just about everyone it seems." He looked over the photos with mild distaste.
"I didn't want to assume." She crossed her arms. "You're the one who keeps saying you don't want me following you around all the time." This was the easiest answer to that problem. No amount of apologies or bargaining was going to make her change her mind. She was not going to leave him all alone in the house to rot, no matter how many times he tried to push her out the door.
"I want you to have your own life." The kid wasn't one of the options on the table, otherwise he'd have shaken it in her face and pointed out her meister was running around somewhere more confused than she was. Deep down, she had to know this wasn't real. It was no better than playing house. "You're not responsible for me." He was always the screw up, while she had been the golden child and he had ruined his life in the most dramatic way possible. She shouldn't have to work this hard to mold herself into something that would make their parents happy. Even in this dreamworld, it had given her some other task to accomplish. He had severely underestimated how stubborn his sister could be. "There's a reason we're as physically far away from our parents as possible, and it has nothing to do with my health. You don't need excuses not to go back. Do whatever you want."
"I want to help you." She pushed the papers towards him again to prompt him to make a decision.
"You can't do that." He rolled his eyes as she launched into another long-winded rant about how slow progress was still progress. The temptation to flop down on the floor and stare up at the ceiling was far too great. Reminding her he was dead would just make the speech longer. A ring from the doorbell changed his trajectory and he was able to beat her to the door. "Perfect." He leaned back and called out to her. "Your friends are here."
She narrowed her eyes when he parted to show Soul and Patty in the doorway. Masume looked far too smug to be up to anything good and she highly suspected he'd try to lock the door should she step outside. Still, he wasn't wrong, though her friends ogled her brother like he was some strange creature that had come out of the mist.
"Come on in." Tsubaki said evenly. "I'll make us all some tea."
"Black Star said we shouldn't drink anything here." Patty countered. Though by now, a number of them had broken that rule already. Tsubaki turned toward him with a puzzled frown. "It's not poisoned." She poured the cups out regardless, in case one of them changed their mind. "When would DWMA students be talking to the heir to the Star Clan?" There had been talks of burying the hatchet, but it seemed a little too soon for so many students to be on speaking terms with them.
"On the subway when he was all over his new weapon." Patty said before Soul could elbow her in the stomach.
"That's-" Tsubaki's thoughts scattered. On one hand, if Black Star had been looking for a new weapon, why hadn't he jumped at the chance to use a legendary one? On the other, the idea of him pairing with any weapon was pulling at a very old, but very real sense of betrayal. Her brother grabbed her a chair so she could sit down. Something was trying to click into place, but it was meeting resistance. Soul looked at Masume and back at Tsubaki with a grim expression. "What's wrong?"
"This feels like shit," Soul tried to smile, "I'm sorry for putting you through this first year. Seeing your partner with someone else really-" It was part of the job though. If a meister ever wanted to make it past two star status, they had to prove they could train more than one weapon. Soul's training was technically done. Something like this was bound to happen one day, but he wasn't ready. He just barely became a death scythe, there was still so much to learn, but he technically didn't need a meister to do that. She didn't need him anymore.
"Can you guys give us a moment?" Tsubaki waited until the others went into the other room before she continued. "Soul, what happened?"
"She didn't recognize me." Soul said. "You knew who were, but she just acted like I was a fucking stranger. It completely erased everything she knew about me, and she's completely fine!" It was just the magic, he knew that, but the fear that this would be their future had been laid out too plainly for him to compartmentalize away. If the book had made some kind of fake partner for her to follow around, it wouldn't have messed with him nearly as much as it being someone they knew. In that case, why had it refused to mold him into that role instead of removing him from her life entirely. "We're just starter weapons, aren't we?"
"Soul..." Being called a starter weapon had never bothered her, because she'd gone to the academy with a singular goal. Deciding to stick it out past that had been a spur of the moment decision, but it had been her's. That's why they couldn't stay here. "You know Maka would hate hearing you talk like that."
"I'm sorry." Soul said again, because he had a feeling when they left the kitchen, Masume would have disappeared just like Elly had. There had been no warning, no proper goodbye. He felt guilty getting all worked up over an unrealized anxiety when Tsubaki had been forced to relive the same grief two times over. "I can't get through to her. We thought maybe if both of us were there, it'd, y'know."
"You thought Black Star would listen to me after he ignored you?" Tsubaki asked slowly.
"Well, when you put it like that." He wasn't an idea man. Blair was the one who thought of it. It'd seemed like a solid plan at the time.
"He's literally a god here." Tsubaki sighed. "With legions of fans and a powerful family to back him up." Kid was out of commission and Maka had been roped into his egocentric little world. "The only thing that rivals that power here is the DWMA. Kilik may not be the strongest meister at school usually, but right now he's the only one of us aligned the school." Soul nodded along. "I guarantee if those two try to fight, it'll be a disaster."
The remains of the DWMA was a powerful organization, even if the school itself had been commandeered by another power. At the top ranks was Kilik, along side his two weapons. He'd been in a close rivalry with Ox all year for the position of top meister at the school. What Kilik lacked in written exam scores he more than made up for in raw strength. Now that Ox's weapon had ditched him and ran off, there was no more questions who was top dog.
"You want me to beg her to come back?" Kilik asked. He'd expected Ox to come crying to him after the break up not three other weapons, one of whom didn't even go to the school. "No offense, but she could do better than Ox." He loved his friend, but that whole partnership had been hard to watch. Soul bristled at yet another name drop, even though he definitely agreed.
"She's in danger." Patty tried to appeal to his more heroic nature. "I mean, you just said she ran away from home, right? The school's kinda big on making sure their students are safe. We could ask someone else, but you were the first person we thought of." Thunder and Fire were eating the whole tale up, giddy to get a chance to be the heroes. Granted, they were well aware of what the other's intentions actually were, but that made it all the more important they should go.
"Alright, we'll give it a go." Kilik said to the cheers of his weapons. "The worst thing that could happen is she says no." It was also the most likely thing to happen. As stubborn as she was, Maka had an uncanny ability to always get her way.