By the time Kid noticed Maka had reached out to him, everyone had already gone home. He'd been scrolling on his phone on the drive back to the mansion when he saw her text. Racking his mind, he recalled bumping into her a few times and making fairly normal small talk, but he couldn't recall if that was before or after her message. He spent the rest of the drive furiously crafting the perfect paragraph to send to his friend as an adequate apology. The longer his silence penetrated the car, the more concerned Liz became, until she had had enough and snatched the phone from him.

"Jesus kid, who are you writing an essay to?" She skimmed over the message. "You're overthinking this. Just tell her to call you." A painfully simple solution, but it seemed deeply inadequate. "Remember what I told you? Don't smother her. Sending long whiney texts is smothering."

"I wasn't whin-" He hit send in the process of grabbing his phone back. "NO!" Maka had gotten a half-composed message, with sentences he'd been partially rewriting and the phrase 'I'm sorry' missing from all of it. His soul might as well have left his body. No one would feel comforted reading such lazy excuses. Liz and Patty had their ears covered until he remembered to breathe again. "A dead man. I am a dead man."

"Aww, chin up Kid." Patty said. "She saw you measuring candles, she knew where to find you."

"She is doing me the biggest favor on earth." Kid snapped. "I can't be letting her down the one time she asks me for something. I have to be at minimum present, if not completely attentive."

"She's calling you back." Liz said. He jolted, fumbling with his lock screen to answer in time.

"Good evening, Death the Kid speaking." He was immediately mocked for his manners by the girls in the car.

"Hey, are you okay?" Maka had long ditched her heels, wandering around her room with freshly showered hair. "You seemed kind of freaked."

"I was trying to exonerate my absence and apologize in the same message." He tried to ignore Liz rolling her eyes. "It's a mistake that won't happen again I assure you."

"Please tell me there's not a gift basket or something to keep an eye out for." His silence spoke volumes. "It's fine, really. I mostly wanted to talk because the formalness was getting to me. I'm glad people think things are going well, but it's like I blinked and a whole month went by. I'm feeling better now that it's over."

"Maka, I promise when this whole PR campaign is done with, I'll do my best to make sure you never have to do something this personally invasive again." He had done everything he could to have as little impact on her life. There had been no talk of her moving into the mansion to avoid putting pressure on her, he continued to assign her missions that had been set aside for her. Multiple times he had affirmed he wanted her to have her own life. This was just to make the school's future appear more secure. Still, he could tell the media circus had been hard on her. "I don't particularly care for this sort of rushed transition either. I'd rather a different carrot was being dangled before the public."

"Your father hasn't liked any of your alternatives?" Maka asked as she flopped down in bed.

"There are seven other warlords he worked with in the past, he's had no means or interest in finding any of their descendants." Kid sighed. "The only idea that intrigued him was welcoming Excalibur into the school, and that had only been mentioned in jest." The holy sword had been willing to partner with him and was excellent at distracting people, but the very idea made him shudder. "So, we have a plan b."

"I appreciate you looking into it." Maka laughed. "I know you're busy putting out other fires." She'd been vaguely clued in on the situation with the magic tools. He genuinely was concerned there were other literal skeletons in his father's sordid past that would come to bite them in the ass. A number of witches had been taking an interest in the civil unrest and chaotic activity had increased over all the last few years. Even spread thin, he had tried to find an alternative for them. "Did you have fun at least?"

"Yes, everything was perfectly done." The flawlessness of the display hadn't put him at ease like he had initially hoped. Instead, he became certain there was something out of place he had overlooked. Though in hindsight, it was probably his behavior that disrupted the guest's enjoyment the most. "You did an excellent job, you have nothing to worry about." She didn't want to take credit for Chrona's work. "I have to go." Car doors were opening and closing in the background along with the shuffling of clothes. "I hope you have a good rest of your night." The line went dead.


It was Maka's turn to cook dinner. She'd forgotten to brew the coffee needed to give the curry's flavor added depth. While waiting for it, she let the dish sizzle on the stove. Knowing the recipe by heart had it's drawbacks, neither Soul nor Blair knew the exact amounts of dashes and pinches of things to make it taste quite right. It was the easiest way to make use of the things Kid got her. She was thankful it was just a handful of fresh food.

Before she could tell anyone about what happened on the balcony, she needed to be sure she hadn't exaggerated what had happened in her mind. Black Star had sought her out and no other DWMA student, that was a fact. He'd gone out of his way to touch her, even if he made an utter fool of himself in the process. Surely that was a clear enough indication that he liked her. It couldn't be she just desperately wanted someone to show genuine interest in her that she was inventing other people's feelings in her head.

"Maka," Blair said, "the curry's burning." She hadn't finished turning the heat down before getting lost in thought. Red faced, she rescued their food and tried not to make eye contact with the black cat sitting on the counter. Blair stretched against the green countertop, testing how distracted Maka really was. "Is everything alright?" Usually, Maka scolded her for using her cat form to walk around the places they couldn't. With the curry safely on a cool burner, Maka turned around, her arms tense against the counter for support.

"I feel like a terrible person." She said. "I keep going through it in my head and I think I strung someone along." It was too grey of an area. She wished she could go back and clarify what she had meant. Or asked what he expected her to do. Or literally anything that would disperse the murky feeling that he had been flirting with her and she had encouraged it.

"What'd he give you?" Blair asked, after pondering how Maka's two statements could possibly be related. She eyed the gift basket with renewed suspicion. There hadn't been a single fish in it. If she were Maka, she'd start to doubt her charisma as well over such a shoddy gift.

"Nothing."

"I'll shred him myself."

"No. It's good he didn't." He had joked about killing Kid, which wasn't promising. "He shouldn't." It was her fault for bringing up the engagement in such a way. He'd talked a big game about doing something about it. With his number, she could just tell him not to do anything, but that would encourage him to talk to her more. "I didn't expressly ask him to do anything. If he does something, it wouldn't be my fault, right?"

"Depends on who you ask." Blair shrugged off the counter and stood at her full human height, scantily dressed as ever. "Men love to say it's my fault for all kinds of stupid things they do. I wouldn't put much stock in their opinion." She was successful as a hostess. Having seen her fair share of boundaries crossed, she could easily see someone as nice as Maka be too afraid to upset someone. "You're definitely not responsible for their actions. Why would you think that?"

"I like being a reliable person." Yet the idea of flaking on everyone and having someone else take the blame was extremely appealing. She was better than this. She shouldn't want something like this. "Lately it's been hard to be the person everyone expects me to be. It was nice to pretend I wouldn't have to be that person, but I shouldn't have gotten someone else's feelings involved. If someone did that to me..." Maka weighed the pros and cons of accepting Blair's advice. Wanting to wash her hands of the guilt, she decided he probably would have said anything to have her number. She was worried over nothing. "I'm not in a position where I can even go out with someone who likes me, but I kind of think he does. I might just be imagining things."

"Maka, if you're this worried about hurting someone, I can't agree that you've been 'terrible'." Between Spirit and Maka, the Albarns had a knack for being too friendly for their own good. Blair chuckled, but wouldn't dare bring it to Maka's attention. She handed Maka the lukewarm coffee to mix into the curry. Pumpkin spice, her favorite, it was a sweet gesture. "As long as you didn't promise something you can't offer, I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, who would be stupid enough to challenge a god for your hand?"


The training ground had a bitter chill as Black Star stood toe to toe with his opponent for the evening. He'd spent all day trying to figure out how to make good on his promise without killing anyone. It wasn't his family's usual style. Though bitterly he was reminded that this kind of counter intelligence had been his departed aunt's specialty. Tsubaki had been more curious how any of this was supposed to help them reach Asura, and incredibly apprehensive to do anything antagonistic toward Lord Death himself. It made sense, her family's livelihood was dependent on the DWMA. That only left him a few options.

"You seem like a petty person." Black Star dodged a spray of dimly glowing feathers.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Gopher had been pouting for a while about Noah being busy with his research and other people, they seemed like the best person to go to. He hovered out of reach, tempting Black Star to fight mid air where he had the advantage. "Ever since we've been here Noah-sama and I have followed all your customs without nary a complaint. I simply don't enjoy the company of children, that's not uncommon."

"Darn, I was really hoping you'd know how to get rid of someone without getting caught." He disrupted Gopher's wavelength with his own. Gopher's wings sputtered and dissipated. In a tailspin, he rolled against the ground, popping up onto his feet without injury. Falling had been a common issue when he first learned to fly.

"I might have an idea or two." Gopher masked his guilt with a tight frown. "Not saying I am that sort of person, but if I wanted to have someone conveniently out of the way, I'd just make being the places I didn't want them to be more... Uncomfortable." For once he had a pupil of his own, hanging on his every word as he skirted around implicating himself too much. "There's basic things; nasty rumors, sabotaging their goals, taking things that belong to them. If you really know the person, you can incorporate fears and generally tailor your harassment to happen when they do something you don't like. Kind of like training a dog." He'd done it to two people who tried to get close to Noah with moderate success.

"They've been doing a lot of parties and tv spots, you think messing with those would get him to call off the engagement?"

"The grigori girl?" A wide, mischievous grin spread across Gopher's face. "You want to ruin their little fairytale shtick?" Oh that was delicious. If she ended up looking like a trainwreck, it would make Gopher look like the superior soul in the process. "I'd be more than happy to lend a hand."

"I mean, I figured." Black Star said. "If we do this for her, she'll lead us straight to Asura." He was doing a huge favor for her, so obviously she'd feel indebted to him and want to repay him in kind. Even if they could just get close enough to see what kind of seals were used to contain Asura's madness, that would be more than enough to make progress on the purification spell. He saw Genbu exit the home onto the outskirts of the grounds. He raised a plastic bottle over his head and shook it with a reproachful look. "Shit, I'll be right back."

"You need to be careful." Genbu said. Black Star hadn't even noticed what time it was. As soon as he reached Genbu, pain flared around his temples and behind his eyes. The sun was too bright and he could smell generations of blood that had mingled with the soil. He tried not to wince, if Genbu noticed, he'd be told to lay down. Taking one of the pills dry, he looked back at his sparring partner. He'd been trying to hide this from the visitors. It was embarrassing enough to be treated like a little kid without his friends seeing it. "What happened to your alarm?"

"I don't need it." Withering under the glare, he reached into his pocket and set the stupid alarm in front of his older cousin. He kept the description blank. "I mean, I don't need the alarm. It was one time. It won't happen again."

"Go see Elaine, she'll help with your eyes." Stupid eyes, stupid inky stripes that bled across his skin, betraying how hypersensitive his senses were right now. She was going to see how far he pushed his soul and go into her whole sparring safety lecture again. It wasn't like she'd ever been in combat, she specialized in poisoning people. A lightbulb went off in his head. Not all poisons were deadly ones.

"Yep, will do." He dodged any follow up questions, welcoming the cave-like darkness of the family home.


Chrona hated conflict in all forms. It was why as soon as they could, they dragged Ragnarok to NOT classes where the highest stake missions they took was turning in an essay on time. Adjusting to mundanity was by far the most anxiety inducing thing they'd ever done. In a world full of people who demanded they step further out of their comfort zone, Maka was the only one they allowed to succeed in those efforts. She was counting on Chrona to do everything perfectly, it was supposed to be a cozy job they could do from their holding cell. Somehow, even the most peaceful of tasks had forced them into a fight.

"I'm not naming names." Chrona was standing in a ballroom completely decorated with plastic from a children's party store. Stuffed monkeys hung on the backs of every chair and a large, life-sized giraffe plush looked down on them with beady eyes. "But someone did not order the things I asked for." They were staring intently at Patty. Nice as she was, sometimes she danced a little too hard to the beat of her own drum.

"Patty had nothing to do with this!" Liz stepped between the two. She had no alibi and her sister playing with the decorations was not helping her case, but Patty would have told her if she was going to try and make the party 'better'.

"Yeah." Patty pipped up from over her sister's shoulder. "This is Maka and Kid's party, maybe they wanted to do something fun for a change." Kid hated disorganization and Soul was afraid of monkeys, Maka would never think anyone but Patty would enjoy a party like this.

"It wasn't supposed to be a party." Chrona flipped open to the page of their vintage etiquette book and showed the twins a hand drawn sketch of an elaborate long table. "It's supposed to be a dress-casual luncheon where Kid is going to give something tasteful to Maka that accurately represents his wealth." The twins rolled their eyes. "Excessive parties would make them look wasteful. This," they gestured wildly to the copious decorations, "is the definition of excess. It all has to go and the stuff I actually ordered needs to be here." Luckily, it was in Kid's house and there was plenty of time to redecorate, but it would throw them off schedule. They wanted to do a good job, but at this point they kind of wanted to cry in the corner.

"Way to go you bimbos." Ragnarok towered overhead. "You made Chrona cry and now I have to deal with this bullshit an extra week."

"Shut it blob!" Patty poked his featureless face. "Maybe we'd have more time to double check stuff if someone wasn't sending creepy letters to Kid!" They had gotten eerily close to the room Kid slept in. "The last one made a security guard vomit. I wonder who's writing is capable of doing that?"

"CHRONA'S BEEN BUSTING ASS FOR YOU LOT-" Ragnarok bellowed as Chrona covered their ears. Everyone was shouting, nothing was getting resolved. They slowly sank to the floor.

"What on Earth is..." Kid briefly was distracted by the giraffe. The eyes on it weren't placed quite right. "Patty-"

"It wasn't me!" Patty said. Though she did bust a gut when it had initially rolled through. It was just so ridiculously large.

"I didn't even know this was a thing people could ask for." Chrona chirped from the floor.

"Well," there was a high chance he'd already paid for this stuff, "I guess the beginner students will have a jungle themed commencement ceremony." Better to donate it then let everything go to waste. "My guess is something was miscommunicated?"

"I don't know how." Chrona was able to show them the emails they'd sent. Right time, right address and everything.

"Perhaps phone calls would be better." Kid suggested, only for Chrona to grimace. Talking to people on the phone was way more uncomfortable then crafting a perfectly worded email. "Liz, what was that new tea we brought in? It's been surprisingly effective against stress headaches." It was only noon, and he had a feeling there would be other fires to put out later in the day.


Nothing was working. Black Star paced back and forth, ideas he already used taped to the wall like a crude pin board. It'd only been a few weeks, but so far he hadn't heard a whisper of the young grim reaper changing his mind. Elaine assured him poisoning required consistency and patience. He was rather bad at the latter, but he didn't want to risk any human getting seriously hurt should they drink from Kid's cup.

"Remind me, how is this supposed to stop Asura?" Tsubaki showed him the threat letter Gopher had written for Kid. In hindsight, he should have suspected Kid was used to people hating his guts by this point.

"Maka knows where Asura is." Black Star pointed at a crinkled paper on the wall. "We help her break up with this guy, then we ask her to tell us where Asura is super casually. Then we can case the area, find an opening and then we get him."

"That 'guy' is Shinigami-sama's son." Tsubaki sighed. "When you said you were trying to get in contact with her, I thought it was so we'd have direct communication with someone in charge of the US branch. If the engagement breaks, she won't have any power to do anything." Perplexed, he looked back at his web of failed ideas. Granted, the execution had been messy, but the general plan seemed solid to him. His way let everyone get what they wanted. "By that point, if they move Asura's location to prevent another break in, she wouldn't know where they put him. It's in our best interest to leave someone that's indebted to you in power."

"I still have a few other ideas." Black Star said. Tsubaki's idea made more sense, he just liked his idea better. "If I can't get it to work, then we can try your idea."

"Black Star." Tsubaki threw the letter aside. "If you get caught doing this, you could burn bridges with seriously powerful people. It's not something to be taken lightly."

"I made a promise." He didn't have much to give people other than his word. Even if the promise he made was on impulse, he planned to keep it one way or another. She'd been so sad and tired compared to the last time they spoke. He didn't like seeing her like that. There had to be some way to get her to smile at him.

"I know you made a promise." Tsubaki sighed, worn down by his earnestness. "I'm sure she appreciates that you even considered trying, but at a certain point, you have to recognize when something's not working."

"Not yet." He glared at the childish suggestions on his wall. He was going to be the head of the family, he trained the hardest, if anyone could get this to work he could. He was Black Star after all.


Life in all it's brilliance filled Ponera's castle once more. She had a full court of advisors updating her on what had changed during the years she slept. Restoration of the grounds was in full swing. Though she had grown fond of the overgrowth, it was immensely satisfying to watch each hedged sawed into neat geometric shapes.

Her plate was always full, her cup never empty. She could see her glittering reflection in the marble floors now. Each golden fold of her dresses were carefully pressed. All was right with her world again, and she was happy. It only made sense then that her people were just as happy, though others didn't seem to think so.

During one of her daily walks around the guardians, a sofa dropped from the fourth floor, nearly squashing her like a bug. Cleanly cut ropes dangled in the wind as a shadowy figure darted out of the frame of the window. A wounded soul had crawled into her paradise without seeking an audience.

"In a queen's lifetime," she held her head high, "there are many failed assassination attempts." Still shaking, the ladies in waiting rushed to the two guards that came to check on them. Refusing to let anyone panic, herself included, she hid behind her plush doll. "Have the ruffian bound and brought to Our feet. There is no wickedness We cannot erase."