Notes:

This chapter is dedicated toFurorNocturna, Hoshi4, LokiGirl99, UndeniableMisconceptions, the phenomenal,ValentineRose529and everyone who left kudos. Your comments, encouragement, and insights are my motivation. ️

Operation is commencing.

Lord Death texted his associates as Maka stepped through the mirror closest to his desk. She looked terrible, and Death's heart went out to her. But he had to do this.
She'd known it was only a matter of time before Lord Death gave her a talking-to, but Maka really wished he'd let her go to the Death Room for it. Facing the puppet would have been much easier, but no such luck. At least Lord Death had opened a mirror portal for her, so she'd avoided unblocking her Reaper power or, worse yet, having to walk through The Gallows to his office.

"Come in!" Death jumped up from his desk and gave Maka a smile that didn't reassure her one bit. He was trying way too hard to be cheerful, which didn't bode well for her at all.

"Have a seat," he said, gesturing toward one of the sofas. Maka crossed the room, carefully skirting the spot where her mother's bloody body had lain. She didn't want to remember that. Or anything else that had happened in the past five days. She averted her eyes as Lord Death came toward her, but that resulted in an accidental glance at the portrait of Sophie hanging over the fireplace. She instantly regretted it; her anxiety didn't need a boost. She clutched her notebook to her chest like a shield, creasing its pretty floral cover.

Death sat across from her, "Can I get you anything? Some tea? A cookie?"

He groaned inwardly at his offer. What am I saying? Like I'm going to make this easier with a cookie? She's not four. Or Patty. Thanks to his adopted daughters, Death's handling of teenage girls had improved, but he still had a long way to go.

"No, thank you," Maka was sick of tea. Soul, in an attempt to be comforting, had been pouring it down her throat by the gallon. And she was pretty sure she'd choke on a cookie right now. She just wanted to get this conversation over with and go the hell back home. Maka steeled herself and then launched an attempt to cut her scolding off at the pass. She'd been taught that the best defense is a good offense.

"I'm really sorry," she blurted, "I know you must be disappointed in me and that I've worried you. I promised that my relationship would never affect my work, but I haven't held any practices this week. I know I ran away from that and everything else, and that was wrong, too. I just needed time to figure some things out."

Death hadn't imagined Maka could get paler or shakier, but she went white to the lips. He hoped she wouldn't faint; the entire plan would be derailed if she keeled over. But she'd just handled one of the trickiest parts of it—his part, anyway—and he hadn't had to say a word! He smiled affectionately.

"I'm glad to hear you say that. You and your team are one of our most significant assets, and you can't go offline forever. But it's only been a couple of days, and I know you've been through a lot." he said soothingly, "But I do need to know how you're planning to proceed." He glanced at the notebook she was crushing, "Are those your resonance team notes?"

He knew they weren't and that Maka remembered exactly where she'd left them. Well, not exactly; he'd moved them himself.

Maka looked down at the notebook and loosened her grip. "No, this is something different. Something…personal that I have to talk to you about," she began, hating the tremor in her voice, "About Lady Death."

Not much surprised Lord Death, but that certainly did the trick.

"About Lady Death?" he repeated, caught off guard. He could think of a few things Maka might want with his wife—none of them good.

Maka took a deep breath, "I might have figured out a way to help her."

The very last thing Death expected from Maka was an offer to help Sophie. Could there be a chance for his wife? His heart lurched crazily, and now he was afraid he might keel over.

"I've been doing some calculations, and designed a technique that might break the madness' hold on Lady Death's soul." Maka gestured to her notebook, "I don't know if we can get rid of the spell that's causing it, but maybe we can erase enough of it for her to live a pretty normal life. I know she has to be restrained right now, and that must be terrible for you…and…everybody."

Maka's voice wobbled when she avoided speaking Kid's name, but Death was too shocked to notice.
"Wh..what? Can I see?" he asked, reaching for the notebook.

She handed it over and continued, "I need my group practice notes to finish some of the calculations. But I…I don't have them right now. They're…upstairs"

And now she'd done his extra tricky part for him! Lord Death manipulated good and evil across the globe on a daily basis, but he hadn't been certain he was skilled enough to pull his part of the plan off–especially since she'd derailed his focus so completely. Maka's honor and honesty had made it easy for him. Death tore himself from pages covered in Maka's neat handwriting.

"Run up and grab them," he said eagerly, "Kid's not home."

Maka's eyes widened. She wanted to be in Kid's room about ten million times less than she wanted a root canal or to lose a fight. But she needed the notes. And she needed to be brave. She wouldn't beg Death to get them for her; it would be cowardly to avoid an empty room because it'd make her sad. Her feelings were not going to make her a failure. She hardened her resolve, told Lord Death she'd be back in a minute, and forced herself out the door. He watched her go, admiring her strength. He hated what he was about to do to her, but he'd done harder things in his time, and so much depended on it. For the first time in years, hope for Sophie blossomed in his heart, resting on a heartbroken teenage girl, a crumpled notebook, and a devious scheme.

He whipped out his phone and sent another text to the group chat he'd named Operation Cupid.

She's on her way! :)

You did great! :) :) Liz responded, unaware that Maka had done most of the work herself.

Quit with the emojis and the exclamation points. This isn't funny. I hate that we're doing this to Maka. Soul didn't care that he included Lord Death in his rebuke.

Sorry. Lord Death hurriedly typed, almost forgetting and adding an exclamation point.

At a Deathbucks across town, where she was keeping Patty as far away from the house as possible, Liz rolled her eyes, Me too, but you helped come up with this plan, so chill. It's too late now. And you get to the Death Room, LD.

Don't you think I should stay and make sure everything goes okay? Death replied, hoping she'd say yes.

NO. That's the last thing we need. NOW SCRAM.

And the Lord of Death, the ultimate decision-maker on the planet, scrammed.