Mind over matter, Maka repeated the school's mantra in her head with her eyes closed. She was a strong soul, if she focused on how happy everyone else was for her, she could make herself happy too. It was a walk in the park, literally. After years of being on the lookout for watchful eyes, she needed to train herself not to look at the people pretending to be disinterested.

"Maka, it's unsafe to walk with your eyes closed." Kid had more practice than her ignoring onlookers. When he wasn't trying, he could do impossible tasks with grace, it was when he actually put his mind to something that problems occurred. The last thing she wanted was for her to be one of those things he fixated on, a problem that could never be fixed.

The park was pleasant enough, though the daylight betrayed how willpower alone was what kept the grass green and growing. Not too long ago, the park had been full of decorations and stands for the fall battle festival. They'd been cleanly swept away without a trace. Now it was just people walking their dogs and taking pictures. She tried again not to look at the later.

"It's a shame you didn't get to compete this year." Kid said.

"Soul tries to weasel out of it every year." She shrugged off her disappointment. The allure of meeting Shinigami-sama had worn off shortly after seeing him on a regular basis. Though it was a shame to watch her winning streak die. "This time we were too busy doing other things."

Mind over matter, it wasn't the engagement's fault the battle festival just happened to fall at a time she was juggling other things. She was happy.

"I wish I'd thought of having you on as a judge sooner." She could not picture herself up at a decorated table with the faculty, just watching as other people fought where she once had. Though that would likely be expected of her later down the line. It would have increased the feeling of being left out.

"That would have been weird." She shook her head. "It isn't fair to give me perks other students wouldn't get."

"Preventing you from winning a third year in a row? I think it'd be incredibly fair, for everyone else." When he put it like that, she couldn't help but laugh. There had been a number of people bitter about how often her name was in the school's trophy cabinet. Ox should enjoy his moment in the sun while he could.

"Is that why you never competed yourself?"

"Preventing other students from talking to my father who I'll see at home a few hours later..." He pretended to ruminate on the idea. "Can't say the prize appeals to me."

"You could change it, make it something you'd like too." At the mention of change, his eye twitched. She gently bumped into his shoulder. "How else am I supposed to beat you next year?" He'd somewhat lost to Soul self-wielding their first year, she was confident she could exploit her insider knowledge for a more stunning victory.

"I'm glad you find joy in combat." He'd learned the hard way that when he fought with all his might, the world around him turned to glass. Ancient structures were reduced to mere rubble beneath his hands. He had to exercise restraint not to destroy the things he cared about, but he'd yet to master it. He wouldn't be so prideful as to lock arms with Maka anytime soon. "I'll see if Patty and Liz have any ideas. I know Patty wanted to join last year, but she hadn't been enrolled long enough to get her wielding certification." They could get really competitive, but shied away from anything that flaunted they were his weapons. An exception could be made if it seemed the playing field was fair.

"That'd be nice." She was trying to find something they could do together that wasn't work. Most of the things they both enjoyed were solo activities, like reading, and talking about what they read. That wasn't enough to project the minimum of amount of companionship she desired from a life partner onto him. She slapped her cheeks. No sulking, it would look bad in pictures and she'd get worried texts from her mother afterward.

"Are you getting cold?" It had only been a few minutes. They were supposed to be out here for at least another forty. She really needed to stop thinking like that and stop checking her phone every three minutes.

"No, I'm fine." As they made their way around the walkway, they came to the fountain. Water ran down the stone's face against a gloomy sky.

"Unsightly, isn't it?" She couldn't hide the alarmed hurt on her face. "My apologies, anything to do with Excalibur brings up negative feelings. I was trying to make light of it." Right, the sword, it looked deceptively elegant, masked under water and stone. Granted, the statue also couldn't talk.

"Who was she?"

"Excalibur's second meister, and likely the last." The number of people who tried to wield the sword only to immediately put it back was too great to keep track of. "Anytime he's brought her up, the name and story changes, but he most clearly remembered her liking water." She did seem to almost rise out of the fountain with the sword held out for someone else to take on her role. "Father spent years trying to recreate her face based on nonsensical accounts. The wretched thing hasn't come to see it once." His father was more meticulous about keeping records of meisters after that, never wanting another warrior of order to fall away namelessly. It was completely preventable, but the wrong had only been noticed once it was too late. "This may sound selfish, but I am happy with how things have been going in spite of everything. So often I look up to find the world has gone on without me when I try and make the right decision. This has been effortless in comparison." She wanted to believe him. He was downright convincing, until he gently tugged her into frame, a ghostlike hold on her forearm. "I truly think you'll do amazing things Maka. Whatever you want to achieve, I'd like to be able to help you." He squeezed her arm, a signal for them to keep walking and let go. With one last look up at the forlorn statue, she felt a twinge of regret. She had more fun the last time she was here.

Mind over matter. Everyone was trying their best to make this work. She needed to be happy with that.

After finally showing progress, Noah was allowed to peruse the variety of treatments the Star Clan had used to keep madness at bay. The greenhouse clinic belonged to Elaine, but she refused to even meet with the artificer, leaving the tour in the hands of her husband Genbu. Noah was far less interested in the various flora and more in the book of paper seals.

"It's been a while since I've seen magic sigils used in the field." Noah hummed in approval, mimicking the calligraphy in his book to dissect the meanings later.

"Don't call them that." Genbu said. "You can around Black Star, since the kiddo likes things to be larger than life, but around her those are bandages or seals." He then pointed to the soul draining water that agitated in a small fountain. "Meditation water." Then at the array of potions and bottles on the shelves. "Medicine." Noah seemed less than impressed by the layman terminology. "Folks around here want help, but the 'm' word brings up bad memories. The previous lady of the house, she'd call souls 'magic pills' to get the little ones to eat them." It made his skin crawl to think of the number of wounded assassins the witch had tricked into becoming demons with the same white lies. He too had been promised if he took her help, he'd get to see the birth of his daughter. She hadn't been wrong. While she was still alive, all the village saw was a miracle worker saving those who should have died. She'd hidden the side effects behind a blissful illusion.

"Is that why so many of the kishen-eggs down there are so young?" Noah asked. It had been a while since the corruption of kishen was passed down from generation to generation. He had assumed the ones remaining were born with it in their blood before going on their first hunt.

"When it happens to them as children, they don't know anything else." He said. "Most of them were no older than eight when they were first fed."

"What possessed her to change them so young?" He asked.

"I can't speak for everyone, but living as we were, we weren't safe to be around normal folks. We didn't know it at the time, but Elaine can't be around anyone while upset without poisoning them... Being a new mother's hard." He could still remember the first few days after Haruko was born, desperately hungry but unable to latch. There was arsenic in Elaine's tears, and the number of times a drop could have fallen on their daughter's face was too many to count. She'd been withering away in their arms. "The witch brought them back from the brink of death, but then when they asked for more 'magic pills' she wouldn't tell them no." Noah held up one of the seals, making out 'sorrow' from one of symbols. Most of the seals were for general emotions, but they grew more specific the deeper into the collection he went.

"I imagine that's why Shinigami-sama was quick to retire the practice." Noah said. "In the dark ages, children like Black Star and your daughter were more common; but they typically lack self control." Lord Death had tried to give those caught between life and death a place in the world order, but with age, had grown impatient. He put all his efforts toward preventing anymore death demons from being born. "It's incredible how well you've kept them stable. Especially the little one who's only eaten the one soul." Genbu stood up a little taller, his daughter had come a long way from throwing tantrums for more power.

"We've tried our best to make them feel they have control over it." He took a small bottle off the shelf full of pearly blue balls. "Every day, they have to mediate in the morning and take one of these. Venus insisted a proper routine would strengthen their minds." Noah took out one of the pills and examined it. "It's a secret recipe only Elaine knows." Noah nodded, putting it back to write more notes.

All of the headmasters for the different DWMA branches were coming together to talk about the shifting world order. Among them would be their major allies from other smaller factions. Noticeably not among them this year would be the Star Clan. No branch of the family could provide an agreed upon successor. Even with Black Star gaining support from inside the Western branch, he was still considered a child on a power trip to those on the outside. In order to avoid causing further in-fighting among the branches, Lord Death refused to acknowledge any of them until a greater consensus could be reached. Black Star did not take his exclusion well.

Tsubaki paced around the outer grounds. The last time Black Star had her sneak him into a DWMA event, they'd almost been caught. She wasn't entirely confident they'd gotten away with it either. It was just the threat of Asura's arrival had demanded more attention at the time. With everyone blindly encouraging Black Star's new big plan to bring glory to the Star Clan, she was starting to feel like she was the crazy one.

"You look fine." She was jolted out of her thought spiral by Mifune. The samurai had been utilizing the training ground to his heart's content.

"That's not..." She tucked a loose hair behind her ear. "Can I ask you something?" She approached where he was destroying a straw dummy. "Am I seeing things that aren't there?" She adjusted her bracelets and a number of gold pieces that had been lent to her from the family's stash. "I always try to see the good in people, but I haven't exactly been proven right. Lately, I've been wondering if I'm making the same mistakes again."

"Why are you here?" Despite the assassins' monstrous appearance, they had enjoyed having a new child to dote on. He easily saw how someone like Black Star could be convinced they alone had hung the moon and the stars in the sky. "There are plenty of meisters who'd appreciate a weapon such as yourself. No one's forcing you to stay, are they?"

"No." She sighed. "He believes with his whole heart he can fix things, and I do too." She met his aunt once, and she had a feeling before now he hadn't had a lot of encouragement. Noah and Gopher had been a huge help so far, but she had a feeling they were helping for the wrong reasons. Ever since Angela showed up, their research had become more secretive. She'd caught the man whispering to his book sometimes. All weird, but nothing alarming enough to justify intervening. "I can tell he wants everyone to be happy, but I've found that's kind of impossible."

"It's not your fault if he doesn't listen to you." Mifune remained focused on the number of slashes he put into the dummy. A thousand a day was his minimum for strength training. "Nothing will change if you remain silent."

When it was all plastic binders and pictures of flowers, it was easier for Maka to tuck the engagement away in her mind as this nebulous future plan. Kid would find a way to delay things, he always did, even when he didn't mean to. Then Lord Death had casually called her a future in-law and it became all too real all too soon.

Chrona taking over had lifted the weight of her shoulders for a bit, but all it did was shift the scheduled appearances into these sudden interruptions in her usual life. Their antiquated taste was a crowd pleaser and all too foreign to Maka who was supposed to be sowing the seeds of Kid's reign with every waking step. Instead of steering the skid, she was being dragged toward it's natural conclusion.

All evening she'd spent talking with the different DWMA heads and other powerful allies Lord Death had made along the way. They all knew her from when she was small, but she had no recollection of the names and faces. Everyone was just so proud of how far she'd come from scribbling in coloring books. It was embarrassing and awkward all at the same times. She loved being a meister, but all of them thought of it as a stepping stone to becoming an ornament for Kid to bring out whenever necessary.

Behind her, was a glittering ballroom plucked straight off the pages of a vintage magazine. Kid was in there somewhere, over analyzing the placement of centerpieces while she was out on the balcony trying not to be overwhelmed by the sea of strangers. She had texted him to come find her whenever he was done. Left unread, the message stared back at her.

She needed to swallow her pride and make up with Soul, even if it did mean admitting she had a slight habit of acting without thinking. He was right, but if he wanted her to say that he shouldn't have been so callous when criticizing her. The tense pseudo silent treatment hadn't helped her with any of this, but she'd run out of ideas on how to make up without admitting she was wrong.

"You weren't invited." She said. It wasn't meant as a slight to the now familiar soul lurking overhead. With the tumultuous state of the Star Clan, there were just a number of people who would have been upset by the surprise guest appearance of a member of the clan. Black Star swung down from the roof, sloppily dressed in his best estimation of black-tie formal wear. He'd stick out like a sore thumb the moment he went inside.

"How do you do that?" He asked with a wry smile, only a little disappointed he failed to sneak up on her. The stone railing seemed as appealing a seat as any. He only let one leg dangle off the edge in case he had to bolt suddenly and eyed her collection of finger foods hungrily.

"Soul perception." With a shake of her head, she offered him her picked over plate. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." They were alone on the balcony. The party lights reflected off his markings like fireflies and there was an earnestness to his voice that made her think he didn't choose the suit to impress the party guests. When she didn't balk at the notion, he continued. "I think we should be allies."

"We are allies." Granted, the relationship between the Star Clan and the DWMA had deteriorated, but it was still intact as far as she knew. He shoved a few mini quiches into his mouth for courage.

"The clan and the school are sort of on friendly terms." Eating was a mistake; it was making him sound ever more childish than he had feared. He set the plate aside and tried to follow Suzuka's tips on persuasion. Making eye contact, he leaned toward her as casually as he could. "We should be closer than them."

"How..." Butterflies, of all things to get right now, a fluttering heart was the least desirable. Blair had to go put into her head that he wanted her attention, and here he was, saying stupid stuff that was proving Blair right.

"You could start by giving me your number." Oh god this really was happening. This idiot had risked life and limb just to get a stupid phone number. She'd seen boys fall over themselves before over girls like Liz and Patty, but it hadn't happened to her. She shouldn't be excited about this, she was engaged.

"I'm flattered but," his cheeky smile cracked a little, "it'd be hard to be anything more than allies while I'm engaged." Granted, her father had proved time and again that didn't necessarily stop people. Kid had told her numerous times he didn't want her to feel shackled by the arrangement, but it was the principal of the thing. She would not, could not, be in a position that would be considered cheating.

"And if you weren't?" Black Star asked. "Say you woke up one day and the engagement was off, could we be closer then?" It seemed like an easy enough job, his grandma used to do that sort of thing all the time.

"I mean..." Sincerely she'd need to think about it, but the fantasy of the whole thing disappearing was appealing. "I guess." It wasn't like it would happen anyway.

"Just to clarify, are we talking 'accident' or-"

"I don't want him dead!" She wasn't winking, that probably meant she actually wanted the guy to stay alive. That would be harder. "Kid's my friend. It's not his fault everyone thought this was a good idea." Significantly harder.

"How about this." Black Star hopped off the ledge. Through the glass he could see a fin of white hair making a beeline for the door. Tsubaki wasn't far behind him. "I give you my number, and when the job's done, you give me a ring?"

"...sure." It seemed harmless enough. He punched the numbers quickly into her phone and tossed it back just in time to disappear into the shadows when Soul opened the door. Maka looked back at her phone. She should tell him what happened. "How did you do it?" She asked. "How were you able to just leave everything that was planned for you behind?"

"Maka..." He had tried to disappoint his parents on purpose, just to shatter those expectations. He hadn't cared if they ever tried to look for him when he left. For Maka it was different, she cared so much about what the people in her life wanted for her. Letting people down was the one thing she hated doing the most. "I didn't have a plan or anything, I just couldn't take it anymore."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier." Way earlier, but she wasn't going to remind him of that. "I know you were trying to look out for me. I just really hate all the ideas I've come up with to get out of this."

"The last plan you think of is usually the best one." Against her better judgment, she hit save of Black Star's number. "Just let me know before you go doing something that might be stupid. That way I can help you out." She guiltily slipped her phone back into her bag. There'd be time to tell him about it later.

With beautifully plated hair, Ponera sat on her freshly dusted throne. All around the hall, young children bustle about. It was so easy to bribe them with candied rose petals from the garden, and she was finally feeling herself again. Times had changed while she'd been asleep. Asura was no longer a secret, and faith in the beneficence of ancient gods had waned. While their followers dwindled and strayed off the path, she would welcome the lost souls with open arms.

"Let go of me!" A shout rattled out through the halls. Ponera rose, her silk gown trailed behind her in gradients of pearlescent pink and gold.

"Unhand Our maid!" Ponera declared as regally as she could. She had to look up at the aging woman, the weight of her crown tugged at her scalp, threatening to fall. Things were so much easier when they knew to kneel in her presence.

"My daughter is coming home." The woman's clothes were threadbare, her hair stringy and greying. "This game has gone on long enough." With a twinge of sympathy, Ponera reached up and brushed the woman's hair away from her face, a sweet smell trailed wherever her wrist went. People were always anxious when they weren't taken care of.

"There's no reason you can't stay here as well." The woman's expression softened. "Your daughter has been kind, and We have rewarded her thusly. We shall discuss the arrangement over tea." With a clap of her hands, her many tiny servants lead the woman toward the dining room. "And do something about her clothes. In my court, a Countess should reflect the wealth of her queen." The mothers would continue trickling onto the grounds, she needed to show the benefits that came with falling in line. Though soon, she would need land that matched the titles she was granting. The next time she left her castle, the surrounding town would be unable to ignore her.