A/N: And here we are, the start of the 'New' arc.

To those of you who have been here for awhile, you might notice that there's been a pretty big update to all of the chapters, some changing in wording and some sections added or removed. Well, coming back to this, I really wanted to clean up a lot of the early mess I made and to clean up things now that I have a clear idea of the end-game of the story.

Not to mention some of it was just badrealbadohgoshwasit-

Anyway! ONWARDS!


They ran. Faster, faster, and faster… tripping over their own feet trying to escape the hunter hot on their trail. Fortunately, they knew these streets better than anyone else. Making a hard turn into an alley, they slipped out of sight and into London's labyrinth of backstreets. Even then, they didn't dare stop until they were certain they'd escaped.

Collapsing against a wall, they sucked as much air into their burning lungs as they could manage. Sweating and shaking, they raised their head to look up at the particularly eerie expression the moon wore that night.

And whatever hope they'd had to see the sun again died.

Seated on the edge of a rooftop, kicking their feet and grinning in much the same way as the celestial body behind him, was their pursuer.

"Serial Killer 'Jack the Ripper'… we're here for your soul."


"Lawrence." She called to him, his name quieting the erratic hum of his soul. "Don't forget what you promised me."

Her meister twirled her in response, her short and unimpressive blade managing a menacing gleam when it caught the light. "A-huh." He leaned forward to fall towards their prey, swinging her down to split the criminal in half.

Jack was quick though, scrambling out of reach and raising his arms defensively. The man had mutilated himself, replacing his hands with monstrous mechanical claws that were each longer and thicker than her own stubby blade.

"Jeez, that must make wiping your ass a real pain." And there went her idiot, focusing on the wrong thing.

"I don't wipe!" The killer answered. Ew. He dove towards her meister, slashing and swiping wildly.

Twisting, ducking, and leaping between the flurry of blows, Law was grinning as he spun her between his fingers. "I'll have to give Maka a bath after this!"

"Ugh, don't go saying weird things!" Her Papa would kill him! At this point though, the more he spoke the easier it was for her to focus on their connection. His eagerness was tempered by her determination, her doubts were quieted by his confidence. Together, their fears made their resonance strong.

Jack began to shriek, his frustration obviously growing as Law used her to simply deflect all his strikes.

"Maka!" Law gave her one final twirl before snapping hold of her.

"Right!" Her meister swung and she threw herself into it, her blade flashing one final time that night as her small wielder slipped between their opponent's crazed swings to deal the killing blow to split the murderer in two at the waist.

She was already changing back before Jack finished unraveling, hand forming around the soul of their latest target first and the rest of her body following shortly after. "That makes ten." She smiled to herself, clutching the small, precious orb to her chest.

"Double digits!" Law pumped his fists, beaming.

She smiled over at him… and then brought her book down on his head. "Stop acting like this is some huge accomplishment! It's been almost a year and all we've managed is ten?! We're the worst in our whole class!"

"That's not true! Black Star's the worst!"

…tch, she couldn't argue with him there. Ten was better than zero. Still, all she could think about was a certain smug scythe meister's and her stupid, stupid, occasionally sweet scythe. "How can they be at ninety-nine already…" What was she supposed to do if Soul replaced her Papa?! Would she have to call him 'sir'?! Would he wear a suit and tie? …her cheeks felt hot suddenly. "G-guh, stop it, we don't want that…" She tried and failed to convince herself and her stupid hormones.

"Stop being thirsty for Soul for a second, we need to contact the boss-man!" Her meister called from the end of the alley as loudly as possible.


"Forty-two, forty-two, five-hundred and sixty-four, whenever you want to knock on Death's door…"

The store window filled with light, and she braced herself…

"Maka! Congratulations on ten souls!" Her father's cheering was accompanied by both him and her headmaster setting off a pair of party poppers. "Papa will take you out somewhere nice to celebrate!"

"You see?" Her meister frowned over at her, hands on his hips. "You have to celebrate the little victories and relax some. Putting that much stress on yourself can't be good for your body either. You'll never hit puberty."

She clubbed him for the second time that night. "I don't want to hear that from you of all people!" Sixteen years old now and he hadn't grown a single centimeter since the day they'd met! "You tell him, Maka! Papa knows that one day very soon that you'll blossom!" And the last person she wanted to hear that from was her own parent! Sighing, she tucked her book under her arm and focused her attention on the masked god. She gave a small, apologetic smile before speaking, "Demon Sickle Maka Albarn and Scythe-Technician Law N. Order reporting in."

"Yo!" The casual greeting from Lord Death was something she'd gotten used to. "I'm glad to see that the two of you were successful! And, from the looks of things, totally unharmed!"

She tried not to get a fat head over all his praise. Not very hard though. "Thank you! We've been trying our very hardest!"

"Though, I'm surprised! You usually make much faster progress with your partners, Law!"

There went her good mood. She glared over at her meister who was making a face at their headmaster. He could be as mad as he wanted at Lord Death, it didn't change he had been half-assing things!

"Yeah, thanks for that. I can't wait to hear about this the whole way home." Law grumbled.

Oh, and she would be giving him an earful, he could count on that. "U-uhm." Reaching up, her hand tugged at her shoulder-length locks. "Alice… she had to go after a witch, didn't she? Is she doing alright?" She didn't want to ask about the one she was concerned about with her Papa right there.

"Not at all! It's looking grim!"

She tried not to fall flat on her face. "H-heh?! They're in danger?! Law- come on, we have to go-!" She was running… and getting nowhere, unable to move a single inch as her meister had grabbed her by the back of her sweater vest and, despite his size, he was more than strong enough to keep her from moving even an inch.

"Now, now. This was their assignment, Maka." Lord Death's image waved a blocky, white finger at her. "They knew the risks." His uncharacteristically grim tone made her feet heavy, and she hung her head, mostly to keep from glaring at him.

"Well, that's all we've got for now, boss-man." Law didn't even seem to care. "We'll be home soon." And then, he smashed the store window to end the call.

She didn't have the energy to lecture him about doing that, again. Right then, all her thoughts were of a pale, snarky boy who shared her goal. Was he really in danger? Was Lord Death not doing anything to help? Sure, she knew there were risks to being a meister and a weapon, but- This was different! This was-

"'Ey, Maka, you want any of this?"

This was her meister having reached into the broken window to steal some of the baked goods that had been on display. She didn't even know it had been a bakery. Wait, was that why he picked it!? Had he robbed all those places he'd told her to call Lord Death from!?

"No?" He asked, face smeared with frosting already. "You know I can't read your mind, right?"

Her eyes were spinning in their sockets. There was her meister with cheeks packed like a squirrel's, cakes, cupcakes, and Soul being murdered because no one seemed to care-

Something hard struck her forehead, knocking her onto her butt, and ow, that stung! "W-what-" She whipped her head back and forth before looking up to see her meister standing over her, frowning. The position of his hand… he'd flicked her forehead?! "Why did you do that!"

"He's fucking with you." Law sighed, crouching down to her level. It was the only situation where someone would ever have to look up at him.

Wait. What? "He's fu-…do you mean Lord Death?" She asked, rubbing her forehead.

"It's way too early for those two to think about making a Death Scythe. He probably sent them on a wild goose chase." A wild goose chase…? "There won't be a witch. Or, there will be a 'witch'-" He did air quotes as he spoke. "-and they'll lose and have their souls confiscated. Whatever it is, it's probably some kind of impossible assignment."

"…really?" That seemed so… underhanded for their playful and upstanding Lord Death.

"Yes. That's the kind of shit he always does." Oh, was Law… mad? He was glaring off into space. It seemed like he was remembering something.

"…he's done that to you too, huh?" She asked, more curious than anything.

Law picked up a rock and threw it through another store's window. "SHIT!"

That was one way to answer. "I forget sometimes how long you've been a student… You've seen all kinds of things, huh?" She got back to her feet and brushed herself off. "Still, Soul's going to be really depressed if he fails this…" If the souls he and Alice had worked so hard to collect were all taken… that would mean she didn't have to worry about him leaving her behind though, wouldn't it? "Oh well! I guess I'll cook him something nice!" She clasped her hands together behind her back, smiling.

"What are you, his mother?" Law opened wide, tossing a stolen pastry into the air and swallowed it whole. "You want one?" He offered one to her as well.

"Sure, sure." Sighing, she took it and brought the heavily frosted baked good to her mouth and took a small bite and- "Gah! This is ancient! How long's it been since they made it!?" It had probably been on display at least a month. Her meister didn't seem to care, crunching away on something that probably shouldn't have crunched at all. "You're going to get a stomachache…" Why was her meister such a weirdo?

"HEY!"

A bell rung as the door to the bakery that her meister had robbed swung open and a very angry man in chef's attire emerged holding a rolling pin. "You little thieves! You think that you can smash up my store and leave without paying for it?!"

"G-gah!" She jerked back. "Law, we should probably-" She looked where her meister had been seconds ago and found empty space. "Eh?" She looked down the street and far, far away and getting further still was the retreating back of one Law N. Order.

"I trust you to handle this, boss!"

She was getting flashbacks to that night at Stein's. "You-!" She started… and then remembered the angry baker and barely ducked in time to avoid having her head cracked open. "You shitty cat burglar!" She shrieked as she took off after her meister, both for safety and to kick his ass.


"My, it seems like I have to patch you up more because of Maka then I do from any missions you take."

She winced. That wasn't true, was it? Sure, they ended up in the infirmary a little more often than others because of things like this, but- Fidgeting, she wondered if maybe, maybe, she was a little too rough with her meister.

"It's fine, it's fine! Having a pretty nurse treat them is every boy's dream, right?" Uuugh… the more she looked at that stupid grin on Law's face, the more she wanted to sock him again.

Well, it wasn't like he was wrong about how she looked. She'd started only a short while ago, taking on Nygus's responsibilities in the infirmary because she and Sid were off on assignment. Or taking time off. Or…well, there were a lot of rumors about where the two were right now and she wasn't sure which she wanted to believe.

"You're too kind!" The blonde woman seemed to have no issue playing along for her patient's sake. How she put up with the harassment of a bunch of hormonal teenage boys, which were the worst and probably all deserved a spot on Lord Death's List, and her Papa, she couldn't even fathom.

"I mean, even if you're kind of small for a woman your age." Her meister grabbed at the air in front of his chest.

Thankfully, this time she didn't have to punish him herself as the still smiling nurse jabbed an alcohol-soaked cloth into a cut she hadn't realized Jack had left on her meister's arm.

"YyyaAOW! A-a little more warning next time-!" The pitiful sickle meister looked on the verge of tears.

Good.

"You should know better than to say things about girls, Law. You'll need to keep that in mind when you get older." Medusa's voice had gotten an extra notch sweeter. It seemed painfully forced.

"Hey, I'm sixteen! I'm legal in this city!" Her meister declared.

Medusa nodded then looked towards her, smiling. "Maka, would you mind?"

She shook her head and smiled in return. "Not at all."

A second later, her meister was lying unconscious in an infirmary bed with a heavily bandaged skull.

"I'm sorry about him." Sighing heavily, she bowed her head at the nurse. "He's an idiot who doesn't know how to talk to people." She was still working on his cursing… He'd filled up their swear jar enough times to pay for all their new furniture.

"It's alright, Maka." The older blonde waved off her concerns. "I was warned about him and your Papa in advance before taking this job."

She felt like someone had stabbed her. Why did the two men she interacted with the most have to be so terrible that women were warned about them?! "I'm so, so sorry…" She felt so ill now that she kind of wanted to crawl into one of the empty infirmary beds and die.

"That was a joke." Medusa giggled. "I knew what was in store for me when I came here to DWMA, Maka." She couldn't keep from smiling as she spoke. "It's nothing I can't handle. Besides, I get to help brave weapons and meisters defend our world, don't I?"

"Well, I don't know about me and Law…" She laughed nervously. "We're kind of a mess." A terrible, wonderful mess that she'd fought for, but a mess none the less. Her laughter was cut short as she was bopped lightly on the head with a clipboard.

"None of that." Medusa was frowning at her. "You're every bit as much of a hero to me as any other student I take care of."

H-hero…? Her? She could feel her cheeks growing warm. "T-thank you!" No one, excluding her Papa and Mama, had ever said something that nice to her before. Not even Law. Especially Law. Getting kind words out of him was probably a sign of the end times.

"Now, roll up your sleeve."

"Oh? Uhm, sure, but-" She did as she was asked, mind elsewhere. Was she a hero? She knew their work at DWMA was very important and they'd saved more innocent women from being killed in London so…

"Good, now, show me that heroic spirit!"

It was then she noticed the large syringe in Medusa's hand. All those warm, fuzzy feelings vanished. "M-miss Medusa?"

"Professor Stein asked me to get a sample for him-!"

Dammit, Medusa had pulled a fast one on her!


Class seemed like it was going to be interesting that day, what with their friends all having equally fantastic stories of their last assignments…

"You had every soul confiscated?" Hell must have been freezing over because she felt sympathy for Alice.

"It wouldn't have happened if someone-" Her scythe- her fellow scythe scowled over at his redheaded meister who was bug-eyed and looked ready to kill. "-had been able to tell the difference between a witch and a cat."

Alice giggled. "Yes. Yes, that's right, Soul." Her lips twitched upwards into a smile.

She scooted her seat a little further away from the other girl and towards her own meister. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that." She wasn't. That didn't mean she wanted them to be depressed though."It shouldn't be too hard for you guys. You collected ninety-nine once already, a second time shouldn't be too hard."

"You could take actually hard assignments this time." And there was Law 'helping'. "A Death Scythe made from ninety-nine small-fry would be pretty shitty."

Sigh.

"Excuse you?! We weren't-…" Alice looked like she was about to leap across their desks to throttle the boy and she honestly couldn't blame her. "How long have you even been here?! How close did you get to get any of your partners to being a Death Scythe?!"

"I prefer picking my assignments carefully."

'Bullshit.' She wanted to say. She practically had to twist his arm to do anything. Getting him to accept the Jack the Ripper assignment had taken some creative convincing on her part.

"Hmph. You're just lazy." Alice spat. "Jacqueline. How many souls did you and he collect when you were partners?"

How nice of her to bring that topic up and make everything awkward. The dark-haired girl looked away from her current, pink-haired meister to frown towards Alice. It was no secret that was a sore subject, even with Kim now in the picture. "More than you and Soul have now."

That was a harsher burn than Jackie could've managed with her flames.

"Jackie and I weren't about that whole making a Death Scythe life anyway. We spent our time doing other things together." Law said in that casual way of his…

The whole room went up at least five degrees from the very flustered looking demon-lamp who was playing with her hair and… w-what was with that smile?!

The unpleasant emotion she associated with her meister's former weapon reared its ugly head once more. She wouldn't have minded if that, pun intended, 'old flame' of Law's found herself at the bottom of the ocean sometimes… "What about you, Tsubaki?" She asked, a little louder than she probably needed to, as she looked at the girl sat with her meister the next row of desks down from hers.

"Well-" She started, but, to absolutely no one's surprise-

"I proved I was the biggest!" Black*Star answered for her. "I faced a guy with a strong soul- but he was just a lot of talk! Me and Tsubaki handled him, no problem! Didn't even break a sweat!"

The look on Tsubaki's face told a whole other story.

"Strong soul?" Law got his feet off his desk, finally, and sat proper as he leaned forward. "For real?"

"HHMMMmhmhmhHM!" Black Star was a bit too preoccupied laughing to give a proper answer, rubbing the underside of his nose with the back of one of his fingers.

"He was a very powerful swordsman… His name was Mifune. He was guarding the witch we went after."

"Witch and a strong soul… You guys could've made Tsubaki a Death Scythe right there and then." …she was sort of glad that they hadn't succeeded. If Black*Star had gone from zero souls to making a Death Scythe in one mission… the whole world would have crumbled under the weight of his ego.

"Well, I'm glad that you're not dead, Tsubaki." Law completely ignored the very loud, 'WHAT ABOUT ME?!', from the girl's meister.

The buxom girl offered up an awkward smile. "A-as am I…?"

"Witches-" He paused to look at Alice. "-real witches-" Was he just trying to pick a fight today? "-are no joke, I've known plenty of guys that picked a fight they weren't ready for and ended up eating dirt, permanently."

"R-right… Black*Star, we should be more careful in the fut-" "Bring it on! I'll crush them all! Except, well, that one-" "Black*Star!" "…hmph!" …seemed like there was more to the story than they were willing to say.

"What about you?" Soul's meister was seething. "Having such a long and illustrious career here, have you ever even seen a witch?"

Setting his chin in his hands, Law's grin went from ear to ear. "Yeah. I mean, I've got you as a classmate, don't I?" Oh no, he was really going after her today. She really should do something about that, say something to stop him… Yeah…

"Y-You-! Disgusting, foul-mouthed, brutish-!"

Before things could get violent, a voice she dreaded came on over the PA. "Black Star, Tsubaki, and Alice… report to Lord Death 's office. Bring that little punk with you too." Her Papa was the last person who should have had this responsibility. Especially if she was going to single out her close friend and absolutely nothing more. "Oh, and Maka…"

Oh no…

"Papa Loves You!"

Her classmates were snickering. Her meister included.

Traitor.


Class without their friends went quickly.

"I can't believe he took all of them… That's too harsh." She shook her head, and upon receiving no response from her meister threw a nasty look over his way. "Are you listening, Law?"

"You don't have to pretend that you're upset." Her meister finally replied and kept right on walking, hands in his pockets. "Losing to Soul… or losing Soul as a 'classmate', you'd probably cry until you died."

She stumbled over her feet, her face growing hot. "I-I'm not a rabbit!" What was he doing, talking like he saw right through her?!

"He's probably vulnerable and looking for some comfort. This is a big chance for you." What was he even talking about now!? "Oh Soul-" Alright, if he was trying to imitate her voice he was making it way too high and way too annoying. Knowing him, he was doing it on purpose. "-let's not compete anymore. Let's become Death Scythes together."

As if she'd ever say that! That was too embarrassing! And, she wanted the sour albino as a rival! And… and… that wouldn't work would it? Ever since that one trip to the movies a whole year ago, their relationship hadn't progressed in the slightest. Which was fine. She'd sooner die than follow the advice of an idiot like Law anyways. Just because he seemed more worldly about some things. The way he talked about Jackie sometimes made it sound like… ugh! She was in a bad enough mood but remembering the face his ex-weapon had been making back in class was enough to make her blood boil.

Before she could dwell on why that was for too long, she bumped into her small meister's back. "Oof- Hey, what are you-"

A small, calloused hand clapped over her face as she was dragged behind a trashcan. She could have told him that this was a bad hiding place… "Maka, look." He pointed towards an unfamiliar trio heading through the halls in front of them.

At the front of the group was a boy dressed immaculately in a black suit flanked by two girls in… bold attire. "…I don't recognize them… but that one at the front has a real presence, doesn't he?" She asked quietly. It reminded her of someone…

"Who? Oh. Right, there's a guy with them. Well, ignore that, look at her." Law waved his finger in the general direction of the tallest of the three. An undeniably beautiful blonde who carried herself like she was fully aware of it. "Low-rider jeans."

Oh Death dammit. "…did you seriously drag me behind a trash can so you could point out a girl dressed like some kind of floozy." It was not a question because she knew the answer. That being that Law was a complete moron who only thought with his-

"…floozy?"

Blood rushed out rather than into her face for the first time that day and, slowly, she turned to look at the girl she'd just insulted standing over them. "A-ahh…a-ahaha…"

Shit.

"Maka, it's okay." Law was there, squeezing her hand as he helped her up to her feet. He even stood in front of her, becoming a wall between her and the understandably angry stranger.

"L-law…" She really should have been easier on him. For all his quirks, he did care about her as a partner and- Wait, what she was doing, he was obviously about to say something terrible. She knew how this song and dance went now.

Without fail, her undersized idiot gave a thumbs-up and a smile that deserved to be on a billboard to the provocatively dressed blonde. "After all, I really dig the floozy look!"

She whined, taking her book out to, very lightly, bonk him on the head with it. She didn't even have the energy to properly chop him when he was this stupid.

"PATTY!" The girl snarled and, with a giggle, the other blonde turned into a mass of pink light that reformed in the completely understandably outraged stranger's hand as a gun to press against Law's forehead. "You brats are fuckin' dead."

It felt like she spent more time running than she did reading nowadays.

"She's shooting at us!" She felt it was important to say, if the sound of gunfire and the bullets whizzing past their heads as they ran wasn't enough of a clue.

"I know, right? Women!" Her sexist, moronic, short-legged meister huffed as he sprinted alongside her.

"This is serious!" She crushed down the urge to cave his face in as one of the ornate lamps lining the halls was blown to bits.

"Naw, we're fine. See? She can't aim for shit." Law folded his arms, nodding to himself as he ran. He looked back over his shoulder at the shooter. "We have classes here for that! You might need to take a few!" He finished by blowing a raspberry at her.

"RrrrRRAGH! I'm gonna snap your neck!"

She yelped as a bullet whizzed through her hair. "Can you stop provoking her?!" She swung at him, more out of habit and panic than anger at this point, only for a small hand with iron grip to catch her fist.

"In here!" Law dragged her through a pair of familiar, heavy double doors and into the library. He dove, taking her along with him, behind one of the many bookshelves.

Having a moment to breathe, she nabbed the thickest book from one of the shelves to crack his skull open with. "Idiot! Why do you have to make everything worse?!"

"Uh, that's our brand, Maka." Even as blood spurted from his skull, Law was looking at her as if she were the stupid one.

"…haaaa…" She slumped to her knees. "You're right." Shaking her head, she smiled up at him. "So, how are we getting out of this?"

"Well, if it's a gun, she's not really firing bullets. More like concentrated bolts of wavelength. Unless she's really, trying to kill us, the worst it'll do is hurt. A lot." Huh. He was awfully knowledgeable. Had he partnered with a gun-type weapon in the past? This was also Law, so it was just as likely that…

"Has someone shot you with one before?" She kind of felt like she knew the answer.

"Maka, come on. It's me."

"I'll take that as a 'Yes'." Peeking around the corner with him, it was just in time to see the doors get kicked open and that angry blonde to come marching in waving her gun like she was robbing a bank.

"Come out! If you take your punishment like a man, I'll only crush one of your balls!" And she was still pissed.

Talking their way out of this was impossible, wasn't it? She looked up at her meister's grinning face and, with a shake of her head, her body was breaking down and shrinking into a mass of light for him to catch.

"Let's show her not to take us lightly." Law's words were matched by his wavelength. Confident and excited, like he was about to play a game he was one of the best at. She'd normally have pushed back or tried to reel him in some, but…

"I'm counting on you to end it quick! You have to keep the books safe!" Indulging him every once in a while wasn't a bad thing.

Leaping out into the open, her meister threw himself into the leggy blonde's crosshairs. "Don't miss, floozy!"

Pink! So much pink! Compressed bolts of wavelength numbering in the dozens were flying at her idiot. "I thought it was a pistol, not an Uzi?!" That had to be cheating!

"Did you think she had to reload?!" Law, at least, didn't take his eyes off the girl shooting at him even as he narrowly avoided being pumped full of lead. Or, well, wavelength. Him being such a small target had to help, but he was doing an impressive job avoiding the hail of bullets.

She bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep from saying anything else, not wanting to distract him. She had her own job, as his weapon. Breathing deep, even if air wasn't exactly a necessity in her current form, she had a million jobs just as important as her partner's. If she kept telling herself that, she might even believe it one day.

Their resonance was stable. Stronger than usual even. He must have been in a good mood. Unlike their moonlit battle with Jack, there was no sign of that becoming an issue. Good. Their goal wasn't to kill their opponent either. Just teach her not to take them lightly.

On the outside, Law was pushing in closer, but her short reach was forcing him to have to put himself in danger. Even if he was avoiding a direct hit, the bolts of wavelength had scorched his clothes and burnt his skin just from the grazes.

The twinge of guilt she felt over her own weakness must have reached him through their connection because- "OW!" The sudden jolt of negative emotions she received from him in response felt like she'd just stuck a fork in an outlet. She could feel her eyes tearing up. There were nicer ways to go about telling her she was wrong to think like that!

"You're dead!" The blonde squeezed one of her eyes shut as she aimed, popping off one more shot-

And Law's head snapped back so forcefully she was, very briefly, afraid it would pop right off his shoulders. He kept on his feet though, even as blood trickled from the nasty, circular burn mark left on the dead center of his forehead where he'd been hit.

"…that fucking hurt…" She was used to it now, but that didn't keep her wincing as the flavor- was that the right word for it?- of his soul turned.

It felt like the ground beneath her feet was shifting and it was all she could do to keep from being thrown flat on her rear. "Lawre-" Too late, she could feel her grip on her meister's wavelength slipping despite her efforts to rein him in. Painful too as all she did to pull him back from his fun left her with something akin to soul rope-burn.

"You were seriously trying to kill me!?"

To her credit, the flashy girl could keep a cool head as rather than panic that there was a hatchet wielding psycho coming at her, she popped off a few more shots to put him down.

Law, now in a complete mood, wasn't going to be stopped by that. His free hand found the corner of an unoccupied table, stacked high with books that were thicker than he was, and his fingers sank into the wood with an audible crunch. With hardly a grunt of exertion, he threw it at the blonde.

"Idiot! Stop it!" She was trying to keep herself calm, not wanting her panic to excite her partner's soul any more than it already was.

The table was made of remarkably solid stuff, but it was clear that the girl and her partner had been pulling their punches as with their next few shots she was blowing chunks out of it. It was scary to think that might have been her meister if they'd really wanted it to be. With their final shot, it exploded into a thousand little shards of formerly hand-carved perfection. The problem was, Law hadn't ever meant for it to hit them- the completely out of hand meister had been hidden behind it and using it as a shield had gotten him close enough.

Did she change back to stop him from hurting the girl?

The only thing keeping him in check though at this point was her – if she severed their resonance right now, then-!

Unable to decide, she was about to become accomplice to something terrible-!

"Lawrence!"

Please!

…she couldn't say if it had been her words, her meister having more control of himself than she'd thought, or the sudden appearance of a well-dressed young man that stopped this little incident from becoming more than a schoolyard brawl.

He was handsome. It was the first thought that popped into her head when she laid eyes on the boy standing between Law and the blonde gunslinger. Embarrassing? Definitely. However, examining him a bit more closely… that wasn't right, was it? He was perfect. Not a single hair out of place, no blemishes, everything just where it should have been. It was like looking at a piece of art rather than a living, breathing person.

"Liz. Patty." His voice was softer than she'd expected. "…we'll have to apologize to my father. Look at this mess."

She followed his gaze and almost burst into tears. Her-uh- the school's library was a complete disaster. A few shelves had been knocked over, a table had been exploded, stray bullets had turned more than a few books into confetti….

"Father? …ah, so I guess all those rumors going around are true. You're the boss-man's kid, huh?" Law sounded like himself again. "I expected you to be taller!"

…oh no. No, no, no…!

"That's right. This is the Lord Death's only son! And you picked a fight with his personal weapons!" That leggy blonde and her gun, returned to her annoyinglybouncy human form, grinned from behind the regal boy.

In an instant, she had changed back and was bowing her head as low as she could. "I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean- That's to say-" The two girls were snickering now, and she was trying her hardest to keep her own anger in check even as her face burned.

"I hope that the two of you like getting expelled~~~!" The two sang.

Her whole future was crumbling away! For the second time!

"That's enough." The heir to Death's throne sighed. "…hm." And then, he was staring at her making her feel all kinds of self-conscious.

Her hair had grown out into a cute bob in the almost full year since her joining EAT, framing her face and making it easier for people to realize she was in fact a girl, but the rest of her… She inwardly groaned. She'd gotten taller at least. Meanwhile, she'd overheard Tsubaki talking with the other girls about how she needed to go clothes shopping again...

"…lovely." Heh?

And then, the boy smiled at her in a way she'd never been smiled at before.

Her heart pounded and she felt blood rushing into her cheeks. "W-what?!" She didn't mean for it to come out so aggressive, but-

"Your symmetry." Death's son elaborated… just not in any way that she understood. He was looking at her like most of the boys looked at Tsubaki. "You're Death Scythe's daughter, aren't you?"

"O-oh. Uhm." She forced herself to straighten up. "Yes. I'm Maka Albarn." She offered a hand and he accepted. She'd expected him to be cold but instead his touch was warm and rather delicate. As though he was handling something of great value.

'Soul', a tiny voice reminded her. 'Souuuuuul!', it repeated the longer their handshake went on and the warmer her face got. That was probably her conscious. Or her hormones. Right then, she wasn't keen on listening to either. She could get used to being treated like this…

"Death the Kid."

…what was with these boys and their names though…?

Releasing her hand, Kid turned back to his partners, and she could tell just from their expressions that he had to be frowning at them. "Let's go. Father's waiting for us." He strolled away and out the doors of the library, hands in his pockets and his head held high.

A minute later, he came rushing back in with his arms and legs swinging robotically and his face almost green. "...b-but first, we have to clean this mess!"

Both girls groaned but didn't argue.

"…we should go to." She glanced over at her uncharacteristically quiet partner. He gave her a stiff nod and she grabbed his wrist, tugging him along behind her out the doors and through the winding halls of their school away from the scene of their latest crime scene. When she felt him pull his hand away, she sighed. "Law-" They needed to talk about his little slip. She turned her head back and almost tripped over her feet when she found her meister on his knees. "L-law?!" She hurried to his side. "What's-"

"…fffuuucck…" He whined, pushing backwards to go from his knees to his rear. "That zebra prick really got me…"

She blinked. "Z-zebra?" Had getting shot in the head done more damage than she'd first thought? She'd been so sure there weren't any brains there to get scrambled.

"Jeez, were you not paying attention?" Law's hand went to his side, yanking up his shirt to reveal a nasty fist-shaped bruise someone had left in his side. "…I think he got a rib or two…"

It took her a few seconds to process. "Lord Death's son did-?" When? Sure, she'd seen him pop up out of nowhere, but had he really landed a hit like that on her meister? "…come on, I'll patch you up this time. I'm pretty sure Medusa would give us an earful if she had to do it twice in one day." She offered her injured meister a hand with a smile that even she knew looked forced.

"I'm telling Soul about all that flirting."

Gah! "You useless, shitty, catty-"

"I am not a cat, you thirsty bookworm!"


There were a lot of places in Death City that were important to her. Some for good reasons, some for bad. This one never failed to brighten her mood. "Alright, go ahead and get undressed. Chop, chop." She clapped as she said so, turning her head away and admiring their training grounds. It had only become more theirs since that one day. Most of the trees in the immediate area sported nasty scars from their practice. Just for convenience's sake, they had hauled a few large trunks out with supplies to save them a half hour walk from the nearest place with snacks, medical supplies, and, most importantly, books.

She had to dig for a few minutes, making a note to throw out the several empty first aid kits she found before turning. "Are you finished-?" She tried, and failed, not to wince when she saw her meister seated on the ground topless. "…just sit still, okay? I'll take care of the burns first."

It was nice to get him out of that ratty school uniform that he'd better not forgotten his promise about but at the same time, seeing him always made her feel strangely guilty. Without his clothes, he was only skin and bones. Odd for someone who stuffed their face daily and probably did more running and fighting than most EAT students. It wasn't like Black*Star either who, as short as he may have been, had way too much muscle on him.

Lawrence just seemed like all it would take is a stiff breeze to kill him.

It wasn't like he was ill; she'd asked Stein about it to make sure, her meister just… refused to grow. She stood almost a head taller than him now and it felt like the gap grew every day.

Huffing, she tried not to get mad at the boy she was giving medical treatment to. What kind of idiot couldn't even figure out how to at least put some muscle on? Didn't he know how scary it was for a weapon, to be partnered with someone who looked so frail?

"Sorry."

His sudden apology managed to drag her out of her head, and she stayed still, the cotton ball she'd been using to spread antiseptic over one of his burns lingering probably long enough to become uncomfortable until she realized it. "U-uhm." She set her supplies to the side and folded her hands in her lap. "For what?"

Law spun around on the ground to face her and set his hands on his knees. He wouldn't look her in the eye, that lavender gaze of his going everywhere other than her. "I got out of hand."

That was one way of putting 'I almost hacked some poor girl to bits.'…

At times like this, words weren't really going to make either of them feel better. So, instead, she reached out and laid her hand on top of his… taking in his regret over what he'd done. Winced at the bitter disappointment that he'd been stopped. The disgust at himself for feeling that way. "…resonating isn't supposed to be a substitute for talking." She didn't know anyone she could trust to ask if they used it the same way they did… Not someone who wouldn't get completely the wrong idea.

Calming down his soul so that it reached some kind of equilibrium was becoming a specialty of hers. Letting her concern and trust nudge it away from the reflexive panic and rejection that had caused them so much trouble early on. "Lawrence…" The tension deep in his soul eased some. She opened her eyes – when had she shut them? – and looked over at her meister.

He didn't seem to be paying her any attention. Staring up into the sky, she could convince herself that he'd forgotten that she even existed. Not that it was possible, given how intertwined their two souls were. He wasn't talking, wasn't up to something, wasn't trying to be anything… she was looking at Lawrence, not Law N. Order. And, as usual, all she could think was that he seemed sad.

She gave his hand a little squeeze and he turned to look at her. From the startling golden eyes of the son of Lord Death to the offensively pretty lavender of her meister… "It would be nice if you let me use your name around others. You might start letting them use it too, so it wouldn't be so… weird."

The scowl was immediate and expected. "I don't want just anyone saying it. You can use it when we're alone, isn't that enough?"

"…oh, I see. When we're alone." She turned her head away. "My meister is ashamed." The sputtering that followed was too much for her. She covered her mouth, failing to contain her giggles even as she did. She'd brave the dangers of his ridiculous soul as many times as she had to in order to be with this side of him. "…I shouldn't have egged you on before. It's partly my fault that things went as far as they did."

"Mrggghh." She assumed that meant he disagreed.

"…come on. Enough sulking and being introspective. Using your brain doesn't suit you." She gave him a little nudge. "We've got something to practice, don't we?"

Standing up, she had the decency to turn away as her meister dressed himself. "This'll be our fiftieth attempt-" "For real, or are you picking numbers that sound important?" "-oh shut up. Let's make this one count for something!"

From girl to sickle, her meister caught her and took hold of her with both hands. If his had been a bit bigger, they hardly would have fit on her handle. He took a deep breath and she, still knowing it was unnecessary, did the same.

"Soul Resonance."

His wavelength rushed into her, and she gladly accepted it. "…bigger…we need to be bigger…" She wasn't sure which of them was speaking. It may have even been both and she couldn't tell the difference. Their power grew, the air figuratively and literally electric and she could feel the heat gathering in her stubby blade. Just a little more…! Her blade was expanding, shining. They were both so, so close. The ultimate technique for any scythe and their meister.

Pain.

"Nngh!" She tried to keep quiet, but she didn't even have to look to tell he'd heard. His concern was so near to her heart she almost couldn't tell it wasn't her own. She could feel their connection wavering, feel him trying to pull away. "D-do it! Law!"

He obeyed, stepping forward and rearing back before swinging with everything he had behind it-!

…?

"…oooh my head…" She blinked up at the sky, a pretty blend of oranges and blues as the sun had begun to set, and... "…wait…huh!?" She jerked upright, the ratty school jacket someone had laid on top of her falling into her lap.

"It's about time." Seated beside her, arms and legs both crossed with a face as nasty as his accusatory tone. "Someone forced us to go too far, too soon and fainted…why can't my shitty weapon learn to take things slow?"

She would've hit him for how that sounded if she didn't feel like throwing up. "I passed out?" It sounded better than faint. More 'the strain was too much' and less 'I'm a dainty little girl, please catch me'.

"Mn." He glared at her for another solid minute before jerking his head away. "…don't do that again. You're heavy and I'm not carrying you."

...he was cute when he pretended not to care. "I guess this marks our fiftieth failure, doesn't it?"

Law snorted. "…if this is a failure, I dunno what a success would be like." Jerking his thumb over his shoulder, she leaned to the side to see what he was pointing at- oh.

That tree was split right down the middle all the way to its stump. The only thing that was keeping the two halves from falling over were the roots.

"Congratulations. You're now Extreme gardening equipment."


After how hectic things had been for all of them the past few days, it was nice to have some downtime. Life just wouldn't be worth living without these nice, quiet moments she got to spend with all her friends.

"What the hell are you doing, bastard! That was the last of Tsubaki's egg rolls!"

Not.

Black*Star was already standing on Soul and Alice's table, pointing accusingly at the one who'd so offended him.

"Just eat one of Alice's." Law could at least try not to chew with his mouth open…

"We both know those aren't edible! Come on, are you trying to kill me!?" Black*Star was absolutely right for once.

The delicate looking girl hung her head, shoulders trembling. "…I did my best…"

She would have felt bad for her, but… the wretched things she'd served them were so obscene that if this were on television, she was pretty sure they would have been censored. How could something look raw and burnt to a crisp all at once? She stole a glance Soul's way and their eyes met. Her whole face caught fire and she immediately reached for her glass of water, downing it. Why was he looking at her? She didn't have anything stuck in her teeth, did she? Or…

"Seems like we're all the laughing stocks of class now, aren't we?" Alice's words, thoroughly depressed, served as a nice distraction from the butterflies in her stomach.

"Pff. No one laughs at me." Black*Star hopped down into his chair beside Tsubaki, sticking his nose as high as he could.

"I do." Law chirped, smiling.

"I-I don't think anyone's laughing!" Tsubaki was there to keep the peace, all nervous smiles. "Even if our soul collecting isn't going…great, we're still getting stronger every day!"

No one could really argue with her. Not even Law, who instead of saying something stupid just shoved half a dozen dumplings into his mouth. There was a reason she didn't go out to eat with him often. After the boy swallowed, he- "So, are you seeing anybody Tsubaki?"

She'd chosen a poor time to take a sip as she sprayed water across the table in the direction of the albino that sat opposite her. "L-Law-!" He wasn't- That was too much even for him, right?! Their hosts reactions were pretty much the same, Soul choking on the noodles he'd been eating and Alice dropping her fork. Tsubaki's entire body had turned tomato red, and her mouth was flapping like she was trying to speak, but no sound was coming. Worst of all, Black*Star was quiet.

"…figured not. If the most popular girl in class started dating, we'd probably all hear about it." Law, seemingly oblivious, went on. "What about you, Alice? There's a few fancy pretty boy types… Akane's kind of princely, isn't it?"

Oh. He wasn't trying to ask Tsubaki out. He was just poking into other people's love lives like a weirdo.

"T-that is none of your business, you…slipshod man!" Alice beat her fists on the table. "What kind of person pokes into a lady's business like that?! Didn't your parents raise you better than that?"

"No, not even a little." If what he'd told her about his dad was true, she was certain he'd have turned out worse if they had taught him anything. "I guess it's pointless to ask Black*Star." "HEY!" "So, what about you, Soul?"

And suddenly, this conversation was very interesting to her.

"Tch, like I have time." Soul shoveled more lo mein in his mouth. "Besides, half of the girls in our class are flat." It pissed her off to hear most people say things like that, but when it was Soul it just stung. Were curves really that important?

"Not gonna argue there. I can't say there's any girl in class with a half-decent body…" Law said, with Tsubaki literally right there across from him. "…still, there's no one that you like?" He made it all sound so natural.

And Soul didn't say anything back. The longer the silence went on, the more nervous she felt. It felt like there were eyes on her, but she couldn't lift her head up to see if it was him. Compared to the fear she'd felt over Law, this was a thousand times worse… what if he did like her? What if he didn't? Gathering every ounce of will power she had, she forced herself to raise her head and-

Boobs.

Soul was being smothered by the largest pair of boobs she'd ever seen.

"Mnnnyaah! I can't believe that you'd leave Bu-tan out of a party like this!"

A strange woman was completely naked and forcing her crush to motorboat her.

"Blair! I thought I told you to never take that form ever again!" Alice was shouting and pulling the molester off the albino whose response to being freed from those two huge mounds of flesh was to have his nose spray enough blood that he probably needed a transfusion.

She pinched her arm. Nope, still here. She gave it a twist. Painful, but she hadn't woken up. "…this is a nightmare. A really, really bad nightmare." She told herself.

"Hey-hey-hey! What's wrong with wanting to play with your friends?" The woman, who was sporting actual cat-ears and not just a ridiculous hair style unlike the boy beside her, was pouting, folding one arm beneath her chest to force her… them up and make them appear even larger than they already were. "Don't they want to-" She was staring at one of them now.

Oh god, and she knew which one. This woman was looking at her meister with-… something.

"...u-uhm." There was a poof and suddenly she was… dressed? Not in what qualified as clothes by even the broadest definition, but the parts of her that really needed to be covered had been. "Blair's…gonna go out…" And then she was hurrying away. Out the door.

As some semblance of order returned, she blinked over at her uncharacteristically quiet partner. Too quiet for else anyone to pick up over stupid Black*Star demanding to know who Soul's new girlfriend was and praising him for it – seriously, she was gonna stab him with his own hair – she swore she heard her meister say-

"I hate cats…"


In the end, rather than getting any closer to a certain someone she had to spend her time cleaning up the mess he'd made. She'd wanted to interrogate her meister about whatever that had been between him and that woman, maybe hit him, but he'd all but thrown himself out the window after dinner. Why did he always have to keep secrets from her? Didn't he understand what he was doing, always keeping things from her…?

Sighing, she set the last of his dishes into the sink.

"She's a cat, ya know."

She perked up hearing that voice, turning. "Soul?"

Her fellow scythe leaned against the counter, sighing. "Blair. She's a cat." He rubbed his head, avoiding her gaze. "Just has some… big-titty girl magic or whatever. She won't go home either, so I guess we're stuck with her."

If she were the hopeful type, and against all odds she still was, she could convince herself that he was telling her this so she wouldn't get the wrong idea. "Oh. That's… uhm, that sounds… complicated." Could animals have magic? It was a topic to read more on later.

"Seems like Law's got some history with her."

Ugh. She tossed down the dustpan she was holding and fought the urge to kick the bin. It hadn't done anything wrong. Besides, she'd learned by now to stop picking fights with trashcans. "Be nice if he explained how like a normal human being, but instead-" "Runs off, leaving a bunch of unexplained questions, something-something drama?" "-that. Yes." She scowled… though it was a lot more forced than it otherwise would have been with him grinning at her like that.

"I'm not sure which of us has the shittier pet now."

She tried and failed not to giggle. "H-he's not my pet… I mean, sure, I take care of him, make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble, and he's a little excitable-" She paused. "…Death, he is my pet isn't he…" Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. "This is not what I wanted when I told Papa I wanted a puppy…" Imagine the good she could do if she got her meister to wear a shock collar.

"Hey, uh. I guess our next assignment has us heading out of the states." Soul moved from his previous spot, stepping a little closer and making her heart pound faster the shorter the distance between them became. It would have been rude of her to die of a heart attack in his home, especially after what her idiot had done.

"I-is that so? London was kind of fun…" As fun as hunting for a serial killer in bondage gear could be. "You shouldn't be gone too long, right? I can take some notes for you."

"…Yeah. I was gonna ask that." Soul was within arm's reach… if he wanted, he could just grab her and-

Oh Death. She couldn't even meet his eyes anymore. The most she could do was stare at his feet and wonder, and hope, and panic.

"I appreciate it, Maka. When I get back, can we, uh, study? All that crap we've going over has gone way over my head." That was understandable. Having run out of interesting things to dissect, for now at least, their creepy professor had started covering materials relevant to their studies.

Lifting her head back up, she nodded. "No problem! Group study sessions are always fun." She couldn't have sounded lamer than, could she? "I'll make sure that Law behaves himself." It was a promise she knew she couldn't keep.

"…actually, I, uh…meant…the two of us?"

"Yes." It came out faster than she could even think to say it. Her face felt warm, and her stomach had a million butterflies flapping around inside of it, but she felt so at ease now. Had she rounded all the way from panic to serenity?

Soul stared at her for a full minute, and she didn't once look away. He was so pale; it was easy to spot the additional color in his cheeks. His expression wasn't what she'd call nervous. Vulnerable seemed like a better word for it.

"Can you not stare? That's pretty freaky." He jerked his head away and her brain, along with all the unpleasant feelings that came with self-awareness, slapped her in the face.

Time to turn around and fight the urge to punch herself in the face like a complete weirdo. "So!" The louder she was, the more she could distract herself and hopefully him from how embarrassing she was acting. "Where are you going anyway?" She peeked over her shoulder at him, and he was grinning.

"…heh. You're going to be jealous."

"I don't like guessing games, Soul."

"Feh, stick in the mud. I was going to bring you home some spaghetti too."


A/N: I'm sure things there will go fine.

After all, the title of this story is 'And Then Things Were Totally Fine And It All Worked Out'.