Chapter Text
Here in Death City lies many meisters and weapons. It's normal to see them out in the city on missions, or even patrolling the city. But today, almost none in Crescent Moon class will be doing either these things. Instead they're all cooped in their homes cramming for an exam courtesy of Professor Stein.
And from a certain household, a particular argument ensues over said test,
"For the last time, no!"
Soul leans back against the couch with his hands resting behind his head, "It's not like you'll be the one getting in trouble if I do get caught. Just this once, please Maka!" He pleaded to his meister.
The meister peered up at her partner, now regretting her decision of studying in the living room with him. She originally suggested to study with him so that Soul doesn't completely bomb the test like before. But now she sees that it's only hindering her studies as much as it's hindering his so called studying.
A visible tick mark appeared on her forehead, "The last time you cheated on Professor Stein's exam, you got stripped and on top of that you didn't even finish that test."
Soul said nothing but stood up from the couch, then promptly sat down on the floor of the living room. For the first time in half an hour he began reading the textbook placed in front of him. Maka smiled, seeing how Soul is finally taking the initiative and studying. Then Soul slammed the book shut, causing her to jump. He audibly groaned and stood from the floor and began walking toward the kitchen. Maka leaned toward the table, book in hand and watches Soul from across the room.
Maka sighs to no one but herself and goes back to studying, leaving Soul to his own things. Settling the textbook back down on the table, she looks between it and her notebook packed to the brim with notes. No matter how many times she checked that the information lined up, Maka would always go back to the book.
A door slams open, alerting both the weapon and meister situated in their home, "Maka! I have something for you!" A high pitched cat waltz in.
Maka lifted her head reluctantly toward the purple haired woman walking toward her. Whenever Blair had something for either her or Soul, it never ended too well. Maka greeted her, while Soul raised his palm in acknowledgement of the woman entering their home. Although she was putting up a smile, she had dread filling her mind of what she could possibly have for the blonde girl.
"It's from your father." Blair said, shoving the small gift bag into her face.
The teen physically cringed at the small gesture from her dad. She can still recall the last time her father had given her a gift through Blair. Unbeknownst to Maka, it was actually Blair who bought her the gift, because she didn't know which book she liked. The blonde girl made a mental note to murder her father later, whatever the outcome is this time. Maka thanked the witch, and took the gift from Blair's hands.
"What did the old pervert buy you this time?" Soul asked, now approaching the two.
Maka shrugged, "I'm not sure if I even want to look what's inside of this."
The blonde teen untied the pink bag and peeked inside of it. She removed the wrapping paper which covers the mystery gift, placing it on top of the textbook covered desk. Maka raised her eyebrow in surprise as she removed the gift. A notebook.
She couldn't say she was upset about this gift, it was something she can have for everyday use. The girl looked down at her current notebook already having a few pages left for usage. She was in due for a new notebook, which is less spending for her. Before she got up from her sitting position, Maka heard a noise inside of the gift bag.
Another gift?
She reached into the bag and felt a small box inside of it. The teen removed it from the bag, now sure of the bag being empty she tossed it off to the side.
Blair coughed, catching the attention of the weapon and meister. "This gift, was something I told Spirit to pick out, something to add to your accessories."
Soul raised a brow at the witch and Maka questioned, "You helped Papa pick something out, for me?"
Blair giggled and nodded simultaneously.
Evidently, the purple haired witch felt guilty from the birthday gift incident, so she decided this would be a way to make up for that.
Maka removed the lid from the box and found two pink, satin ribbons inside of it. She stared at the gift, confused of what she's supposed to do with it. She looked up at Blair who still had a smile on her face and in order to not bring down the witch's joy, Maka smiled back at her.
"Um, just a question though Blair. What can I use these ribbons for?"
The older woman simply said, "For your hair. You're always tying it up, so why not make it fun?"
The teen nodded, appreciating the small gesture from her.
"Hey Maka, there's a note in here from the old man." Soul called from above.
The blonde craned her neck up toward her weapon and reached up for the notebook. Instead he gave her the sticky note that was put inside of the first page of her gift. She took the sticky note, bringing it down to eye level, and she began reading;
Good luck on your studies Maka. I know this isn't much, but I hope you can use it well.
Under normal circumstances, she'd be disgusted from her father's gifts, but this one wasn't something she could exactly be disgusted at. Or even be upset about. This was something genuine from her dad and she couldn't be mad about it. So instead, a small smile was painted across her face.
She turned toward the witch, "Thank you for the gift Blair, and send my thanks to papa too."
The witch nodded before making her way to the bathroom. Maka put the sticky note into her notebook, likely one of the few things she had kept from her father. After defeating the Kishin, Maka decided to begin putting more effort into mending her relationship with her father. When she saw him all bandaged up after the final fight, the teen for once, was scared for what else could come after. Although she still very much has distaste for him, she does care for him and has made an effort into being more friendly toward him.
"Are you actually going to use those ribbons?" Soul ask, pointing to the box which Maka still holds in hand.
She peered down at the box and replied, "Maybe, if we have to go to some event. Why?"
Her partner shrugged, "It just doesn't seem like your style."
Maka had to agree with that, she wasn't one to dress up often, or at all. Of course that excludes any formal event, but still even then she doesn't go all out. It's not that she hates doing so, more that the teen doesn't ask for guidance for what to wear, so she goes with the bare minimum.
The girl stood up from her sitting position, her legs feeling wobbly after staying in the same position for over an hour. She started stretching, relieving herself from any muscle pain she had been dealing with from the day.
"Still gonna study?" Soul asked.
Maka nodded, "I'll probably go to my room though, how about you?"
Soul shook his head, "I'll wing it."
The girl laughed at his lack of attention to studying, she wouldm't have expected anything less. "You won't cheat this time?"
Soul looked visibly terrified, "Like you said, I got stripped by Sid. I'm not going through that again. That was so uncool."
Maka bent down to collect all her books, "Well, you learned the hard way to not cheat."
He merely replied a 'hmm' noise, before he started moving toward the door. Maka noticed this and her head perked up, curious where her partner is going while the test is tomorrow. He hadn't grasped any of the concepts yet, so why he is leaving is something she didn't understand.
"Soul, where are you going?" His partner called out to him.
The weapon turned his head around before leaving, "Out! Gonna see what BlackStar is up to."
The meister nodded, before saying 'bye' to her partner. He nodded, waving goodbye to her before shutting the door behind him. Now Maka was alone, aside from Blair still being here.
The studious teen collected her things before returning to her room, cramming in whatever is left for the evening.
☽ . • °
The day of the exam is now here, but while all the students are present, their professor is not. All the students await outside of the lecture hall, some cramming in whatever information they can last minute and others waiting patiently reciting information in their head.
And once again, the same rumor flies of the person ranking first on this exam will mean that they or their weapon will become a death scythe. This means everybody is desperate to snag that top spot. Previously, Maka was the one who took first rank after Ox stole it from her the year before. The young teen planned on taking that first rank once again.
She looked over to her partner who seemed at ease at the whole exam, not even panicking, not even breaking a sweat. "Do you think you'll do better this time around?"
"Yeah, definitely gonna get one right at the very least." He said.
"You gonna snag first again?" Soul inquired.
Maka smiled knowingly, "Of course, I'm going make you a death scythe in any way I know how."
Another voice intruded on their conversation, "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Maka."
The two cocked their head toward the source of the voice. They see Ox Ford and his partner Harver D. Eclair standing side by side. Irritation began to fill in Maka's mind, she's aware how academically talented Ox is, and she'd hate it if he took first spot from her. She vowed to herself that she wouldn't let the other teen take it from her ever again.
Ox pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, "Of course, I'm talking about the exam. Don't become cocky."
The girl opened her mouth, but someone else beat her to it, "You really think either of you are going to get first? It's obviously going to be me! BlackStar!" A voice booms from down the hall.
The two pairs cringed and their bodies stiffen as they heard the voice of their blue haired peer. Soul turned his head in the direction of the halls and he watches as BlackStar runs toward them while Tsubaki tries her best to catch up to him. Soul shoved his hands into his pockets while he cocked his head back to the pair who initiated conversation with him and his meister.
He heard BlackStar beginning to rant about he will surpass god by acing this one exam. That rant was soon stopped by Maka hitting him on the head with a book, effectively stopping him. Tsubaki gasped, Soul assuming because his partner's infamous 'Maka Chop' had knocked him out cold.
"Something you want to say, Soul?" The boy with glasses asked.
He pushed himself off the wall and walked toward the pair, "Yeah actually."
Harver tilted his head sideways, "And that is?"
"You won't ace the exam with that attitude either. Don't become cocky." Soul whispered for the weapon and meister duo to hear.
The two of them remained quiet, but before Soul left the pair back to his group of friends he added, "You're not cool enough to even get first anyway."
The pair pressed their lips into a thin line as Soul headed back to his group of friends. Tsubaki and Maka were talking about the material they studied for, as the tall black haired girl had her blue haired partner's arm slung around her shoulders with his bloodied up nose.
"Maka, what the hell did you do to him?" The white haired boy asked.
She sighed, "He's too loud. I had to shut BlackStar up somehow."
Tsubaki laughed nervously before she looked around the area for a brief moment, "Say, do any of you know where Professor Stein is?"
The three of them looked around for awhile, but for the past fifteen minutes, there had been no sign of the professor. They three of them collectively assumed that he wouldn't be showing up anytime soon. But a blonde teen kept scanning the room for a minute longer than the other two did.
"And where's Kid?" She asked aloud.
"Who knows, he'll show up eventually with Liz and Patty." Soul shrugged.
"Sorry for the delay kids," A familiar voice called out.
Maka’s head flew around and instead of Professor Stein, she sees her father unlocking the door to the lecture hall. One by one, students flooded into the classroom and rushing over to their seats in order to get the exam over with as soon as possible. Maka was the last one to enter the classroom and gave her dad a curt nod, acknowledging him before taking her seat beside Soul.
Spirit walked toward the podium in a casual manner, not acknowledging how long the students had to wait outside of the classroom. "Professor Stein won't be present today as Lord Death has sent him out on a mission. I'll be your substitute for the entire week, or longer if there's any form of delay."
Maka groaned, not knowing if she should be grateful that she no longer has to see anymore endangered species being dissected, or if she should concerned that her father was the one subbing in for him.
"I've been made aware that you all have an exam today, due to the delay I'll give you all an extra half hour. No more, no less." Spirit said as he made his way up to the desks, handing out the exam sheet and packets with the questions on it.
He made his way to each row, counting the students and handing the correct amount appropriately. When he made his way back down to the podium, the enormous timer beside him began to tick down from sixty, and so, the exam commenced.
☽ . • °
As the exam nearly came to an end, the classroom door slammed open, three figures walking into the room. Some of the students, including Maka, lifted their heads to the sudden motion after nearly an hour of silence. Those three students were the only ones who weren't there the entire class period today, Death the Kid, Liz, and Patty.
Spirit motioned the three of them toward him, and they all complied without complaint. He handed them their test papers and explained to them something that none of the other students heard before sending them off to their assigned seats. Surprisingly, Kid got to work right away, without whimpering or crying about symmetry. Both Patty and Liz also started promptly, which is surprising Maka.
The blonde went back to her exam, looking over her answers, double, triple check even. She kept looking them over until she was satisfied with the answers she had. Maka placed her paper on the table and raised her hand above her head, grabbing the attention of her father.
"Pa- Professor Albarn, what do I do after I finished the exam?" Maka asked, nearly calling him 'Papa' out in the classroom.
Spirit got off of the bronze podium he sat on and replied, "You can hand both the packet and answer sheet to me. I don't want any cheating to occur." He finished, eyeing Soul specifically, who paid no mind to his meister's father.
Maka stacked her papers on top of each other and made her way down to the front of the class. "You can also leave the lecture hall if you'd like to use your free time for other things. Otherwise you can sit quietly here doing other work," Her father continued on.
The teen approached the podium, handing over her papers to her father. Before leaving her father placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered to her, "I know you'll do well, Maka."
She nodded before promptly leaving the lecture hall without turning back. Shutting the door behind her, the young blonde took a deep breath before making her way up the stairs, confident in her ability to pass and ace this exam. She made her way up to the balcony of the school, where other students, those of higher ranking lounge around, likely waiting for missions or ditching class as a whole. A few of them say 'Hi' to her, which does startle her from time to time, still not being used to the newfound popularity she's gotten.
There was a certain balcony that had very few people, or none at all. She enjoyed it really, it gave her time to think to herself. How she can get stronger. How she can turn Soul into a death scythe. And how she can get rid of this uneasy feeling that kept looming over her throughout these months.
Even after the Kishin being defeated, Maka couldn't help but think there was another danger approaching them. Logically, she knew there wouldn't be any trouble, security has been amped, meisters and weapons from all around the world had learned from Death City's mistake, and chose to amp up their security for the current Kishins that lay dormant in their countries.
But, even that wasn't enough for her. The young teen always felt like there was always more that they could do. Unfortunately, she didn't know what more they could do.
What more she could do.
Looking up at the light blue sky, it was a near clear day. An occasional cloud moving pass the sky, and the smiling, ominous sun looking down on the city. Everything was so peaceful, she liked how easily they were able to move past everything. From the balcony she saw small figures, children running and roaming the streets, with their parents off to the side.
Their parents-
Mom..
Maka's mother had heard all about the Kishin situation and, instead of sending a postcard to her, there was what Soul described, an essay of a letter asking of Maka's wellbeing. And if Maka recalled correctly, something about an announcement she's going to share with her beloved daughter later on in the year.
I wonder what that could be.
"Hey, Maka!" She heard her weapon call from behind her.
She turned her head around, her right arm falling down to her side, while her left remained settled on the fencing from the balcony. He walked lazily toward her, hands in pocket, still sporting the leather jacket and black baggy jeans. Her partner still kept his headband, but he does have more color when it comes to T-shirts.
As for Maka on the other hand, not much had changed, sure her hair had grown longer and was long overdue for a haircut, but having longer hair isn't something she hated, in fact she quite enjoyed the new length. Nowadays, she bore a cream colored sweater vest with a loose white collared long sleeved. The girl occasionally swapped her skirts for different colors and variety, today was a plan black skirt. Maka only wore her trench coat when they went out on missions, as the sweat she felt during school was annoying to her.
"You finished already?" Maka asked her partner.
Soul nodded, "Your dad kept eyeing me though. The old geezer kept thinking I copied off of you earlier."
Maka smiled, "Don't mind him. Besides, I left early, how would you have copied off of me then?"
"Ask your dad. He seemed pretty adamant even after I turned in my test sheets." He replied, now standing just a feet away from her.
She spun herself around to face him, now leaning back on her elbows for support, "Seriously? Did you just turn it in five minutes after I finished or something?" The meister asked in a sarcastic manner.
"Yeah."
Her eyes widened, "What? Did you even read the questions properly? Hell- Did you even answer the questions?"
Soul laughed, "More or less, may have guessed here and there. I won't get a shiny perfect like you will, but I'll get a C at the very least."
His partner audibly snickered, "Of course, you never really try on these tests, do you?"
He let out his toothy grin, "That's the difference between you and me."
☽ . • °