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Soul Eater Ultimate (MysteriousD & GuardianAngel)

Maka just listened to what Stein had to say before they were allowed to return to the apartment, so that they could go back to enjoying the rest of the night with their friends. Now that the witches were gone and everything seemed to be okay once again. Honestly she wished that every day would just be this calm. Just go to school, hang out with friends, and just live normal lives. Not have to worry about people taking others souls, or dealing with witches. Or the worst of all, dealing with a potential Kishin.

Maka had heard stories about Kishins but had never actually faced on herself, honestly she wasn't sure that she ever actually wanted to face one. But there was a chance in the future that they would have to fight one, and if it meant fighting it to protect their home, then so be it. But for the time being she was pushing away those thoughts, and just turning her attention back towards her friends.

At one point in time, this wouldn't have been the Maka in the past. She probably wouldn't be hanging out with friends, she would have just involved herself in her studies and that was about it. She strived to the be the best in everything that she did, but she knew that she wasn't. The one thing that she knew she was good at was school in general, and maintaining good grades, and there were times where she didn't seem to have to try.
 
Diego did not know much about Maka at first. There was something new to learn about her. For example, fairly early on in their relationship, Diego asked how she was friends with someone as exuberant and bombastic as Black Star. Turns out it was because the two were childhood friends. Looking back, it made sense. Maka likely spent a lot of time at the academy with her dad as Death's Scythe while Black Star would be raised her by Sid and the rest of the administration. Being the only kids of their age among the staff, no surprise they'd turn out to be close buddies despite the differences.

As they gotten to know one another, they trusted in one another, while still fighting and bickering.

Yet they were now here with Stein. Their training was for them to tell the others faults. Unknown to the both of them, the odd scented candles were designed to flare up emotion and draw it out. If they failed, they would likely never be able to be partners again, yet Stein believed they would succeed and become closer than ever.

But Diego was tight-lipped. He had no idea what to say or at least tried to avoid conflict. He was just preparing for his meister's criticisms.
 
Maka wasn't sure how she felt about being in Stein's office, and having to talk about their faults. She hated to tell people about their faults, especially if they were faults that the other already knew about. Yet again there was the off chance that they didn't know about that fault, and having it pointed out to them was a bit help to bettering themselves in the long run. But despite that fact, she hoped that others had to go through this seemingly pointless exercise. She, herself, was under the impression that they were close. Sure their had their moments of bickering, but usually it was over something that they just had differing opinions on, and they were more explaining why they had that opinion. Not so much trying to turn the others opinion to fit theirs. Okay there were some bickering moments that were just that, but it was soon resolved as everybody could have their own opinion.

Maka was letting out a small breath of air before she spoke, "Diego, I love having you as my partner, and I'm glad we were partnered up, but I guess since we are doing this.... mind as well take it seriously. You lack motivation even when we are in school, yes you maintain good grades but you don't really motivate yourself to do some of the work at times. Or I've noticed you'll do it last minute and hope for the best." That was just one fault that she had noticed, but there were a few others that she was pointing out as well.

He was a bit on the lazy end, and didn't seem to take a very good job at taking care of himself, and he had a bit of an impulsive streak as well. While she wanted to mention that he was stubborn, she didn't really considering that was a fault that they both suffered from, and they were both aware of that fault.
 
Diego could not help but chuckle a bit. Everything seems to be going good thus far. He acknowledged he was lazy and relied on his natural smarts, and tried to come up with it. Hopefully, they can go through this without things going pear-shaped. Now it was just a matter than he could try and tell her her faults without reacting.

A problem given that Diego can sometimes... okay often be tactless and blunt when communicating, short-tempered and not afraid to back down. Hell, Maka gave up trying to Maka chop him when he chopped her book once. Granted, she still hit him on the head on occasion.

"Maka, you're way too serious and gloomy all the damn time. I get that Black Star and Kid are both goofs, but there's nothing wrong with that. Also, you're quick to hit people when they say something you deem offensive," Diego began, trying to keep himself pretty calm. "You also get on my case when I'm stubborn when you can be as equally stubborn and if I tried to say that at any point, you'd get mad at me," he said, being blunt.
 
Maka just listened to him for a moment in time, and yeah she did find herself a bit irritated with what he was saying, but at the same time she kept herself calm. No this was stuff that she needed to hear, and she need to cope with her faults. They all did. They all needed to learn to realize their faults, and to handle their faults, to control them. "We are both stubborn, but there are times where it seems to work in our favor." she did point out after a moment in time. Yeah that was definitely a proven fact.

She was mentioning a few other faults that she had noticed as well, considering it seemed to be a turn taking thing. But it was better to point them all out little at a time, give the other the chance to actually process that that was a fault. Yeah she knew that she was too serious most of the time, but she had never really thought of herself as gloomy. That had been something that had taken her a bit to process.

"I think the biggest issue that I have is the fact that you are always trying to protect me, and to be brutally honest I hate it. I hate that you are always trying to protect me. I get that we are partners and that protecting each other is natural but I feel like.... it is different. I feel like you are the only one who is getting hurt, who is taking the blows, even if some of them are my responsibility to take as your meister." Maka spoke after a moment in time, before stating that she felt almost like he saw her as somebody that was just going to break after a single hit.
 
Things were progressing surprisingly smoothly. Maybe it was because both were pretty practical people. Diego sure was a goofball who was not ashamed of his more childish aspects and often contrasted with the more mature Maka, but they still listened to one another and in some ways, Diego like Tsubaki in that sense. However, he was also short-tempered, something that coincided with a fire-attributed soul.

Stein knew that Diego had that and wanted to see the limits. Though upon hearing Maka's next criticism, he had a feeling that exactly would happen.

Before Maka even finished her statement, Diego's fists clenched and his temper skyrocketed into boiling. The candles had made him more emotional and with his mind racing quickly, the insecurity began looming in. Fears regarding Maka's problems with the opposite sex had come roiling it. All in nanoseconds and suddenly Diego's walls cracked.

"Is it because I'm a guy?!" Diego suddenly shouted. His hands were opening and closing. Under normal circumstances, he could probably force himself to shut up, but his emotions are now at full burst because of the candles. No longer was he in conscious control.

"You want to know what upsets me about you?! It's that! Your parents' marriage may have been a crapshoot, but that doesn't automatically mean it's your dad's fault! And it's freaking hard talking to you about romance or sex or any of that stuff because you're not damn interested," Diego ranted, beginning his utter meltdown. "It freakin stings to hear that!! Also, why the hell have you been so damn off lately!? I get you wanna be strong, but is that why?! Get real! I am the weapon so I gotta protect you!" he said, his breathing deepening.
 
Maka was actually highly confused about the meltdown, even more confused when he started to talk about romance, sex, and even her parents marriage. She honestly wasn't sure what that all had to with her dislike of him being so protective all the time. Hell it should have been her in the hospital, it should have been her that had gotten hurt when they had dealt with Crona and Ragnarok, not him. He shouldn't have gotten in the way at that point in time.

"What does my parents marriage or any of that have to do with this. That has nothing to do at all with what I'm saying, not even close!" Maka exclaimed after a moment in time as she was folding her arms over her chest. With that she was actually standing up before she spoke, "Yes I hate being protected all the damn time! But if you were in my shoes you would be the exact same way! You can't protect me all the goddamn time! And you constantly doing it, when I do get hurt because you weren't around... guess what?! You are probably going to blame yourself because you weren't there! And in turn is going to cause problems. I am a meister, we are meant to share the pains and the burdens, that is what partners do."

She felt like this was getting nowhere at that point in time which is actually what had her shaking her head a bit before she was turning and walking away from the table and towards the door. No she was leaving, she was more pacing at that point in time, hating just sitting there.
 
"I protect you because I care about you!!" Diego shouted before he saw her and try to leave before he finally snapped. He went over to the door. His breathing became erratic and he was bubbling and boiling over. She was right.

"You are right, but you still don't get why. IT'S BECAUSE I LOVE YOU OKAY!!" Diego shouted, revealing his darkest secret. Even Stein was caught off-guard, seen as his cigarette went out of his open mouth in shock. Diego began tearing, being way too emotional and over the top to focus on what he was saying.

"I mean look at you! You're freaking pretty! So what if you never develop in the chest! You're beautiful as you are! You've got really nice legs and a cute smile and... and... just look at you! You're top of the class! You're one of the smartest people I know! You're one of the most skilled meisters I know and any weapon with a drop of common sense would give up their soul to have a meister like you! Me, I've been dead weight. I can barely fight on my own, I'm pretty much an untrained civilian compared to you and the others and no matter what training Black Star puts me through, it doesn't seem to go anywhere!!" Diego began saying, clasping at the doorway as his soul was being laid bare.

"Protecting my first friend... that's the least I can do! I mean look at me. I only got this way through a freakin accident!! It hurts!! It hurts because I know you're not interested in romance or any of that stuff..." he said, struggling to shape his words as his mind became like an inferno.

"So what if you can't fight back like Death or Black Star?! So what if I'm a useless weapon where Tsubaki or the sisters are better!! You're fine as you are... and you deserve better than me," Diego said before he ran. He ran out the door. He ran out the office. He just kept running. Out the school and into the city.

Stein fumbled several times to light a cigarette. He saw Diego's soul flare up and turn on itself. Everyone struggled with their own burdens and faults. But he had underestimated the self-loathing Diego seemed to contain. Plus his own revelations... romantic relationships between weapon and meister were... complicated. Though really, the only one Stein really knew was Spirit-senpai and his ex-wife and even then, that had little to do with it.

"We're done for the day. You're excused," Stein managed to say before he left, mulling if he needed to talk to Lord Death about this.
 
Maka was definitely startled by what happened next, hell even professor Stein had been shocked, his cigarette falling out of his open mouth. That was a rare thing to ever see happen, and that was just emphasis at how startled he was. She was just looking towards Diego fully as he stated that he loved her and kept talking about it. How she was perfect how she was, and that he was protecting her because she was his first friend. He was even explaining how he felt like an untrained civilian compared to the others, and how she deserved better. Maka didn't even know how to respond to any of this, in the end she wasn't able to respond anyways as the male was bolting out of the office.

What the hell had just happened? "Professor Stein.... What was the purpose in this exercise. If it was drawing us closer together.... I don't think it worked." was all Maka could say herself before she was turning to leave. No she still had no idea how to respond. She felt confused and conflicted, especially considering he had a valid point... she didn't talk about romance or sex. It wasn't something she really cared about, there were more important things to deal with. Or that is what she thought. Yet again... one could do so much in their lives without ever falling in love. She had accomplished a lot without falling in love, other than that normal love that one felt towards their friends.

Now she was doing something rather un-Maka like. She was actually seeking out her father so speak to him, see if he had any advice, or something. Or to just be around her father in general, she wanted him around. She needed him.
 
“It was to overcome the communication problems between you. To clear up the stuff holding you back and become closer. I was not expecting this,” was all he could say to her.

When Spirit had saw Stein come to him with that nervous tick of the lighter, he had a feeling something up. Stein did not say much except that he needed to talk to Lord Death. That did not prepare him to see a very shaken up Maka come up to him.

Something happened.

“What happened, Maka?” Spirit went as he went over to see what was wrong with her.
 
It didn't seem to take long to find Spirit, actually in the end it seemed like Stein had basically lead her straight to him. She was running over and just wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "Papa." was all she could really say at that point in time, hugging him. Probably a shock to him as well that she would actually coming running to him, wanting to see him.

And she really didn't want to talk about this here, she wanted to go somewhere else, somewhere that wasn't in the middle of the street, and she really didn't want to go back to her place at that point in time either. "Can we talk....?" she questioned in a soft voice.
 
Spirit hugged her back. She never got like this, not even with the worst fights with Diego. Something else must have happened. "Sure, where do you wanna go?" Spirit asked her as he took her hand and began leading her. He remembered how Maka was like when she was like this. She would've refused to have gone out and preferred the safety of indoors. Usually, it would be when they'd go home and he put her some ice cream.

Sure, he did not go if she would want to go to her old home, but he had a feeling she would not want to head back to her apartment. As he was leading her back to their place, he was thinking on what to say and do.

"Does this have something to do with Diego?" Spirit asked her quietly as they were heading back to his place.
 
Maka just followed after him so that they could go somewhere else, but her thoughts were all over the place, especially about what Diego had said, what he had admitted actually. She just walked beside him before she finally spoke, "I don't care where we go, I just don't want to go back to my place." Even if they went back to his place, she wouldn't really care at all.

It wasn't long before she was nodding then spoke, "Yes it does have to do with him, and I don't know how to respond to what happened."
 
And that was definitely a sign that it was indeed something between the two. When they got back to his apartment, he had her sit at the kitchen and before long, he made her a sundae. How she liked it, in the various meticulous ways and fashion that he knew his daughter enjoyed. Spirit took a seat. "You should probably have a bit to eat. It always made you feel better," Spirit told her with a smile.

After a little while, he looked to her. "What happened. What did he say?" Spirit asked her, preparing himself for what would happen though he began getting an inkling of an idea of what it was.
 
Maka followed her papa to his house and was settling at the kitchen table and soon enough he was bringing her a sundae, which she was taking a bite out of. It wasn't long before she was explaining everything that had happened. How Stein had called them together to point out their faults, so that they could work together better as a team. Then explained everything that had happened after she had pointed out that she didn't need him to protect her all the time, that she hated being protected.

"He told me that he loved me.... And I.... I don't know how to respond to it." Maka spoke after explaining everything. It was the truth, she didn't know how to answer that, considering she had never really been in love before. Other than the natural love one felt for their friends and family.
 
Hoo boy, was Spirit preparing for his dad. He could not help, but recall what his ex-wife said when he went to her to talk to her about this back when Maka was just a toddler. He did remember that it was also one of the few times the woman was also stumped and even mentioned she would probably be as clueless as Maka was on the entire ordeal.

"That's a hard question and that's something you need to look into for yourself. When we try to figure out that sort of stuff, we need to ask ourselves if we could picture a future without them at our side. Sometimes it's hard, other time it's complicated, especially for us. Our partners tend to be some of our closest people," Spirit said as he took a seat.

"I think he's been struggling with it for so long because he did not want to bother you with his feelings. And those are things that you need to figure out over time. But I can say is to try and picture how it would be like if he was not your partner. Imagine if someone else came up to him. Would you feel worried? Threatened?" Spirit asked her questions to try and mull on.

"You could always to be paired up with a different Weapon if you're uncomfortable," Spirit added as he looked to her, wondering what her reaction would be.
 
Maka just looked at her father for a moment in time before she spoke, "I can't help but feel even more guilty. I feel even more like it is my fault that he got hurt now, because now it just feels like he does all of this out of love. Which is ridiculous. I don't want it to be like that. This happening I feel has just complicated everything now." With that she was shaking her head before taking another bite of her sundae.

If somebody else had gone up to Diego, would she feel worried or threatened? That wasn't even a question that she could answer at that point in time. She wasn't sure how she would feel. Maybe she needed to test that theory out, to see how she would respond to that.
 
“People and feelings are complicated. He clearly cares about you, but from what I know about Diego, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he does whatever he can to help his friends,” Spirit explains to her, recalling his own research he did on the odd young man his little girl would be partnered up with.

“You cannot avoid him forever,” he added before settling to think. “I think the reason he reacted the way he did was because he was scared. Scared of rejection. Scared that you would no longer be his friend or partnered up with him,” Spirit continued.

“What do you wanna do?” He asked his daughter, wondering if she would have a different partner or figure this out with Diego.
 
Maka just looked at her father for a moment in time before she spoke, "And this is the exact reason I've never fallen in love or gotten a boyfriend, it complicates stuff." With that she was just shaking her head a bit before taking another bite of the sundae. It seemed like he did know how she liked her sundaes, and everything that she enjoyed on it. Which almost had her wondering how, although she wasn't going to ask, that wasn't a big deal at that point in time.

"I just want him to be less protective. I can take care of myself, I'm not some fragile little girl that is going to break as soon as she gets hit. I didn't become a meister to be constantly protected. I became a meister to do the protecting. And I'm not going to just stop being friends with somebody over something so trivial but... I'm not sure about the partnering. I feel like what happened tonight is just going to complicate things." Maka spoke after a moment in time, after actually taking the time to think.

She couldn't tell Diego that she loved him because she wasn't even sure about it herself. Unlike some of the other teenagers she had settled with devoting her life to learning as much as she could, not trying to figure out her love life. That hadn't been an important thing at all.
 
"Well, life is complicated, Maka. You cannot try and avoid it," Spirit said as he got up and looked out the window. "As for him, you know that he does not think of you as weak. Heck, he'd probably try and shield Black Star or Kid or anyone else he was friends with," Spirit adds to her. He did not know on what to say and do regarding her partner. That was something she would need to figure out.

"But I will say this. Both of you are not thinking right. Both of you have been thinking about each other or yourselves, but you're forgetting to be thinking about together. You are a team. You get stronger, it will be together. You will grow, it will be together. He's been thinking too much on protecting you and you've been thinking too much on getting stronger to protect him. You should be honest with him. Tell him how much you care about him. Sometimes the most partners can do for one another is remind one another how much they care about one another," Spirit elaborated onto Maka, wanting to help her.

He then got a call and went to picked it up. After a moment, he went to face her. "It's Stein. He says there's strange activity in London. Black Star and Tsubaki are going. Are you going to go with Diego?" he asked her.
 
Maka just listened to her father before she spoke, "I can tell him I care about him, but I can't say anything more than that. And you are right about that, but I felt like I had to get stronger. That maybe that is why he was always trying to protect me, because he thought me as weak." Honestly that is the first thing one would probably thing of if they were always being protected, is that they were unable to defend themselves. And she knew that that definitely wasn't true, she could most definitely protect herself. Maka was a decent fighter even without a weapon as well, better with a weapon but not bad without one either.

Soon enough her papa was walking off to answer a call and he was mentioning something about strange activity in London, and how Black Star was going with his partner. Was she going to go with Diego? That depended on if she could find him or not. But either way she was going to go, whether it was with him or without him. "Either way I'm going to go, with or without him. Right now I don't even know where to start looking for him." she spoke after a moment in time.
 
"Actually, given his rather bad performance in fighting, you are the better fighter and from what you said, he admitted it," Spirit points out to her with a smile. "He admires you," he adds before he then returned to the call. "He's coming, Stein was checking up on him," Spirit adds to her. "He'll meet you at the airport to head to London," he tells her.

When Maka would see Diego at the airport, he sees her and he manages to give her a half-smile though it was clear from his eyes that he had been crying a fair bit. "Come on guys!" Black Star yells out as he leads them over to the plane and several hours later, they would end up on London, specifically near London bridge.

"Maka, can you sense the person?" Black Star asks her, wondering why Diego and Maka were standing awkwardly.

But he would be right. Something was there.

An escaped man in jail garb and a sharp smile.
 
Maka looked towards her father for a moment in time before she was giving a nod of her head before she was giving her father a hug, and stating that she would see him later, and was adding that she loved him. After that she was heading off towards the airport so that they could get going, and it seemed like Diego was in fact there. "We are coming!" Maka spoke as she was getting onto the plane, and soon enough they were headed to London.

"Yes, I can." Maka spoke after a moment in time, as she was looking around for a moment in time. After a brief moment she was turning around to where the man was standing. This person.... was dangerous.
 
A werewolf. A freaking werewolf. That was immortal. And who stole the eye of the head witch. What has his life become?

Diego turned to Maka and nodded before he transformed into a scythe. However, when she grabbed him, she felt warm. Warm, but not uncomfortingly hot. They would still be synching up for the time being. "Ready partner?" Diego told her nervously.

And indeed and the werewolf would come at him, projecting a large cylinder of ice with her magic. "Wolf Wolves! I'm gonna be judge now. I'm tired of Death's flunkies!" Free said as he came at them. With Black Star drained, it'd be up to them.
 
Why the fuck was there a damn werewolf? This was definitely going to be a nasty fight, that was for sure. A difficult more like it.

"Lets go." was all Maka could say and soon enough he was transforming and she was just twirling the scythe in her hands before shifting into a fight stance.

The fight had started off rough right off the bat, and just seemed more difficult when Black Star ended up finding himself drained and was collapsed on the ground with Tsubaki standing over him in a more protective state. "What do we do now, Diego?" Maka questioned. For the time being all she was doing was dodging attacks, but she would end up moving forward to attack. Hopefully they could figure out a plan of action.
 
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