Maka's POV

Setting my things in the spare room, or should I say one of the many spare rooms, I sighed. I knew things would get really weird with Ciel and Kid and it would be hard to play the middle man all the while trying to get Ciel to make a confused face at every piece of technology.

There was a knock to my door as I was undoing my elaborate hairstyle and wiping all make up off of my face. From the formality to the pressure of the knock to the interval of time between each knock, I knew it was Ciel.

"Come in," I said. And I was right.

"Dinner's ready," Ciel frowned, obviously he wasn't looking forward to being insulted on being asymmetrical. Who would, really?

"You made it firm that you aren't going to take your eye patch off, right?" I asked him, chuckling at how childish my fiancé is acting.

"Well of course, or else he would freak out by seeing my demon contract," Ciel rolled his eyes.

"Right, about that," I said, "You might not want to let Sebastian out of the premises of Gallows Mansion."

"Why not? He is perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and you might not know, but I was forcefully turned into a demon," Ciel said.

I rolled my eyes. Thanks, Captain Obvious.

"Wait… y-you knew?" Ciel gasped.

"At first I was able to recognize your butler was a demon. I wondered why I could read your emotions but why it was so difficult to read your soul wavelength and the only reasonable explanation was you weren't born of demon lineage. Someone forcefully turned you into one," I explained.

"Would you be able to read anything Sebastian was thinking?" Ciel asked.

"Well, I can't read anything. I do not know how he is feeling, what he is thinking about or his motives. It is because he was born a demon," I explained further. (Let's make this up about demons, okay?)

"So why don't you want him to go out of the mansion?"

"Because it is unsafe. You must know the academy that Shinigami-sama runs: Death Weapons and Meister Academy. We are taught to hunt kishin souls and before I got transported to England, I was part of a special class in which we took down Asura, son of Shinigami-sama, who was born from his fear," I sighed.

Ciel looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Asura was the king of demons. And I was ordered to swallow his soul," I said, "I was told the side effects would vary. I could catch the infection of insanity from him, gain his powers, or become immortal. It all depends on time."

"So basically they wanted someone to swallow it just to get rid of it? What the hell? Your body isn't a trash can, Maka!" Ciel yelled.

"I was ordered to, Ciel," I said quietly. I was scared. This was the same thing my so called friends said when I told them the news.

But Ciel, unlike my ex-friends, didn't blow up in anger. Instead, his eye softened and he came forward, placing a hand on my shoulder. A finger hooked at the bottom of my chin, and gently encouraged me to look at him.

"Why would you take a risk? You know that there is a chance to become immortal and stay with me forever, but you know there is a chance to become insane and kill yourself. Even if it was an order, you could have negotiated another way to dispose of the soul rather than just swallowing it. So why, Maka?" Ciel asked.

My eyes watered up for the first time I saw him and I whispered, "Because I thought I had no one. I never knew who mom and dad were, the bullying was too much, and I thought if there was a chance to die, I could see mom and dad again."

Ciel looked at me for a few moments and even he knew he couldn't remind me that I always had him. I grew up not knowing I used to be engaged.

My vision went black and I realized I was pressed against Ciel's blue coat. He was hugging me and I thought for one second that he would just get angry and walk out on me.

"You always have me," Ciel whispered, smoothing down my hair, "I promised, didn't I? I would never leave you. Ever."

"Even if I go insane?" I asked, lips twitching into a smile.

"Even if you did go insane. But that is only one of the possibilities, right? There is a majority chance that you could remain sane. At least focus on that," Ciel said.

We stood there, for another good ten seconds, before I broke the hug, cue the soft whining.

"Come on, big baby. Dinner is ready and it is 7:59 pm. If we are not there at the dining room by 8, Kid will freak out," I laughed.

"Why 8?"

"Because it is his favorite number. The number eight can be symmetrically divided horizontally and vertically. That's why."

"I swear he is obsessed," Ciel rambled.

"You may say that, Ciel, but he is the one of the few ones who didn't talk crap about me once I swallowed Asura's soul," I sighed, "He is a true friend."

-x-

You know that time in this chapter I said dinner would be super weird? Okay. Scratch that out with a passion.

It was eerily quiet.

Candelabra-style, silver-platter, velvet seats and diamond chandelier style dinner was placed out for us when we reached the bottom of the steps. Miraculously we made it sharp at 8 o'clock, when the second hand hit a new hour. Kid was pleased and that was a major accomplishment.

But his pleasure at us arriving on time vanished in a heartbeat when he saw Ciel with me. Partly due to jealousy and the fact that Ciel looks asymmetrical.

But then again, so was Kid.

The soft music of a piano and a violin played in the background. Dark baroque style music kind of reminded me of Soul and his obsession with darkness.

A pang in my heart. He used to be my loyal weapon. It hurt to know that someone you spent so much time with turned against you with the others because 'reputation' was more important than 'friendships'.

Needless to say, this was the happiest Ciel had been ever since he stepped into a gadget filled world. I guess Ciel's lucky that Kid has an obsession with Victorian-style dinner setup. Or else he would beg me to bring him back home.

"So, Maka, are you ready to help with the battle against Arachne and Medusa?" Kid asked.

"Yes, but I thought I was supposed to teach the other students not in EAT class self-defense, right? Unless it was a lure…" I trailed off.

"Well technically Honorable Father was telling only half of the story. He didn't want you to panic over there and not come at all, after all this battle will require some of the best meisters," Kid said, "But you are going to work with me and the other Spartoi members to take both of them down. Father said I am to wield your weapon form to accomplish such a task."

"But I am not completely of weapon blood, Kid," I protested.

"Well you are a rare case. Father looked up your lineage. Your mother was a meister and your father was a weapon. Technically you are only supposed to be one or the other, there is no between. Your fate as a meister or weapon is decided like how your genes are: it is like a game of probability and dice. Very rarely does a child become a hybrid. And you are one," Kid finished.

"So I can become a weapon as well?" I asked.

"Yes. Father said to punish Soul, he lost his 99 pre-kishin souls that he collected and now all you have to do is swallow either Arachne's or Medusa's soul to become a death weapon," Kid said.

"But I worked so hard on trying to make him a death weapon," I sighed miserably. No doubt Soul would come stomping back to me, demanding me to help him out again.

Ciel comforted me, or rather tried to, by patting my arm. I weakly smiled at his comforting gesture.

Kid grimaced when he saw the small action of PDA, but he let it slide.

"Well, true. But there is an honor code of holding such a status once obtained. You can't just abuse your high status once you reach it and turn against others. Soul told me he saw you as a ticket to becoming a death weapon, Maka. He isn't a genuine person," Kid frowned.

"He said that…?" I asked, almost whispering. Blood drained out of my face.

"He did," Kid nodded.

"I don't get it; did he say this after I swallowed Asura's soul?" I asked.

"No, he said it the first time we met," Kid shook his head.

That was a long time ago! And to think, before I made him a death weapon (before he lost the status), that he thought he could use me and throw me to the side!

A sickening feeling washed through me. I put my face in my hand. I pushed my plate away, for the feeling of betrayal had killed my appetite.

I guess this is what it feels like to be used.

"And to think this whole time I believed otherwise," I whispered.

"I didn't know how to tell you because you wouldn't believe me, Maka. He was closer to you than I was because you knew him longer than me," Kid said, "But I still feel guilty for not saying so sooner."

"It isn't your fault," I shook my head, "I wouldn't believe you back then if you had told me right away, anyways."

Things got really quiet in the dining room and this time, we all lost our appetite. And the cricket noise that happens at night got louder and louder.

Nothing more enjoyable than listening to an insect mating call, isn't that right?

"Why don't we head over to the living room?" Kid asked.

"But what about the dishes?" I asked.

"It can all be done," Kid said, "You won't have to worry about that."

I nodded, getting up and taking Ciel's hand. Kid flinched when I did such a thing, but he didn't say a word.

We walked to the expansive living room and I plopped down on a two-seater. Kid dragged a single seat couch near to me and Ciel gripped my hand in jealousy. It burned in his sapphire eye when I looked at him in confusion.

"So tell me," I asked, "Do you know when Liz and Patty will be back?"

"They kind of moved out. I am sure Honorable Father told you, right?" Kid asked.

"He did, I just… was making sure," I breathed in relief.

"I even told them that if they didn't want to become serious about becoming death weapons, then I don't want to work with them," Kid sighed.

"Why would that be?"

"They think that they could use my status as a way to earn a boyfriend at the Academy," Kid sighed, "Even I thought they were genuine. It kind of hurt to know they would try to use me."

"I'm sorry Kid," I whispered, truly feeling bad for him. I didn't wish for someone so kind like him to be used by his own weapons, like I was.

"It's okay. I mean, I didn't make them death weapons yet, I won't have to work so hard on someone who isn't serious at all," Kid tried to smile, but failed.

"I don't blame you," I said gently, "It hurts."

"It kind of fucking does," Kid bitterly laughed, not giving a flying duck that he cussed. I guess I should get used to that when Kid is in an angsty mood.

"Fucking?" Ciel gave me a weird look. Kid looked at him like he grew a second head.

"It's a bad word, Ciel," I tried to simply pharaphrase.

"Like murder?" Ciel asked. I facepalmed.

"No, not like that, but kind of a stronger word than your everyday usage of language. Parents and teachers would scold kids for saying such inappropriate words, claiming such words are meant for adults to use, Ciel," I said.

"Then why would you say such a bad word? You clearly aren't an adult," Ciel glared at Kid.

"Says the person who is two inches shorter than me," Kid shot back.

Ciel didn't believe the whole two inch thing, but he did agree that he was the shortest one in the room as of now.

"Okay guys stop," I made a T with my hands, signifying timeout, "Let's not get carried away with this."

"Oh its fine let's let the shorty keep running his mouth off about all my flaws," Kid glared, practically not hearing me, "Maybe you might like to babble on and on about how short you are?"

"You are the one who calls me asymmetrical but those weird stripes on your head say otherwise!" Ciel blatantly yelled the one thing I was praying he wouldn't say.

"Ciel!" I sighed.

Kid became extremely silent. His eyes didn't close. They twitched, one eye becoming comically bigger than the other and his hands began to curl and uncurl un-naturlly. His lip trembled and his feet trembled ever so slightly.

I sighed. This is Kid's reaction when someone points out how much of a hypocrite he is to advocate symmetry when he isn't himself symmetric.

"You're right…" Kid murmured.

"Kid, not again…" I groaned.

"YOU'RE RIGHT! I AM AN ASYMMETRICAL PIECE OF SHIT! LEAVE ME OUT ON GARBAGE DAY!" Kid yelled and ran to one corner of the room to wail really loud.

"Gladly," Ciel started walking towards Kid, but I held him back by his shoulder.

"Ciel, you know better than that," I stared at him pointedly.

"I know, I know," Ciel looked down, but then looked me square in the eyes, "But when he gets on my nerves, those impulses became tempting."

"If you forget you have a conscience, you know I will be your conscience," I rolled my eyes.

I stepped to one wall of the living room, scanning the bookshelf for a heavy encyclopedia to hit Kid with.

"This idiot is getting louder by the second and you want to read a book?!" Ciel yelled, clamping his hands over his ears to drown Kid out.

"You'll see," I smirked.

I found what I was looking for. A nice, brand new copy of a Webster's dictionary. I picked it up and weighed it. It would do.

I stood near Kid, who was wailing so loud, it was deafening.

"Maka… CHOP!" I screamed/yelled and slammed the gigantic book on his head. And mind you, it was as hard as a reaper chop.

Kid fell limp and I picked him up and laid him out on the sofa. It wasn't until I had neatly placed the still-intact dictionary back on the shelf that I registered Ciel's look of shock.

"What was that?" Ciel asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh, love, only a defense mechanism. And a snap-back-to-reality tool," I innocently smiled.

"I think that left a bump," Ciel said.

"It does. But don't worry it goes away pretty quickly," I sighed, "I had no other choice. He would have cried so loud that he made both of us deaf."

"Remind me to never do anything that will get hit by your book chop."

"Simple. Don't do anything stupid," I smiled, taking his hand.

"Then, define 'stupid'," Ciel said.

"When you do something without using your brain," I smirked.

"No, I meant- ugh! Never mind!" Ciel groaned.

"Thought so, now, let's get some sleep. If I have to face a room full of bitches, then I need all the sleep I can get," I smiled.

"Bitches? Like a dog?" Ciel asked.

"No, it means a really snotty person. That would be another bad word," I said, drawing the covers up as we crawled in bed.

"You shouldn't be saying bad words," Ciel reprimanded me.

"Says the shorty," I smirked. Ciel blushed, but nevertheless hugged me as we fell asleep. I could totally get used to this.

-x-

SOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the update! Thank you loyal fans of Timeswapped, here is another update! I went subtle on the Ciel/Maka pairing and decided to create more one-sided Kid/Maka and a love triangle between the three.

If you are a romantic like me, you will totally love this story because there will be MAJOR love triangle chapters!