"I can't do this," Maka said as she peaked through the curtains. It was a full house tonight in the club and and it was going to be her first performance. She could hear the general clamor of the dinner crowd as they waited for their food and the upcoming music.

"Yes you can, you've been practicing for this for weeks!" Her purple haired friend encouraged. She put an arm around Maka's shoulders to support her. "You can do this, stop stressing hon, it's not good for your skin!" she said with a wink.

Maka took a deep breath and gave her friend a soft smile in gratitude. "Thanks Blair. I'm glad to know you have my back."

The mousy stage manager approached Maka while holding a clipboard and some coffee. "Are you almost ready, kid?" she asked briskly. She wasn't unfriendly, but she was clearly on a tight schedule. She smiled at her when Maka nodded, taking a sip from her coffee. "Good. You're on in ten minutes, so check your instruments. I'll introduce you, and then you're on your own. Is this your drummer?" she asked, gesturing to Blair.

"Absolutely!" Blair said cheerfully, pulling two drumsticks from the back pocket of her jean shorts.

The stage manager put a hand on her shoulder to assure her when she saw Maka's face falter in nervousness. "Don't worry," she laughed, "we have a pretty good crowd most nights. I'm sure they'll love you," she called over her shoulder as she walked away, her heels clicking on the wood floor.

You can do this, you can do this, you can do this, Maka chanted in her head. She stepped excitedly from one foot to the other, shifting her weight back in forth. The nerves were setting in, but they weren't suffocating like they were before. If anything, they encouraged her now to do her very best and give it everything she had.

Her blonde pigtails bounced behind her as she walked over to grab her guitar and check the tuning.

"Perfect," she said with a grin. Almost showtime. "Let's rock this bitch."

00000000

"Soul, what are we doing here?" Kid Death asked as they sat down at the Cosmo club's comfy leather booth near the stage. The dark-haired young man took the menu from the waitress gratefully as he situated himself.

His white haired companion looked up from his menu to answer. "I wrote another song," he said with a passive shrug up his shoulder. Soul Evans then pulled a stack of sheet music from his laptop bag and spread it on the table. Kid's hands reached for the paper when they heard their waitress squeal.

"Ohmygoodness!" she shrieked, bouncing up and down. "You guys are in Deadly Weapons, aren't you?" she gushed, pulling a sharpie from her apron pocket. "Will you sign this?!" she squealed as she pushed her notebook to Soul, causing him to smirk.

"Sure thing, love, whose it to?" he asked, flashing his crimson eyes at her.

"Harmony," she said with a wink. The waitress then sent a wide smile to Kid. "I LOVED your album, Knock On Death's Door, it was amazing!"

Soul slid the book to Kid after signing, his messy signature scrawled across the pad of paper. Kid signed immediately and passed it back to the waitress with a heart melting grin. "And your dinner is on the house tonight," Harmony said with a toss of her auburn ponytail. "Waters?" she asked, placing them on their table in front of them..

Both boys nodded at her, placing their orders quickly. After their waitress bounced away with their orders, Soul and Kid finally let their faces relax.

"At least she wasn't loud enough to draw any attention to us," Soul grumbled as he took a sip from his ice water.

Kid didn't answer immediately, his eyes running through the sheet music. "This instrumental riff is interesting, Soul," he said without looking up. "Oh look, you threw in a tambourine part so Patty can join, she'll love that," he said with a roll of his eyes.

After flipping through the last page, he looked at Soul in confusion. "It's a duet," he stated plainly.

"Yep."

"For a girl."

"Yep."

"We don't have a female singer, Soul."

"Yep."

"Is that all you're going to say?" Kid asked, his eye twitching.

"Yep," Soul said with a smirk. "Sorry, slipped out," he said quickly as Kid lunged across the table. "We just need to find a girl, because tossing that song would be a waste," Soul said adamantly.

The grim looking young man exhaled as he piled the sheet paper together neatly. "Cause though the truth may vary, This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore, it has a nice ring, and the melody is good," he admitted, his golden eyes softening. "But what does that have to do with why we're here?" he asked.

Suddenly, the lights flickered and both boys turned to the stage expectantly as spotlights lit up the stage.

A woman with mousy brown hair pulled up a microphone a smiled at the guests. "Hi guys, welcome to the Cosmo Club." She stopped, allowing the audience to applaud. "Alright, so tonight, let's welcome a new guest to our stage, Maka Albarn!" she shouted into the mic as the lights went out.

When the spotlights came back up, there was a thin girl in a short black dress and tights holding a guitar as she stood before the mic. She looked back at the drummer, who signaled for her to start. She whipped her head around quickly, her ash blonde pigtails swinging as she strummed the first few chords.

The power lines went out

And I am all alone

I don't really care at all

Not answering my phone

Maka felt a little nervous as she started, but by the time she sang the third line, she felt the music wash over her. She did her best to avoid looking at any one person in the crowd for too long, but she was drawn to a shock of white hair and red eyes, as well as contrasting black and white hair in the booth just a few feet from the stage.

All the games you played

The promises you made

Couldn't finish what you started

Only darkness still remains

Lost sight, couldn't see

When it was you and me

The blonde felt her confidence bubbling over as she swung her hips slightly, enjoying the sensation of performing. Maka closed her eyes, leaning in closer to the mic stand.

Blow the candles out

Looks like a solo tonight

I'm beginning to see the light

Blow the candles out

Looks like a solo tonight

But I think I'll be alright

She looked up suddenly when she heard cheers from the audience. Maka couldn't believe they were applauding and cheering for her after just the first chorus!

Been black and blue before

There's no need to explain

I am not the jaded kind

Playback's such a waste

You're invisible

Invisible to me

My wish is coming true

Erase the memory of your face

Lost sight, couldn't see

When it was you and me

The blonde was practically floating on air as she strummed out on her guitar. She had written this song a few months back, so the feeling was still fresh and she let that all come out on stage.

Blow the candles out

Looks like a solo tonight

I'm beginning to see the light

Blow the candles out

Looks like a solo tonight

But I think I'll be alright

A sudden whoop from the audience was follow by a quick hush, showing how interested the audience was in her song. Maka had never been so glad that her mother had made her take music lessons as a child.

One day you will wake up

With nothing but, "You're sorrys"

And someday you will get back

Everything you gave me

Blow the candles out

Looks like a solo tonight

I'm beginning to see the light

Blow the candles out

Looks like a solo tonight

But I think I'll be alright.

Maka smiled as she played the last chord. "Alright, thanks so much guys! It was an honor to get to play for you, my name's Maka Albarn, and don't you forget it!" she said, throwing up a gloved hand.

She crossed the stage as the stage lights flickered out and the house lights came back up, the audience still applauding the girl.

After the blonde singer disappeared, Kid turned to Soul, a huge grin on his face.

"I think we found our singer."

00000000

"Hello?" Maka answered blearily as she stuck the phone to her ear, rolling over on her bed.

"Is this Maka Albarn?"

"Yeah? Who is this?" she asked, throwing an arm over her eyes to block out the sunlight. Who calls someone at 7 in the morning on a Saturday?

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," the voice said cooly. "The name's Soul Evans, I'm part of Deadly Weapons. Heard of it?"

Maka shot upright in her bed, her feet hitting the mattress with a thud. "Uh, yeah, I know a few songs," she tried to respond nonchalantly, but the attempt left something to be desired.

Soul chuckled through the phone, causing Maka to blush slightly. "Anyway, Kid and I saw you perform at the Cosmo Club the other night and we wanted to talk to you. Think you could swing by our apartment and talk to us for a bit?" he asked.

Now maybe Maka was just imagining it, but she could have sworn there was a hint of hopefulness in his tone.

"Uh, yeah, sure. What time and where?" she asked, grabbing a pen to write it down on her hand.

An hour and half later, Maka found herself standing in front of a glass door of a penthouse suite downtown, wearing dark jeans and a black cardigan and feeling incredibly underdressed. She took a deep breath before rapping her knuckles across the glass, the sound alarming her.

A moment later, the door was thrown open to reveal a young man, perhaps a year or two older than her, with black hair that held three curious white stripes. He was wearing dark jeans and a white button up and he smiled at her, the expression reaching his deep golden eyes. "Maka?" he asked, opening the door wide enough for her to enter through.

"Yeah, nice to meet you!" she said, taking a step into the penthouse.

She had to stifle a gasp when she saw the flowing dark hardwood floors that met the stainless steel and modern apartment appliances and electronics. A black leather couch was centered in front of a large flatscreen. Kid gestured for her to take a seat on the couch, which she did.

She practically sank into the soft leather as Kid stood in front of her. "The name's Kid, by the way," he said as he straightened his collar. "Can I get you some water or anything to drink?" he asked politely.

"Water sound great," she said as Kid took off for the kitchen. He came back with two bottles of voss water, handing one to her that she took gratefully, unscrewing the lid to take a sip in hopes of covering up her nervousness..

He took a seat on a couch across from her as Soul came down the metal staircase.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me she was here?" he whined, sauntering down the steps and running a hand through his white hair.

"Well you should've gotten your lazy ass down here sooner instead of going back to bed after you called her," he said, chucking his water at Soul, which the bandmate caught in his hand expertly and screwed off the cap and taking a long swig of the water. Kid then disappeared in the kitchen, returning after a moment with a cup of coffee.

"So," Soul began, sitting down next to Maka on the couch, "Do you play anything besides the guitar?"

"Yeah, I play the piano and the violin too, and I am pretty good at theory composition," she stated proudly. "I'm working on the harp, but it's kind of challenging," she admitted with a nervous tug on her pigtails.

Kid's eyebrows shot up. "Those are quite a few. Do you write vocal work, or can you do full orchestration?" he asked, leaning forward in intrigue.

"Well, music was kind of my major a Juilliard," she admitted sheepishly. "Now I'm studying Psychology, but that's more for practicality than anything else."

Soul looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, his hands behind his head. "Do you work well with others? Like groups and stuff?"

"Not really, I tend to kind of take charge of stuff. I always ended up doing group projects by myself in school," she responded honestly, taking another sip of her water.

"Well at least you're honest," Kid said with a chuckle.

"What about you guys?" Maka asked. She didn't really know anything about anyone else in the group, just what she'd been able to glimpse from tabloids in the supermarket checkout lines.

"Name's Soul Evans," Soul said, gesturing to himself. "I went to Hillsong for 4 years, graduated with honors, and then I came here to perform. 24 years old and I hate fangirls." When he saw a look of surprise on Maka's face, he hurried to elaborate. "Don't get me wrong, they're sweet and I love 'em, but they're crazy as hell sometimes," he said with a laugh.

Maka chuckled at his carefree attitude, but he seemed pretty straight forward and he went to a really good school. "What about you?" she asked, turning toward Kid.

Kid offered her a genuine smile that made his golden eyes radiate warmth. "I'm Kid Death, I'm 25, and I have a Masters in Economics from Yale." He loved telling people that he majored in Econ since nobody ever expected it. "I have mild OCD, but it's medicated and Tsubaki makes me go to a Psychoanalyst twice a week, and I've been playing the guitar since I was 9," he said with a mildly smug look.

"Who's Tsubaki?"

"Manager and friend," Soul said with a grin. "You haven't met Black Star yet either, he's our drummer. And then Liz and Patty, they do a bunch of crap and they know some music so they're a part of the band too. You'll like them."

The blonde nodded, her emerald eyes looking between the two bandmates in genuine interest. "I'm Maka Albarn, I'm an only child, and I've already told you a bunch of crap about me, so anything else you want to know?"

"How old are you?" Soul asked, leaning forward in his seat..

"22."

"Damn, you've already got a degree?" Soul was impressed. It felt like it took him forever to get his Bachelor's in music composition, and yet here she was, already on his second degree.

"Why Psychology?" Kid asked.

Maka's eyes lit up in excitement at the comment. "I like seeing how the human mind work, what makes people act the way they do. I'm interested in humanitarian work too," she stated honestly, throwing her arm over the couch. "Any other questions?"

The white haired man thought for a moment before asking, "How are you already on your second degree when you're so young?"

"I graduated early, I didn't exactly enjoy High School," Maka said with a hint of bitterness. "But anyway, why did you guys invite me here? It's been fun and all, but I am very curious."

Soul and Kid exchanged a look before Kid finally spoke.

"We want you to join Deadly Weapons, as a member of the band."