Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Soul Eater! And because it has been a while I will once again make note that there is some triggering stuff throughout my story. Please feel free to continue to the meat and potatoes portion of this post now.

Chapter 13

Maka's POV

Even after I had arrived at the cafeteria, my thoughts still dwelled in the event that had just passed moments ago. It reminded me just how much everyone around hated me. I deserve it after all. I understand why they all find me so insufferable because I believe it as well. I was broken out of my thoughts when Soul tapped my shoulder and asked me a question.

"Hey, Maka? Are you alright?"

I jumped slightly after he touched me. I quickly looked at him and gave him a small smile trying to show him that nothing was wrong.

"Yeah, everything is fine," I lied.

"Are you sure because you have barely eaten anything?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Positive. I was just thinking about some stuff. Sorry, I made you worry about me."

Throughout the rest of lunch, "my friends" asked me questions about why I had been gone for so long and what I had been doing for the past few weeks. I gave them a simple explanation.

"I had mono."

"Seriously?" Liz exclaimed."That's all that was wrong?"

"Yeah, I felt horrible for a while and just couldn't find the energy to get out of bed." Well technically that wasn't a lie I thought to myself.

"I could never get sick like that because I am the man who will surpass God! And men like that never get sick!" Blackstar said with great enthusiasm.

"Maka, I am glad that you are able to grace us with your presence again. It is pleasing to see you here with us. After all, you are the only one who is perfectly symmetrical in this group," Kid said as smoothly as a politician running for a presidential campaign.

For the remainder of lunch, the group continued with its mindless banter; while my mind slowly slipped back into my harmful thoughts. Nothing appeared to have changed while I was gone and I honestly I was not surprised. Of course the world is going to keep moving forward, even without me in it. I could not believe that I was so stupid to think that I had an impact on anything, especially these people or this place. These thoughts provided me with an urge to cut myself; to feel a pain that wasn't so emotionally rooted. I had to resist the temptation however. I had to be smart about my actions for a while because I know that Stein would never let me get away with anything, at least not anytime soon. And the last thing I needed was for Lord Death to find out about any of this. I am positive he knows sometime about it, but not enough to take any drastic actions. Knowing him, if he found out what really took place that night, I would most definitely end up in therapy, or worse.

"Lunch is just about over. Maybe we should head back to class," Tsubaki said.

"Yeah, I guess we could do that," Blackstar readily agreed.

"I wonder what is on agenda for this afternoon's lesson." Kid inquired as well all got up from the table and threw out or trash.

"Not sure, but knowing Stein, it is probably another dissection lab," Soul groaned. "So not cool."

"I want to fight some people! It will prove that I am the biggest star around! I will be the one to surpass God!" Blackstar announced loudly.

"Yes, sparring would be a nice change of pace. It has been a while since we have done that," Kid said.

"Sis, maybe we can fly! That would be so freaking awesome!"

"Yeah, you work on that Patty and I will get to work on my tan,"

"Liz don't encourage those kinds of behaviors! Patty will take you seriously!"

"Kid! Can we try flying!" Patty shouted.

"Kid, I wasn't being seriously. And no, Patty, we are not going to be flying anytime soon."

"Ah, man!"

Finally, we arrived back at the classroom and were met with the sight of an empty room, well aside from Professor Stein. He was sitting like he normally did on his cross-stitched swivel chair. He appeared to be waiting for us.

"You're late," he stated simply.

"Where is everyone, Professor?" Tsubaki asked.

"They are all outside for lesson. Sparring practice to be precise."

"Yes!" everyone said excitedly, except for me.

"Everyone, head outside; Nygus and Sid are waiting for you." Stein remarked. "Maka and Soul, please stay for a moment."

Everyone else had left the room leaving only my partner, Stein and myself.

"What do you need to talk to us about, Professor?" I asked.

"Maka, you will not be participating in today's sparring activities." He declared.

"But why?"

I was curious to know what Stein's reasoning was behind keeping me out of this lesson. If anything, I think it would be good for me. I really wanted to hit something or someone, especially after the occurrence earlier with my father.

"We made an agreement, remember? No strenuous physical activities or missions for the next few weeks. In the meantime, I will be Soul's partner to ensure that he gets his lessons. You, however, will be focusing on building your stamina; physically and mentally. Your body has changed tremendously in a short amount of time, so we need to construct new skills around those differences. I am going to have you start off will simple exercises, such as stretching, running and martial arts forms. You also will be spending some time meditating. Do you both understand?"

"Yes, sir," Soul and I said simultaneously.

"Then let's get to work."

Stein's POV

Following the reminder of Maka's conditions of return to school, we all headed outside to clearing behind the school. Soul seemed satisfied with the arrangements. Maka, however, did not. She gave the impression that she was content with everything going on, but when looking at her soul, she was aggravated. In all honestly, I expected nothing less than frustration from her. I am sure sparring would indeed help her release some of her anger, yet she needs to learn how to cope with her negative emotions.

We entered the clearing and took off toward our designated activities. Maka found a spot under a nearby tree and started stretching. Soul and I continued toward the remainder of the students to find sparing partners. Ox and Harvard needed partners and we proceeded in the start of our practice duel.

"Why are battling Stein? This is by no means fair," Ox commented.

"Maka has a separate assignment and Soul needs a partner. Unless you know of another student who is better capable of matching soul wavelengths with Soul than I, I suggest you drop it," Stein acknowledged.

"Besides, it is just practice. Not a time to show off, unless you are Blackstar," Soul added.

"Fine, let's get started," Ox sighed.

Soul changed into weapon form and the sparring match begun. Ox started with head on attacks. I blocked with Soul and dodged the rest. Just like Maka, I was going to build up Ox's stamina.

"So what is the real reason you wanted to partner up with me? I am sure it wasn't to humiliate students."

"You are indeed intelligent, Soul. I must give you credit for figuring out my ulterior motives much more quickly than I thought you would have."

"Yeah, Yeah. Let's get back to those reasons. What is the plan here?"

"My intention is to get updates on Maka from an outside source. As well as, allowing her to recover, physically anyway, in a reasonable amount of time. I don't really care about making sure that you sparing practice. My goal is to help Maka develop new skills of coping, while building endurance."

"I understand. So what do you want to know?"

"How has she been today?"

"I think she had a nightmare this morning. She also kept zoning out. I am sure you noticed how much she didn't pay attention in class."

"I did. Anything else?"

"She was the same way at lunch too. She seemed lost in her own thoughts for a while, but then she was fine. It took some prompting to get her to eat, but she did. It seemed like she just wants everything back to normal."

"Thank you, Soul. This was useful information."

Soul and I did not speak for the rest of the match. Just like I had anticipated, Ox had drained his energy with attacks and lost the fight. Not one attack made by myself was needed. I glanced over at Maka, whom had started working on karate forms. She displayed perfection with each one she performed. However, you could tell she was focused on something else. I decided it was time to approach her.

"Seems like you haven't lost your touch."

"I haven't. Isn't it obvious?"

I nodded my head in agreement. "Why don't you try the meditation then?"

"Fine."

Maka's POV

I watched as everyone else got to enjoy themselves with their sparing matches. Blackstar and Tsubaki worked with Sid, on what appeared to stealth and agility. Nygus was working with Kid, Liz and Patty. Defense strategies and accuracy were the center of attention. Then there was Stein and Soul and they were in combat with Ox and Harvard. There was no competition at all between them. Ox lost due to sheer exhaustion.

I sat under one of the many trees at the edge of the clearing with the intention of avoiding everyone. I silently stretched the muscles throughout my body. I proceeded to work on perfecting already flawlessly performed various martial arts forms and techniques. Stein started approaching me from a distance.

"Seems like you haven't lost your touch," he remarked.

"I haven't. Isn't it obvious?" I sarcastically stated.

"Why don't you try the meditation then?"

"Fine," I said while storming off in the opposite direction.

I wandered over towards the rock wall and sat down. I crossed my legs and closed my eyes. I focused all of my attention on my breathing. I honestly despised meditation. I felt like I was being lazy. It seemed like a waste of time. What was Stein thinking? How was this going to get me back normalcy?

I heard footsteps approaching me. I could hear laughter. I just so happened to be those classmates of mine who just so happened to be repeating all of those rumors earlier. I closed my eyes tighter trying to remain focused on my task, however, that failed rather quickly.

"I wonder why she isn't sparing?" one girl said.

"Her partner probably left her. I wouldn't blame him," another girl stated.

"Yeah, he deserves much better. Somebody as cool as him. Someone like me maybe."

"Anyone is a better partner than her."

The continued with their passive-aggressive verbal assault and finally walked off laughing as they saw a single tear fall from my eyes.

It felt the day was never going to end, but it eventually did. When I got home, I ate dinner, took a shower, finished up my school assignments and readings, and went to bed. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was plagued by the events of the day; my father confronting me in the hall, the harassment from my fellow peers and the fake crap from my supposed "friends.

I awoke from my nightmare, or was it reality, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I didn't start to cry until I heard a whispered voice say, "You have to be punished."

Over the next couple weeks, the same sequence of events had occurred almost daily. Students verbally harassed me. Rumors were spread. Morning classes with Stein forced me to focus for a short time, mainly in appearing that I was back to my old self. This of course consisted of note-taking and answering questions in class. All of this was followed by lunch, where I sat with the people that allegedly liked me and I began eating slightly less than the previous day. Then during the afternoon I partook in my stamina building exercises, which was coupled with more oral persecution from my classmates. Soul and I would then walk home or go play basketball with the group. And by playing basketball, I mean me sitting on the sidelines listening to music or reading. Eating dinner, homework, and showers always came at the end of the day. But nightmares continued their relentless attack on me during the night. Sadly, sleep started become less a part of my schedule. However, we can't forget the watchful eye of Professor Stein. He keep his distance, but still approached me from time to time in order to make sure my "recovery" was still being maintained.

Overall, I was achieving my own goal; control over my body and mind. I started eating less again. I was releasing my pain through cutting. I hid it very well. I placed small cuts in places where nobody would see them. I was avoiding other people and talking less. I had nobody that I could fully trust and with the crap I was getting from everyone, it wasn't worth the risk to get hurt anymore. Nobody really noticed these small changes though or at least not that I could notice at the time anyway. I found out later that more people detected these changes than I originally thought, and unfortunately for me it was too late. It was too late to make adjustments to my not so thought out, so called "master plan."

A/N: Holy Crap! I have updated! It has been what, like two years now! I am not dead! Anyway, lots of changes have occurred in my life. Let's see, moved to the city and started grad school. Dropped out of school and moved home. Got into two car accidents. Picked up my old job and got a promotion at said job. Got a second job at the local hospital working as a psych tech. Went back to school and got my national certification as an EMT. Got into another fandom...fandoms. Quit my one job because it made me crazy. Got another job at a psychiatric hospital as a psych aide. And all of this happened while I was dealing with depression and other mental health stuff. However, I fell back in love with this anime and have been trying to write ever since. See I told you I wouldn't abandon this fic! Please leave a review or follow or favorite. Honestly, I never would have come back to this story without them.