I looked around for any signs of movement. Any sign of anything, actually. “Well, this is just dandy. We were sent to investigate witch movement in this area, and there’s none. No. Movement. At. All,” I mumbled to myself quietly.

“So, Iris, you’re telling me we’re just going to sit here and do nothing?” Lily, my partner and best friend, sighed and crossed her arms angrily. Well somebody’s a bit annoyed…

“It’s not that easy, Lily.” My hand clapped against her shoulder, and continued to gaze at our surroundings. “If we don’t keep an eye out, they can take us by surprise. No matter how tired we get, we need to stay sharp. I’m not a fan of missions like this. To be honest, I hate this kind of stuff. However, life doesn’t fit to our personal likes and dislikes. We have to suck it up.”

“Whatever. All I have to say is that we better get some sort of action,” Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes. As soon as we started walking- and as if on cue- Lily’s foot got ensnared in some sort of root. “Crap!” She immediately flew towards the ground, landing on a pile of leaves and making a whole lot of noise.

A witch just happened to be nearby at that moment, and now it knew we were there. …Lily, you’re such a fucking idiot. I sighed and grabbed Lily’s wrist. “You moron,” I growled as we ran as quickly as possible.

“Shut up!”

I dragged her behind a tree where we could take a second to breathe. “Okay, you got us into this mess, now get us out!”

“Okay, err… The academy!” She yelled, and I just slapped my face with my palm. Could you talk any louder? Seriously…

I dragged her away again once a bolt of magic flew past the tree we were hiding behind. We hid behind some old building, now. “Now, what were you saying about the academy?”

“We could split up and meet up there. I know you know your way back, and I think I can get there if I think hard enough,” Lily panted heavily, leaning against the building.

“Alright, that could work. We’ll go on three, then.”

Lily nodded. “One…” She began the countdown.

“Two…” I readied myself, already looking for the quickest path through all of the forest’s trees.

“Three!” We yelled in unison, and took off. I looked over my shoulder only once to make sure Lily didn’t trip again. She’s such a dumbass sometimes, I swear… But I guess that’s why she’s my partner.

~~


As the DWMA came into view, I was nearly out of breath. Once I made my way up the many stairs, I simply sat down on the top step and panted heavily and quickly. “Damn…”

“Hey,” A low, ‘cool’ voice came from behind me. I grinned and glanced over my shoulder.

“Hey Soul. Where’s Maka?”

“I don’t know. She said something about talking to her father…”

“Right, because we all know that’s going to end just perfectly…” I rolled my eyes. Spirit Albarn. Damn, the nerve of that guy. I actually feel bad for Maka.

“I told you I’m busy, papa!”

“Then what about next weekend?”

“Busy,” the female voice replied quickly. I just giggled and lay back, staring up at the sky. Before long, Maka hovered over me. Her hair was down and she was smiling, her hand stopping her hair from covering her face.

“Hey, Maka!” I returned the friendly smile. “What’s up?”

Maka sat down beside me. “Nothing, really.” She did seem annoyed, though.

I looked at her father through the corner of my eyes, and then looked back at Maka. “Ah, I see the problem. Right. I don’t blame you.”

“So, why are you so tired out?”

“The usual. Lily was being stupid, tripped on a branch, got us in trouble with a witch. Not that we couldn’t take it, we were just told to avoid battle. You saw what happened last time.”

“Yeah, you couldn’t walk for a really long time.” Maka’s eyes narrowed, as if trying to see far into the distance. “Is that… Lily?”

I lifted my head for a second and looked. “Yup, that’s her.” I set my head back down.

“Iris, you brat! You could’ve at least showed some concern!” Lily snarled.

“Yeah, sure. Go report to Lord Death, tell him what happened.”

“…That’s not fair!” Lily started to whine.

“Oh please, you weren’t even running that fast. Go on, git! Go tell Lord Death about the movement.” I moved my hand in a shooing movement.

Lily fumed off towards the academy entrance. I just laughed stretched my hands towards the sky. “That never gets old,” I snickered.

“You know, to some people that’s considered rude,” a male voice remarked, a shadow blocking the sun. Looking directly upwards, I could see Spirit leaning over me.

“Oh, hush. Like you’re the one to talk,” I rolled my eyes and looked at Spirit. I slowly stood up, turning to face him. “So, what’s up? We haven’t talked in awhile. I forget why…” I put my right index finger on my cheek and tilted my head as I thought. “Oh, that’s right! Last time I talked to you it was at the founding party! I threatened you with a fork, right?”

“Yeah, and for your information, I wasn’t afraid of you or the fork,” Spirit retorted and looked away angrily.

“Riiight, and horses can fly.” I looked back at Maka. “Hey, isn’t there a festival this weekend?”

“It’s all of next week.” She replied and stood beside me.

“Oh, cool. I might go check it out this weekend,” I thought aloud. Hm. Spirit trusts me, considering I take Maka places all the time. It’s kinda weird, but Maka doesn’t mind it either. “I’m sure Lily won’t mind having you tag along if you’d like to, Maka.”

“Sounds fun, so I guess I’ll come,” Maka looked over at Soul. “Would you mind…?”

“Go ahead and ask.” I grinned as wide as I could, and once Maka was gone, I earned a sharp glare from Spirit. “What’s your problem?”

“Do you know how hard I try to get Maka to hang out with me?! It takes you a few seconds, but it takes me weeks…”

“Oh, calm down. Little bit of advice, you’re a bit oblivious to certain hints. Stop cheating, or at least stop letting Maka catch you. It pisses her off,” I mumbled. Almost as much as it pisses me off…

“She notices?”

I almost choked on my own saliva and then started cracking up. “Oh boy… I know this is rude and unsupportive, but, you’re slow…” I pat Spirit’s shoulder. “Tell you what, come along to the festival. That way you’ll be spending some time with Maka.”

“You’d do that?”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously. If anyone asks, it was Lily’s idea.” I removed my hand from his shoulder and turned my attention back to Maka and Soul. “So?”

“He’ll come,” Maka spoke happily and confidently.

“Good.” I glanced at the academy. “I can only imagine Lily is failing at explaining what we saw, so, I’m going to check up on her. You guys behave, okay? That includes you, too, Spirit,” I chirped as I skipped inside. I’m such a child sometimes. But it makes me feel so great!