Secrets Revealed
It was now Saturday morning.
Love was peacefully sleeping in her bed, that is until she suddenly heard a lot banging on the door of her room.
“...Who could be here at this hour…” Love checks her clock. “...It is only 5:30…”
She reluctantly gets up to check the door.
It was Maka Sharktooth. By looking at the bags under her eyes Love can tell that she probably didn’t get much sleep last night. Despite this it seems like she also just chugged ten energy drinks.
“...Maka…” Love said before a yawn. “...You know I love you…but this is way too early…”
“Sleep can wait!” Maka says at a much louder volume than what Love could currently deal with. “I’m sorry to wake you, but I have something that you have to see!”
“...Wait a second…What is going on…” Love says while rubbing her eyes.
“Follow me! There is something that I have to show you!” Maka says while grabbing Love’s arm and pulling her along. “We should wake the others too!”
“...Is…it that important…Can’t it wait till later?” Love questions while her eyelids begin to droop.
“No!” Maka turns around to look at Love. “Trust me! This is important!”
Maka proceeds to go bang on Violet, Candi, and Ash’s doors as well (Takeru just so happened to also be staying the night in Ash’s room…on Ash’s bed…with Ash) and urges them all to follow her to her dorm.
Everyone arrives at Maka’s dorm room to see whatever it is that got Maka so worked up.
“...What was ever so important that you had to wake us up all so early…” Violet says with a yawn. “...A lady needs her beauty sleep…”
Maka quickly goes over to her laptop and opens it. She quickly logs in and opens a document that she found.
“Look!” Maka exclaims.
All of the students suddenly realize why this was so important.
“...Hey Maka…” Love says. “...Why is there a picture of me in this news article?”
Maka points to the headline.
A chill immediately crawls up Love’s spine.
The article was about her. The headline reads ‘The Trans Problem! Or Why Men Shouldn't Be Allowed In Women’s Spaces’.
Violet snatched the computer away from Maka and began to speedread the article.
It takes a few minutes, but she finally finishes the article.
“...So…What did it say?” Ash questions.
Violet just drops Maka’s laptop. She follows soon after and falls onto her knees.
“...Love…” Violet slowly turns to her friend. “...I’m so sorry…but it seems like whoever wrote this article just…outed you…”
“...What?”
Violet stands up and walks towards Love.
“...It seems like the whole city knows that you’re trans now…”
“...Oh…” Love says.
It takes about a minute, but soon she is bawling her eyes out.
Candi isn’t nearly as talkative as she usually is. She just walks up to Love and gives her a hug.
Ash and Takeru head towards where Maka and Violet are to get some more information.
“Wait a second…who posted this article…we’re the only people who knew about that…” Ash suddenly figures out the unfortunate answer to his own question. “...It couldn’t be…”
“Yeah! It’s fuckin’ icehole!” Maka says through gritted teeth.
“What the fuck is his problem with us?!” Ash yells.
“He is an asshole! What else could it be!” Maka yells back.
Takeru picks up the laptop and skims the article.
“Is there anything else we should know about, or was this the only thing that he posted?” Takeru questions Maka.
“Only this…as far as I could tell at least…” Maka says while rubbing the back of her head. “He did have a folder on his flash drive called blackmail that had articles written up on each of us as well, but he didn’t actually post any of those yet.”
“So, was it only stuff about us?” Takeru continues.
“No…not only us…” Maka grabs the laptop from Takeru. “...Doesn’t surprise me. An asshole like him probably has a lot more enemies than just us.”
Maka continues to scroll through the files on the flash drive.
“Oh shit!” Maka immediately yells after finding something else.
“What is it now?” Violet says while massaging her own forehead in a futile attempt to get rid of the migraine she just acquired.
“So it turns out that our city’s biggest superhero isn’t quite as super as we thought he was…” Maka explains.
“What? Who?” Ash says, his curiosity instantly piqued.
“Take a look at this.” Maka turns the laptop around.
Ash immediately jumps backwards.
“Nope! No, no, no!” Ash is now pacing back and forth. “I can’t believe it! I refuse to believe it!”
Takeru puts a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder.
“You know what, maybe if I close my eyes this will all just go away!” Ash is now in denial “I mean, this has to be a bad dream, right?”
“Let me see that.” Violet says as she walks over and grabs the laptop again.”
“What the hell!” Violet says as she drops Maka’s laptop again.
“For fucks sake! Stop dropping my laptop!” Maka yells.
“So you're telling me that…The American Dream…is actually a villain?!” Violet questions.
“No! Stop saying what you are saying!” Ash says and he walks up to Violet and pokes her in the chest.
Violet rolls her eyes and bats Ash’s hand away.
“...So…” Candi speaks for the first time since she arrived in Maka’s room. “...What do we do now?”
“We gotta go warn the IQA!” Maka says.
“...Wait…what…why?” Candi asks with a confused look.
“Oh, I didn’t say that, did I…” Maka rubs the back of her neck. “...I kinda…sorta…snuck into CHS HQ last night and…heard some things...”
“...Wait…” Violet turns towards Maka. “Why were you at CHS HQ?”
“...Well…you know…I wanted to know if there were any updates on finding the location of where the mafia meeting was going to be held. It turns out that they do know where that is now.”
Love wipes away her tears and joins the discussion.
“...and why do we have to go warn the IQA?” Love questions.
“...Because Little Miss IQ and Urchin just decided to join The Dream Team on a secret mission to crash the meeting.”
“...But why do you want to go?” Love inquires.
“Because I want to.” Maka responds.
“They are professionals. I am sure that they can take care of themselves.”
“Why wouldn’t they want my help?”
Love suddenly stands up and starts to walk towards Maka.
“Didn’t Urchin already tell you to stay put?”
“So?! What does that have to do with anything” Maka was now avoiding eye contact with Love.
“...Maka…what is this really about?” Love says with great concern.
Maka’s attitude suddenly falls a bit.
“...Nothing…”
“...Come on Maka…Please stop lying to me…”
“I am not lying! Nothing’s wrong!” Maka yells in frustration.
Love takes a step back. Maka can tell that she was caught off guard by the sudden anger in her voice because Love is shaking a bit.
Violet walks between Maka and Love and puts her hands up between them.
“That’s enough!” Violet yells.
Maka crosses her arms and sighs.
“Fuck…I’m sorry…”
Candi walks towards Love.
“...Do…do you want another hug…It looks like you need one…”
“...Yeah…Thanks Candi.”
Love sinks into the hug with Candi, takes a few deep breaths, and recenters herself. She then looks back at Maka expectantly.
“...Come on Maka…Please…” Love pleads.
Maka slowly goes and sits down on her couch.
”...This is so fucking embarrasing…” Maka says with her head between her hands. “...I just want to feel useful…”
“...What do you mean?” Love questions with a confused look.
“...Come on…You know what I am talking about…” Maka starts to tear up. “...What I mean is that I have barely been helpful to our group so far. I have lost every fight during sparring matches so far, I got into a fight with Calder that probably led him to posting that article, and I just broke the law…”
Tears are streaming down Maka’s cheeks now.
“...I am so fucking useless!” Maka cries out between sobs. “I talk big, but I am not good at anything. I keep on causing problems for everyone…”
Maka wipes a few tears from her eyes.
“...Oh Maka…” Love walks up to her friend. “...Why would you think that this is your fault?”
“Because I am the one who decided to antagonize Calder!”
“Hey!” Ash interrupts. “I think that we ALL antagonize Calder. Don’t take all of the credit for that. I fought him too.”
“Don’t blame yourself.” Violet says. “Honestly, I don’t blame you for fighting him. I’ll admit that I have had rather…let’s say intense thoughts about wanting to fight him as well…”
“You can just say that you want to kick his ass.” Takeru tells Violet.
“I said nothing of the sort…” Violet says with a huff.
“Yes you did.” Takeru says with a shit eating grin.
“Well…” Violet said with a scowl and a small blush “...I said it in a more sophisticated way than you did…”
Love clears her throat to get everyone’s attention.
“...I…I think that…we should do it…” She says.
“Do what dear?” Violet questions.
“...I think that…we…should go with Maka’s plan…”
“Hell yeah!” Maka yells in response.
Love walks over to Maka’s couch and sits beside her.
“...Hey…” Maka says to Love. “...I’m sorry about…you know…yelling at you and stuff…”
“...It’s fine…” Love says while giving Maka a hug. “...I forgive you…”
A small blush climbs onto Maka’s face.
“...Thanks…” Maka says and she leans into the hug.
“Group hug!” Candi yells as she runs over to join Love and Maka.
Ash and Takeru shrug before going to join the hug.
Violet is standing on her own with her arms crossed.
“Come on Violet! The water's fine!” Candi says.
“...Candi…I…am not sure if that phrase works here…” Love responds.
“Maka! Make some water so that my analogy works!” Candi yells.
“On it!” Maka says as she is about to conjure some water.
“Don’t.” Ash says as he turns towards Maka to glare at her.
Violet lets out a sigh.
“Fine…but only this once…”
She walks forwards and joins the hug.
“Come on princess. You know you love it.” Maka says.
“...It is…quite nice…” Violet agrees.
They all stay in the hug for several more minutes.
“Alright let’s do this!” Maka says as she slams her fists together. “Tonight! We go to the meeting and warn and kick some ass!”
Violet clears her throat and glares at Maka.
“...and warn the IQA…I guess…”