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Requested by IlliaLife

Prologue

It was the same routine every day.

The alarm would go off bright and early at four o'clock. Maka would hit the snooze and sleep for an extra fifteen minutes before finally pushing herself up with a small groan while blindly searching for Blair's head to give a small scratch. The cat would purr for a moment before batting her master's hand away and getting up with a long stretch and a loud meow. Then it was out of bed and into the shower. Her place didn't have the best of water heaters but after a few minutes in the frigid morning air the water would finally grow warm enough for her to slip into. A few minutes in the steaming water and she would cut the stream and step out after what never seemed like enough time. A quick towel off followed by an investigation of her drab appearance in the mirror would be capped off with her hair being put up in pigtails, unless it was a weekend of course.

But most days were not weekends. Most days were weekdays and required her to work so then it would be time to get dressed in her Deathbucks barista uniform. Once content with her appearance it would be out the door with just enough time to grab a piece of fruit that had been bought the weekend before from the local farmers market. An apple, orange, or banana being the usual go to though sometimes, if she was feeling particularly daring, it would be a slice of watermelon.

All in all it was pretty tame… well lame would be more like it. It was lame and it was routine and it was boring beyond all belief. It was a life that was devoid of excitement and surprise, but there was something to the monotony she liked. There was something so familiar about it that she couldn't bring herself to break it. Yes the life was black and white, but it was the life she knew and she wanted. Or at least that was what she told herself whenever thoughts of doubt bubbled their way to the surface of her mind.

It was safe and it was familiar. It was important to keep things simple. Complications only lead to heartbreak and trouble. This was how she liked her life and she had no plans to change.

Which was what made this particular day so much different.

Maka got up at the same time. She went through the same morning routine and walked the same route to her job. But today, for the first time in her entire life, Maka saw a color.

And that color was red.

xXxXx

"ORDER UP!" Black*Star bellowed, shaking a large uncovered coffee in one hand and sending flecks of the black liquid raining down around them. With a sigh Maka wiped away the mess from the previously clean counters, watching the white cloth in her hand slowly turn grey. Pushing the rag into her apron she turned to the next customer with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry Professor Stein." She pushed one of her pigtails back as the bespectacled man only nodded.

"You know you kids don't have to call me professor anymore, you graduated last year." He handed over a single bill of cash, not bothering to voice his order. It was the same thing every day. The man was as predictable as the tides, down to the cigarette he had clenched between his teeth though he knew not to light them inside the building.

Maka accepted the money before running an eye up and down his white, strangely stitched lab coat. Somehow it would simply be strange to be so informal with the man who had taught her so much over the years, and the coat didn't help much either. She threw him a smile before calling back to Black*Star. "One Regular for the professor."

"One Spooky for the old guy, got it!" Black*Star yelled back as Stein only smiled and moved down to speak to Black*Star. Shaking her head as the two began to argue, likely at the prompting of the supposedly blue haired barista. Voice loud enough to wake the dead, Maka almost missed the next order.

"Large coffee, black."

"Large coffee, black." She repeated, entering the order into the register before looking and nearly recoiling back. The face that met her was young and handsome with a messy head of what she would guess was extremely blonde or was prematurely grey hair, but that in itself wasn't very notable as Black*Star himself had a wild hairstyle that few could challenge. A bored look adorned the customer's smarmy face but that wasn't what caused her distress either. What really stood out about him, what was causing her to gape stupidly at him, were his eyes. His bright, shining, eyes.

They were…

They were...

She had no idea what they were actually. They weren't the black or white, or any shade of grey in-between she had ever seen before. They stood out like two twinkling diamonds, bright enough to rival any diamond she had ever seen. They were glorious in their brilliance, even though they were laced with a lazy uninterested look. They were…they were…

"Beautiful."

"Excuse me?"

"What?" Maka stammered before realizing she had spoken aloud. She felt her cheeks grow unbearably hot as he continued to stare at her, eyes taking on the vestiges of interest. "I… I'm sorry. One black coffee? Right?"

"Yes." He replied, giving her a sideways look before handing over his credit card. With numb fingers she slid his card down the side of the register, missing on her first two attempts as she fought to look away from his eyes. Returning the plastic to him he declined a receipt before edging down towards Black*Star, not bothering to look at her again as he did so. Undeterred Maka's gaze followed after him, her hands almost shaking too badly to work the register. Completely ignoring the next customer she continued to stare at the boy. She was no longer able to see his face, but she could still vividly picture those eyes.

"Excuse me?"

She couldn't describe it. It was simply intoxicating.

"Excuse me!"

It was so different than anything she had ever seen. It was a completely new color. She knew they had existed, but she never believed she would really see them. They had told her it would never happen. It just wasn't possible.

"YOUNG LADY?"

Maka snapped her head around as her next customer glowered at her. "Oh, sorry."

"You can stare at boys on your own time missy." The woman snapped, holding out a credit card. "Give me a large cookie and an Earl Grey, large. You young girls and your promiscuous hormones… in my time we didn't… "

Maka nodded politely as she tuned out the woman, placing the order quickly as her suddenly stupid fingers would let her. Tearing the receipt from the machine she looked up again just in time to see a shaggy white head of hair slowly exit the front door and enter the teeming city streets. For a moment she started, ready to bolt after him but the line was still waiting. She threw a glance back at Black*Star who had managed to cover the majority of his body and a good portion of the floor with thick white foam. The muscled moron was causing a mess without even trying. If she left the store under his supervision alone… she shuddered to think about what would happen. She could already smell the smoke and hear the sirens. But… but she had to know. What if… she didn't know what if, but she had never seen anything like that in her life. It was so vibrant, so alive.

Teetering back and forth for a moment she let out a sigh, settled back down, and took the next order with a frown, barely able to hear the order as she punched it in. She was probably tired. There hadn't been any color. It had been her imagination. She knew every eye color, blue, brown, green and all those shades in-between. If what she had seen had been any one of those she would have been able to see that color all through this store and through the street beyond. But she couldn't. She only saw blacks and whites and every shade of grey possible.

Her life was black and white. And it always would be.

Hope you enjoyed, please review.

Wrote another novel. You can read it at FictionPress. Same username.