Author's Note: Hey everyone this is my first fanfiction so feedback is very appreciated!
Thanks for taking the time to read! I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
Trigger Warning: Depression, Suicide, Cutting
On a day like any other spring day in Nevada, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and children were playing on the sidewalk. The only thing off kilter from any other spring day was an assortment of cars dodging a tall blond woman in a light blue sundress, who was desperately running across the crosswalk in her bare feet. Her black heels dangled in her right hand. With a sudden screech of wheels the woman, with the gracefulness of a deer caught in headlights and stumbled to stop just in time to see a car slamming on its breaks. The driver honked at her to move. Her green doe-like eyes widened with shock and confusion as the driver of a red Mustang rolled down his window.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Christ, do you have a death wish or something?" the Mustang owner bellowed. The woman's head tilted slightly to the left as if she didn't notice that she was in the middle of the street. In an instant, the woman felt as if her whole body was cold; a shiver ran through her even though it was the hottest spring day to date. Her angelic face blistered in the sun, and her round eyes burst into fresh tears. She knew she is rushing, but she didn't realize that she had been reckless. Her shoulders dropped in utter disappointment with herself. She shifted her shoes to her left hand not knowing what she should be doing. She knew she shouldn't be on the street, but what was she doing? They didn't need her there. Or did they? She debated with herself.
Her silent battle was interrupted with a honk from the impatient driver. She waved apologetically and ran the rest of the way across the scorching concrete. She stopped and looked at her destination. A gigantic white brick apartment building loomed over her. Another shudder ran through her. She replaced her black heels on her feet and then took one huge dry breath and threw open the heavy steel doors. To her dismay, the doors slammed roughly and loudly against white and black art deco walls. The woman felt her eyes moisten as she shakily began her trip to the golden ornate front desk. Where a man stood waiting and expecting her.
He had seen her here before and knew why she was here. He watched as her demeanor slowly unraveled the more steps she took towards him. He tried hard not to look at her face, but he failed miserably. He saw the gravity of their current situation etched in her eyes. Out of the ten years that he had been working here he has never faced something like this. Something so ghastly, something so unreal, and something so devastating that he's not sure how to react. He watched the young woman, thinking back to the many times she had graced him with her presence. He liked her she reminded him of his daughter who is around her age. However, now he realized that she may be older than he had originally thought, but all the same, he silently begged for her to turn around and leave, but he knew that is not going to happen since this is where she needed to be.
The man briefly sees the scene from an hour ago play in his head. A tall, skinny, young man lays in a pool of his blood. His pink hair drooping ever so slightly covering the young man's face its ends staining scarlet. He remembered running for a towel hoping beyond hope that it wasn't too late. He knew the young man had issues, but he had never thought he'd do this. His memory was interrupted with a feminine sniffle that brings him out of his stupor. Looking up he saw the woman standing in front of him, tears desperately trying to escape her emerald eyes.
She arrived at the desk and looked at the man she has often spoken to while waiting for Him. She looked at the man now, the man who always gave her a smile when she arrived. The man who always took the time to ask her about her work. He was paler than she remembered his brown hair ashen with gray, and new worry lines stretched across his striking face, making him look a lot older than he had two days ago. She, of course, knew that it was His fault that the man looked that way. She almost felt angry with Him for causing this poor man's suffering. The detective on the phone had told her that this man was the one who found Him. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She looked at the man desperately trying hard to find something to say. She is relieved when she noticed he was going to speak instead.
"Dr. Albarn, I'm so sorry for your loss. It is an awful shame to lose someone so young." Dr. Albarn noticed the man trying to keep his face neutral, but he fails. His paternal brown eyes wrinkle at the edges as if it was only a matter of time before he would give into crying. She waited for a second trying to decide what to say. She wasn't used to these feelings. The whole situation had not felt real since she had gotten the call at work.
"I am sorry as well Mr. Buttataki I know you liked and respected him" She stumbled over the words feeling as if they are ingénue. She felt the tears she has been crying start again. She felt the warm wetness turn cold and dry against her cheeks. She cursed herself for being so weak. She has known this as a possible outcome. She has known that the struggle was constant with him. However, she did not expect it to come so quickly. She had seen Him only a few days ago, and He seemed fine, but of course like most of her patients, He had been sick for a long time. She should have been prepared, but she wasn't.
"I know that you and Crona were close. It is such a shame that he would go off to war and survive just to die here in the states." Mr. Buttataki interrupted sympathetically smiling while shuffling papers so that his hands are doing something other than remembering how tightly they held the towel to the young man's gaping wound.
Dr. Albarn noticed the paper shuffling, to her it felt like they're mocking her as her life seemed to be paralleling those dead slices of trees, ever moving just to scatter amongst itself. She nodded not knowing what to say. Her silence was visibly making Mr. Buttataki anxious as he looked for something else to occupy his hands.
"Yeah, close." Dr. Albarn repeated. She hadn't said his name all day. In fact, she was avoiding it. Her boss Dr. Shinigami wanted a full report on his behavior from the last time she had seen him. All she was able to manage was he seemed better. His pink hair washed for the first time in weeks. He was happy. Now thinking, she should have known those were signs that she should have noticed. Many people seemed to be happier once they've finally decided on their fate. She instantly felt like an idiot, years of school and training and her first patient dies on her.
Dr. Albarn shifted on her feet. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to Mr. Buttataki anymore. She instantly scolded herself for it, because it was evident Mr. Buttataki still wanted to talk to her. Dr. Albarn opened her mouth to say something when she felt a large hand on her shoulder. She went rigid; her reflexes instantly took control and before she knew what she was doing. A tall, muscular man with blue hair went flying over her shoulder and slamming into the comfortable sitting room chairs. Terrified Dr. Albarn looked over Mr. Buttutaki, who with huge eyes transfixed on something behind her.
A man with white hair and red eyes stood mesmerized as he watched his blue haired partner lift off the ground by a skinny blonde woman in a well-fitted sundress. He couldn't believe his eyes. All one hundred and ninety pounds of his partner Star thrown by a woman who couldn't way more than a hundred twenty. Before he could stop, he fell over with laughter. He noticed the man at the front desk's face and instantly regretted laughing at a time like this, but if he had known Star as he did, this man would be laughing too.
With utter rage, Dr. Albarn turned toward the face who had the audacity to laugh after such a traumatic morning. She stood shocked at the man before her. He was attractive, to say the least. However, his howling laughter put a damper on his overall attractiveness. Her face distorted with anger and again her body took over. She reached on the counter next to her and grabbed an oversized travel guide and slammed it down on the man's head. Sure maybe her actions were a little extreme, but Dr. Albarn felt betrayed all day, and she would not put up with this buffoonery.
"Fucking, hell." The albino looking man erupted. "You know I could arrest you for something like that." He said peering up at the woman from where he was sitting on the ground. Her Emerald eyes seared into him, her round lips upturned into a frown, and her blonde hair once in a pristine bun looked like it had been combed through with her hand too many times. He instantly knew who this woman was. Behind her angry eyes was a tinge of grief. "Dr. Maka Albarn I presume." He stood trying hard to regain his composure.
"Yes." She hissed at him.
"I'm Detective Evans, and that is Detective Star I believe you talked to him on the phone this morning." He offered a sympathetic smile as a look or horror crossed her face at their names. Without speaking Dr. Albarn ran to the other man's rescue.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry for throwing you!" She screamed at Detective Star. Detective Evans watched as she bent down to offer Star, her hand. He couldn't help but admire her ass while she was turned away. He did have to admit she was pretty to look at but a little too high strung for his taste, but all Doctors were nowadays too much time with their heads in books.
"God woman, what a takedown! I will be prepared next time not many people can take down a God!" Star chuckled giving her a wink. Instantly Dr. Albarn looked away. Evans saw a slight blush run across her cheeks. He immediately felt cheated that a reaction like that was caused by Blackwell Star. Black didn't even notice he kept speaking to her as if she were a comrade from his MMA gym. "God, I'd love to spar with you sometime. I'll go easy on ya because I have mad skills." Black grinned.
"Sure, I'm sorry again. I took up kickboxing and self-defense after I got felt up by a drunken tourist, and sometimes I can't control it," she told him apparently upset with herself.
"No problem! Where do you take classes?" Black asked interestedly, which didn't surprise Evans since Black loved fighting with things, people, and mannequins.
"Oh, uh I take classes from Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, she's over off—"
"You're The Maka Albarn?!" Black exclaimed! Leaving both Evans and Dr. Albarn confused.
"Uh, that is the name on my birth certificate excluding the 'The' part" She eyed Black suspiciously apparently waiting for an explanation.
"Tsubaki has told me all about how awesome you are! She say's you're the fastest learner in her class!" He beamed.
"You know Tsubaki?" Maka asked doubting this piece of information.
"Well, he should since she's his wife." Evans interrupted. Both Black and Maka turned toward him as if noticing he was there for the first time. Black, on the other hand, looked at Evan's with a huge smile, knowing full well that Evan's was upset he was getting no attention.
"Yup, she's my lady!" Black smiled proudly.
"Oh, I guess your first name must be Blackwell, she talks all about you. She's even asked me over for dinner a few times hoping I would meet you and that you would take me in as your protégé." Maka smiled at Black.
"Oh you have to come over for dinner I'll show you some of my moves! No drunken tourist or police detective will mess with you after I'm finished training you!" Black smiled while puffing out his chest.
"We should probably be talking about the case, not talking about dinner and your lame moves," Evans grumbled already getting bored and annoyed.
"What's got your panties in a twist Soul? Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" Black prodded.
"No!" Soul Fumed.
"Soul, that's a unique name," Maka said out loud. "S-o-u-l" She rolled it in her mouth." she blushed when she noticed him staring at her. Soul liked that reaction it seems like the scary doctor has a soft side. "Anyway, you're right we should talk about Crona." She choked.
"I'm sorry for your loss Dr. Albarn. We just need you to answer a few questions." Soul cooed. Black took her hand, and they headed to the sitting area. Soul noticed she was crying when they sat. She must have cared for her patient and wondered if she may have cared too much for her patient. Was there relationship inappropriate? Soul wondered. Looking at her he doubted it, but she was crying a little too much just to be his therapist.
"Okay, Dr. Albarn—"
"Please call me Maka Detective Evans."
"Okay Maka, Was your patient Crona suicidal to the best of your knowledge?"
"He was, but he was on anti-depressants that seemed to be working," Maka replied instantly becoming Dr. Maka.
"Okay, so to the best of your knowledge was he taking his medication regularly?" Black added taking down notes.
"Yes, we have sessions every two days and sometimes every other day as part of his outpatient agreement with the hospital." Maka paused taking in a deep breath to steady herself. Soul again questioned if their relationship had been entirely doctor-patient.
"What exactly does that program's agreement say? Is there a clause about weapons?" Maka's face distorted, looking confused for the first time since the line of questioning began.
"Yes, it does. Why?"
"Because Maka, Crona was found dead with a .45 and a matching bullet wound to the chest. Consistent to a suicidal infliction."
"I'm sorry, but that is impossible." She said sternly.
"It isn't that is how we found him," Black added looking at Soul naturally thinking it was grief making her say that.
"No. I mean that can't be how he killed himself, Crona's very feminine when it comes to personality, I even asked him to consider the idea of him identifying as transgendered. There is no way he would take his life like that. If anything he would kill himself by overdosing or slitting his wrist like last time. Giving a person enough time to save him." she was shaking her head. It didn't make sense to her. She was expecting something else. All of this information seemed all wrong to her.
"I'm sorry Maka but that's how we found him, it is consistent with suicide." Soul said taking her hand. Starting to worry about her mental health.
"Okay, I will concede," she sighed taking her hand from him." it's unlikely that he would go that way, but I will accept it. What did the suicide note say or can I read it?" She commanded a little impatiently.
"There was no note," Black informed her.
"No note? Detectives it is one thing to change up the method of suicide, but there is no way he didn't leave a note. He was a writer and into theatrics, that is not his personality." She snapped at the officers. Not angry, more frustrated than anything. She cleared her throat and looked directly into Soul's eyes as if judging his competence.
"Maka, we've seen suicides like this before, you have to consider what he was going through at the time—"
"And have you thought that maybe, just maybe he didn't kill himself? Look I don't want to do your job here, but I worked with him for a month at most three or four times a week, and I am telling you this doesn't fit." She stood glaring down at Soul as if he was an idiot. Soul rose to meet her gaze. He could handle a grieving doctor but not someone who was trying to tell him how to do his job.
"Look, Dr. Albarn, I have been doing this as long as you were in medical school I think I can tell a suicide from murder, don't insult my intelligence." He tried not to bare his teeth, but he failed. Maka's reaction, however, didn't please him. Instead of backing down she came up right to his face tilting it back slightly to get a better view.
"Then don't insult mine Detective Evans." Her eyes simmered with anger. The tension between the two was hostile neither backing away. Black wanted badly to see Maka take Soul down but decided to speak up instead.
"Look, Soul, maybe we should consider that Maka might be right." Black stood and quickly walked to the glowering duo.
"I am right, Do your job detective." She spat at Soul. Then taking her eyes off him and turned away and stormed off. "Black, you have my number call me when this one has decided to use his brain!" Both detectives watched as the front doors slammed behind her.
"Come on!" Soul growled walking toward the elevator. He nodded briefly at the man behind the desk.
"Where are you going?" Black yelled after him.
"If she thinks this was murder, I am going be damned sure to prove it was a suicide!"