Chapter 1 The Introduction.
"Maka!" he yelled as they flew through the air.
He quickly transformed from a scythe to his (white haired, red eyed) human form and grabbed her in midair, pulling her close to his chest as they crash landed, taking most of the impact of the fall. After a couple of very short seconds, he looked down at her worriedly. She wasn't moving and a small stream of blood slowly flowed from her forehead down her cheek and dripped off her chin. She was unconscious and then he remembered that their opponent was still there, crossing the distance at a slow but steady speed that gave the impression that he was just toying with them. He had to do something, he had to get her out of here and get her somewhere safe. Maka finally started to stir out of unconsciousness, furrowing her brows at the pain. She could feel strong arms wrapped around her in a familiarly protective way. She knew exactly who it was.
"So. . . Soul. . ." Maka said with one eye just barely cracked open, the other still shut tight in pain. "D-did we . . . get him?" she started to find it very difficult to breathe as she finished her sentence. He looked down at her then, not knowing what to tell her at this point. Even if she wanted to, in this condition, she couldn't do anything. She would just hurt herself even more and make it near impossible to heal any other injuries she might have other than the one on her head. What he did know was that there just wasn't something right about this guy. That one little fact was enough to unnerve him.
"Soul, Maka, are you two alright?" Kid said; Black Star right behind him. They were both beaten and battered with evidential stab marks, cuts and bruised here and there. "We have orders to regroup and hope that everyone else makes it out o—"Kid was cut off by dark chuckles of very dark amusement. He looked at what use to be a pre-kishin that had now taken the title that Asura once held, before Maka became his downfall that is.
"Hay. . . Kid. . ." Soul said as he stood up, bringing Maka with him. He walked over to where their friends were standing, all the time never taking his attention off of Maka's momentarily limp and excruciatingly pained body. "Take Maka and get out of here. Get her somewhere safe" he said as he handed her to Kid. Kid had been watching the kishin this whole time when Soul handed Maka to him. He was surprised when Soul just handed her to him without a muss or fuss when, in truth, he was filled with regret. All he wanted to do was protect her.
"What are you going to do, Soul?" Kid asked suspiciously, knowing that none of them would like the answer. Soul simply turned away, only to face the kishen. The one that he would face so they could get out of here. The one that he would most likely die fighting so that she would be safe. "Soul, I understand but Maka needs you." Kid whispered, hoping she couldn't hear him. His caution went in vain for she did not need to hear him to know what Soul was going to do next. She started trying to struggle out of Kid's arms, but in vain. Maka was panicking, not caring about her injuries. She wouldn't let him do this. He couldn't do this to her, not again.
"Soul . . . no. . . You can't. . ." Maka said. She was so panicked that she almost completely forgot about her difficulty with breathing. "Soul . . . please. . ." tears began to swell in her eyes but she was able to hold them back. He could hear everything that she was saying. He clinched his hands into fists as he listened to her. She was begging him. He had never heard her really truly beg for anything before, and he didn't like it. This was the only way, the only choice he had. He needed to get her out of here and to him, if that meant being a diversion so that the others could escape then that's what he had to do.
"Get her out of here, take her somewhere safe. I'll catch up now go." He said, ordering his friends to go. Mild concern rang in his voice. None of them seemed to notice and he hoped that Maka hadn't noticed either. He knew better then to hope that she hadn't noticed but there was no harm in hoping.
"No. . . I'm not . . . going anywhere . . . without you. . ." Maka said franticly, now finding it hard to ignore the pain, her trouble with breathing, and yes her own feelings. Of course she had noticed the mildly concerned tone in his voice. She wasn't about to let him do this, not alone. She finally struggled out of Kids' hold and shakily to her feet. She was able to take a few steps before the world started to spin around her, her head throbbing with pain. She bit her lips to keep a hiss from escaping them while grabbing her head with her hands, finding the pain rather unbearable at the time.
"Maka, I'm not giving you a choice. Kid, Black Star, get Maka out of he—"Soul was cut off when Maka grabbed his fist. It softened at her touch, unclenching from a fist and back to a hand. She gave it a tight concerned squeeze, receiving a reassuring one as blood red orbs stared down into her olive green ones. He wanted to make her believe that everything was going to be alright. He needed her to believe it when in truth he wasn't sure that he would survive long enough to get out of here let alone back to them, back to her. Her grip didn't loosen as she began to lose her balance, due to the pain. She leaned into him in an attempt to stay on her feet while the world spun around her once more. Her brows furrowed and her eyes shut tight in pain as it felt like having her head cracked open and filled with lava. Soul steadied her, bringing her into his embrace and forgetting about the kishen, turned his focus to her. "Maka, you alright?" Soul said, worried that she was in worse shape than he thought. Black Star, noticing that Soul had taken his attention off the kishin, stepped up and took the front. He hadn't taken his focus off the kishen since they had gotten to where Soul and Maka were. After a few seconds, Maka looked up into his crimson eyes and nodded that she was okay.
"Soul, why don't you take her and get out of here. I think Black Star and I can handle the kishin." Kid smiled at them as he passed them to stand at Black Stars' side. Liz, Patti, and Tsubaki agreed, leaving no room for argument. They had seen the way that Maka had reacted the last time the two had been separated.