I was being cocky. I didn't think he could get up after the last hit, never the less , try to place a blow on me when my back was turned, hell, I thought he was dead! But I was wrong, I should have been more cautious.
It was my fault. All my fault. If I didn't turn my back –or if I just looked over my shoulder or-AHHH I- can't think of this anymore. None of this would have happened if I weren't for me. No, I have to stop thinking about it, blaming myself won't change anything, that's what she would have said.
Suddenly the door creaked opened. Dr. Stein came out, lit a cigarette and put it up to his lips, pausing momentary when he saw me.
"Well, who do we have here?" he said in his monotone voice, "Were you sitting there this whole time?" He asked.
I leaped to my feet so fast I almost toppled over. The corridor was dark and the only light was coming from a few old torches lined up against the walls. Their flickering light cast dancing shadows across the walls and shaded half of Dr. Stein's face. Dr. Stein looked more drained than usual, he opened his mouth slowly as if to say something, but I cut him off.
"Is she alright," I said in a worried tone, "She's going to be fine, right?"
He smiled and responded,
"Don't worry, she'll live." I let out a sigh a relief. I spent the last 3 hours and 12 minutes dreading the worst. If anything were to happen to her, I would never forgive myself. I wanted to cry, scream and laugh all at once, but I quickly regained my composer. I let my mind settle down and become tranquil once more. I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, no it was more like it was tumbling down. She'll live. She's fine. That's all that mattered to me.
"But," Dr. Stein said. Fear gripped my body, "She was hurt real bad. It seems her spinal cord was damaged and her central nervous system was as well." He took a long drag from his cigarette. I stared blankly at him. My heart beat speed up. I had no clue what he was talking about, but it didn't sound good. Dr. Stein must have seen the fear in face, because he took one last drag from his cigarette and flung it at the ground, crushing it with his foot. He looked right at me and smiled.
"Like I said she will be fine. It's nothing to worry about. We operated on her and fixed the problem." I let out a breath. "It will take some time for her to get back on her feet. She won't be fighting anytime soon. But…" Dr. Stein looked troubled. His brow furrowed and he looked uncomfortable.
"'But what?" I asked. The panic began to rise in me once more.
"Oh it's nothing to worry about." He said with a smile. I exhaled
"Would it be alright if I could just, umm," I could feel my face turning red, and then I felt silly. There was nothing wrong with wanting to see your partner after a near fatal battle. "Could I maybe see her for a few minutes? Would that be alright?" I asked.
"She is unconscious but you could if you like." He said with an amused look on his face. Dr. Stein walked away down the corridor with a slight limp.
I opened the door and looked around the room. Maka was laid in a bed surrounded by strange hospital equipment. She was wearing a simple white hospital dress. She looked exactly like when she studied all night and fell asleep on her desk; exhausted and worn out. I looked around some more. There were two empty beds on her left side and a night stand with medication on the right. The room was bare, painted white, the only thing that stood out was her blood stained clothes that were neatly folded on the corner of her bed.
I winced and looked away. Someone had tried to wash them, but the stains were still clearly visible. I kept trying to look at anything but the clothes but my eyes soon got tired of the bare white walls and aluminum floor. I reached my hand out and picked up the shirt. There was a huge gash in the center where Maka got slashed. Dried blood covered every inch of the shirt; the blood had soaked through the shirt and splattered little drops onto anywhere where it didn't soak through.
I gently placed the shirt back where I found it, and looked up to Maka's sleeping face. My eyes wandered down to where the blanket covered her chest. I gently lifted the blanket, the hospital dress was thin so I could see the bandages though it. They covered her whole mid section up to her shoulder and were stained darker in some areas than others. I dropped the blanket and watched it fall down and softly land where it had been.
It was funny really. She now would have a scar in exactly the same place I had mine. I touched my chest and drew a line with my finger from my shoulder to my lower abdomen. My scar was in the same place as hers. Now every time I would look at my scar I would think of hers. We both got it the same way, and I never really thought about mine that much until now. I secretly wished I could be in her place. It was so much easier when I was in her place, when I wasn't blaming myself for the pain of my partner.
I sat at the edge of her bed and stroked her hair. Oh how I wished I could be in her place right now. I silently stared at her face. I slowly leaned in and kissed her forehead, it was warm and soft. I cupped her chin in my hand and stared at her face, the face that now had every right to hate me, but never would. I leaned in closer and closer until – I jerked my face away from hers.
What was I doing? This wasn't like me at all. I felt my face; it was warm, just like her forehead had been. What was I going to do to Maka just then? My mind felt like a whirl wind, spinning round and round. I never had feelings like this for Maka before, I never thought of her the way I did just now. This was crazy. I swiveled around on the chair and stared at the bare wall, trying hard not to think about what just happened. That was when I heard shouts from the hall.
"Maka, Maka are you alright? Don't worry my darling everything will be fine, papa's here." a voice called out.
"Oh, she's gonna be fine now that I'm here. Just laying eyes on the amazing Black Star will make her better," said another loud voice.
In came Black Star, Tusbaki, Maka's perverted father, Kid and Dr. Stein; they all made their way towards the bed.
"Hey Soul how are you doing?" said kid
"I'm fine," I said hoping he wouldn't notice anything strange.
"Are you feeling alright, your face is really red," he said softly. I smiled at him and said,
"Yeah, fine why?" but before he could respond Dr. Stein cleared his throat.
"Alright I think it's about time for everyone to get going soon." He said this while looking Black Star, who was shouting how he would kill whoever did this to her, but Black Star was wrong, I was going to kill that bastard with my bare hands if I had to, for what he had done to Maka. I left not feeling like myself.
"- so then I jumped and he ran into the tree. Can you believe that moron?" Black Star exclaimed without a care in the world. This pissed me off. His friend was hurt and all he could think about was himself. Now I kind of understood why Maka always complained about him. I purposefully walked a little faster and turned to walk home the long way.
When I got home the lights were still on from this morning, how long ago that had seemed. I took my shirt off and jumped into bed. My body was so exhausted I don't even know when I fell asleep.
"Spirit, stay for a minute," Said Dr. Stein in a solemn voice. Spirit turned from the doorway and looked him in the eyes, "there is something I need to tell you about Maka's condition."
"You said she was fine!" Spirit said, very worryingly, "Is something wrong, is she that badly injured?" Spirit was now sweating. He sat down and put his head in his hands. He then lifted his head and looked right at Maka. She looked exactly like her mother. The women he still loved. If only I hadn't been so stupid he thought. If I could go back in time I would, I wouldn't do all the things that I'd done.
"No, she is perfectly fine. The operation went quickly and without any difficulty at all. And she is healing incredibly fast." Dr. Stein said, he picked up a syringe absent mindedly, and began twirling it between his two fingers.
"Then what's the problem Stein?" Spirit responded annoyed. Why was he getting me so worked up? Stein stopped twirling the syringe and said,
"It's just that," He said. Spirit didn't understand. Stein kept talking, "It's just that operation went too smoothly, and when I found her, she was unconscious alright, but she was fine, breathing normally and everything the only thing that looked wrong was all the blood. When I first saw how much blood she lost," Stein shook his head, "I honestly didn't think she would survive. If I hadn't checked to see if she was alive I would have pronounced her dead." Stein was spinning the syringe again. His voice was getting louder to, "And when I was operating on her, nothing went wrong. Even with the amount of blood she lost it went without a hitch." He was spinning the syringe faster and faster, deep in thought.
"But isn't that a good thing," said Spirit, "wasn't it good that there were no complications?" Spirit was really confused now. Maybe Stein was losing it.
"But that's what's bothering me. I also noticed Maka's injury was almost the same as Souls'. If I had to bet on who would be more likely to survive, I'd put all my money on Soul, Maka's injury was far worse, it was very deep and since she was left alone for so long she bleed a lot. But during Soul's operation, it wasn't going to well at first, but with Maka it went fine." Stein stopped spinning and rubbed his eyes. Spirit didn't know what to say. So what. So what if Maka's operation went smoothly. That was good right? What was Stein talking about? Maka was alive with no permanent damage. It was more than he deserved. Stein continued,
"Something isn't right," He said staring intently at the syringe, "Something doesn't feel right." Stein got up and walked over to the medicine cabinet, took out a beaker and some type of yellow liquid in a bottle. He walked over to Maka's motionless body and leaned over it.
"There is one test I would like to perform on her," He said to Spirit, "But she is your daughter so I would to ask you your permission first." He said holding the syringe up to Maka's arm. "It may give me some answers." He looked at Spirit for his approval.
"You're the doctor. Do whatever will make my little girl feel better," Spirit said watching as he drew crimson blood, "I just wish you would have asked my permission before operating on me while I slept." He added sourly. Stein laughed bitterly. Then he got very serious. He carefully poured some of the yellow liquid into the beaker and then added the blood.
Spirit walked over to the table where stein was at and observed. Stein was mumbling to himself. He stirred the solution a few times then went to a locked cabinet. He got out a key from his pocket, opened it and got out a bottle labeled "TOXIC". He opened it and put one drop into the solution. The effect was instantaneous.
The strange concoction began to bubble. It turned from yellow to white. Then when it settled down, began to change again. Now it was getting darker and darker.
"How strange," said Stein, "how very unusual," he said with furrowed eye brows. He held it up to the light for Sprit to see. What he saw shocked him. The liquid turned Black.