Thunder
by: verveine
Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or any characters in Soul Eater. I do own my own story though.
She's leaving you.
"I can't do this anymore," she said, the words guiltily escaping out of her dark cherry red lips. Tears were streaming down her pale face and then proceeded to merge with the rain rushing down. It was completely silent outside besides the crashing noise of rain pounding down on the cement ground, and despite her many attempts, he still couldn't comprehend the situation at hand. He couldn't even understand a single word of what she was saying. She had said those same empty words numerous times before, so why was he so terrified now?
Was it the spark of determination in her strikingly bright emerald eyes? Or it might have been the sorrow in her voice. Maybe it was the black suitcase she grasped tightly in her white knuckled hands.
"Maka, you don't want to do this," he finally replied, desperation clouding his normally ambivalent voice.
She shook her head. Her wet blonde hair that was plastered onto her head shook violently against her face, letting her bangs cover up her downcast eyes.
"I have to, Soul..." She whispered, taking his cold hand into her own. "I need to get away from here. I need to start new...a place where no one knows who I am."
XoxOxoXoxOx
"This summer is going to be so boring," Soul decided right then and there, as he stuffed in the last of his folded clothes into his dull black suitcase.
"Of course your summer is going to be boring! How can it be fun when I'm not there? ! I make your life interesting!" His obnoxious roommate conceitedly said, tossing his clothes messily into a sports bag. Soul gave him a skeptical look, before turning his attention back on his own pile of clothes. "Where are you gonna be anyways?"
"I dunno. I'll probably be attending all my brother's concerts for the most part," Soul yawned, stacking the now bursting suitcase along with his other suitcases.
"Man, I feel you," Black Star shook his head, patting Soul's slumped shoulders. "I would have made your summer so exciting- and by exciting, I mean firework exciting!"
"Yeah, yeah," Soul rolled his crimson colored eyes, giving his roommate a slight grin. "Bastard, leaving me to rot in this hellhole while you yourself are going to Japan to visit your girlfriend's parents."
"Come on," Black Star grinned widely at his silver-haired friend. "Nevada isn't that bad."
"Yeah," Soul scoffed. "Tell that to my dead, dried up body when you come back."
XoxOxoXoxOx
Something inside him was cracking.
When she's gone, you'll have nothing left.
"M-Maka," he tried to say as calmly as he can. It came out sounding more like a whimper. "Please stay...I'll try to make it better- no, I will make it better."
She said nothing in response and instead opted to smile sadly up at his crestfallen face.
XoxOxoXoxOx
"Soul, you must be so happy to have such a talented brother!" An elderly woman gushed, the gold in her ears jingling as she shook his hand.
"Yeah." Soul nodded, trying his hardest to smile genuinely. "I get that a lot."
"Do you think..." The woman hesitated her next words, looking carefully at Soul's raised eyebrows. "Do you think that it would be possible for your brother to go on a blind date with my daughter? She's a very pleasant girl."
"Ask him yourself." Soul masked his rude answer by smiling sweetly, and excused himself from the party.
She was the seventh woman. The seventh woman who came up to Soul with no shame, asking him about his brother. It was almost as if Wes was too holy for them to go up to and talk to themselves, so they decided to communicate through his infamous, not-as-talented younger brother.
Soul made his way out of the stuffy room filled with various vile perfume scents- that he was sure smelled pleasant individually- and walked down the long hallway of the fancy hotel. He loosened the tie around his neck that seemed to be choking him and went into the last room down the hallway that he knew oh too well.
It was the only room that had a piano on that floor.
He gently stroked the glassy black cover of the instrument in front of him, a hazy glaze outlining his red eyes. He had as much fond memories of the piano as crummy ones.
It was almost a year since he last played. He used to play almost every hour of every day back when his parents were still hopeful that he could be as talented as his older brother. When they realized he was never going to be the musical genius they were hoping he would grow up to be, they sent him away to boarding school, saying that it was the best for him.
If he couldn't get into the music industry, he might as well be smart and have a proper job, they explained to him with a fake smile on their faces.
He opened the cover of the piano and started to play to his heart's content. He had his eyes closed, pressing only the keys that his heart chose to play. He only stopped when the crashing sound of thunder joined his small concert. He flipped his eyes open and looked out the window, to see that it was pouring heavily. An occasional lightening would strike down, illuminating the rather dark room.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He heard a gentle voice ask, and he instantly faced the direction from where the voice came from.
She was a tiny girl, with two straight ponytails on each side of her head. She was blonde, with piercing emerald eyes that seemed to be glued to the window.
"Who are you?" Soul alarmingly asked, instantly closing the lid of the piano.
"I love the thunder," she said absentmindedly, her eyes still on the window. "It was almost as if your playing called out to the thunder. It doesn't rain much in Nevada, so I was shocked when it started to thunder too."
"Who are you, I asked!" Soul yelled defensively, ignoring her small chatter. She had heard him play the forbidden instrument. No one was allowed to hear him play. No one. It was his own dirty secret, a pleasure that he fully indulged in when he was alone.
She slowly tore her eyes away from the window to Soul, with a smile so warm it made him shudder.
"They call me Maka."
XoxOxoXoxOx
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you," she decided, her cold hands still holding his. She was trembling now.
Hold her.
Soul slowly let go of her hand to drape his leather jacket on top of her small frame that was shaking uncontrollably. He was fully aware that the reason she was shaking was not because of the cold rain that drenched her whole body, but because of her emotional state. She was broken. Empty.
What pained him the most was that he couldn't do anything to help her. She was right- he wouldn't understand. No one would.
XoxOxoXoxOx
"Soul!" A familiar voice called out to him, waking him up from his light slumber. He popped one eye open, red eyes instantly meeting with green ones.
"Maka?" He asked, looking her over. She was a mess. Her ponytails were lopsided, her clothes were dirtied with sand, and Soul was positive that if a certain friend of his back at boarding school were to see her, he would faint on the spot with her unsymmetrical-ness.
"What are you doing just lying here, you lazy bum?" She grinned, lightly smacking the top of his head. "We're all going to smash the watermelon now, let's go!"
He smiled at the energetic girl in front of him, deciding to take this chance to tease her.
"All right, but let me just sleep for a few more minutes. I'm so tired," Soul drawled his words out, adding a fake yawn for emphasis.
"No!" She instantly refused, taking one of his arms in an attempt to get him to move up.
"Aw, come on Maka!" He complained, not budging from the comfortable spot he managed to find on the beach. It was an unusually serene spot, away from all the noisy people at the beach playing in the water or sand. "It's so nice just lying here!"
"You're just being a total lazy bum!" She scorned, still trying to get him to move. "There's nothing fun about just lying down on the sand!"
"Wanna bet?" Soul grinned that crooked smile of his, a mischievous thought running through his head.
"What?" Maka barely managed to ask, as he took the arm that she was using in an attempt to get him to move and brought her down with him. She squealed in protest, but his grip on her was firm. Before she knew what was going on, she was lying down on the blanket with him, gazing at the clouds in the clear sky that enveloped them.
"Isn't this nice?" Soul sighed contently, admiring the different shapes that the clouds took.
"Liz and Patty and all my other friends are waiting for us!" Maka protested, trying to get up. He pinned her down.
"Come on, Maka. You can't honestly say you're not enjoying this, can you?" Soul grinned triumphantly when he saw the expression on her face relax. "Let's just stay here for another five minutes."
"All right..." Maka finally gave in, much to Soul's delight. "But only for five minutes, tops!"
Liz and Patty found Maka two hours later that same day, peacefully sleeping on top of Soul's outstretched arms.
XoxOxoXoxOx
Don't you want to hold her?
"I've tried so hard, I've tried so, so hard but now... now it's too much," she whined the last part out, more tears falling down her face only to be washed away by the rain. "It hurts way too much. Just seeing him makes my heart ache. I feel as though I'm constantly fighting an already lost war; I always knew I couldn't win it...but I still tried. But now it's really over, it's done. I...I finally give up. I forfeit."
She looked up at him with her bloodshot eyes, the bags under them seeming to only grow larger.
"I forfeit, Soul."
Why don't you just hold onto her and never go?
Because he would never be able to mend her broken heart and he knew it. Only one person in the entire world would be able to do that...and it wasn't him.
XoxOxoXoxOx
"Which reminds me," Soul started, causing Maka to look up at him questioningly. "What were you doing at Wes's concert anyways? From what I can tell, you're not musically inclined at all," he teased.
She slapped him lightly, tossing him a menacing glare. He laughed.
"My stupid dad forced me to go," she sighed, staring at the glass counter. "His woman of the week is some music lover or something. Apparently, she's a huge fan of your brother's."
Soul glanced at Maka briefly, noticing the disgusted scowl etched on her face.
"You really dislike your father, don't you?" Soul asked, unsure of whether the topic was too touchy to bring up.
"I really can't stand him anymore," she admitted, pressing her cheek against the cool glass. "Honestly, I thought I was on the brink of insanity on the day of the concert. He always promises me that his attention will be only on me, but he ditched me the minute his girlfriend came. I hate him. I hate his philandering ways. I hate his girlfriend. I hate his constant betrayal and most of all, I hate his lies. I was really about to lose it, but your song soothed me. I'm glad I found that room."
He wanted to hug her and comfort her- tell her that it was going to be okay.
Instead he came up with, "Why were you in that room anyways? Weren't you supposed to be at Wes's afterparty?"
"Oh," Maka shrugged, turning her attention back at the various flavors of ice cream in front of her. "I was bored so I walked around the hallway and heard your playing. It instantly drew me in."
"Oh?" Soul asked her to continue, happiness swelling up from the core of his body.
"Wes is good and all, but his playing seems so routine. Yours was spontaneous and erratic, which is what made it phenomenal." Maka smiled at him, looking at him straight in the eye. He was rendered speechless.
He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her so, so badly.
"I want strawberry and chocolate!" She finally decided, breaking him from his shallow trance.
He immediately diverted his eyes away from her distracting glossy lips. "M-Me too. I guess." He muttered, completely forgetting the fact that he was allergic to strawberries and hated chocolate.
XoxOxoXoxOx
If he had the ability to rewind time, he would have still chosen to meet her, be with her, and fall in love with her. He didn't regret what transpired between them during the summer and he wouldn't have changed a single thing.
What will you do without her?
He honestly had no idea. She brought light into his other bleak and dark world. For once in his life, he had experienced the feeling of living. He truly felt alive whenever he was around her. If she were to leave now...what would he do? What could he do?
"Maka, just tell me what I can do. I'll do everything I can, I'll even go up to your father and beat some sense into him for you. You name it, I'll do it. What- What can I do?" Soul desperately tried to find an answer, find a way to make her stay, for even a little longer.
"That's exactly it Soul..You can't do anything. No one can do anything. It's too late." Maka shook her head, placing her cold hands on the side of his face. As much as the broken down expression he wore on his face displeased her, she had to leave. She had to. "I need a change of location; away from everyone who knows me. I need a new start, a new beginning. I...I hope you'll understand."
XoxOxoXoxOx
They were both lying on top of a randomly parked car, side by side, staring at the sky. It was an immensely stupid thing to do on their part because their chances of being hit by thunder were now increased a hundred folds. But Soul figured it didn't matter because if Maka wanted to die, it would be by the thunder, and as long as Maka was with him when he died, it didn't matter to Soul how or when he did.
"I love the thunder Soul," Maka said out-loud, looking up at the powdery stars embedded onto the dark purple sky. "The way it roars into someone's life unexpectedly, crashing into their lives and refreshing them by showering them with pounding rain. It makes life so exciting, exhilarating, and worthwhile. I can't wait until it gets here."
"Are you even sure that it will thunder today?" Soul asked tiredly. It was almost two in the morning, and it was only Maka that he would be crazy enough to come out to view the thunder at such an untimely hour. "I heard there's only storm heading our way now."
"The storm is what comes right before the thunder! It creates the setting and perfect entrance for the thunder- without the storm, the thunder would not be half as interesting nor exciting."
"Yeah, I guess." Soul smiled lightly, as he yawned. His eyes grew heavier and the light drizzle that showered him was making him drowsier by each passing minute.
"Soul, I like spending time with you. You make me forget my worries or any concerns I have. You really made my summer worthwhile, and I was extremely happy on each and every day I spent with you." Maka softly told him, her brilliant emerald eyes staring up at the sky that layered on top of her.
Soul's heart thumped at her words, his heart pounding so hard that he was positive it might rip out of his chest.
He stumbled to find the perfect words for a perfect response.
"M-Maka I-I truthfully I-"
"Hello?" Maka suddenly answered her phone filled with worry, interrupting Soul completely. "Dad?...What? I...I'm coming home right now."
Soul felt his heart sinking as he watched Maka get up from the car they were lying on and looked at him filled with guilt.
"I'm so sorry Soul," she apologized, her voice shaking. "But something's happened at home, I need to get there as soon as possible. I...I'll call you, okay?" She promised.
Soul nodded his head, encouraging her to go with a reassuring smile. Slowly after she left, he left too. It wasn't worth watching the thunder by himself.
His thunder wasn't the same as her thunder.
XoxOxoXoxOx
She never called. In fact, she was never planning on calling.
His heart was broken. She never picked up any of his phone calls or answered the doorbell when he came to visit her. He had heard that her father and his girlfriend, who was now his finance, was expecting a child. He wanted to- no, needed to see her. He knew she was probably crushed beyond repair, yet he wanted to fix her. He missed her silky blonde locks of hair, her honest viridian eyes, the way her nose crinkled when she was discontent or the way dimples sunk into her cheek when she smiled.
Three weeks had passed and he was convinced he was never going to see her again.
But then it began to rain. The first rain in three weeks. It was a light drizzle at first, but it quickly grew into a real storm. Then it started thundering outside, and he knew that she had to be somewhere outside, somewhere close to him.
He was right. He found her standing in front of a train platform going to New York with a suitcase in her hand.
"Well, I don't understand!" He shouted now, the rain making it hard for themselves to hear each other. "I will never be able to understand, so don't ever hope for it! I...I need you here with me Maka...stay with me," he pleaded, his ruby eyes sinking into hers.
"I-I can't stay here," Maka shook her head, but he could trace the hesitation in her voice. "It's...it's all over now. If I his only child, I might have had even a speck of a chance, but now...now it's all over. I can't stay here anymore, I just can't. It's too painful."
"You can stay with me, Maka." Soul offered, tightly holding onto her hands.
"Soul, I told you...I just can't. I-"
"Maka, remember when you said that you loved the thunder? How you said it just roars into someone's life unexpectedly, crashing into their lives and refreshing them by showering them with pounding rain?" Soul closely repeated her exact words, gripping onto her hands even tighter than ever. confidently, interrupting yet another rejection from her. "Well, you are my thunder. You make my life exciting, exhilarating, and worthwhile."
Maka stared at him affectionately, searching for the words to reply back to him. Before she could come up with as much as a sentence, the rusted-steel train carts rumbled against the train tracks, the metal as loud as ever under the pattering rain. There was a loud, breaking lurch and Soul knew he had close to no time left to say what he had to say.
"I love you," he finally admitted, clenching his hands into fists. "I love you, Maka."
Maka just smiled sadly and slowly nodded her head.
"I know." With one last sad, sad little smile, she moved past the numbed Soul and boarded on the train. The doors slid behind her, and in an instant she was gone.
So you were just another man to her. No one special.
There. She was gone, and was never coming back. Soul was thankful for the rain, as they helped him hide the salty tears that fell down his face. He dropped to his knees, bruising and scraping them on the cement pavement through his wet denim jeans.
He sat there for the longest time, the wind howling across his face, the lightening crashing, the thunder roaring, and his heart shattering from her absence and rejection.
It was a wonder that he had enough senses left in him to feel the vibration in his pocket.
He whipped his eyes open and clumsily pulled out his phone from his jean pocket. His vision was blurred, but he was still able to make out the message that was sent to him.
In front of his dancing scarlet eyes, he read the text message:
"I know because love you too, Soul. If I am your thunder, then you are the storm that surrounds me."
Soul didn't realize that a huge smile had found its way into his face and dominated all his features, making him look absolutely foolish. The only thing he felt at that moment were the fireworks that were exploding inside his heart. He softly laughed to himself and shook his head at the silly, silly girl. He loved her, and so did she.
He crammed his phone back into his pocket and dizzily got up from his state of absolute euphoria.
He patiently stood on the platform, drinking in the pleasant sound of the storm and thunder intertwining together in the background, as he awaited the next train to New York.
A/N: It has become unbearably hot these few days where I live, I can't stand it. D: I hate the summer, like absolutely despise it. However, the one thing I do love about the summer are the thunderstorms; I find thunderstorms really romantic. :3 The song Thunder by Boys Like Girls heavily influenced this fic, you should totally listen to it if you haven't! I love BLG. :D
I'm actually revising and editing my other story, and I guess I really needed a break from it. In the end, I came up with this one-shot. I hope you had as fun reading it as I had writing it.
Please review! C: