Maka had long since realized that Soul wouldn't see her for the fact that he had some many other girls crowding him. When he became a Death Scythe she was so proud, but she also had the feeling that she wouldn't see him much.
One day she got tired of how Soul was always ignoring her in favor of whatever else there was that was on his mind. She smiled bitterly as she packed her bags to go travel along with her mother. Soul didn't need her, so why should she say. Maka looked at the door to the apartment that she had shared with the one man she ever really trusted, or ever will, as she walked out to the waiting taxi. It would be years later before anyone, even Tsubaki heard from her.
One day two years after Maka had left Tsubaki found a letter in her mail box. She didn't recognize the address on the envelope, and there was no name except for that of a band Angel Soul inside the envelope were tickets enough for all of her friends. There was also a note inside that read:
Sorry, but I had to leave to find myself. Please come to my concert.
There was no name signed on the paper, apparently the person thought that Tsubaki would recognize the hand writing. Tsubaki thought about the note and the tickets all day before she brought them up at the outing that her friends were having at the basketball courts, like they did when they were all in still in Shibusen…like they did before Maka left. Tsubaki's face crumbled into a sad face, her indigo eyes just barely holding back the tears. No matter how long it had been she still felt the sting of losing her best friend. Soul was still depressed about it, but he did his best to hide it from them, however, Tsubaki knew he was hurting more than she was. He had lost much more than a friend, when Maka had left suddenly and without a word, he had lost the girl he loved. As they sat down on the benches after the game, Tsubaki hesitantly brought up the tickets that she had gotten in the mail. "Um…guys," she said softly, getting everyone's attention immediately.
"What is it Tsubaki," Liz asked concerned, her blue eyes looking at Tsubaki in a motherly fashion.
"I got some tickets in the mail today to a concert for a bad called Angel Soul. There are enough for all of us to go. I just don't know if we should."
"It sounds like a good idea to me," Kidd said, his amber eyes thoughtful. "It might be a good opportunity for us all to get out of our houses."
They all looked at Soul, seeing as he would be the one that would say no the quickest. It was a miracle that he even went out anymore. Sensing the looks that he was getting the albino looked up. "I've heard of them. They say that the lead singer's voice is like an angel's, but her songs are always melancholy like she regrets something." They all looked at him with wide eyes. "What, guys? I listen to all kinds of music alright!"
"Then it's settled. We're all going to the concert," Liz said looking pointedly at Black*star, who was about to say something. "Also I will tie you up so that you don't disrupt it," she said threateningly. Black*star gulped, but nodded. He knew when Liz made a threat she would follow through with it.
Maka sat in her dressing room backstage waiting for her manager to tell her that she had to be on stage. She had sent tickets to Tsubaki, who probably didn't understand her cryptic message; after all she hadn't signed it. Maka had grown into a beautiful woman at twenty-one she was five foot five and she had filled out in certain areas that had made her insecure as a teenager. When her manager came into the room she took a breath and stood her black mini skirt brushing her legs as she stood to look at herself in the mirror. The person she looked at now was very different than she was a few years ago. This person wore her waist length ash blonde hair down, and she wore a white tank top and a off the shoulder green belly shirt. On her feet was a pair of thigh high black suede boots. She stared at herself and wondered quietly if they would recognize her.
When she got on stage the lights were dark, and she took her place by the microphone, her gaze searching to see if she could find them. When she did she saw him, and her heart started to beat faster in her chest. She studied him from her place in the shadows of the stage. He looked terrible, but at the same time he still looked like himself. He looked like he was forcing himself to be content, but he wasn't happy. She wondered if it was because of her.
Maka heard her keyboardist and violinist go to her places. She looked to wings where she knew she would see the only one that she had kept contact with all these years sad there encouraging her, Blair had known what was going on the entire time, and that's also the reason why she was able to keep track of the girl that had run away. Blair nodded as a spotlight lit up the place where Maka stood and she started to sing…
"Here I stand alone
With this weight upon my heart
And it will not go away
In my head I keep on looking back
Right back to the start
Wondering what it was that made you change.
Soul gave a start when he heard the voice that he hadn't heard in years. He looked up to the stage, and stared at the woman the bore an uncanny resemblance to Maka.
Well I tried What if I had never let you go
But I had to draw the line
And still this question keeps on spinning in my mind
Would you be the man I used to know
If I'd stayed
If you'd tried
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know
The singer looked at him her olive green eyes luminescent as her eyes caught his. His breathing became staggered as he returned her gaze.
Many roads to take
Some to joy
Some to heart-ache
Anyone can lose their way
And if I said that we could turn it back
Right back to the start
Would you take the chance and make the change
Soul had the urge to go up onto the stage and grab the girl and kiss her senseless, but he couldn't tell if it was just a coincidence that the woman standing on the stage singing with tears streaming down her face as she continued to look at him.
Do you think how it would have been sometimes What if I had never let you go If only we could turn the hands of time
Do you pray that I'd never left your side
Would you be the man I used to know
If I'd stayed
If you'd tried
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know
If I could take you back would you still be mine
Soul took in the lyrics to the song, and realized that it made him think of Maka and him. He remembered how he didn't have much time for her right before she left, but when she disappeared without even a note of goodbye. His eyes filled with tears, but they did not fall. He just watched the beauty that sang as though she was singing to him.
'Cos I tried What if I had never let you go
But I had to draw the line
And still this question keep on spinning in my mind
Would you be the man I used to know
What if I had never walked away
'Cos I still love you more than I can say
If I'd stayed
If you'd tried
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know
We'll never know
When the song was over the singer ran off the stage, once she was off the stage a tall muscular man came to the row that the group of friends were sitting at. "Can you please come with me?" the man said. The group nodded as the next song started without the lead singer.
Kidd, Liz, Patti, Black*star, Tsubaki, and Soul followed the man backstage until they encountered Blair. Soul looked at Blair in question when the buxom woman told the man thank you and he left. "Blair, what's going on," Soul asked his scarlet eyes full of confusion.
The older woman looked at the boy in front of her that she had teased when he was younger. "Someone wants to meet you all," was all she said as she motioned for them to follow her down the hall. She stopped in front of a door that was labeled Angel. Blair knocked on the door and was answered by a weak yes from the other side. "Kitten, I brought them. Why don't you open the door?"
The door opened a crack to reveal the singer from the stage, her eyes red from crying. "Thank you Blair" the blond woman said as she opened the door to admit the group. As they all sat down Soul looked around the room, and then his eyes zeroed in the woman who had her hair down on stage, but now had it up in perfectly symmetrical pig tails, and a book was in her lap. She stroked the cover of the book as though it brought her comfort. Then she looked up and met the group of meisters and weapons.
"Why did you bring us back stage, and were you the one that sent me the tickets," Tsubaki asked her eyes studying the girl who reminded her of Maka.
The girl looked at Tsubaki with familiar olive green eyes. "Yes, I was the one that sent you the tickets, but Blair was the one that asked one of the stage hands to bring you all backstage. She said it was high time I stopped running from myself," the blond woman said smiling weakly.
The first one to realize who they were talking to was Patti, who everyone still thought to be kind of oblivious, she was serious underneath all the bubbles though. "Maka, why did you leave," the honey blond asked the ash blond. Everyone save for Patti jumped and then started at the girl who sat smiling sadly across from them.
"I couldn't take the pain anymore," Maka whispered not meeting their eyes. She thought that they would be angry at her any minute and leave her like she had left them.
"What pain," Black*star asked concern in his usually loud voice, which was lowered to a normal volume at the moment.
Smiling weakly, "I can't say. I don't want to think about it. It hurts too much, but I'm happy to see you all again." She knew that Soul was staring at her, and she also knew that he was trying to figure out what had hurt her so bad that she couldn't stay with them all in Death City anymore.
It dawned on him as he replayed what had happened on stage. "It was me …wasn't it?" he whispered looking at his hands as guilt ran through him.
Maka laughed weakly at the fact that of course Soul would figure out what had hurt her. "It's not your fault that I fell in love with you, Soul," she told him as she set the book aside and stood. Everyone looked between the two adults.
"It may not be my fault that you fell in love with me, but it is my fault that you left. If I had spent more freaking time with you then I might have been there for you," Soul said as he clenched his fists in his lap, barely holding himself back from getting up and punching a wall.
Maka walked over to the man that still held her heart, "It wouldn't have stopped me Soul. You know how stubborn I am," she told him in a soft voice.
"If I had told you how I felt then this wouldn't have happened, you wouldn't be in pain, and…" He sighed. "Neither would I." Maka looked up sharply and finally met his eyes. Soul stood and finally did what he had been regretting not doing for years. "Maka, I love you. I never stopped no matter how much pain it caused me," he whispered into her hair as he hugged her tightly to him. He didn't worry about his cool or anything; the only thing that was on his mind at that moment was making sure that Maka knew that he cared for her.
Maka looked into his eyes, the very eyes that could read her soul no matter what amount of time separated them. She then buried her head in his chest, and mumbled, "I love you too, Soul. Always have and always will…not matter the amount of pain."
Soul smiled a real smile, the first one that he actually gave in two years. Maka did the same, holding on to the man that she loved with all her might afraid that if she let him out of her grasp he would disappear, and it would all be a dream. "Please tell me that I'm not going to wake up and this will have all been a dream," Maka whispered her eyes suddenly full of fear.
"Do want me to prove that it isn't a dream? That I'm actually here and I do love you," Soul asked as he cradled her face in his hands, and wiped away the tears from her eyes. Maka nodded her eyes never leaving Soul's. He leaned in and kissed her, not leaving a doubt in her mind that this was really happening. Soul had really just told her that he loves her, and from the way that his soul was clinging to hers she knew that he wasn't lying about that either. When they came up for air the two heard clapping and turned to see their friends grinning and some, crying in joy.
Black*star shouted, "Yahoo! Now we don't have to deal with mister I'm going to hide that I'm depressed!" He started to dance with Tsubaki around the room. Then he dipped the poor girl and whispered rather loudly, in typical Black*star fashion that he loved Tsubaki. Tsubaki stuttered as she replied in kind her face a color that would make a tomato proud. Soul and Maka smiled at their friends with their hands intertwined…as they would be for the rest of their lives.
Fin