Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.
This is complete.
"I guess that we'll just try again tomorrow."
Maka walked out of the classroom, looking rather disheartened. She had worked so hard, he knew, but only to come up short.
And it was all his fault.
There was a reason why Maka and Soul couldn't resonate well. It wasn't because Soul wasn't working hard, or that Maka was working too hard. Soul knew that they could resonate souls just fine if they really wanted to.
If he really wanted to.
He felt bad for not allowing Maka to match wavelengths with him, that he was purposefully sabotaging them. Every day she came back with a vengeance, just so sure that today would be the day that she would finally resonate with him. And every day, she walked away with her head hung low, ashamed to even look at her friends. She worked so hard, and she never suspecting for one minute the real reason that they were never successful.
It was because of him.
If he wasn't so insecure, frightened of what Maka might think if she ever really did resonate with him. He wasn't as cool as he made himself out to be. He knew that his soul was a tattered mess, and he didn't want Maka to see that, to think lowly of him after she got to see what it was like to be inside his head.
There was another reason, though.
A reason that he was sure that he would never admit.
He was frightened that Maka would see…
He had known Maka for years now, worked with her for so long, and he didn't want to ruin that.
He didn't want her to find out…
He had always thought of himself as a sort of nut, really hard and unyielding, not letting anybody see what was on the inside. But, with the right amount of pressure, he knew that someday he would crack.
And right now, Maka was that pressure.
But if she saw what was on the inside…
Nobody knew who Soul Eater really, truly was. Not even Maka. There were scarce moments when he would let her in, but those moments were extremely rare and short-lived. He made sure of that.
He didn't want her to see…
He hadn't really admitted it to himself yet. The fact that he had feelings… The fact that Maka made him feel like he never had before. He felt free around her, real… Like he really mattered to this world.
He would have to admit it to himself before he could admit it to his meister.
He was in love with Maka Albarn.
"Hey… Maka?"
His meister was curled up on the couch with a book on her lap. He saw her make quick movements with her hands, and he realized with a twang that she had been crying.
"Yeah, Soul?"
Soul gulped. This was it.
He was going to let her in…
"You wanna give it one more go?" Soul asked, wringing his hands behind his back.
"Soul… We-we can't do it. We've tried thirty two times just today. One more go isn't going to change the fact that our souls are just too different to resonate." Maka sighed and looked back at her book, but Soul noticed that her eyes weren't moving across the page.
"Maka, let's just try one last time," Soul tried again. "Maybe it will be different this time."
Maka looked skeptical, but nodded. "Okay."
She stood up, facing him.
This was it.
He was going to let her in…
"Soul resonance." they muttered together.
Soul was feeling sick to his stomach, but he pushed the feeling down. He bit his lip, focusing on the two souls in the room; his and Maka's.
His face twisted up in concentration as he began to feel his soul shift and sped up a little, trying to meet in the middle with Maka's more tense, uptight soul. He could feel that they were almost there… This was the point that Soul normally broke the connection, but he fought his instincts to withdraw and kept going.
They were almost there…
Soul suddenly felt his stomach lurch, and when he opened his eyes, he realized that they were in his soul room. He gulped, looking around. There were pictures in intricate frames mounted on the walls, and as he stepped forward he heard something crack. He looked down and realized that the floor was littered with broken glass. There were also dead roses on the floor, their thorns larger that a typical rose's. He looked out the window: it was as if the room was floating in a storm cloud, black clouds swirling and lightning flashing. There was a large grand piano in the middle of the room, but the lid was closed over the keys. Soul took this to be symbolic of him being shut out to the world.
"Soul?"
Soul looked to his right to see Maka, who was looking around his soul room, taking in the broken glass, the piano, the roses. Her eyes scanned over the pictures, which showed his life's happenings. Soul swallowed again as he realized that the last picture in the series was one of him and Maka, smiling with their arms around each other. The frame was made of black roses, and he noticed that their petals were falling off.
Maka walked over to the picture, reaching out to touch it. When her hand made contact with the canvas, loud, bell-like laughs emitted from the picture. Their laughs. Maka couldn't help but smile. She turned to look at Soul to see his reaction, but he was looking up at the ceiling.
So, thought Soul. This must be where my wishes are.
It was a moving picture that covered the entire ceiling. It was him and Maka again, but they looked older than they did in the last picture, perhaps when they were eighteen. Soul's arm was around Maka's shoulder, but not like in the last picture. It was a gesture of loving and affection, and he was smiling broadly down at the real Soul, as was the picture-Maka. Soul's face heated up as the picture versions of himself and his meister turned and kissed each other lovingly.
"Soul…?"
Soul breathed in a huge sigh. "I'm sorry, Maka."
He felt the lurch in his stomach again, and they were back in their apartment.
Maka looked very confused. "What was that?"
"My soul room," Soul replied. "We did it. We resonated."
He flopped down on the couch, waiting for Maka to say something. Something about the broken glass, the flowers, the piano, pictures, what the picture versions of themselves had done on the ceiling, anything. When she did speak, though, it was not what Soul was expecting to hear.
"I love you, Soul."
Soul's head jerked up as Maka sat down on the couch, looking deeply into his eyes.
"Do you love me?" she asked.
Soul nodded. "Always have."
Maka smiled, bringing Soul to her by his neck. She kissed him tenderly, and when they broke apart, Maka said, "For better or for worse."
"As long as we both shall live."
I don't know why, I've just been really obsessed with wedding vows, so… hehehe : ) Review please!