Long Road to Ruin
Prologue
Summary: After a brutal fight that leaves Soul badly injured, meister and weapon must find a way to rebuild together. Soul/Maka
Rated: M
A/N: This takes places sometime after the anime series. I read some of the manga several years ago, but don't really remember any of it so, while reading this story, please only take the Soul Eater anime into account. I have the first few chapters written so far and am currently writing chapter 3. They aren't edited yet, but it shouldn't be long before they are. I hope to have one posted at least once a week. Don't have internet at my house so it depends on when I can get to the library. I'm not sure yet just how long the story is going to be, but I have a tentative outline set written out so we shall see.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
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The battle had been a grueling one against, fought one of history's nefarious baddies, Elizabeth Bathory. For centuries, she'd been snatching young girls to bath in their blood under the notion that it would keep her young and beautiful forever. And, ultimately, it had.
Whenever someone was close to catching her, she always managed to escape. But signs began cropping up in a small village in Argentina and, because everyone else was already deployed on missions elsewhere, it was left to Soul and Maka to try to stop her if they could before she could kill another girl. It was a risk, especially since Maka fit Elizabeth's penchant for young beautiful virgins. If they couldn't take her down, it was likely Maka would become the next victim.
Maka was adamant, however, and refused to stand by while anyone else was hurt. Soul tried to talk her out of it, telling her it would be better for an all-male pair to take down the Countess. As always, though, Maka got her way, telling Soul how important it was that they stop her as soon as possible. Like always, Soul gave in but he was damned if he was going to let anything happen to Maka while he was still breathing.
At first, it seemed like the fight was going in their favor, that maybe Elizabeth was good at running and hiding, but not so good at fighting. Somehow in the process, they let their guards drop. And that's when Elizabeth struck.
With blinding speed, she descended upon the pair, separating weapon from meister. Soul ended up nearly sixty feet away, crashing into an old stone building. The shock of the impact jarred him back into his human form. He was dazed when his eyes fluttered open, the rain falling around him, shimmering black and blue every time he blinked. He was vaguely aware of two other people in the distance, their bodies clashing in combat. His shocked instincts told him one of the bodies was Maka, her long black coat slicing through the rain as she ducked and dodged Elizabeth's blows.
Soul tried to move, to get up, but a shock of pain sliced through his body. Blearily, he saw his left leg leaking blood into the puddle he laid in. Reaching down, he gently felt a bump of dislocated bone and winced, tears springing into his eyes. From the difficulty he was having breathing, Soul was pretty sure he'd broken some ribs as well. Gritting his teeth, he began to sit up before a wave of dizziness lapsed through his head and he nearly passed out.
That was then Maka's scream ripped through the air. It was like his instincts has been stricken, assaulting him into overdrive, and he was somehow on his feet. Later, when Soul tried to recall how he made it all the way over to where Elizabeth held Maka up by the throat, one of Elizabeth's overlong fingernails skimming down Maka's cheeks and leaving behind a thin trail of blood, he honestly couldn't remember.
He wasn't aware of much until Elizabeth was sliding off his arm-turned-scythe blade and crumpling to the ground. Maka's body slammed to the ground when Elizabeth's fingers released, and a blinding shock coursed through Soul's body. He crumpled to the ground a moment later, broken leg giving out beneath him.
Consciousness faded and when he awoke, his head was cradled in Maka's lap, her tears sliding down her cheeks and onto his. "Hey," he said breathlessly, when his eyes blearily opened. His fingertips rose and touched the cut on her cheek and her eyes snapped open to meet his.
"Soul!" she shrieked, her grasp on him tightening. He winced at the pressure on his ribs, but didn't care because it felt so good to be held in her arms and he'd been wanting it for so long that it made it worth it.
"Please don't cry, Maka," he said, his voice low.
And she stopped, her green eyes wide as she stared down at him. She looked like she just lost everything and it killed him to see her that way.
"A few days rest and I'll be back to normal," he said, but they both knew he was lying.
Soul smirked then, but it cost him and he began coughing, blood splattering down the front of his shirt and over her hands that tightly gripped his jacket.
Maka's eyes widened. They almost looked dead, and it made Soul's chest constrict in pain. He couldn't stand that look in her eyes. He wanted it gone, gone as soon as possible. Soul wasn't sure what made him do it other than that it was something he'd been thinking, been wanting, forever. He knew the timing was awful, him bleeding all over the place with bones sticking out of his skin, but suddenly he wanted it more than anything in his entire life.
Soul's light touch on her cut became his hand cupping the side of her face, pulling her closer to him until their lips touched. Her eyes briefly widened even more before they snapped shut and suddenly she was kissing him back hard, one hand winding its way through his wet hair.
When she pulled back, Soul saw that she looked staggered, but there was a small smile on her face, her eyes softer than they had been only moments before.
Soul's fingers played with the dripping end of one of her pigtails, twirling it around his finger. He felt warm, languid, and he knew he was smiling dopily. "Maybe it isn't all that cool of me to say this right now," he said, voice scarcely above a whisper, so quiet she had to lean forward to hear him over the rain, "but I really love you, Maka."
Maka looked shocked for a split-second before Soul heard voices off somewhere. Her eyes stayed on him and he was still smiling. Then he was fading, the echoes of Maka's screams lingering in his ears as he blacked out.