"Now what will you do little Meister?" The Kishin's voice cackled, Maka looked around the field at the motionless body of her friends. Tsubaki and Black Star were strewn to the side like garbage. Kid was on his back, his eyes empty, emotionless. Patty and Liz lay in the dust, in the midst of reaching for each other. Then there was her weapon, Soul, her other half, her best friend, her partner, Maka's everything who lay there unconscious; his shark teeth showing through his slightly parted lips. Maka's fist tightened against her leg, she saw his chest rise and fall which gave her some hope. "I'll make sure you don't stand a chance against me, Asura laughed as he threw an attack towards Soul.
"No! Soul!" Maka cried in her sleep, thrashing and panicking, her body trying to wake her from a panic induced sleep.
"Maka! Maka, Hey! Idiot, wake up!" Soul shook her till she was almost sitting completely up. Her eyes flew open, her breath ragged and her skin prickled with beads of sweat. She looked at Soul's shark grin and threw her arms around his neck. "Hey there." He whispered, trying to cover her panicking breaths in the quiet night. Soul's hand automatically reached up to soothe down her blonde mess, "You're okay," he comforted placing a kiss on her temple. The nineteen year old breathed in relief when her panic subsided and she let go her death grip on his neck. He pulled back and gave her, what most would consider terrifying, warm smile. "What happened?" he inquired propping a pillow up and leaning into it, taking her down with him. He looked at her eyes spacing off, obviously still thinking about her dream, more likely nightmare, before continuing, "Excited about that new book of yours coming out?" Soul laughed trying to lighten the mood. Had it been any other time Maka would have found it nice that he remembered such a small detail about her daily life. She shook her head, too distraught to laugh at his attempt to make her smile.
"I can't stop seeing you almost die because of me, again." She whispered so lowly Soul almost missed what she said, almost. He sighed and pulled her tighter into him. She looked into his blood red eyes, trying to read him. "First it was Ragnorok and Crona, then you try to stop Stein from hurting me even if he wouldn't have, then you block Asura's attack and almost die again." Her eyes swelled like she was going to burst into tears. Soul ruffled her hair and shushed her again.
"No no no. Don't start that again. It's my job to protect My Meister. Even if you weren't, it's my job to protect my girl so shut it." He laughed at his own harshness hoping it would get some kind of reaction out of her, even a Maka chop would be nice right now, anything to get her mind off her hellish nightmare. He continued, "with me still alive, no one's going to touch me unless I'm good and dead."
Maka sighed and snuggled her face into his side. He felt her sigh into his warm skin while drawing circles on the part of her arm his shirt didn't cover. His mind started to drift back to that day, to be quite honest he hadn't entirely felt the conscious decision to protect her, his body just moved and his mind didn't object to it either. How could he object to his body's will to protect Maka, anyways. Years later and nightmares still plagued her, and it's not just her from what he hears, it's the rest of the group too. Sometimes it's him, he just won't ever really admit it to anyone, let alone the girl he's suppose to keep everything happy and cheerful for. He looked down and noticed she was still staring off into space, her fingers gently running up and down his long scar.
"I'm still here Maka, still alive and kicking, very alive." He added, lacing his fingers through her fidgeting ones. "Don't be an idiot, your job isn't to worry about me, you're job is to be the bad ass book worm meister I know you are. You're the same Meister who turned me into a death scythe, who killed Asura, the same girl who saved Crona from Medusa. You're too strong for a stupid dream to get you down." He looked down and saw tears in her eyes. Oh great, she's emotional now. "What are you doing, don't go crying!" He panics, sweat dropping as she starts to giggle.
"You're right Soul." She laughs wiping tears from her eyes and placing a sloppy kiss on his warm skin. He blushed at this gesture, looking away before smiling as her giggle grew.
"I usually am." He grinned, flashing his pointy teeth at her. "Will you get some sleep please, we have a class to run for Stein tomorrow." Soul pulled his body into the warmth of the bed, turning so Maka could adjust accordingly. She let out a content sigh into the crook of his neck, pulling away to look at his face she tilted her head up and pressed her lips to his, which he returned eagerly.
"Thank you, Soul." She smiles into the darkness. He doesn't respond, simply throws the covers over their body and lets himself drift off to sleep after hearing Maka's breathing level out quietly.