Hello Everyone! Well, we're here! The final part of MUSICALITY. For all of you that have read from the beginning and enjoyed it, thank you so much! For those of you just coming in, I recommend you read parts one and two even more for this last part as it ties in everything from the last two parts. Set in the same Semi-Alternate universe I'd like to point out that I wrote this BEFORE I read chapter 110 of the manga. Anyway, enjoy part three!
Chapter 1: After Happily Ever After
The room was pitch black. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound. Everything was still, save for the rise and fall of a young girl's chest. She could feel the cool air enter her nose and warm up in her body, expelling hot air into the room. Her heart was at a slow, resting pace. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over the bed where the young girl slept. She could hear a deep breathing coming from the otherwise empty air. She could feel as the breathing got heavier and heavier. Soon she could feel it right on her ear. Hot breath.
"You didn't forget about me, did you?" it hissed. The girl shot up out of bed, panting heavily. She looked around. Nothing there. She scrunched up the blanket in her hands. Deeming it just her imagination, she lay back down and pulled the blanket around her. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. But the breathing soon came back. "Maka," it spoke again. She didn't wait for it to touch her ear before she shot up again. Wet with sweat, she could feel her own breath begin to pick up. Just when she thought there was nothing there, pressure came down on her eyes, pushing her down onto the bed. The pressure released, revealing only a smile that glistened in the moonlight. Maka couldn't find words as rough hands grasped her shoulders holding them in place. "I thought certainly, after all we've been through you would remember? Perhaps I'll have to remind you." The shadow leaned forward, revealing a man's twisted grin and wild eyes. Maka's entire body grew stiff.
"A-A-A-"
"So you do remember," he said sinisterly, but with a sweet flair which made Maka sick to her stomach. The man lowered his face down and pressed his chapped lips against her neck. "You're mine."
"NO!"
Soul shot out of bed. That scream. His eyes widened. Maka! He stumbled out of bed, not bothering to put on pants over his boxers. He frantically ran out of the room, knocking over a hat rack and stubbing his toe. He burst into her room, hot from the run. There she was, hands clasped over her face, screaming.
"Maka!" he said, running to her side. She didn't stop. "Maka! It's okay! Maka! Shh." He tried to reach out and touch her, but she backed away, burying her face in her knees. She stopped screaming and panted.
"He's here...he's back..."
"You just had a bad dream, it's okay." Maka shook her head violently.
"Ansom..."
"He's gone! Maka! He can't touch you! He can't get near you!" He gently reached out to her, offering her his hand. She looked up and saw it. Hesitantly she slipped her hand into his and squeezed it tightly. She calmed herself down, feeling the warmth of his hand. Soul, realizing that she was ready for physical contact, took his hand and wiped the sweat from her brow, pulling aside her bangs. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she whispered, but Soul could tell she wasn't. He frowned.
"You know, I am your husband now. It's my job to worry about you," he mumbled. Maka squeezed his hand, but didn't look at him. "Was it bad?" he asked. She didn't reply. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I can't, Soul. I just...I can't. It's too soon," she said, her voice cracking. Soul released his grip.
"Okay, that's cool. No rush." He grit his teeth. He didn't tell Maka about Rin, or anything else that happened to him, no matter how she prodded. She was pretty open with her experience, except when it came to talking about Ansom. Soul could feel his entire body shake with anger. And now he couldn't touch her without her shuddering or backing away. But he was her husband now, like he said. He would wait until she was ready to talk about it. That didn't mean, however, that he was going to stop being concerned about her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to mean to wake you up for this," she said. He held her head and placed it on his shoulder. He was better with actions than words. He didn't know how he could rescue her from this fear, this overwhelming thickness in the air. All he could do was stay by her side and assure her that there was nothing to be afraid of, even though he wasn't sure if that was true himself. It was quiet for a while as he waited for her to settle and relax into him. After he felt she was calm, he grabbed her hand again.
"You want to sleep with me, tonight?" he said at half-voice. Maka lifted her head off of his shoulder in a sort of shock.
"You mean, like, in your bed?" she stammered.
Soul shrugged. "We're married. It's allowed." He cocked his head to the side, his eyes wide and bright.
"There isn't a lot of room, is there?"
"Don't worry about it," he said with a grin. "Besides, isn't it like a thing?"
"A thing?"
"Yeah, a thing. You know. It's the night after our wedding and stuff. Unless everything I know about this is bullshit, which I don't think it is, we're supposed to sleep in the same bed."
Maka bit her lip. "Supposed to. I didn't know there was a rule."
Soul touched her cheek. "I just want you to feel safe."
She looked up at him, her worry beginning to slip away as it plagued his face. His room was nothing but empty walls and a bare sheets covering a bed that hadn't been slept in for weeks. It wasn't exactly the most romantic place in the world to spend their first night together. But as it stood, she was afraid of what would happen if he left again. They only had two nights together before he went off to training. Then he would be gone for two weeks. She didn't want to miss any of that time. She leaned in and rested her head on his chest.
"You really don't mind?"
Soul laughed and rubbed her head. "I wouldn't have offered if I did, Dumb-Ass."
Maka blushed, her head shooting upward to his face. "Don't call me a Dumb-ass! You're supposed to be a loving, supportive spouse! You can't just call me names without precedence anymore!"
"Who says I don't have precedence?" he said. "You're being a dumb-ass, so I called you a Dumb Ass. I think that makes sense."
"You're such a child sometimes, Soul!" she pouted, but couldn't help but grin. He always knew how to make her smile.
"Child? I'll have you know, that I can be very adult! Who out of the two of us has an actual job? Oh that's right, it's me," he teased. "And who still wears pigtails and hasn't grown into her body?" Maka flattened her eyebrows.
"MAKA CHOP!" she shouted, slamming a book into his head. He held it, writhing in pain.
"...yeah...violence...that's a grown up way of solving your issues." He rubbed his head and watched as the look on his wife's face grew cold. A strip of red crept across her face. Even in the dark, he could tell he said something wrong.
"You know, I might never grow into my body. This might just be the way I am." Her tone was defensive.
"Then I will just have to deal with that," he whispered. Maka stared at him, unimpressed. He sighed. "All I meant is that you're trying too hard. We don't have to grow up so fast. I know we took a big step, and I'm glad we did. But that doesn't change the fact that we're still young and we have our whole lives to get older." He held out his hand to her once more and she hesitantly took it. He lead her down the hall to his room. Scooping her up in his arms, he carried her to the bed, claiming that it was kind of a cool tradition he had read about. He lay her down and crawled over her to the other side.
They sat there in silence, just taking in each other's wavelengths. Soul let out a sigh, a deep exasperated sigh. It was their first night together since she had been taken away. He tried to act as though it was just another day, so things could just go back to the way they used to be. However, he knew that would never be the case. Things between him and Maka would never be the same as they once were. He couldn't just hide from her like he had done in the past. She couldn't keep her worries and fears to herself. They were a team more now than they ever were, one in body, heart and soul. She would have to tell him one of these days. She would have to tell him the truth. He wasn't sure if he would be able to handle it. He knew whatever she went through must have been a thousand times worse than his experience. He closed his eyes. And he would have to be honest with her as well, about Rin and his time in prison. But not now, he thought with a sigh. Probably not for a long time.
"Soul?" her voice brought him back. "Is something wrong?"
He lifted his arms and placed his hands behind his head. "Just thinking."
"Oh. What about?"
He stopped, but smiled. "About your old man," he lied through his teeth. He hated doing it, but he didn't want her to worry. "How crazy he is to give you away to someone like me."
"I think you're the one who's crazy."
"Why do you say that? I've got a rich family, crazy cool best friends, a potential position with Lord Death and an unlimited amount of power and madness at my fingertips. I'm awesome. Not to mention how incredibly cool I am without all of those things!"
Maka sneered. "You're humble too," she chuckled. "If you're so great there's should be no problems! It's me who should be worried about not meeting your expectations." Soul's face flattened.
"Oh, no. Not this again," he muttered under his breath.
"A third of the girls at school seem to think you could do a hell of a lot better," she retorted. "I mean sure, we're in the moment now because we have all kinds of pent up emotions but what happens when you wake up one morning and realize you've saddled yourself up to a horse that can't even trot? What if I can't make you happy, Soul? What if I'm just too plain and boring or-"
"Stop it," he said sitting up. "You know better than that."
"The soul isn't always the only thing that matters with this kind of thing! You have to see that!" Her eyes grew hazy.
Soul pinched his nose. "You're fine. Just let it go."
"No, I won't just let it go! I don't want you to go your whole life wishing you had made a different choice!"
"Nope. We're not doing this. I'm not playing this game with you!" he muttered.
"But even you said I'm not-"
He rolled his eyes and turned to her, cupping his hands behind her head and forcing her to look at him. "You are pretty. Your hair is pretty, your body is pretty, your skin is pretty, your eyes..." He studied them. "I can't think of another face I would rather wake up and see every morning! You're just so fucking perfect I have no idea what to do with you!" he began to breathe heavily. Her face grew hot. It was the first time he had ever said anything like that to her. "There? Now will you shut up about it?"
"I...you've never...said that before," she stammered. Soul felt the red tiptoe back into his cheeks.
"Didn't I?" he scratched the back of his neck. "Well that's no good. Guess I'm a pretty crappy husband then, huh?" He cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should probably be getting to sleep soon," he yawned. "I'm still exhausted from all that cake."
"You're exhausted from the cake?"
"You'd be surprised what that much sugar can do to a guy's metabolism." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Night." He tried to see her smile, but the look on her face was more of mortal terror. He knew that look. "You're not going to sleep."
"No," she admitted sternly. "I'm not closing my eyes to see him again."
Soul nodded and scooted over toward her. "Lay down."
"What? No!"
"Maka, please lay down?" She rolled her eyes and lay on her back. "On your side away from me," he corrected. She sighed and showed her back to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and wrapped his leg around hers protectively. Maka could feel his chest rising and falling. His heart was directly behind hers. It was slow and relaxed, alluring in its continuous rhythm. "You feel safe?" He nuzzled his nose into her neck.
"K-kind of."
"Great. So now just close your eyes and whatever you see from then on is an illusion. Whatever it is, the reality is that you're here with me." He rested his head on the pillow, allowing his forehead to fall onto her back. Maka relaxed. She had never once been frightened when Soul was around. Her biggest fear of all was losing him. Having his arms around her, she felt like there was nothing in the world, not even Ansom, who could make that fear a reality. Before she knew it, she was off to sleep, the sound of his breathing dissolving more and more into the sounds of the night as white noise.
Maka awoke to the rising sun. Soul always kept his window open, even when there was nothing in his room. It looked so lonely, she noticed. Her shoulder felt cold. She turned around to see Soul sprawled out across the bed, arms spread out like wings. Maka giggled and rolled over herself, resting her head on his chest. She listened to his heart beating. The stillness was beautiful. Then a shadow blocked the sun as Maka opened her eyes to see Blair on top of Soul wearing nothing but a bikini.
"Blair? Do you do this every morning?" she asked, accustomed to the ridiculous feline. Blair pouted and lifted her head up off of the boy's chest.
"Oh, hey there Maka. Say, is there a reason you're sleeping in Soul's bed?" she asked, legitimately curious. Maka chuckled as Soul's eyes fluttered open.
"Blair!" He jolted back, hitting his head on the headboard. His nose started to bleed as he saw her golden eyes staring down at him. "W-what do you think you're doing?"
"Blair heard Maka was back so she came to say hello! But the room was empty so she came in here and there you were! Blair is so happy you're safe!" she announced. She pressed her breasts into Soul's face and hugged him tightly. "Now you can come back and play with Blair!"
"Haha! She sure missed you..." Maka said grinning. Soul reached out and tried to pry Blair off of his face, screaming for Maka's assistance.
"So what are you doing in here, Soul?" Blair asked, pulling herself off of him. Soul gasped for breath.
"I live here, Idiot."
Blair looked at him, confused. "Noooo. You live with Mr. Death Scythe and the creepy guy with the screw sticking out of his head."
Soul shrugged. "I moved out." He sighed. "Well, I'm going to move out."
"Oh!" she said as Maka chuckled.
"That reminds me, don't you have work or something?" Soul tried to change the subject.
"Nope! Blair is off for the weekend!" she proclaimed.
"Oh, joy," Soul replied sarcastically.
Blair frowned, realizing just then the fact that Maka and Soul were sleeping in the same bed. "No fair! Blair asked to sleep in your bed before and you said no! Why does Maka get to?"
Soul pinched his nose. "Well...you see Blair..."
"I had a nightmare," Maka interrupted. "I was scared, so he offered his bed for me to sleep in."
"Oh, I see. That figures." Her eyes grew wide. "Does that mean when Blair gets a nightmare she can sleep in your room!"
Soul felt the blood drain from his face. What had he done? "What? No! Blair! Um...hey look! Maka's back home! Isn't that exciting?"
"Why can't Blair sleep in your bed, Soul?" she persisted.
"Because...um...well...Blair," Maka tried to think of an excuse. Soul sat up, closing his eyes and exhaling. He took Maka by the hand and squeezed it.
"Because Maka and I are married now so she can sleep in my bed whenever she has a nightmare. In fact, she can sleep here whenever she wants," he stated simply. Blair stared at him for a long time, unable to process what he just said.
"Okay!" she said holding up her paws. Soul wondered if she had heard him correctly. She simply snuggled in between them.
"Right, so if you wouldn't mind giving us a little privacy?" Maka asked politely.
"What do you mean?" Blair stared at her questioningly.
"Get outta here!" Soul screamed. Blair pouted her lip and got off the bed.
"Geez, no need to get all pushy." Blair wiggled her hips as she walked out, only turning around for a moment.
"Oh! Welcome back, Maka! Blair wants to fix you breakfast when you're all done!" With that, she was gone, humming to herself. Soul let out an exasperated sigh as Maka laughed.
"That's was an eventful morning," she said.
Soul put his arm around her and lay back down. "Sometimes I wish my life would stop being so eventful," he admitted. Maka snuggled in close to him and close her eyes. The two were about to fall back asleep when there was a knock at the door. Maka could feel Soul's body sink farther into the bed.
"Do you want me to get it?" she asked.
"No," he groaned. "I'll get it."
She sat up and let him scoot to the edge of the bed. Stretching up, he sleepily walked out of the room and up to the front door. He unlatched the lock and opened it, finding himself staring into the mischievously grinning faces of Black Star and Kid. He glared blankly at them, unbelievingly.
"Morning!" they greeted, together.
Soul rubbed his eyes. "Morning."
"You ready to go?" Black Star shouted.
"Go where?"
"Hahahahaha! Go where? Ha! Can you believe it? He already forgot!" Black Star laughed.
Kid shook his head. "I do believe you never told him."
"Told me what?"
Kid cleared his throat. "We thought since you didn't get the opportunity to have a bachelor party before your wedding, we would throw you one today."
"Yeah! So get your lazy butt out of your pajamas and let's go! Go! Go!" Black Star screamed far too loudly for Kid's content.
Soul's eyebrows flattened. "It's eight in the morning."
"Yes, no later no earlier. Eight is the perfect number. In order for your day to be the best it can be, it had to start at eight," Kid replied.
Soul rolled his eyes. "Of course."
"Morning Kid, Black Star," Maka said coming out in her bathrobe. "What are you doing here?"
Black Star studied her for a few seconds. "That's what you wore?"
Kid punched him in the side. "Black Star! Be nice!"
"I mean, hey Maka." He went up to her and winked. "How'd ya sleep?" he hinted, nudging her with his elbow.
"Um...fine?" she replied.
"Just fine? That's too bad. But I guess the first time is always a little-" WACK! That time it wasn't Kid that hit him, it was Tsubaki.
"Good morning!" she said kindly. "Maka, get your things! Liz, Patti and I are throwing you a bachelorette party!"
"Y-you are? Really?" she said turning red.
"No fair, Tsubaki!" Black Star yelled. "We were going to take Soul out for his bachelor party today! You can't throw yours at the same time! That's so uncool!"
"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how it works," Maka corrected.
"So hurry up and get dressed! We've got a lot to get done today!" Tsubaki said, dragging Maka to her bedroom.
"Oh! Okay!"
Soul went back to his room and slipped on a pair of long pants and a simple shirt. He put on his black leather jacket and looked in the mirror. For the first time in a long time, he actually looked like himself. He walked out the door just enough to see Maka coming out at the same time. She was wearing a blue plaid skirt with a teal sweater over it and plain black boots. Blue bows tied up her hair in low pigtails. She caught him looking and giggled.
"You look comfy," she said blushing.
"S-S-So do you," he said, stumbling over his words. He mentally slapped himself. That didn't make any sense. Tsubaki came out of the room and smiled.
"There you are!" Black Star shouted, almost knocking Soul over. He grabbed him by the arm. "Come on! Adventure and Promise await! Yahoo!"
"I can't go to a bachelor party if I'm no longer a bachelor," he muttered. "Hey, Tsubaki, any chance I can just go with you?"
"Why? Afraid someone's going to snatch up your woman?" Kid joked.
"No!" Soul yelled. "It's just...it's our last day before I go back and..."
Maka walked up to him and held his hand. "Soul, don't worry. Go out and have fun with the guys."
"But-"
She kissed him on the cheek. "I promise to come back this time," she whispered. Soul swallowed hard as she waved goodbye and left with Tsubaki. She was right. He was way too uptight. Maybe a day out with the guys was just what he needed. All this time he was thinking about spending as much time with Maka as possible before he had to leave he completely forgot about his other friends. That wasn't cool either.
"Let's go!" Black Star shouted, pulling Soul out the door. "We've got plans for you, Mister!"
"Wait!" Blair called from the kitchen, holding out a burned fish. "What about Blair's breakfast?"
"Sorry Blair!" Soul called. "Maybe some other time!"
They walked out the door, Black Star walking ten paces ahead of the other two, babbling about one thing or another. Soul tried to relax. Maka would be fine. He trusted Tsubaki. Was he really that paranoid? Part of him felt like it was too soon for either of them to go out anywhere. He kept thinking that only two days before he was living day to day not knowing whether or not he would hold her again, and here she was, his wife. It all happened so fast.
"Soul?" Kid asked, bringing him back to the world. "You're spacing out. Is something the matter?"
"Well," Soul began. He could tell Kid anything. He would understand. "Last night, Maka-"
"Hey! Keep up, Slow-Pokes!" Black Star announced back to them. "You don't want to be out shined at your own bachelor party, do you Soul?"
"It's not much of a party. Just the three of us walking around in no particular direction," Soul remarked. Kid chuckled. "Where are we going anyway?"
"I have no idea," Kid admitted. "It's not like we had a lot of time to prepare." Soul put his hands behind his head as he walked. A day out with the guys, huh? Sounds like fun.
NEXT WEEK: Welcome Home
