Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp.
Acid stains you;
Drugs cause cramps.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give.
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

-Dorothy Parker

The cold November wind whistled through the trees, flowing through Maka's hair and carrying it to the side, hiding the bottom part of her face, her full, plumb lips hidden behind the ash blonde locks. Her hair dropped as the wind subdued, revealing where a single tear crawled down her face from her almond shaped emerald eyes. She blinked quickly as she wiped away any evidence of the tears, closing her eyes so her heavy lashes rest on her cheeks.

Maka opened them again to glare down off the edge of the cliff, her eyes narrowed into slits. They were no longer sad. No, they were angry. The hate that burned in her emerald orbs was unimaginable and she almost stepped back because she was so infuriated she didn't want to give the bullies what they wanted.

Almost.

She sighed heavily before closing her eyes again, hanging her head back and letting go of her pent up anger. She listened to the waves crashing into the bottom of the cliff violently, and a small smile played at her lips. The thought that she would be engulfed in those waves in a few moments was oddly reassuring. The thought made her… happy.

Maka finally opened her eyes again and looked down at the navy blue water, the waves so dark they were almost black. Suitable for the situation as they would be used to take her life. Guilt gnawed in her stomach as she thought of her family, her Mama and Papa. Yeah, they weren't together anymore, Maka thought bitterly, but maybe they can be brought together by this, maybe they'd mourn her together. The thought of this gave her back her confidence, she sighed with contentment before hanging a foot over the edge, letting her weight fall forward with the full intention getting swallowed up by the deadly waves. She fell alright, she fell hard.

Just not the right way.

She winced and rubbed the back of her head, the soft grass under her palms made her almost groan. She felt a questionable amount of weight spread across her torso and opened her eyes in confusion, only for them to snap open in shock.

A boy was sprawled on top of her. He was about 18 or 19, two or three years older than herself, standing at the age of 16. His weight was kept off her by his hands, which were planted on either side of her head. His features were unusual, he had dark, crimson eyes which were wide with astonishment. They were eyes that never wavered, not for a second, she was almost convinced he could see right into her soul. He had a mass of spikey, gravity-defying snow-white hair that looked messy but fashionably so. He was very handsome, with an aristocratic face that she assumed drawn all the ladies in, but right now, most would run.

Because he was angry.

Not only angry, he was shocked. Astonished. He looked at her with absolute disbelief and made no move to get off. He mumbled, his voice was rich and deep, and from the small sentence she picked up a slight British undertone, but his words shocked her more than his accent.

"You were really going to jump, weren't you?"

The sentence made Maka's eyes almost well up with tears. She turned her head away, drawing her hands up to push at his chest. He took the hint and rolled off her, though he took her with him. He stood and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her to her feet, before drawing her away from the edge and back to the road.

Maka thought he'd leave it there. Wish her well and wave her off but was she wrong.

He whipped around to face her, his eyes no longer shocked but angry. Maka stepped back, startled but not scared.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" he snarled at her, grabbing her upper arms to shake her.

"What is it to you?" she exclaimed, trying to pull herself from his grasp but to no avail, he growled at her and tightened his grip. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to keep her in place, and gain her attention.

"Are you stupid? You were going to kill yourself!" He almost yelled the last sentence. Maka winced at the bluntness of it, she never thought of the words 'suicide' or 'killing herself', hearing it was a slight wake up call.

Not that she was going to let him know that. She widened her eyes in mock surprise, shaking her head in disbelief. "No!" she said sarcastically, dropping the sarcasm when another growl rumbled in his chest.

"Look, it's none of your business." She began, finally getting out from his grip. "You did it, you saved the day. You can leave me alone now," she turned to start to walk away, but a hand on her wrist stopped her. Maka turned to glare back but she looked feeble compared to the furious crimson eyes that glared back at her.

"You don't understand what you're doing," he said in a very low, calm voice. Calm yes, but his tone betrayed his absolute rage. His eyes burned into her own and she found she couldn't look away. When he saw she wasn't going to walk away he dropped her wrist and ran a hand through his stark white locks in irritation. "Some people don't get the luxury of choice," he ranted as he eyed her, looking almost desperate. "The fact that you wake up in the morning means you get to live to see another day. Stop being so damn ungrateful!" he roared at her, standing forward again to grip her shoulders and shake her once more.

Maka just stared at him in disbelief, her lips parting slightly as she looked up at him in awe, he sighed and let her go, hanging his head as he took a step back.

"Don't try that again," he murmured, "You don't understand what you're doing."

Maka suppressed the urge to press a hand to her mouth, or gasp. But she fought everything that would betray her shock. Why did he care? She thought in astonishment. It's not his problem so why is he taking the time to scold her? Yeah, teacher and councillors pretend to care but that's their job. They get paid to scold her. But this boy doesn't.

"..Okay." She said finally, and the boy snapped his head up in surprise, looking for any hints of dishonesty. He narrowed his gaze.

"I don't believe you." He said bluntly. Maka sighed.

"You don't really have t-" she was cut off by his glare. "Really, I understand now. I was stupid and I shouldn't have done that. I get it, you were right. I just… I just thought I'd give everyone what they want." She whispered the last part brokenly, her voice breaking at the end.

"You're saying that people want you dead?" the boy said in a soft tone, the kindest voice she'd heard him speak in yet. Maka shook her head rapidly, turning her face away.

"No, I'm saying no one would give a shit if I was dead." Her own eyes widened at her own statement, along with the boy who fell back a step, his eyes narrowing as he looked heart broken. Maka's breathe caught in her throat at his expression. She shook her head quickly, making herself dizzy. "Doesn't matter. I won't try that again, you can count on that. I'm tough."

He scoffed and shook the previous expression from his face. He buried his hands in his pockets but still eyed her seriously.

"The fact that you were just stood and the edge of a cliff denies that claim, sweetheart."

Maka scowled at him and began walking again, wrapping her arms around herself. She was stopped again, except the boy didn't stop her this time, he led her in the opposite direction.

"H-hey! Where are we going?" she stuttered, trying to pull her arms away from him.

"My place," he answered casually.

Maka's breathe caught in her throat. She began struggling furiously, making a low chuckle burst from the boys lips.

"Jeez, calm down. I can't just let you walk away after what I just saw, right?" he explained, still looking ahead as they walked. "If you were me, would you just walk away?"

Maka's eyes widened here. She haden't thought of that, he must feel he has some kind of responsibility to see she would recover, that's how she'd feel if she was in his position anyway.

"I have a roommate at my place," he continued. "You'll like Tsubaki, she's very nice. I think she'll be a good influence and we can build up from there."

"What do you mean build up?" Maka asked in a strained voice. He chuckled again.

"Making you friends, stupid. How can you recover if you have no one helping you? We build you a good support system it will have a more positive effect on you. It'll help, trust me."

She shook her head again, her throat closed with disbelief. What is this guy doing?

"What's your name anyway?" he asked, finally releasing her wrist to walk alongside her.

"Maka. Maka Albarn." She told him somewhat reluctantly. He smiled and paused, holding a hand out to her.

"I'm Soul Evans. Nice to meet you, Maka." He said with a grin, exposing shark-like teeth. Maka looked at him for a moment before her lips curled into a smile, his grin contagious, and wrapping her hand around his.

"Good to meet you too, Soul."