Lopsided
Summary: Partnerships have ended over less, but Maka doesn't know how to go back in time and undo the moment Soul made it clear her feelings were unrequited. Manga divergence.
Rating: Mature. Sexual content.
Notes: This begins after Soul was made a death scythe and just before they go into the Book of Eibon to save Kid. Artistic license—everyone is now magically 18 or older (except Fire and Thunder).
Disclaimer: I own nothing Soul Eater related, sadly.
In the rush of preparations to save Kid, Maka hunkered down at the library researching one last question she had about the limitations of her death scythe partner. They would need every skill available if Eibon was involved, and unlike Soul, Maka relished the new privileges they had earned at the library. No more borrowing Papa's card to access the books she wanted. No more lying. She could ask for any book she wanted.
But she might have gone overboard.
She'd created a nest of a dozen books on the table she was using. She was almost impossible to spot, hunched over behind her stacks of thick texts, nose inches from the pages. She was grateful Soul wasn't around to catch her geeking out, though he said he'd meet her after he finished a brief training session with her father of all people. Unfortunately, no one was better qualified to induct a new death scythe than an actual death scythe. Marie could only take Soul so far.
Realizing it was near the time Soul had said he would be finished, Maka organized the books into ones she would take home and ones she would return to the librarian's care. She balanced the return stack of books in her arms and shuffled her feet toward the librarian's desk.
"Do you need help with those?" a male voice asked.
Maka smiled up at him. "Sure," she said, allowing him to take half of her books from her precarious hold. She recognized him as a weapon from the class below hers. He stood out for both his promising talent as a battle-axe and for his height. He was taller than any other student at the DWMA. He was also incredibly handsome. He was the exact type Liz squealed over.
"I'm Finn," he said.
"Maka," she replied.
"I know," he said. "Everyone knows Maka, the meister who made a death scythe."
"Well, Soul did half the work," she said, shrugging. Maybe more than half. Their partnership was a little lopsided.
Finn shook his head. "He did? That's something. Partnerships aren't always split so equally."
Was he reading her mind?
"I'm lucky, I guess," she said.
They reached the librarian's desk and Maka relinquished her beloved books. Now she just needed to make a second trip to check out the books she'd left behind.
"Thanks for the help," she told Finn, turning to walk back to the table she'd been hogging for the past couple of hours. To her surprise, Finn followed.
"Actually…I had a question for you," he said. His voice lowered. They stopped beside Maka's table. She craned her head to look at him, stunned to see his cheeks were pink.
"Go ahead," she said, curious what had him so nervous.
"I've been here at the library all afternoon trying to work up the guts to ask you—" he cleared his throat. "Will you please consider being my partner?"
"Your—your partner?"
"I won't hold you back. I'm at least as good as Soul was before he became a death scythe. A scythe and a battle-axe can't be too different. And—and I know you and I would get along really well."
Maka shoved down the elation bubbling in her belly. It was her first partnership request. He wanted to be her partner. For all the times that Soul had been asked by other meisters, even more now that he'd reached death scythe status, no one had ever asked her. Just recently Soul had claimed it was because she had no sex appeal. She'd wanted to punch him in his stupid, sharp teeth.
Now here was an attractive, popular boy asking to be her new weapon.
She was going to make Soul eat his words.
"I'm honored that you would think of me," Maka said sincerely. "But I'm very happy with the partner I have."
Finn deflated, his shoulders slumping. "I thought you'd say that. My friends, my partner—everyone said it was stupid to ask."
"Really? Why?" No one had a problem asking Soul to drop her.
"I expected you'd shoot me down," he said. His eyes flickered nervously around the room. "Everyone's been too chicken to approach you. We know how hung up you are on your partner."
Maka blanched. "Hung up on—Soul?"
"What, you're not?" Finn looked at her skeptically.
Her cheeks burned. "Um…we're just partners." Although she wanted more, she knew it was pathetic to put her feelings for Soul out there between them. She wasn't his type. It was a bad idea to risk their spectacular soul resonance for something like a crush. She'd also witnessed first-hand what happened to a weapon-meister pairing when it went down in flames.
She didn't want to screw things up with Soul, especially not with Asura around.
"If I were your weapon, I know I wouldn't want to be just your partner," Finn said.
"Ha, uh, thank you?" she said uncertainly.
"At least—think about me if things ever go sour with your death scythe?"
"Sure."
After an awkward, blushing goodbye, Finn left and Maka went back to her books.
A surly presence sauntered around the nearest bookshelf. Maka froze. Had Soul heard? She'd been so caught up in the excitement of finally being appreciated as a meister, she'd failed to remember he was on his on his way to meet her.
"What was that about?" Soul asked.
"Finn was asking me if I would be his partner," she said, forgetting to gloat. Her heart raced unevenly, threatening to beat right out of her chest.
"No," Soul said. Suddenly she saw how stiff he stood. The distance he left between them. "The part...where you want to be more than partners. The part where everyone seems to know this but me."
He had heard.
She swallowed. She'd prepared for this possibility. Partnerships had been destroyed by less than unrequited feelings. She did what Soul would—played it cool.
Maka forced a shy laugh. "It's not a big deal. Of course I have a little crush on you. Most of the girls here do."
He stared, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "Maka…You're my meister. That's it."
"I know that," she scoffed. Outwardly, she needed to be as blasé about this as she could. If Soul suspected anything deeper than a crush—she didn't know what it would do to them. "I'm not stupid."
"I would die for you. I care about you…but I don't want to be more than partners," he said bluntly.
"I know," she repeated. "Why do you think I've said nothing? I can't help my feelings." She straightened her back, summoning all her courage. "Unlike my father, I do have some restraint. I'm not going to throw myself at you. Our soul resonance, our friendship—that's too important to let something as silly as this get in the way."
Soul raised an eyebrow, as skeptical as Finn. "What—what do you want me to do?"
"Nothing," she said emphatically. "I want to go on like this never happened."
Soul released a loud breath. "Good. Me too." He slumped over in relief. "Now can we go home? I'm starving."
It was easy to pretend it hadn't happened. Maka cooked dinner at their apartment while Soul lounged around watching television. She stole a glance at his soul and was pleased to see he was at peace. All she had to do was maintain that her feelings were nothing to alarm him—nothing to wreck a partnership over—and this business with the Book of Eibon would go on as if Finn hadn't ratted her out to her weapon. She wrinkled her nose. If she didn't know any better, she'd think Finn had done it on purpose.
Over dinner, Soul finally asked for the details of her conversation with Finn, and Maka remembered with glee that she had wanted to make him eat his words.
"I'm not sure what all you heard," Maka said carefully, holding back a wicked smile. "He did say he thought he was at least as good as you were before you were a death scythe. He also thought we would get along—not just as partners."
Soul laughed. "You just ate up all his crap, didn't you?"
She flinched, then stabbed her fork into a carrot roughly. "What crap?"
"All that stuff about wanting to be more than partners with you. He was trying to seduce you into picking him. He didn't mean it."
"What—you don't think a guy like Finn would want me?" she asked. She couldn't keep the bite from her tone. The conversation wasn't going the direction she had hoped.
"I think we've had this conversation before," Soul teased, ignoring her ire. "A popular guy like Finn? I hate to say it, but he was probably just after your meister skills and using every weapon he had against you. He's at a dead end with his current partner—and his pretty face won't work on Black Star."
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" She gripped her fork harder, struggling not to throw it at Soul's dumb, smirking face. Why did she like this jerk again?
Staring at the Book of Eibon's manuscript, Soul marveled at his own stupidity. Maka had been hiding the nature of this book from him for months. She'd hidden other things from him, too. He resisted rolling his eyes as he thought about the incident in the library. That Finn. Maybe Soul had taken it for granted that no one was interested in his sexually unappealing meister. Honestly, he'd expected other weapons to approach her. When it hadn't happened, he'd blamed her looks and his own menacing nature for warding off the other weapons.
Wrong. It was just Maka's feelings for him scaring everyone away. Blatant feelings, according to everyone. Yet he hadn't noticed.
Now, about to leap into the unknown dangers of Eibon's book, he couldn't stop himself from looking for the signs he'd failed to see. Maka stood in the circle beside him while Eruka called out her witch nonsense. Maka wasn't sending any feelings his way. She was focused on their mission, like always. She didn't glance in his direction or even reach for his hand. She was the epitome of aloofness.
Weird.
Luckily, he had other things to occupy his mind once Eruka relocated them to the inside of the book. The Index was delighted to lead them through the chapters and to the brink of insanity.
The first chapter? Lust.
Soul grappled for Maka's hand. They needed to stay close while they looked for Kid.
"Should I transform—" he started to ask her when the world unexpectedly flipped. Pages turning, he surmised. He kept a tight grip on Maka's hand as they fell, landing gently on their feet in a strange room.
It reminded him of the room where the little demon lived. Red silken curtains encircled the room. Soul guessed that if he tried to push past them, he'd find nothing but darkness. He clutched Maka's hand tighter. Whatever challenge approached, he wanted her close.
"Why is there a bed?" she asked softly, leaning on his arm.
Sure enough, there was a bed in the center of the room. A bed draped in black silks that clung to it like shadows, and large enough to sleep a half a dozen people. He took a step back, wary of the bed's purpose.
"I don't think that bed is good news," Soul said.
Where the hell were the rest of their friends? Had the Index separated them? He was glad he'd held onto Maka's hand. Her hand that was definitely creeping up his arm.
"What are you doing?" he asked. She blinked back at him, and smiled strangely.
Her hand crossed to his chest. Fingers splayed out, dragging down over his tie toward his belly button. Lightning fast, he grabbed her wrist before it could sneak any lower.
"Maka. Get a hold of yourself."
"I don't know what you mean," she said. Oh, she knew what he meant. Her breasts pressed against him.
He shoved her away without thinking. The bed was somehow right behind her and she landed on her back against the silky black sheets. She fixed a hungry gaze on him, green eyes consumed with the chapter's namesake. His mind went momentarily blank.
"This—this is Lust," he said. "And you are, I hate to say, with the very object of your lust. You can't—you can't think about me like that."
Maka tilted her head. "You don't control my thoughts. I can think about you however I want."
"No—you need to be reasonable for a moment. How do we get out of this room?"
She giggled. "I think there's only one way to get out of here." She reached for his tie, attempting to yank him down on the bed with her.
"We're not doing that!" he hissed, removing his tie completely and throwing it at her in frustration.
"Soul, I'm serious. I think…I think it's the only way we can get out of here," she said, her voice softer this time. "It must be my fault."
He was startled when her eyes began to fill with tears. "Your fault? What—why the fuck would this be your fault?"
"Because…because I want you," she whispered.
Before he could push her away, her lips were against his—and hell if it didn't go straight to his cock. Her mouth was inviting and felt so good. His hands itched to pull her closer. His tongue wanted to tangle with hers. He wanted to keep kissing her. Maka, his meister.
Maka!
He flung her back onto the bed and scuttled away, putting distance between them again.
"Don't touch me! You're not yourself," he huffed. Now he was growing more afraid of what he might do. It was the power of the chapter—the temptation. It could force you to do something you normally wouldn't even in your wildest dreams. Because he didn't want Maka. She was his partner. He'd known her since they were kids. She was his best friend.
Hell, he was still wrapping his head around her having a crush on him.
"I may be a little influenced by the chapter," Maka admitted. "But…this chapter is about lust."
"Resisting lust," he said.
"I don't see another way out of this room, do you?"
He refused to answer, circling the room and throwing every curtain aside. As he suspected, it was nothing but black walls. They were stuck here.
"See? No other way out," she said.
"That doesn't mean sex is the answer," he said petulantly.
"You're probably right," she said, sitting up on the bed. Soul gritted his teeth as he watched her skirt ride up her thighs. Shit, she was doing that on purpose. She must know legs were his weakness. And her legs looked good in the spartoi uniform. They would probably feel even better wrapped around him—
No. He couldn't think like that. It was the chapter's doing.
"Think, Maka. How do we get out of here?"
"I—I don't know. I can't think! I think this room is—is doing something to me."
"Don't worry," he said. He kept his gaze on the floor, avoiding eye contact. "It's doing the same thing to me. Just focus. We're here to save Kid, not die of horniness."
She whimpered. "Are you sure?"
He made the mistake of looking at her. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and she was biting down on her lip hard. And her hand. The hand he'd held hundreds of times as he turned into a scythe—was smashed beneath her underwear, her skirt pushed aside to give him a perfect view.
"St—stop that!" he choked out. But he kept staring, entranced by the way her fingers moved roughly beneath the cotton. The damn underwear was really blocking his view.
"I can't," she moaned. Her fingers moved faster.
"You can't—you can't do that." This was Lust. Who knew what would happen if she gave into it. Her breath came faster with tiny whimpers interjected between them. Her legs trembled. She moaned. She was—fuck, she was going to come.
"Stop!" he yelled. Bracing himself, he leapt on the bed.
He grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the bed. He made quick work of the other one, successfully pissing his meister off. "Damn it! Let me finish!" she said, wriggling beneath him.
"Don't move!" he said. His cock was harder than he could ever remember, and if she felt it—he'd never be able to explain. How could he face her after they escaped this book? If they escaped.
He realized what a perilous position he'd put himself in when Maka's legs linked around his hips and tugged him against her.
It was his turn to whimper. "We—we can't. It's the book."
She thrust her hips upward, grinding into his hard cock. "I think we can," she murmured, lips at his ear. He shivered.
They didn't have time for this. They were supposed to be searching for…something.
Maka's hand groped him through his pants, and he was lost.
As the Index dropped them into the first chapter, Maka felt something bizarre happen. She was holding Soul's hand, ready to kick the ass of whatever challenge lust had for them, when she saw her partner's soul rip away—as well as her friends. Everyone separated in different directions.
But the pressure on her hand never let up.
She landed in a gorgeous room filled to bursting with flowers and soft pillows. There were no doors or windows, just pale green walls. It was reminiscent of the feminine colors she had chosen for her bedroom. She supposed it was meant to lull her into a sense of comfort.
"Where are we?" Soul asked.
She realized he was still holding her hand. Not Soul, the imposter-Soul.
"Ah, I see the game," she said, glaring at the image of her partner. The room, the flowers, and Soul himself, were all just temptations from her mind. "No wonder they wanted me to go on this mission." Between her soul perception and her resistance to madness, she was practically designed to fight evils like this book.
"What are you talking about?" Soul asked, rubbing circles on her palm with a fingertip.
She leapt back from him. "You're not the real Soul," she said. She laughed humorlessly. "The real Soul wouldn't be caught dead in a room like this with me. Too uncool."
And just like that the image of Soul and the room vanished, and the long-nosed Index appeared in front of her—Fire and Thunder at his feet. As children, they must have been unaffected by lust. Thank god.
"Good to see you're safe," she told them. They nodded, grinning up at her.
"That was the fastest I've ever seen a human escape this chapter," the Index said mildly.
Maka paid him no mind, using her soul perception to search for her friends. They were spread out across the chapter, but for some reason Tsubaki and Liz's souls seemed to be in the most distress. Their wavelengths pulsed erratically.
"What's wrong with them?" she asked the Index, pointing in the girls' direction.
"Those who are most susceptible to this sin will be the first to lose their souls," the Index answered.
Maka gazed in Soul's direction. He seemed steady, though his wavelength occasionally faltered. He was probably trapped with a copy of Blair rubbing her breasts against his face. As much as Maka's instinct urged her to save Soul first, he could wait. If Blair had been good for anything, it was teaching him to control his lustful impulses.
Speak of the devil. Blair suddenly appeared with a crackle at Maka's side.
"Maka!" Blair said. "You're free!"
"Yes, but the others—" Maka started to explain.
"Need your help, quickly!" Blair interrupted, jumping from foot to foot and wringing her hands. "The lust spells here are dangerously strong."
Maka's eyes widened. "Can't you help me?"
"It took all my magic to get myself out of there. I can't risk it again," Blair said with a pout. "You have to do it—now!"
Maka steadied her nerves. If the Index was to be believed, Tsubaki was in the most danger. Maka would help her first. Once her goal was decided, the book did the rest. It teleported her to Tsubaki's side as quickly as it had caused Maka to vanish from the flowery room she'd started in.
Maka immediately regretted her role in the mission when she found a naked Tsubaki clambering on top of an equally naked Black Star.
Blushing to the roots of her hair, Maka tapped Tsubaki on the shoulder before quickly averting her eyes. "Tsubaki, that's not the real Black Star."
"What?" Tsubaki squeaked, falling off the futon to the floor. The image of Black Star disappeared wordlessly, leaving only an imprint on the bedding behind. Tsubaki was breathless and even redder than Maka as she rushed to find her discarded clothes. "What's going on? Where's Black Star?"
"I don't have time to explain everything," Maka said. If Tsubaki was this close to losing her soul to the book, Liz must not be far behind. "I'm going to use my soul perception to find the others. The Index should be able to take you to where Blair, Fire and Thunder are waiting."
Maka set her next destination for Liz.
In a luxurious room painted in gold, Maka found Liz in a more creative situation than Tsubaki. Maka dimly wondered if the real Kid would believe sixty-nine was a symmetrical position. The imposter-Kid certainly seemed to enjoy it.
Maka would have to bleach her eyes after this. She held back the urge to puke.
"Your pussy is so fucking symmetrical," imposter-Kid panted.
Maka let out a yelp and hurried to bring Liz back to reality.
As the imposter-Kid vanished, the revelation that the real Kid was still trapped deeper in the book hit Liz hard.
"God damn it!" Liz shrieked. "And I'm just wasting time here in this stupid place—with a fraud!"
"It'll be okay. I promise. I'm going to get the others. We'll work together and get Kid back, all right?" Maka said, hoping she sounded reassuring in spite of her crippling embarrassment.
Liz nodded. "You're right. We've still got several more chapters to go."
"And you'll need to be dressed," Maka reminded her matter-of-factly.
Liz growled. "Never speak of this again," she said.
"I don't know if I could," Maka said, already struggling to decide who needed help next—Kilik or Black Star. Kilik's soul was closer, so she targeted him, mentally preparing herself for another humiliating view of a friend.
Kilik was in a better state than Liz and Tsubaki in that he was at least fully dressed. But Maka would never forget what he'd been doing with his face between an imposter-Patti's thighs.
Kilik shrugged helplessly. "Please don't tell Patti about this."
Maka shuddered. "Maybe Blair can wipe my memories after this is all over."
"We can only hope," Kilik grumbled as Maka departed to save Black Star from his own perverted mind.
"Tsu—Tsubaki!" Black Star cried out.
Maka furrowed her brow, half-thinking she'd fallen back into Tsubaki's fantasy. It closely mirrored what she had already seen. She covered her eyes, hoping that Blair really could wipe her memories.
"Black Star! That's not Tsubaki," she said sternly. The wet noises in the background quieted.
"Damn it!" he yelled as his weapon disappeared from her place on top of him. He quickly recovered. "I—I knew that."
"If you knew, then what were you doing?" Maka asked, keeping her eyes shielded. She heard rustling noises. She hoped he was dressing.
"Just…trying to…figure out how to beat this chapter!"
"By having sex with Tsubaki?"
"Shut—shut up!"
"The others are waiting with the Index. I need to find Patti and Soul," she said. She'd been monitoring their wavelengths, and they were growing more and more chaotic. As with Kilik and Black Star, it was hard to tell who needed her sooner—who was closest to losing to the temptations of the book.
In the end, Patti's soul was nearest.
Maka barely made it in time. "Patti!" she screamed. She pulled a naked Patti off a very willing and eager Kilik. Interesting. But Maka couldn't waste time considering the implications. If Patti was this close to danger, so was Soul.
"Patti, the real Kilik and the others are waiting with the Index."
"Haa-huh?" Patti panted, still dazed. "Where did Kilik go?"
"I don't have time to explain," Maka snapped. "This is part of the chapter, you horn-dog!" An unfair insult. Patti had endured it better and longer than most of their friends.
"Oh. Oh!" she said, her cognitive abilities returning. "We need to save Kid!"
"Exactly. Get dressed. I'll see you once I have Soul back." Maka bit down on her bottom lip as she set her sights on Soul and teleported from Patti's side.
This room was distinctive from the others. Blacks and reds. Lots of silk. It was inviting. Seductive.
Maka tried to resolve herself to whatever she would find there. It wasn't as if Soul wanted her to see him like this. And above all her feelings for him, Soul was her best friend. They had grown stronger together, and overcome so much. They could get through anything.
But that didn't prevent her heart from cracking as she saw him atop another girl, thrusting passionately against her like—like an animal. Each thrust made a warm, wet sound. Was she—was she too late?
She stepped forward weakly, reaching her hand out numbly. She should have gone to Soul first and taken him along in his scythe form or something. Why had she thought he could wait? He'd needed her—
Maka stilled as the moaning from the girl beneath Soul reached her ears. The moans seemed…familiar.
"Please—please get inside me," her own voice whispered breathily from the bed. The imposter-Maka's eyes flashed to the real Maka's, furious at the interruption.
"I—I shouldn't," Soul grunted back.
Well. At least it wasn't too late.
Soul knew he should've stopped it ages ago. Maka was half-naked in only her skirt, her underwear somewhere on the floor. He'd managed to keep his pants on, but Maka had unzipped them and shoved his boxers out of the way so she could access his cock.
Every limit he'd set had been broken. At first it was kissing but nothing else. Then it was tops off but nothing else. Then it was just through underwear. And now he was rubbing his bare cock against her pussy, practically fucking her. As long as he didn't put his cock inside her it was fine, he lied to himself.
He was wondering how long he would last against her begging when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Foggy with lust, his head turned slowly to face the intruder.
"Soul?" Maka asked, her face redder than he had ever seen it. It was not the same Maka who had her bare breasts crushed against him. It was not the same Maka he was nearly fucking.
"M—Maka?" he stuttered.
Maka looked between him and the sweaty image of herself on the bed in confusion. She was the real Maka, he realized. What had he been thinking? His partner would never succumb to lust like this. He should have known better.
The Maka beneath him disappeared and Soul's softening cock smashed against silken sheets that still smelled like sex. The unnatural lust faded away. His focus returned.
"If you'd…gone any further, you'd be trapped here like Kid," she said quietly.
Oh. Right. Kid. The friend they were here to save. Instead, Soul had thought it'd be a good idea to fuck his meister.
"Shit," he said. He ground his face into the sheets, humiliation washing over him. This was worse than screwing up his piano recital in front of a hundred of his parents' guests, only to have Wes bring him the sheet music he was meant to have memorized.
It was worse than any embarrassing moment he could think of from his short life.
But Kid needed him. Still face-planted on the bed, Soul tucked himself in and zipped up his pants before turning over to search for the rest of his uniform. With another wave of humiliation, he realized Maka was holding his shirt out to him.
"Thanks," he said gruffly. Once he was clothed completely, he was ready to face Maka. "And…I'm sorry. I don't…I don't know what happened in here."
Maka shrugged. "It's all right. You weren't the only one who nearly lost it."
"What—did you—?" he couldn't finish his question.
"The book tried, but with my soul perception it was easy to see that…it wasn't real," she said, stumbling over her words. "I'll have to tell you about it later. The others are waiting for us."
She held out her hand. He felt dirty accepting it, knowing what his hands had been covered with just moments ago. He reminded himself she was wearing gloves to protect herself, and took her hand.
A moment later he stood amongst his friends, the atmosphere decidedly different from what it had been before they entered the book. He wasn't the only one shaken by their ordeal.
"Maka and Soul are here!" Blair cheered, bouncing over to hug them. She clunked their heads together as she hooked her elbows around their necks. "Everyone made it through safely. Mr. Index can take us to the next chapter now!"
"I hope it's not as tough as this one," Maka said, stepping back after Blair released them.
Blair was positively bubbly. "It will get much easier from here. As young and hormonal as you are, Lust was bound to be the most difficult chapter."
Maka growled. "You could have warned us!"
"How was I to know what would happen?" she asked, shifting back into her cat form.
"Let's just get out of here," Soul said, hands in his pockets. The others murmured their agreement. As he pointedly avoided looking Maka in the eye, it was hard not to notice he wasn't the only one ignoring her. And Maka herself refused to look at anyone but Blair. What had happened in the time before Maka had come for him?
The Index flipped the page abruptly, tossing them unceremoniously into Gluttony.
Unlike Lust or Gluttony, Envy ripped Maka apart. She wiped away the tears when Soul stumbled across her, but the raw wounds of what Envy had told her remained.
Not all partnerships were equal, and hers was the example. Making Soul a death scythe had been thanks to Soul leading her. She was stupid to think Soul would want to deepen their partnership to anything more. He'd need to carry her even more if their relationship became romantic. But then…
An image of herself half-naked beneath Soul floated across her mind. What had that been about then? She had no sex appeal.
Then she replayed his words. "I shouldn't," he'd said, even as imposter-Maka had begged him for more. And how long had he been in there with her? Longer than any of the others had been with their phantoms.
He'd only just learned about her feelings for him. Maybe through his confusion she'd popped into his head and appeared in the room with him. Hell, maybe that was why all their friends had only seen other meisters and weapons. Not because of any innate desire they had for each other, but because they were near and on their minds.
Or maybe it could only be images of those already in the book. That had to be it. She swallowed back the bitter disappointment.
"Are you all right?" Soul asked, squeezing her hand.
"I need to talk to you about something," she said. Maka let herself fall into one of the many chairs that littered Sloth. "I'm sorry for holding you back all this time. After all this—and talking to Finn at the library—I realize it's the truth. Our partnership isn't equal."
"What are you saying?"
"I don't know if we should be partners anymore. I'm holding you back, and things are going to get weird after everything that happened in the first chapter," she said, cheeks burning.
Soul furrowed his brow. "That's not your fault," he said.
"Oh, it's not?" she slouched in the chair. "Then why were you and I in that room together? It's not because you want me. You've made that very clear."
"I don't know why you were in that room with me," he said. "I thought it was you. Up until the end, I believed I was keeping you from being trapped in the book. Stupid of me, huh?"
"I'm sure you just saw me…because you're worried my feelings will threaten our partnership." It was time to give up on Soul completely. Let him go like Mama had let go of Papa. She would let Soul go on to the next chapter without her.
"That's not—"
Distantly, she heard another voice. Giriko. What was he doing here? She couldn't find it in her to give a damn. She just wanted to lay down on a bed and stay there forever…
Giriko's unexpected kick sent Soul flying across the room. He bulldozed several chairs before he slowed to a stop. His ears rang as he stood, shaking off the pain Giriko's big-ass foot had caused.
He searched for Maka, expecting to see her running to his side, ready to fight the bastard. Soul certainly felt violent enough to do some damage. Maybe slice Giriko in two.
What he saw instead was Maka lying listlessly beneath Giriko on the bed. It changed Soul's violent inclination to pure insanity. That was his meister, and the usual protective urges flowed through him with a more possessive edge than usual. He blamed Lust for his new desire to hack Girkio into a hundred pieces instead of two.
Then again, blowing the bastard up entirely would be even cooler.
In the end, Soul and Maka defeated Giriko, though they barely walked away with their lives—or in Maka's case, carried away. Her body hung weakly off Soul's back, and he could smell and feel her blood trickling onto his shoulder. Despite the agony he knew she was suffering, Maka summoned the energy to support Kid against Noah. Soul's meister really was amazingly strong.
Soul carried Maka on his back until they were herded into the infirmary of the academy. Although they had done some quick first aid where they had defeated Noah, several of them, including Maka, needed stitches. It was not the most victorious battle Soul could remember. Stein was severely injured. Sid had lost his arm, and Tezca was probably dead.
At least Stein could fix Sid's arm.
It took all night for Nygus to finish sewing and bandaging everyone. Soul dozed off in one of the empty beds near Maka around dawn, relishing the painkillers Nygus shoved down his throat.
He awoke to the sun in his eyes. It had to be nearly noon, but his eyelids drooped shut again. Then he heard what had disturbed his sleep: the voices of Black Star and Maka. They were quiet, especially for Black Star, but it was definitely the two of them.
"You won't tell her, will you?" Black Star's unmistakable voice asked. It was unlike him to sound so…vulnerable.
"Of course not," Maka replied. "I don't want to think or talk about it again, if I can help it. I even asked Blair if she could wipe what I saw from my mind. She said she didn't do that kind of magic."
Soul's ears perked. They were talking about what had happened in the Lust chapter.
"That sucks," Black Star said. "I really wish you hadn't seen me—like that. With her."
Maka made a noise of agreement. "If it helps, I don't think anyone was in complete control over who they saw."
Soul tensed, suddenly afraid. He didn't think Maka would tell his secrets—she never had before—but this was uncharted territory.
Black Star snorted. "Maka, did you see everyone?"
"Everyone," she groaned. "And it seemed like…" she hesitated. The silence dragged on. Soul had to restrain himself from telling her to spit it out.
"What?" Black Star prompted, as eager to hear as Soul.
"It seemed like they only saw those who were already in the book."
Black Star guffawed, crowing loudly.
"Shh! Quiet!" Maka hushed him. "You'll wake up the others."
"You gotta tell me, who saw who? C'mon!"
"Nope. I'm sworn to secrecy."
"Maka! I'm your oldest friend—"
"Do you want me to tell Tsubaki about—"
There was a sound that Soul assumed was Black Star muffling her mouth with his hand. "No! I understand," he was contrite. "You must take what you saw to your grave."
"That's what I thought," she said smugly.
"Although I can bet who you and Soul saw—"
"Black Star! I will tell her every detail!"
Black Star was cackling as he went out the door. "I still know who you saw!"
Soul remained motionless in his bed, churning over the information from Black Star and Maka. It was a relief it wasn't his fault Maka had appeared to him. Knowing the others had suffered a similar experience was a small consolation to his embarrassment. If even Black Star was embarrassed, Maka must have gotten an eyeful of something.
But then…had Maka seen himself? He bit his tongue as a memory of her quick fingers attacked him. One thing he knew for sure, it was going to be impossible to claim his meister had no sex appeal from now on.
Maka and Soul didn't speak about the events that happened inside the Book of Eibon. No one else spoke of it either. Spartoi as a whole strived to bury the book in the past as their dedication to defeating the kishin became their sole focus.
Determined to be the best meister she could be, Maka stamped down her feelings for her weapon and hid them deep in her soul. She hoped her partner never noticed them when they resonated, or if he did, he mistook them for feelings of friendship. He didn't have soul perception as she did, so it was within the realm of believability he wouldn't notice.
The constant hiding, however, was what finally broke her. It reminded her too much of Mama those last years of her marriage to Papa. Pretending things were fine. That she was happy the way things were. Maka wasn't fine. She wasn't happy. So she made plans to ask Lord Death to reassign her a new partner once the kishin was defeated.
Things hadn't gone as planned. The kishin was defeated, Crona was left behind on the moon, and Lord Death was dead.
Maka waited until Kid had settled into his role as the new Lord Death before she approached him. While he occasionally worse the same black cloak his father had, today he wore his usual symmetrical suit and stood in front of the mirror of the Death Room, patiently waiting for her to speak.
"Lord Death," she said, "I have a request."
"I have a request for you, too," he said. "And call me Kid, please."
"You have a request?" she asked in disbelief. "What is it?"
Kid's expression was flat and unflinching. "I think you and Soul shouldn't be partners anymore."
Maka floundered. The speech she'd prepared went out the window. "You think—we shouldn't be partners?" she repeated dumbly. She'd expected an argument, not an offer of exactly what she'd come for.
"Yes. Your soul perception is growing stronger, isn't it?"
"I suppose a little," she said. Thanks to Soul's help.
"There's another weapon who would be good for helping you strengthen it. Someone better than Soul."
"Better than Soul?" She didn't believe that.
"You're too close to Soul. Someone new will help you progress faster. Stein agrees," Kid said. His golden eyes focused on her and she felt them pierce her sharply, right to her soul. He gave her a meaningful look, and she suddenly understood Kid's intentions. He was offering an excuse to give to Soul, allowing himself to take the blame for something Maka already wanted. It would make for a smoother transition, and hurt Soul less this way. Maybe there friendship would survive.
"I understand," she said. "What partner did you have in mind for me?"
"It's someone who's been dying to work with you, and conveniently, his partner could really use Soul's guidance to become a better meister."
Maka knew exactly the pair Kid meant, but she asked who it was anyway.
"Finn Riley and Pippa Branna. I suspect you'll find it easy to go from a scythe to a battle-axe. The handling is similar."
"It might take some getting used to," she said. She smiled even as her eyes watered. She was going to miss her partner.
"We can try it on a temporary basis, if you'd prefer," he said, wincing at her tears.
"No," she said. "This is for the best. Time away from Soul will make me…stronger."
And so her partnership with Soul was dissolved.
Pippa Branna was no Maka Albarn, Soul thought—for the umpteenth time—as Pippa flung him across the training room with a clatter. He stumbled to his feet, growling under his breath.
"I'm sorry! It's that weight difference again," Pippa squeaked. She kept handling him like a battle-axe. But he wasn't an axe. He was a goddamn death scythe!
"It's fine," Soul lied.
It was only the beginning of his second week with Pippa. He should probably give her a chance. But it was hard when he was thinking of the boxes of Maka's things and the empty shelves where her books used to sit in their apartment. Blair had gone with her, much to his and Maka's surprise. He couldn't help thinking he'd lost a secret argument he didn't know they were having, and Blair had sided with his meister.
He also didn't understand how Finn was better for Maka's soul perception than he was. Soul had been her partner when she found the kishin! He and Maka had been undefeatable, and Kid fucked everything up.
Soul took his anger out on Kid through mental warfare. Soul had taken to wearing mismatched socks every day. He got a lot of satisfaction watching Kid's eye twitch, but the twitch had yet to cover the new hole in his life where Maka used to be.
Soul wouldn't be nearly as pissed at Kid if Maka hadn't gone along with his dumbass idea. She said she respected Kid's wisdom and that Soul should, too.
"We've gotten stronger together all these years," she had said softly, "but now it's time for us to grow stronger on our own."
Bull. Shit.
Pippa whirled him around in her hands again. "Watch out for the end of the scythe!" he yelled. The tip came dangerously close to the hardwood floor.
"I am!" she fired back.
Maybe he was too hard on her. She was getting better—slowly. Still, her hands felt wrong. Her commands felt wrong. Her soul felt wrong. Stein had told them they had a decent resonance considering Pippa's inexperience, but it was a far cry from the resonance he'd had with Maka.
Maka. He hadn't seen her since she packed up her stuff and moved in with Finn. Not only were they no longer partners, they weren't even friends, and he had no idea why.
Pippa's arrival in their apartment had made things worse. Without asking, she reorganized the kitchen cabinets and put her shoes beside the front door where Maka had always kept hers. Now Soul couldn't even find a damn snack in his own place, and every time he saw those shoes it reminded him that his partner had abandoned him to a meister incapable of handling him.
Clang! Soul dropped to the ground again.
He transformed back, glaring up at his new meister. "What was that?"
Pippa shrugged helplessly. "I saw Maka do it once."
"Seeing is not the same as doing," Soul said, reminding himself that he was meant to be her teacher. He suddenly had more respect for Stein. Teaching was a pain in the ass. "Let the heavy end of the scythe do the work. Remember, you're just guiding it."
Miraculously, Pippa managed to keep him above ground for the rest of their training session.
Afterward, they returned to the apartment. Pippa took her turn cooking, while Soul did some much-needed sweeping in the kitchen.
"You're a good teacher," Pippa said suddenly.
"What?"
"You're a good teacher. Finn never could explain to me how to handle him like you did. As much as I hate being separated from Finn," Pippa blushed, "I think Lord Death maybe did know what he was doing. Finn's probably learning a lot from Maka, too."
Soul's chest tightened. "He probably is. Maka's…great."
"I still don't know why Lord Death separated you two, though. I can see how it benefits Finn and me, but you and Maka…we're just dragging you both down, aren't we?"
Soul sank into one of the kitchen chairs. "It was for Maka's soul perception. Kid said she and I were too close for her to strengthen her skill any further."
"Too close?" Pippa's blush deepened. "So you are a couple?"
"We're not a couple," he said. It lacked the usual bite he'd once used to refute the common misconception.
"Oh. You broke up?"
"We were never together," he said.
Pippa balked. "Then why have you never dated anyone? I know tons of girls have asked you out."
Soul furrowed his brow. Why hadn't he? Between hunting souls to become a death scythe and his problems with the black blood, he hadn't spent a lot of time mulling over his single status. Maka had always been there when he needed a date to a party or function.
"I've been busy," he said defensively.
"Busy?"
"Busy!" he said. It was a legitimate reason, and he didn't want to explain the black blood or his near death experiences to her again. She'd nearly run screaming from the room the first time he brought up the little demon.
"That's a lame excuse, Soul," she said. She turned back to the cooking, ignoring his dumbfounded look.
Note: This is only going to be two chapters, and the ending is already written. I'll post the rest later this week, if you're interested.
Please review! Constructive criticism welcome. :)