He said good bye to her on a day too bright for the occasion. The Nevada sun panted heavily in the sky, the mourners joined in as they scaled the hills leading to hook cemetery. Soul stood with his children beside the grave. He looked at the grass in front of him, avoiding direct eye contact with the large rectangular box next to it. His daughter gripped his hand tight enough to hurt; Lily was scared and angry and confused. His son bounced on his toes on his other side, Soul's hand rested on the boys head. His blonde head kept twisting in every direction; Jax openly gazed at the mourners, his eyes free of tears. Soul wondered if his son was aware of the magnitude of what happened. But Soul could barely register it himself so he didn't ask. He's distracted, understandably so.
His wife of 6 years has passed away.
Passed away. It sounded peaceful. Soul wanted to snort.
Maka's passing had been anything but peaceful.
The witch had apparently turned her and two students completely inside out. No one had seen that type of magic. It was a powerful but draining. Right after the witch finished them, she was killed by a second teacher.
Black Star.
He blamed himself for not acting sooner. For not being godly enough. For not being able to save him "little sister".
Soul blamed him too.
Black Star didn't bother approaching. He lingered behind the crowd with his and Tsubaki's kids and Angela Leon while Tsubaki came forward to recite her speech. Soul couldn't hear her words but Tsubaki's soothing voice floated over him. She was surprisingly calm, her words measured and breathing steady. It calmed him slightly. It reminded him of the ocean and the beach, like the one Soul and Maka went for their honeymoon.
He smiled, because they taken two year old Lily with them, so it was less steamy sex on the beach and more changing diapers in the buffet bathroom.
He could see Lily and Maka clearly in his mind. Maka walking with bow-legged Lily along sandy tide pools, Lily pointing at every sea creature they came across, babbling excitedly. They gone to the same beach after Jax was born, and Lily had tried to push her brother into a pile of seaweed.
Soul chuckled, forgetting himself. Pale faces of shocked mourners invaded Soul's vision. That's right. He was supposed to be the bereaved widower now.
Ignoring them, he attended to the tug he felt on his arm. He looked down. Lily stared at him intently, worried. Her dark green eyes contrasted sharply against her pale face, her pallor emphasized by the black dress and wide brimmed hat she wore.
Soul let go of her hand and winds his arm around her shoulder, giving her a squeeze. She buried her face in his suit jacket. He was glad. That look of concern was too mature to come from his 8 year old.
But Soul sighed. He knew she heard him and Stein discus the implications of Maka's death. There was nothing stopping the black blood now. Soul insisted he felt in check, but Stein and Kid decided that it was best for Lily and Jax to stay with Stein and Marie for a while, at least until they were sure the black blood wouldn't endanger them. Soul repeated that he felt as sane as he could, and that Oni was the regular level of annoying.
Soul neglected to inform Stein and Kid that the Oni was merely sitting in the high backed chair in his head, waiting.
Soul had already lost his wife. He wouldn't lose his children as well.
Soul felt another tug, this time from Jax. Jax pulled hard at his father's arm, yanking him out of his reverie. The little boy gestured wildly with his screw driver (Soul could have sworn he'd taken it away) towards his mothers casket.
Spirit had thrown himself across the white box. The old man was sobbing, his head of greasy red hair bobbed with each violent exhalation. The snot and drool leaking from the fools face smeared all over the pristine surface of the casket.
Maka would have hated that. Soul abruptly let go of his children and marched over his wife's casket. He seized spirit by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. Mourners gasped and the crowed surged backwards, away from the deceased's husband and father. Soul's arm released a flash of light and Soul held his transformed blade against the retired death scythes throat.
Before Soul could say anything, Spirit wailed "YOU WERE SUPOSSED TO PROTECT HER! YOU PROMISED!"
He had promised. Before Lily was born, he promised Spirit he would protect Maka and their child. He promised he would love them, watch over them, and be a good husband and responsible father.
He failed at both.
Spirit was right.
Still, black blood boiling, clouding his vision, Soul prepared himself to ram the edge of the blade into his Spirit's throat. He had pulled back his arm to deliver the blow when he heard a quiet whimper.
The sound triggered a reflex in Soul, and flesh replaced red and black steel before He could consciously consider it. Soul looked towards the source of the noise and his red eyes fell on two figures huddled on the edge of the crowd. Jax and Lily clung to each other, their eyes rimmed with black from lack of sleep. Lily had salty tears staining her reddened cheeks, but her eyes held a look of fierce determination. Jax regarded his father calmly, his screw driver held tightly in his small fist. They appeared to be waiting.
Soul looked around. Kid, Patty, Liz were trying to approach him slowly, their words of comfort lost on him. They were trying to block his view of Lily and Jax. Tsubaki and Black Star were trying to pull them away from, but they were both resisting. Soul felt Kid's arms trying to restrain him as he struggled to get to his children.
They were trying to take them already.
His children.
Maka's children.
In the back of Soul's head, the Oni grinned.
He heard Black Star's yelps as he caught a glimpse of Jax stabbing him with his screw driver.
Soul struggled harder against Kid, and then Patty as she used her insane strength to wrestle him to the ground.
His face firmly pressed into the hot green grass of hook cemetery, the last thing Soul saw was the dust left behind by his running children.
And then everything went black.
Soul's blades burst from all sides of his body, catching Kid and Patty.
Their blood stained the white satin decorating the flower wreaths around Maka's casket.
A/N: Wrote this for SoMa week 2013.
I am so sorry.
Part Two coming soon.
(OC Lily belongs to hotapplestrider, OC Jax is mine, Soul Eater in general is Ohkubo's [the bastard])