A/N: Just a little time-line here to clarify. Maka was abused on the night of Day 1 and passed out. She awoke some time during Day 2 where she hid most of the day, leaving to go to Soul's place that night. Got it? Moving on then.


Ch.2: One step towards hell


It was noon. Almost 12 on the nose, and I had just finished telling Soul what had happened. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, his face was impossible to read. I guess he was most likely in shock or feeling severely angry. It became clear however, the moment he blinked. Because those concealing eyes closed, and were replaced with deep crimson spheres of pure compassion. And they were directed at me, of course.

I couldn't look away. That is, until my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. Soul glared daggers at it, most likely knowing who it was. Even I knew, but for some stupid reason I still reached over to answer it. I'd flicked it open with a quiet 'hello.' before Soul's hand could stop me.

"Maka? Hey it's the great me! But I'm sure you knew. Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a movie again? We haven't seen one this week right?" I had begun to think he had no memory of last night at all. Or at least until he started talking again in a lower, menacing voice. "And please don't try to run away again okay babe?" There was an audible click as he hung up, and a small shocked gasp from me.

Soul was looking at me still, with the same intensity of caring in his eyes. "Maka, that was him wasn't it?" I nodded, letting out a deep sigh.

"He wants me to go over to his place." Soul's anger was predicted. So was his quick reply of "No way Maka!" and his grabbing my arms. As if that would stop me. I didn't want more trouble, and the only way to avoid it was to do as Black*Star had said. There was no running from the pain, the heartbreak, the abuse.

Gently, I removed his hands and struggled off the bed. Once standing it was easier to move. But first thing was first. I had to stretch my arms out and twist my back to get it to loosen up. It took ten whole minutes of me gasping and squeaking in sharp sounds of pain, and ten minutes of Soul watching with almost teary eyes, before finally my back was fully locomotive and not as sore.

Then I just stood there. I really did not want to go, and understand when I say this, that in the depths of my broken heart, all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed with Soul and sleep my pathetic life away. It took every last drop of my courage to move my feet to the door. Soul darted from the bed at that point and was at my side in an instant.

"Maka, please don't do this. You know how I feel...we're best friends. I can't let you go and stay sane."

"Soul. Let me go."

And he let me go. Just like that, he moved aside and I shuffled past him with a broken mind and broken heart. Did I want him to make me stay? Somewhere deep inside yes, but for the most part I knew letting me go was far better a choice. And so did Soul.

That was the first step towards hell.


Every step hurt, every single inch forward was like a knife in my bruised back, knowing I was taking every step just to knock on the door of the devil. You could never imagine how hard that is to do. Luckily for me, the crisp evening air allowed for me to slightly reform myself. I was able to relax and put on a brave mask before I finally arrived at his house.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Thump. Thump. Thump. The echo from the knocking on the door matched the echo of my hallow beating heart. Then both stopped immediately, as there he stood, facing me from the shadows of his death trap.

And then he smiled. Yes, the devil himself smiled, and all I could see was the guy I'd fallen in love with. I couldn't tell you how relieved I was, but I can tell you that I smiled with him and he led me to the couch. This time I could see the DVD sitting on the coffee table and the big bowl of popcorn.

God I was so foolish to remain so damn confident.

We both sat next to each other, perhaps a little further away then normally we would. I thought he honestly felt bad for what he did last night. He got up for a minute to pop in the DVD and to bring the popcorn to the couch, then plopped down directly next to me. I won't lie, it made me really nervous despite my confidence.

But he was warm, and he was happy. This was who I'd fallen for. Or I thought that, until he put a hand on my leg, just above my knee. His hand. His hand was cold, hard, and cruel. I remembered how gentle and warm Soul's hands wad been last night. They had held me together. These were the ones that had broken me.

That thought had just embed into my brain. I did my best though to push it to the back of my being, then I could focus on having a good night. And as it was, the night progressed fairly well. I was really into the movie, it was some action movie we'd never even heard of before. Looks like another thumbs-up. I ended up absently leaning on Black*Star's shoulder.

I guess he took that the wrong way though. His hand slid a little further up my leg. This made me sort of uncomfortable, but I ignored it and watched the last 20 minutes of the movie. The ending sucked. I was turning to voice my thoughts, as we always did during the credits, when his cold hand snaked it's way even further up my leg.

This both scared me and increased my discomfort. As a reaction to these negative feelings, I pulled away from him. A bad idea, but it was too late.

"Maka...I thought I made it clear not to leave me..." Fuck. His voice was so menacing. I began to shiver slightly in fear.

"I-I wasn't going anywhere..." How I expected him to believe me, I don't know.

"Don t lie to me Maka. Don't you FUCKING lie to ME!" And that was it. In a motion so swift, I couldn't even see it, his hand balled up and slammed into my stomach. The force of the punch was actually enough to send me flipping backwards over the arm of the couch.

I'd seen on cartoons and animated movies how people would be punched and sent flying unreal distances. I always thought that was a stupid concept until now. I remember slamming into the wall, a loud whimper escaping my mouth. The clock's ticking was suddenly all I could hear other then the loud thumping in my chest. It was 3:29pm.

Should I stay? If I moved, Black*Star would hurt me again. But on the other hand, I could make a run for it and hide at Soul's again. It was around then that I figured I'd be spending a lot of night's at his place from then on. I decided not to move, the risk was too great. But that was a mistake too. Everything was just one big stupid mistake.

When my back slammed into the wall it began to hurt again. I couldn't help but hunch over anyways, because my stomach was hurting like crazy. I felt sick, like I was going to throw up. And I did, though it wasn't much since all I'd eaten since the last time this happened was popcorn.

I knew how I must have looked, whimpering and vomiting and clutching my stomach. I guess that explains why he decided to come over and Kick my stomach to add on to my agony. Making a mess in his house was prohibited. I had to quickly wipe the blood from my mouth before I made more of a mess. Shakily, I stood up. I was waiting now.

3:32pm. Black*Star turned around for a moment and that was it. Adrenaline pumped it's way into every single inch of my body and I bolted through the door and back to heaven as fast as I had ever ran. Lucky for me that Black*Star seemed to have given up trying to catch me when I made my way around the corner. I never once slowed down, running all the way to that white door at the top of those four concrete stairs.

The building Soul lived in was made of dark red bricks, and had four separate apartments, the third from the left being his. The steps to the doors started at the sidewalk so there was no front lawn, but there were tree's on both sides of the building, and land in the back separated into four plots, one for each apartment.

From then on, heaven was always going to be that brick building. I would forever adore that deep shade of red, a little darker then Soul's eyes, but still so very bright to me.

I opened the door without knocking, and walked past the little entry hallway, past the bathroom on the left and Soul's room on the right, straight to the spare room. The second door on the left. This was going to be 'my' room, I knew it.

There he was, sitting on the bed where I'd left him. I didn't even hesitate, I crawled on to the bed and straight into his open arms. It was probably obvious that I'd be back.

I started to break again as soon as I was back in his arms. I felt the tremors in my body build into a human earthquake, my sobs started as whimpers and evolved into full on screams, just like last time. Waterfalls stung my eyes, and I was so nauseous that it took all my remaining physical strength to not vomit on my best, and only friend.

It was a few hours before I was calmed down enough to notice he was crying too. I could feel his hot tears fall onto the top of my head. I didn't want Soul to cry, it hurt. But I supposed that was why he was crying in the first place, because I was.

God it was all my fault. This whole day was. I should have stayed still at Black*Stars house. No, scratch that, I should have stayed here with Soul. Then we'd both be okay. But no, I had to be stupid and go back to the devil. I just had to be...Maka.

As an attempt to stop him from crying, I pressed as close to him as I could and rested my head against his chest, arm's weakly wrapped around his waist. His arm's tightened around my stomach in return, and that was when it happened. Pain from both my back and front bombarded me, and I couldn't hold it. I let out a terrible shriek. This in turn caused Soul to jump away from me, sparkling drops of water flying from his widening eyes.

"Oh god Maka I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you!" Every word was saturated with love and worry. It made me even more nauseous.

"S-S-Soul...my stomach...he p-punched my st-stomach..." I explained between groans of agony. I screwed my eyes shut and took in a few deep breaths to calm myself. Thankfully it worked and the pain subsided fairly quick.

"Maka..." A shiver of some strong emotion went straight down my spine. Soul's whisper into my ear had made me suddenly feel very tingly. Since when had he been behind me? My eyes shot open to see nothing. So he was behind me, but before I could turn around, Soul placed his hands onto my Shoulders. For a moment, I was confused, but then he began to slowly massage them, and the pain in my back eased off more and more.

"Soul..." I could only manage to whisper out his name. I suddenly realized how much I liked to say it. It was, after all, a very nice name. I think he liked to hear me say his name too, because I felt him shiver gently. It wasn't like it turned him on or anything, Soul wasn't like that, but I could tell it made him feel the way he was making me feel at that moment.

When he finally stopped massaging my shoulders very gently, he got up off the bed. I looked at him, confusion etched into my facial features, before he turned around and spoke up.

"Maka, it's almost 7 and you haven't eaten since you got here, plus you look pale and I know you've been throwing up. Stay right there, I'm going to bring you some food and I want you to please eat it all." And he left. And I sat there. Well, I sat there until something registered in my mind.

"Oh, papa! He must be worried about me.." I quickly whipped out my phone and hit the speed dial. Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hello? Maka! Where are you? My god I've been so worried! You're lucky I haven't called the cops yet!" His voice was rushed in panic and worry.

"Sorry, sorry papa! Calm down! I'm at Soul's house." Speak of the devil. No, speak of the angel. Soul walked in at this point carrying a plate with fruit and toast, my favourite of strawberries dominating the rest. He really was the best friend ever, I'll say that a thousand times a day because it's true.

His eyes were worried. I shook my head to clarify that it was not my boyfriend, and he visibly relaxed.

"Maka? Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, what?"

"I said, how long are you going to be there? I miss you at home you know, my precious daughter."

"I'm going to be here for a few more days. I need a break okay papa? You understand right?" I knew he couldn't resist my 'Daddy's little angel' voice.

"Yeah Maka, I understand. Take care okay? And call me every now and then! I really worry about you! Okay, love you, bye for now."

"Yeah, love you too papa, see you later." And I hung up. Soul had sat beside me again and put the plate on my lap. He now held out a fork with a piece of watermelon speared on the end.

"I can still eat on my own you know Soul.." I muttered, blushing.

"Yeah, but you won't eat unless I make you." He knew me too god damn well. I reluctantly ate the watermelon and suddenly, my lack of food the last few days hit me, and my hunger slammed into my stomach. Soul seemed to realize this because he laughed and handed me the plate, which I then commenced clearing in record time.

His laugh made me feel good too. It was deep and seductive even if just a chuckle. When I finished, he took the plate to the kitchen and came back with some hot chocolate. Here, thought you'd want some too. He sat back down with his own cup.

It wasn't long before we were huddled close enough to be touching at our sides, sipping hot chocolate under the blanket that was still there from last night. I could feel my heart being taped back together with every swallow of the warm liquid too. A very welcome action.

It was almost 9pm when we put the cups on the table and huddled up together to sleep, me facing the wall and Soul pressed against my back with his arms around my waist, hand resting on my stomach. It was a comfortable position, and it wasn't long before Soul fell asleep, his warm breath on my neck.

I suddenly felt uncomfortable. Something was wrong. Not like 'I'm going to die' wrong, just out of place. I turned over, burrowing my head under his chin and against his neck, and the feeling went away. Soul was still asleep, hands now on my back, and his breath now warming my forehead. Yes, that felt much more right. The last conscious memory I have of that day was when I heard a very gentle Goodnight Maka, I love you.

I thought I'd imagined it though.


Thanks to Anaisishere, Ambrie-chan, Sailor sofia, Misa325, RandomDancing123, RebelAngel91210, Mynameiseliza, Sazyboo and KittyAttack for all the reviews, favorites and alert add's. 3