Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

Whoa. Those reviews came in quick! Good thing that I had this chapter almost ready! Thanks for the reviews! Keep sending in more! Again, I'm not really that far into the series, and I did a lot of assuming in this chapter, so sorry if I got my facts wrong! Please don't send any reviews with spoilers in them (I'm a big sissy when it comes to spoilers)

Soul never left the school's hospital the next week, and when he wasn't allowed to be at Maka's side he was sitting in the hallway, staring at the door, waiting fro when he nurse would let him back in and he sat back down at Maka's side, never taking his eyes off of her, awaiting the moment that she would open her emerald eyes and smile at him again.

As was expected, whispered rumors spread throughout the DWMA like wildfire. And, as was also expected, the story of what happened during Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, and Black Star's mission was drastically over exaggerated. But, as was not expected, these exaggerated stories where not made so by Black Star. He had kept his mouth shut out of respect for his friends, but did slightly exaggerate the efforts made by himself. The latest version of the story recalls that Maka was brutally stabbed in the side with a dull blade, and before the kishin could deal the final blow, Soul thrust himself in front of Maka and got a deep gash on his chest (this conclusion was drawn because he spent all his time in the hospital since they got back from their mission). Then the kishin was finally finished off by Black Star and Tsubaki, who had to stab the kishin 18 times in the chest before he finally bled to death.

Maka didn't wake up for three days, yet Soul never left Maka's side.

"She's got a strong soul," the nurse would say. "She'll be fine."

Soul would just smile weakly at her and continue to gaze at Maka's face.

Finally, on the fourth day her eyes fluttered open.

"Nice for you to join us," said Soul, chuckling slightly, relief plastered on his face.

Maka smiled back weakly. "Did we get his soul?"

Soul nodded. "Yeah. Tsubaki ate it."

"That's good," said Maka. "How's Black Star?"

"He's in a sling but he's still the Black Star that we know and love."

Maka seemed glad to hear about this. Ever since Soul had gotten infected with Ragnarok's black blood, she had paranoid about cuts.

"How long was I out?" Maka asked, sitting up slowly.

"Three days."

Maka looked distressed. "I missed three days of classes? What did we learn? Did we get a lot of homework? Did he say when our test was?"

Soul couldn't help but smile. Maka was passed out for three days and the main thing that she was concerned about was school.

"I wouldn't know," said Soul. "I didn't leave here the whole time you were out."

"Soul, I-"

"Maka, I wouldn't have been able to focus in class anyway." Soul said before Maka could protest.

"You know the feeling."

Scenes of Crona running at them and Soul protecting her flashed in her mind, and also the scar that stretched across Soul's chest just to remind her of the event. "Yeah." said Maka, smiling feebly.


When Maka recovered, Lord Death requested to see them. They went up to the Death Room, where Dr. Stein stood waiting for them.

"Lord Death had requested to see Soul alone first." he said, his glasses obscuring all emotion from his eyes.

Soul lifted one eyebrow. "Why would Lord Death want to see me alone?"

"Personal reasons," Dr. Stein answered dully.

Shrugging, Soul walked under the guillotines and into the Death Room.

Lord Death was standing in the middle of the room. Soul walked onto the platform and plunged his hands into his pockets. There was a long silence as Lord Death seemed to work out the words that he wanted to say.

"How are you, Soul Eater?" he said lamely.

"Uh, fine, I guess. Maka's better, so…" Well, this is extremely awkward, Soul thought to himself.

"Ah, young Maka." said Lord Death. "Just what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Maka? Why?"

"I see that you and Maka have grown very close," he said.

"Well, yeah, she's my meister. We're supposed to be close. I mean, we live together."

"True," said Lord Death. "But I can see that the attachment has grown very large."

Soul looked uncomfortable. "Where are you going with this?"

"Soul, tell me about your feelings about Maka."

Soul's eyes grew shaded. Had he been that obvious? He thought that any partner, weapon or meister, would wait around the hospital if their partner was injured. Maybe he was wrong. But he wouldn't have been able to be away from Maka when she was in that condition. But why was Lord Death so concerned about it?

"Soul?"

Soul took a deep breath. "You know the answer to that." He looked up at Lord Death. "But what does that have to do with anything? I know that she doesn't feel that way about me, so I don't see why its such a big deal." it pained him to say this, to speak the truth that he had been denying for some time now, but he knew that it was the truth.

If it were possible, Lord Death looked sympathetic. "I believe that you know of one other weapon and meister that became a couple?"

"Yeah," said Soul. "Maka's parents. But Maka's mom managed to turn Maka's dad into a death scythe, right?"

"True, but with a lot of difficulty. You see, after they became a couple, their soul wavelengths became very imbalanced. It was almost impossible for them to match wavelengths while Maka's father was in weapon form. You see where I'm going with this?"

It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice and boiling water at the same time on Soul. He stared into Lord Death's empty eyes and couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Are you saying that I can't be Maka's weapon anymore?" he said in disbelief.

"I am sorry, Soul Eater." said the grim reaper. "It's just not possible for you two to match soul wavelengths anymore. If you ever want to become a death scythe, you need a new partner."

Soul shook his head. "There's got to be something I can do."

"I'm sorry."

Soul felt his whole world falling apart a bit at a time. With every word that Lord Death spoke, he tore away another piece of him. Soon there would be nothing left.

"What do I tell Maka?" Soul asked, his voice cracking. Pull it together! he thought to himself. This isn't cool!

But did what was cool and what wasn't really matter anymore? Soul wasn't sure. All that he knew was that Lord Death had just ripped away the only thing that he really cared about as if he were picking a flower from the ground.

"Just tell her what she needs to know, nothing more." the grim reaper replied.

All that Soul could do was nod as he turned around and walked back out under the guillotines, half wishing that one of the ropes would snap and cause one of the blades to drop and put him out of his misery.


"What did he want?" Maka asked Soul as he came out of the Death Room.

Soul couldn't look at Maka. He couldn't speak. It was the most that he could do just to shrug and keep his eyes on the ground.

"Soul, what's wrong?" asked Maka, concerned.

Soul had to take in deep breaths. Maka would never fight with him again. He'd never wake up to see her smiling face offering him breakfast again. And, he was fully convinced, he'd never be happy again.

"Ah, here they are," said Dr. Stein.

Two kids came up the hallway, a boy and a girl. The girl had blonde hair and blue eyes and glasses, the boy black hair and green eyes and a black earring in his right ear.

"All of you into the Death Room," instructed Dr. Stein, gesturing to the pathway of guillotines. The young weapons and meisters obeyed, meeting Lord Death on the other side. When they had all gathered around the grim reaper, everyone still looked really confused except for Soul, who was staring dejectedly anywhere but at Maka.

"You are probably all wondering why you are here." said Lord Death. "You are here to be reassigned to your new partners."

"Wait, new partners? Lord Death, you must have the wrong people-"

Lord Death held up his hand, silencing her. "I am quite sure that I have the right weapons and meisters."

Maka looked at Soul, trying to read his face, but Soul still refused to look at Maka.

"Kaylee, meet Soul." he said, gesturing from the blond girl to Soul. "Kaylee is your new meister, Soul Eater."

"Lord Death-" Maka started again, but he again silenced her.

"Maka, this is Tristan. Tristan is a sword, you should be able to adapt well."

"I'm Soul's meister." Maka said firmly, looking right into Lord Death's eyes.

Soul didn't know how much more of this he could take. "Just drop it, Maka."

Maka stared at Soul in disbelief. How could he give up just like that? This was very unlike Soul. Maybe this was what Lord Death was talking to Soul about. But why had he told Soul in advance and not her? Was there something that Maka didn't know about?

Then a sharp realization hit her that actually made her gasp and her hand to rise shakily to her mouth. Had Soul actually requested to have a new meister? How could he do that? Sure, they had been fighting recently, but she didn't think that it had been that bad…

Maka couldn't take it anymore. Maka ran out of the Death Room, down the hall, through the school, and into the streets of Death City. She didn't know where she was going, but she was running, and it felt good.

I know, kind of sad, huh? But there's some good stuff coming up, like I said, this is a complete story, so please keep reading. Review please!