The Disclaimer stands.
Maka continued to visit the bar and talk with Soul, as one sided as some of the conversations may have been. She had gotten to know him fairly well and decided that she liked him. Then, completely out of the blue, he stopped showing up. Being the curious little thing she was, she asked around and discovered his current situation. She hailed a cab and headed to the hospital. The idiot collapsed in a grocery store.
At first, she was told no visitors. She lied and told them she was his cousin. They were fully aware of the lie, but let it slide. Apparently, she was his first visitor. Family was never brought up during their little talks, so she knew nothing of them. She figured they weren't very good if they hadn't visited their son in the hospital.
Walking into the small, beige room, the first thing she noticed was the tuft of white hair sticking out from the covers on the bed. The hospital bed. He rolled over to face her. She smiled; he stared, as per usual.
"You're pretty stupid, you know that?"
"Yeah."
"Collapsing in a grocery store? Are you hearing what I'm hearing?"
"Yeah." She tutted and in a very motherly fashion, strolled over and brushed his hair out of his eyes. It was rather unruly. Maybe that's why he wore the headband. He shut them, in response. It must have been a long time since someone had done something as affectionate as what she was doing with him now. The sweet moment was killed, however when an overly bubbly nurse walked in.
"Oh! Hello! If I can just get a second with," she looked to her clipboard, "Soul? You can come back in a second." She offered a broad smile; one Maka did /not/ return, nodded and stepped out of the room. She didn't like or trust this woman. It was just a guy feeling she had about her.
And apparently for a good reason. The nurse lied. It took much longer than a second. It was hours until the nurse came out and by then, it was too late for Maka to visit with him. She sighed but figured she would simply come back the next day.
On her way out the door, she noticed an older man crying quietly in a chair. No one had made a move to comfort him, so Maka walked over and sat next to him. She had watched one of those late night shows where they show sermons from churches around the world. This particular one had been about how small comments could make a person's day that much brighter. She had vowed to live by those words.
The man looked up from his hands and she saw in his eyes the desperation he was feeling. He had blue eyes, dulled by age. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over.
"She was all that was left. I told her that I was supposed to go first. Why didn't she do as she was told?" Maka shrugged her shoulders.
"I bet she was a wonderful person."
"She hated me. My only daughter and she would do just about anything to stay away from me." Maka thought of her father. No. There was no way these two situations had anything to do with each other. It's just dumb luck.
For once, Maka was at a loss a way to comfort someone.
"Well I don't hate you. Also, I really like your shoes."