A/N: I should be doing those 100 theme prompts thingys, huh~
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They were just on another mission, like any other, one that they picked out from the bulletin boards in order to gain Soul another demon soul. It was another successful one, as Maka sliced the demon, The Mannequin, in half, the living doll's eyes rolled back behind its sockets and the body disintegrated, leaving behind a red flaming demon soul. Maka breathed a sigh of relief and Soul reverted to his human form to claim his prize. He gulped down the soul and expressed his delight.
"Delicious."
Maka had counted: it was their 99th soul captured. They both only needed the soul of a witch to complete their mission. She was glad that she had assisted her weapon in capturing these corrupted souls in hopes of turning him into a deathscythe; one that would be faithful, unlike her father.
"C'mon Soul, let's go home," she declared and turned the other way, with Soul right behind her.
Suddenly, all of her surroundings became dark and pitch black. Everything shifts to Maka with Soul in her hand, refusing to use him since he would get hurt. Their enemy, Crona and her demon blade, Ragnarok, was ready to strike down on the defenseless heroine. She braced for the attack as the blade came down, however Soul appeared to take the hit and was sliced open.
Maka screamed Soul's name repeatedly, until everything became completely dark as Soul disappeared from her sight.
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Maka awoke with a yelp of fear. She bolted upright from the warm confines of her bed, wet with cold sweat. She took uneven breaths of air and touched her face with a hand.
"Just a dream..." she murmured, "just a really bad dream."
It was a bad dream. A bad dream that's been reoccurring over and over for her ever since her encounter with Crona back in Italy. She had never forgiven herself for seeing Soul getting hurt, despite the fact that Soul has repeatedly reassured her that it was not her fault, and that it was all his doing and the consequence he faced in protecting his meister.
It was nearly two in the morning, and it was very dark. The only light provided was the yellow grinning moon light creeping past the window. Maka hugged her legs close to her chest and hid her face into them, calming herself in her little bubble of space. "Just a bad dream," she repeated to herself.
It wasn't enough to tell herself that. It wasn't enough to comfort herself with that sort of self-reassurance. It just didn't calm her with just that alone.
She needed to see Soul.
She felt childish after thinking about that, ashamed that after all these years of finally entering her adolescent years, she was afraid of a nightmare. But it didn't matter. She just needed to feel a little childish just this once. She needed some outside comforting than just herself alone.
She pulled the covers off of her and threw her legs over the edge; she didn't bother putting on her slippers. Her foot touched the cold surface of her floorboard and she got off her bed. Carefully, she tiptoed out of her room into the living quarters, where she saw Blair curled up on the sofa in her cat form purring softly.
Soul's room is just across the room, Maka told herself. She tiptoed across the living quarters with utmost stealth until she reached the door of Soul's room. Slowly, she turned the doorknob to the left and carefully pulled the door open.
Maka's been in Soul's room plenty of times. Clothes were littered over the floor, books that Soul probably never read were on the shelf, the oddly object-free work table, the open closet stuffed with even more clothes and that familiar boy's smell. The only difference was that she wasn't in his room to wake him up in the morning. She was in there to seek comfort.
Soul was on his side in his bed snoring softly with the blanket over his body, exposing his white hair. Maka could only see the back of his head but she can also make out that Soul was bunched up to the wall.
Maka tiptoed to Soul and slid herself under the sheets until she had her head on a part of the pillow and the blanket over her body with her fingertips exposed. Soul shifted in his sleep.
"Blair, don't bug me," he grumbled and turned over on his other side, his arm outstretched and over Maka's body.
Maka blushed many shades of red after realizing that Soul is now very close to her, embarrassed that she has to come to such intimacy with her weapon in such a predicament. She whimpered softly. Maka could see Soul's face very clearly now, and for once he looked very peaceful to her. Soul smacked his lips.
"Blair... I told you to get out..." he grumbled some more and sleepily opened his eyes.
Maka froze and clutched the bed sheet tight with her hands. After Soul fully opens his eyes, he blinks a few times with an open mouth before jumping back to the wall, shocked and surprised.
"MAKA! What are you doing here!?" He spluttered.
Maka sat up and hid her nose into the blanket, hiding the redness in her face. "I had a bad dream," she murmured quietly. "Can I sleep in your room for tonight, Soul?"
Soul registered her request into his mind for a moment, then relaxed and nodded. Maka looked at Soul from behind the covers and noticed that he was shirtless with only his sleeping pants on. His scar was perfectly exposed and suddenly she was filled with guilt. A depressed aura clouded over her head and she slumped down to the bed with her back to Soul. Soul was confused, but went back laying on his side with his arm pillowing his head.
He studied his partner in the dark: she had her green and yellow striped pajamas on and her pale blond hair flowed onto his pillow like it was a part of the cloth. It was quiet for a while, but Soul finally had the urge to talk.
"So, why are you here again?"
"I had a bad dream," Maka answered in a small voice.
"Bad dream, huh? What was it about?"
Maka didn't answer right away. She just remained quiet. Soul noticed that his partner wasn't going to answer his question so he just sighed and twirled some of Maka's hair with his finger.
Maka could feel him playing with her hair so she just shifted to her other side and was face-to-face with Soul. Her emerald eyes studied his curious ruby ones and then her eyes landed at the scar on his chest.
She remembered it all too well: the fight, the screams, his selfless sacrifice to keep her safe. It filled her with grief. She wondered how long it would take her for her to forget all of these bad memories.
She reached over to him with her hand and her fingertips traced the outline of the scar, each small stroke chewing her from the inside. Soul wasn't too surprised with her sudden actions. He already knew her answer. He only gave her a sincere look and caught her hand gently with his.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he murmured and pressed her hand against his heart. "If you haven't already noticed, I'm alive and kickin'. You should stop feeling bad about yourself."
Maka frowned. "It still doesn't change the fact that I caused this to happen to you," she said and felt his heart rhythmically beat against her palm. "If I didn't go into that church and if I had only been quicker this could've have been avoided."
Maka was just about ready to cry. She could feel the tears begging to be shed at any given second. Soul sensed her distress and pulled Maka into a tender embrace and placed his chin over her head. "I told you already that I chose to jump in front of you to take the hit. You're my partner and I gave you my word that I would give up my life to protect yours. There's no point in blaming yourself in something I promised to do."
Maka's resistance failed her and tears flowed from her eyes. All the worry and guilt that she had been bottling up had finally overflowed. She sniffed and nodded, and Soul smiled his lazy smile. "Do you want to go back to your room or stay here for the rest of the night?"
"Stay here," Maka replied and Soul pulled the blanket over them. He adjusted his pillow to fit both their heads and looked down at Maka.
"You're such a kid, you know that?" He chuckled.
"Shut up," Maka mumbled and sniffed.
Soul laughed quietly to himself. "You're cute when you're like that, you know?"
Maka sniffed her last tear and punched him lightly in the chest. "Shut up."
Maka smiled to herself and rested her head against the pillow. She saw the scar again, and traced over it again, guilt hitting her again but not so much as it did before. She stopped and pulled her hand away and nuzzled herself against the sheets.
"Hey, Soul."
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
Soul looked down at his meister again, only to find her fast asleep with a peaceful look on her face. He smiled lopsidedly and wiped away her tears with his finger.
"Yeah," he murmured and rested his head against the pillow. "No problem. Good night, Maka."
Then Soul fell asleep with his partner, and they were both peacefully undisturbed.
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Maka dreamed peacefully of Soul's recovery. He was well enough to be attend his extracurricular lessons again so they returned to Italy to face Crona again. They stepped onto the entrance of the church and heard a battle going on inside. Soul took Maka's hand and smirked at her.
"Remember," he said. "I'll protect you with my life, no matter what."
Maka nodded to him and smiled back at him. "As I will too," she replied and they both pushed open the church doors to face Crona once again, with Soul already in his weapon form.
The End
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A/N: A little shorter than my other ones, but I liked this one nonetheless. It was kind of inspired by the song "Everytime" by Britney Spears. And trust me; I've had that song on repeat for a while now. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Review and all that jazz~
