This chapter was long over due, wasn't it? Please enjoy!
Disclaimer- I do not own Soul Eater.
"Ah ha, I found it!" Maka exclaimed victoriously after a few moments of looking. She reached over and grabbed a large, white box with a red plus on it. She also found a medium, neon orange, nylon bag. It looked important, so she took it. Maka slung the bag over her left shoulder and held the first aid kit securely under her other arm. She shifted again.
The creaking sound below her feet was becoming louder. It was starting to be a little unnerving.
What the hell is going on?
When Maka turned around to go back to the group, the creaking immediately turned into an earsplitting crash and then the floor gave out from under her.
She fell through.
SHIT! Crap, crap, crap, crap!
In a moment of blind panic, Maka flung the first aid kit away from her. She grasped at the nearest thing and held on. And that thing happened to be the remaining floor around her.
The good news, she didn't fall to what was surely to be her death. The bad news, the floor Maka had grabbed onto had sharp pieces of metal that were sticking into her palms. Ouch.
The other bad news? When she fell, a particularly sharp piece of metal sliced her right calf, leaving a four inch gash, starting from the middle of her calf to about three inches above her ankle.
Today was just not her day.
"Maka! What was the hell was that?" Soul shouted.
"Are you okay?" Tsubaki called out in great concern.
"Oh, I'm fine!" Maka, her heart racing, just hung there for a minute, not believing on what just happened. After she pulled herself together, she began to hoist herself out of the hole.
Thank God I did all of those pull ups!
"Are you sure? That was a pretty loud crash…" Liz said suspiciously.
And thank God they can't see me…
"Some things just fell. That's all!"
Maka grunted with effort as she pulled herself up. She did everything she could to ignore the sting in her palms and the immense pain in her calf. It was safe to say it wasn't very easy.
"Then what fell? Did you find you find something?" Soul asked.
Argh! Quit asking me questions!
"Just stuff. And yeah, I did find something!" Maka managed to force out. With one last grunt, she pulled herself out of the hole.
"What did you find?" Soul asked again.
"A first aid kit." Maka said with great annoyance and effort.
Once she emerged from the hole, she sat down and inspected the damage. Her palms were scraped up and had some blood dripping from the cuts, but she could deal with that. The thing that worried her was the large laceration on her right calf. Crimson blood was flowing down her leg, turning her calf into a mess of different shades of red.
I'm going to have to wrap that later.
Maka grimaced when she stood up. She looked to see where the first aid kit was and hobbled over to retrieve it. The nylon bag still hung over her shoulder and the white first aid kit secured snuggly under her other arm; she looked down at herself to make sure she looked presentable.
The front of her looked fine, so all she to do was keep her back from view and keep her palms hidden. No need to worry them with some stupid injuries right now, right?
"Hey, what's going on back there?" Kid shouted. He felt so out of the loop right now. It wasn't helping that it felt like his head was being split open by an axe. At least the pain was in the middle of his head, a symmetrical location.
"Hey guys, nothing to worry about! Look at the things I found!" Maka enthusiastically said. "I couldn't find anything else though…"
Maka suppressed a limp and walked over carefully to the rest of the group, making sure that they could not see her calf. Soul watched her calculated movements and narrowed his eyes. Something seemed off.
"Okay, now all of that aside, how are we going to get out?" Maka just asked the million dollar question.
There was silence from the cockpit and the guys in the fuselage had blank looks on their faces. Tsubaki shook her head and glanced towards a certain, obvious opening and Patty giggled silently to herself.
"Do you NOT see the huge fucking hole right here!" Liz motioned her hands toward the said hole in emphasis.
Maka was the first to speak, "Huh, I forgot about that."
Patty gazed out the large opening. "We could climb down the tree! Like a monkey!" Since Patty was the closest to the opening, she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out first.
"Patty, be careful! We need to think about this!" Liz cried out with great concern.
"Don't worry, Sis! This is fun, you should try it!" Patty's distant voice said. It turned out that she was leaping from branch to branch, descending down the tree with great ease.
"Oh, why me?" Liz slung both hers and Patty's bags over her shoulders and she slowly climbed out of the plane. "Aw man, I really hate heights!"
"I guess it's my turn now, huh?" Tsubaki said. Nervousness was visible in her deep indigo eyes. She departed the plane too.
"Hey, wait up Tsubaki! This is going to be awesome!" Black*Star exclaimed. He practically attacked the seatbelt and leaped out the opening. "YAHOO!"
The plane shifted a little.
Maka stayed where she was. Her face was blank, but her mind was going a mile a minute. The thought of descending down the tree in her condition was very troubling.
"So Maka, are you going to go?" Soul motioned towards the hole, leaning back in the seat.
"Oh no, I couldn't! You go on ahead!" Maka laughed nervously. The pain in her calf was really hard to ignore now.
Soul raised a brow, "Hey Kid, you go on ahead. We have some things to talk about."
Kid's head peeked around the copilot's chair, "Alright, but you need to get out soon. It's dangerous up here!"
Kid slowly raised himself from the seat and gingerly walked toward the opening. The plane shifted even more and Maka grabbed on to the nearest seat in surprise.
Kid gave them a stern look, "I'm serious." He took hold of the nearest branch and left the plane.
Soul stood up from the seat and gave Maka an accusing look, "So Maka, anything you want to tell me? Do you have any particular reason why you don't want to leave this death trap?"
"Nope, I am just being the typical hero by letting my friends escape a dangerous situation before I do. I can accomplish that goal if you would just go first."
"Oh no, I can't accept that! What kind of person would I be if I let a girl stay in a place that can lead to her possible death?" His plan was to get her annoyed enough to slip up, make a mistake, show him the real reason on why she was acting so strangely.
"No no, I insist! Climb out of the hole! I'll be right behind you!" Maka said through gritted teeth. Soul could see the agitation build up in her eyes. It's working…
"No, you go! I was raised to be a gentleman, after all." Soul smirked. He saw Maka clench her jaw in great irritation.
"Would you just get off the damn plane? God, you're stubborn!" Maka pointed at the opening in emphasis.
Soul's eyes saw her palm and snatched her wrist with his considerably larger hand. His smirk was immediately wiped off his face and his eyes widened when he saw the scrapes and cuts. He went to examine her other hand.
The first aid kit clattered on the floor.
"What the hell happened, Maka!" Soul exclaimed.
"I kinda, sorta fell. But this is nothing!"
"Don't tell me it was just nothing! Are you hurt anywhere else?" Soul's eyes were filled with concern.
"Well, since you asked, my right leg hurts a little bit. But it's nothing to worry about, really!" Maka said.
He gave her a weird look then went to inspect her right leg. He definitely did not like what he saw.
"Hurts a little, my ass! Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Soul yelled. "Something else could've happened and we wouldn't have known! You can be really stupid sometimes, you know that?"
"I didn't tell you guys because everyone would freak out and that would be unnecessary. Sort of like how you're acting now." Maka calmly said. "And you can let go of my hands now."
Flustered, Soul released her hands. He didn't realize that he was holding them for so long.
He sighed and picked up the first aid kit. "Alright, I'll go first and I'll catch you if you fall."
Maka rolled her eyes, "How very heroic of you." She wasn't very happy that her plan to keep everyone from knowing about her leg didn't work.
Soul glared, "Don't start with me."
Down below the plane, Kid was about to jump to the ground from the last branch. The branch was about six feet above the air, but there was a pile of leaves and decaying wood that softened the landing a little.
Liz was hugging a nearby tree, grateful to be on solid ground. The others were equally relieved.
Kid leaped down and landed with a thud. He groaned as he sat up.
"What's taking them so long? Shouldn't they be out of the plane by now?" He said while looking up at the plane.
"Do ya think Soul's making a move on Maka? Do ya, do ya?" Patty eagerly asked.
"No, that's not Soul's style. The mood has to be just right, you know?" Black*Star instantly said. "I mean, who wants to be asked out on a crashed plane that's about to fall out of a tree?"
"Do you think Maka did anything?" Patty asked again, her eyes widening.
Tsubaki spoke up, shaking her head, "Maka's too shy and sensitive about stuff like that, even though she won't admit it. The guy would have to make the first move."
"Aw." Patty's eyes fell.
"What is taking them so long then?" Kid questioned while looking at the plane.
Back up at the plane, Soul balanced himself on a broad branch and waited patiently for Maka. He heard shuffling going on in the plane.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm getting my bag." Maka simply said.
"What is so important that you have to get your bag?" He said in exasperation.
"My books, duh." Maka said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I'll never understand her love of books. Soul shook his head. His head snapped up when he heard Maka yelp. The plane slid a considerable amount.
"Maka, you have to get out of there now!" He saw how the plane was losing its grip on the branch.
Maka sensed Soul's anxiety and readied herself to jump. Maka clenched her jaw and leaped to the branch Soul was on. She flinched when she landed on her injured leg. Soul steadied her.
Soon after she jumped, the plane took a nose dive towards the ground. The only thing keeping the plane suspended was a branch holding on to the tail.
The shock finally settled in. The true direness of the situation finally registered.
"We could've died in that thing." Maka whispered. She was trembling, trying to hold back the unwanted tears. This whole thing that has happened did not affect her as much as it did now. When she saw the plane plummet from its perch, she finally broke down.
Soul was just as shocked as she was. He held Maka and she gladly welcomed the warm embrace.
"We should probably climb down now." Maka mumbled, wiping her face to clear the tears.
"Uh, yeah. I'll go down first." Soul said, slightly disappointed that she pulled away so soon.
Soul started to descend down the large pine, first aid kit in hand. It wasn't so easy for Maka. Having to grip the branches with her scraped up hands and having to put her weight on her wounded leg put Maka in excruciating pain.
"You hanging in there, Maka?" Soul called out a few feet from under her.
"Just peachy." Maka grunted. She endured the torment by clenching her teeth every time a sharp stab of pain ran threw her hands and leg.
Just keep going, one branch at a time.
After a while, Soul finally reached the last branch. Maka was three feet above him, sweating and breathing heavily. The pain was almost unbearable.
As Maka tentatively lowered herself to the next branch, a twig scraped across the gash on her calf, causing her to hiss in pain and her hands to lose their grip on the branch she was holding onto. She came crashing into Soul and, he to, fell from the branch.
They landed in the pile of rotting leaves and the group, already on the ground, stared at them in bewilderment.
"That was a softer landing than I had anticipated." Maka said, sitting up.
"I beg to differ." Soul forced out. Maka gave him a sheepish smile and hastily got off of his back.
The group stared at them, wide eyed. They were surprised to see Maka's calf and hands covered with blood.
"Maka, go and sit over there. Those need to be wrapped." Soul stated, lifting himself from the ground.
Maka complied and hobbled over to a tree. She took a seat on the earthen ground and rested her back against the trunk. Soul proceeded to walk over with the first aid kit and rummaged through the supplies.
Tsubaki dashed over to inspect the wound. Her eyes were filled with worry, but she did not voice her thoughts. She knew Maka wouldn't like that.
"Holy crap Maka, that's some cut you got there!" Black*Star exclaimed.
"That's a lot of blood Maka, are you okay?" Patty asked with concern.
"Oh, I'm fine Patty!"
"And your hands?" Kid asked.
"They're fine too!" Maka sighed.
After a few moments of inspecting the injury, Tsubaki said, "This needs to be cleaned. We do not want to get that infected."
"But do we have anything to clean it with? I've looked through this thing and I don't exactly see any rubbing alcohol." Soul stated.
Maka winced. Rubbing alcohol sounded kinda painful.
"Is there anything in that orange bag?" Tsubaki asked.
"I don't know, let's see!" Maka took the nylon bag and unzipped it. "We got some crackers and some beef jerky. And here's a knife! This might come in handy!" The knife blade was four inches long and it had a camouflage, rubber grip. The knife blade had a camouflage sheath over it.
Black*Star walked over and took the knife. It fit perfectly in his hand. "It's a good quality hunting knife too!"
"Ooh and we also have a red... square thing? That's kind of weird, and we have some… water bottles!" Maka exclaimed. "And they're filled!" There were four filled bottles in all. The bottles had black caps and silver containers.
"Cool." Soul took one and poured some water over Maka's calf. He tried to rub off the dried blood and dirt.
"Ow!" Maka hissed.
"Sorry." Soul took out the gauze and some antiseptic. He put some of the antiseptic on the gash and began to wrap her leg. Tsubaki took the water and started to wash of Maka's hands. Maka washed the other one.
Tsubaki took two large, square bandages and put one on each of Maka's hands. That should keep your hand from bleeding, but I don't know about your calf. It looked like it needs some stitches."
"And just so we are clear, I'm not letting any of you near me with a needle and thread." Maka said with a dead serious look on her face.
Soul chuckled, "We don't have any, so you're safe."
After a moment of silence, Kid spoke up, "We should probably go and find some water now. The things we have now won't last. We can also find our shelter near there too."
"Yeah, we should probably start walking. Don't worry about getting lost, the great Black*Star will lead the way!"
"I hate to burst your bubble, but we're already lost." Liz muttered.
"It will be good to find a good location to set up camp and stuff." Maka said in agreement to Kid.
And with that, Soul helped Maka up and they all began to walk.
All done! :P And now the surviving can really begin! Muahahaha!
I not really positive on when the next chapter will be out because I have a project due this Friday, my brother's birthday on Saturday, My friend's birthday PARTY on Saturday, and I have another project I have to work on for language arts. I really don't like projects.
most of you probably don't care about my problems, but I just wanted to let you know and stuff, so yeah...
Please review! It will only take a teeny tiny bit of your time!