Your Burden Is Mine.

-000-

Soul and Maka were forced to temporarily match wavelengths in order to fend off a witch. Why had there been a witch so close to the academy? They had not a clue, but it looked all too fishy to Soul. This witch was powerful, and how she managed to hide all of that power up until now, was beyond him. And there had been no way Tsuabaki and Black Star could not have felt a presence this strong. With any luck they would arrive soon for back up. Until then, Soul had to figure out a way to make himself lighter for Maka to swing. He could already feel her arms trying to collapse under his weight, and if that happened they were really screwed.

"Maka, keep your attacks long range."

Long range attacks were their best option at the moment, since there was no way she could handle his weight much less the force of hand to hand combat on top of it. Not only that, but Maka had been acting on instinct rather than her own wit. He tried to focus on matching her movements every time she blocked an attack. She had been really struggling to hold him but she wasn't really showing it. He had just been thankful for her stubbornness for once in his life.

"Who are you?!" Maka yelled out, but received no answer. "Doesn't matter! Under the authority granted by Lord Death, I am obligated to destroy you and take your soul!" She pointed the large death scythe at the witch.

"That thing?" The voice appeared to be that of a woman who sounded sickly, "You're going to destroy me with a weapon you can barely wield?" As if on cue, Maka began to really feel the effects of swinging Soul around so carelessly. Her arms began to shake and she struggled to stand with him. "Don't let her get in your head, Maka, it's easy if you don't think about it." Maka would like to know where he received his logic from, but actually when she thought about how heavy he had been, it really started to hurt her body more. Her knees began to buckle under his weight...

"Maka!"

She gasped and tightened her grip around Soul before forcing herself to block the next attack. Said attack had an obvious overbearing amount of force behind it, but Maka, being as suborn as she was, planted her feet into the earth and refused to give or bend. If this witch really wanted a fight, then Maka Albarn was the right person to challenge.

It had almost been like a graceful dance between the two; Maka ducked to avoid a burst of light she shot from her hand and the witch dodged Soul's sharp blade coming at her from below. Soul didn't really know how long Maka could keep up, he'd actually expected her to have already given in. It wasn't news to him that he was undesirably heavy, even Black Star had issues holding him for long periods of time. But what amazed him was how much of a bitch Maka was making Black Star out to be during this fight.

Maka felt her muscles tighten and sting until they were numb. She forced her body to comply to her demands despite how badly the pain burned through her. If she was to give up there was no telling what would happen after the witch had finished with her and Soul.

Purple specs began to float into Maka's vision and she felt her blood pressure rising. Black cracks grained along her line of sight, so that not only did she feel nothing, but she was also losing the rest of her consciousness. The last thing she heard was Soul's worried voice and the last this felt was his arms wrapped around her.

"So she flaked out on you, huh?"

"Wasn't like she wanted to..."

"You're really going to defend her? She's been nothing but rude to you ever since you came here. And it was for her! I wouldn't give her the time of day."

"Black Star, you wouldn't give anyone the time of day. You don't even give it to Tsubaki but lucky for you she's caring and understanding enough to give you her whole life with nothing in return." Black star crossed his arms and arched his brow, "This isn't about me and Tsubaki though."

"Maybe it should be. Maybe that's what's really bothering you here."

"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" Black Star stepped forward with furrowed brows, "No one talks to me like that so don't even Soul Eater!" Soul didn't seem moved by his advancement and only shrugged his shoulders, "Listen, if you weren't so full of yourself maybe you would win more fights than you lose."

"I always win my fights! I am BLACK STAR."

"You're an idiot." The two were interrupted by a small nurse who cleared her throat, "I'm going to have to ask you two to please keep it down, Mr. Evans, Miss Albarn is still resting and is not ready to wake."

"Sorry, we will."

"Yeah, whatever." Black Star rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall.

"You can go on, I'm sure Tsubaki is worried enough." The blue headed assassin nodded his farewell and headed out the door, "Give Maka my best when she wakes up. Though she probably doesn't deserve it, it might make her feel better."

"Sure." A large hand waved Black Star off and came to rest on the arm of the chair he was seated in. There had been nothing to do but sit and wait for Maka to come to. Also a perfect time to think about what he had done wrong in the previous fight, he had a grocery list of things.

First off, he should have run, or at least tried to run. The only reason he didn't was because he knew they wouldn't get very far and would most likely be caught off guard doing so. Another reason was because of his pride, which probably wasn't something he had last time he and Maka resonated.

Secondly, He should NOT have forced her to resonate. That was more dangerous than making a run for it and could've potential worsened her condition. Soul wasn't one to make assumptions off of first glance, but Maka was looking extremely pale in her hospital bed, no telling what waited beneath her eyelids.

Green or red? He sighed and shifted in the hard, wooden chair uncomfortably.

Thirdly, he should have stopped her when she lost consciousness. Instead he froze up and stumbled like the kid he used to be. Though he couldn't help but wonder if Maka shared the same reaction as he did, all those years ago.

His thoughts were interrupted by a light voice. He immediately shot up and went to the side of the bed, "Maka?" Her eyes were half lidded and drained. "Maka are you there?" Soul waved a hand in front of her face and took note of her dull gray eyes. What the hell did that mean?

"How long was I out?"

"About, half a day."

"Wow really? Pathetic."

"Just shut up, I'll call the nurse." Soul pushed the call button. "You're a handful, Maka." She just smiled and closed her eyes.

"So, tell me what happened again?"

"You blacked out, I couldn't read your movements they were at random, I tried to reason with you but got no answer, we killed the witch, you passed out, I ate the witch's soul, and then I brought you here." Soul said nonchalantly in an attempt to sum everything up.

"I don't remember half of that."

"Did you miss the you blacked out part? I mean it's not likely that you'll ever remember what you did."

"No, but that bothers me."

"What? The control freak losing control? Poor Maka..."

"Shut up Soul!" Her smile betrayed her harsh voice and she gave him a light shove, "I'll kick you off my hospital bed."

"Well maybe I'll just go then...!"

"Maybe you will!" She launched her foot at him in an attempt to make good on her word, but Soul caught it with ease. He wrapped his long fingers around her foot and flicked his thumb on its padded bottom, sending her climbing half way up the wall in laughter. "Stop! I hate being tickled!" He pulled his hand back with a victorious smirk, "I hate being kicked." Stein knocked on the open door before he waltzed in. "Maka! Glad to see you're among the living once again! You gave us all a scare."

"Yeah..." She hesitated, "Sorry."

"Let's have a look at your eyes." Maka felt her face heat up when Soul grabbed her face and peeled her eyes open wide, "They're gray." He told Stein, "What does that mean?"

"Well, I couldn't tell you right off the bat..." Maka pulled away from Soul and gave him a look. "Don't do that." Stein sat in the wooden chair across from her bed, "Tell me how you feel and what you remember."

"I feel sore, a little embarrassed, but not really tired, just annoyed and I really don't remember anything after the point of unconsciousness."

"Annoyed?" Maka paused and looked to a random corner in the room. "Yeah, you guys are aggravating..." She played off the insult with pride in her voice. She had really been annoyed with herself. She was feeling kind of insecure about the fact that everything about her could be read by just the color of her eyes.

"Glad to see you're feeling okay..." Stein smiled and lit a cigarette. "I don't think you're allowed to smoke in a hospital." A new voice entered the room. Soul's eyes met and clashed with Kid's yellow ones. Stein blew smoke from his nose and ignored him. "I came as soon as I heard, Maka..." He stepped further in and walked toward her bedside, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Maka smiled and Soul unknowingly rolled his eyes and slumped his posture. Stein arched an eyebrow at his not so discrete display of jealousy.

"Is there anything I can get you?"

"Not reall-"

"I got it…! I've got everything here, Kid. You don't need to worry, Maka is already taken care of." Soul piped in and met his gaze with a sharp glare. Maka gave Soul a confused look and shook her head.

After Soul settled Maka back into the house he took off to Stein's office where he had been waiting with cigarette in hand. "Alright, now tell me the rest and don't leave out a detail. Describe the feeling and the conversation that was exchanged."

"Well.. I knew something was wrong when Maka just blacked out so I peeked into her mind to try and bring her back. That's when I felt the pull; somewhat of a vacuum effect. I was being pulled into her mind, but there was nothing there but black.. abyss?"

"I would assume that is the madness taking a hold on her.. it seems to be spreading bad but this is the first time she's ever blacked out while in combat."

"It could have been because I forced her to resonate, that could've increased the pace, right?"

"I don't know, well, anyway continue."

"Like I said, I couldn't see anything. I just got pulled in and for the longest time It felt like I was lying on my back in a dark room, then there was a girl."

"The one with white hair?"

"right, she looked just like Maka, but sick, I guess."

"Did you tell Maka?"

"No."

"Good."