Maka blinked lazily, bright sunlight streaming down. She must not have been asleep long if it was still light out. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Morning." Soul said.
"Gah! What are you doing back!" Maka squeaked.
"It's been bit more than a day." He flicked a thin red book at her. "Atlas."
"Where'd you get it?" She asked, flipping the book to a world map.
"Stole it." He replied. She gave him a look.
"Soul..."
"We have no money other than a bank account which would tell Asura exactly where we are. I didn't have much of a choice." Maka sighed.
"I know. It's just... it feels wrong. We help people. Shoplifting just seems..."
"Yeah, I know. Petty? But we don't really have much choice. Besides. It was ten bucks. They won't even notice it's gone."
"I suppose what's done is done." She stabbed a spot on the map with a finger. "The coordinates lead right here." Soul glanced over.
"That's in the middle of the ocean." Maka chewed her lip.
"Sometimes there are small islands or icebergs nobody bothers to document. I suppose it's possible."
"Or we did something wrong." Maka sighed in exasperation.
"Look. That's how it decodes. Trust me, ok?"
"Sorry. I'm just... tense." He sat down heavily beside her. "I'm trying to keep calm, for you, but... we aren't doing so well. And most friends have all tried to kill us. Kill you. And they've almost succeeded twice." He lay back against his motorcycle. "I'm just a little out of it. I'll be fine."
"It's harder now isn't it." Maka murmured. "Half the time anything happens I can barely concentrate because I'm worried sick. We don't have other people backing us up, people we can trust to be there if we need them. Now... I feel so alone." Soul slung an arm around her shoulders.
"I'm still here." She leaned in.
"Yeah. I know." The two sat there for a while. Slowly, the sky darkened into afternoon. "The sunset looks amazing." Maka commented.
"Yeah. We got a great view from here." Soul replied, watching the sun turn the clouds into tendrils of purple and orange fire.
"Hey Soul." Maka said. She shifted a little bit. "There's something I should have said a while ago." The girl hugged him as fiercely as she could with one arm. "I love you." For a moment, Soul seemed like he was in shock. Then he breathed one, long sigh.
"I love you too." He murmured. Maka shifted onto his lap, burying her face in his chest. After a moment Soul shifted slightly. "Get off. I'll be right back."
"Mkay. Where are you going?"
"Sleeping bag." He said, dusting himself off. He headed for the nearby sparse rows of houses. About twenty minutes later he came back, a black drawstring bag slung over his back. "Most people just leave them in an unlocked garage." He explained. "I figured I might as well grab one, while we were here. I think this one's pretty big." Maka stood up as well.
"We should be moving. We'll need to find a plane to get out to the ocean. Got any ideas?" Their brief moment was gone. Time to be practical again.
"A few. We'd have to continue our crime spree."
"A tiny book and a sleeping bag hardly counts as a crime spree."
"A plane might though."
"You make a good point." She watched as Soul wheeled the bike back onto the road, then climbed behind him. With a roar of the engine, they took off down the road. Maka felt things were definitely looking up, if they managed to live through this.
