Destroying a Perfect Soul Chapter 9: A Call for Help
"I saw a vision of Soul this morning…" "And He…he looked like he wanted to kill me…"
I woke up with a jump the next morning; wishing that the dream I had could have continued. It had been a normal afternoon in the park and all of my friends were there for a picnic. Tsubaki had baked her infamous peanut butter pie while I sat patiently on the blanket for a piece. Kid had counted a flower's pedals and was obsessing over it the whole time for having 8 of them; both sisters giggling his way—Patty louder of course. And while that was going on, Black*Star was playing pass back with a football…with Soul.
Still lying on my side in the bed, my eyes narrowed and I took a handful of pillow in my left hand. Why did he have to be gone? It wasn't fair…I didn't disserve such a loss and Soul definitely did not deserve to be taken on such an important night! I ground my teeth together and let my eyes shut so I wouldn't let another tear slip by. Maybe it was that Natasha bitch! She didn't like me…but she liked Soul! She could have taken him just to screw with my head!
"Hey, are you crying?"
I froze all of my actions and my eyes snapped open. What…? "Did you just wake up…?" The voice spoke up again and I felt a shift in the bed that definitely did 'not' come from me! "What the hell you crying for?" A hand touched my arm and I felt someone's breath against my skin… "You have some kinda nightmare?" That…that was surely Soul's voice!
"S-Soul!"
I felt him smile against my neck.
"Your stuttering, how uncool." He said to me as I struggled to believe what was happening. I guess that was right…saying something like that was so typical of him… "Don't worry…I'm right here, Maka…" I let a smile form across my face. "I'll always be here..."
Finally, I gained the strength to sit up and turn in the bed. But instead of what should have been joy, I felt a wave of despair crash against me and I fell over to lie down again. I tried not to cry again as I stared at the empty space beside me…but I exploded into a fit of sobs anyway because I knew that Soul was lying to me….
He was probably never going to be here with me ever again…
"That was a foul!" Black*Star yelled as he pointed at a Shibusen Student with an accusing finger. The boy seemed to flinch and drop the basketball before turning to face his coach and apologize. Then as the blue haired P.E teacher set his hands on his hips, the student went back to playing, though he had given the ball to the other team to start. I watched as the team began to play again and the ball was almost through the basket but it had rebounded off the rim and back into the court. It was weird…Not only was he a P.E teacher, but he also coached the school's basketball team. And on the other side of the gym, the Volleyball team—which he coached as well—was practicing too…
"BALL ON COURT!"
All games in the gym stopped and a girl on one of the volleyball courts knelt down and grabbed a basketball to toss it to one of the boys on the other side of the large room. I guessed that was their system of saving lives if a ball were to roll on someone else's court…that's when Black*Star spotted me standing in the doorway. He gave me a very weak smile—obviously showing how much he was hurting too—and then lifted a hand to wave…so I helplessly waved back and pushed away from the door to begin making my way over to him near the benches on the other side of the gym.
"Hey Maka, what you doing here?"
"The apartment seems too empty without Soul…"
As I said that I climbed up the benches a few steps and turned to sit and face the basketball game on the other side of the blue haired man. One boy had the ball and jumped up into the air to dunk it into the basket, but it only ended up hitting the rim and it was launched into the other team's hands. I remembered how much I hated that game…how I was nearly forced into it only because Soul wanted to ask me to the winter ball… My eyes narrowed and as I kept my eyes ahead of me I remembered playing ball with him and the others…back before it was all screwed up because of Medusa…back before all the stress…
-"Ok, that's another score for Soul's team! It's now nine to five. We're playing to ten, remember that!"
In front of me, Soul dribbled the ball with a smug grin on his face. "You know what I'm going to have you do when I win this game?" He asked as he tried to move around me. I lifted a brow as I stepped in front of him; telling him to continue. "For the next three weeks I'm going to have you wake me up personally—no alarm clock—in a maids dress with breakfast already made and at hand." My eye twitched as I felt a muscle in my forehead pulse. "Oh, and don't forget to say "Oh, good morning Mr. Evans. I hope you enjoy the breakfast I made for you!" and then at night you'll make me a nice dinner, tuck me in, and tell me "Good night Mr. Evans, have wonderful dreams." And don't forget this is 'all' in your maid dress—"
"Well then, I guess I'll have you do the same thing when 'my' team wins. Maid's dress and all…"
"Look at your points Miss. Albarn."
"You never know…"
"Heh…you wish." Soul laughed before running towards me. Gasping, I went to slap the ball from his hands, but he dodged me and made his way around and over to the basket to make the winning score for he and his team. "That's ten to five!" Soul cheered; high fiving his teammates. "We win!"I only stood there; now thinking about the conversation we just had. He called himself "Evans" two times now that my mind was on the subject…how did the others not hear that?
"Hold on Soul! We must speak with you!" Kid and Black*Star yelled at the same time; dragging the white haired teen away and over on the other side of the court. I lifted a brow and let my head tilt to the side slightly as Soul made annoyed faces and shot things back to the other two in front of him. Then, after a moment, all three of them looked at me before going back to what they were saying. This time, both my brows furrowed and I growled in annoyance. They must have been giving him ideas on what to do to me!
"Just do it Soul!"
"Fine!" The white haired teen shouted back as he walked away from the other two boys. I crossed my arms as he stopped in front of me with that same old smug grin on his face. "Well, there's been a change of plans regarding my request." He then told me. My finger began tapping my arm as he took the moment to take in a deep breath. "Maka Albarn. For losing a game of basketball, the request that you 'must' fulfill…" He grinned this time; showing off his shark like teeth, "Is to go to the Winter Ball as my date."-
"Coach, that shouldn't count!"
"I know, but it does! Continue on," Black*Star shouted back at the kid's in front of him. They all rolled their eyes and went back to playing as I came back from my memories. The blue haired man in front of me used to play basketball just like the boy's before us. He and Soul would always go play on the park's courts and during P.E they were always captains of their very own team. They even tried out for Shibusen's team…but only Black*Star got in because the coach then—Sid-Sensei—knew how busy Soul was in band. Yeah that's right…Senior year, Soul joined band so he could play the piano for an audience again. I was so proud of him…
"So…this is 'your' team now, huh?"
Black*Star looked at me in the corner of his eyes and saw me watching the young players running back and forth trying to get the orange colored ball into the basket. He let a medium sized grin spread across his lips, and then nodded to me. "Yeah, they aren't professionals," As he said this, two young men ran into each other and the ball ended up rolling over to the volleyball court. "But they're pretty good…"
"BALL ON COURT!"
As the two boys were helped out, a volleyball player tossed the ball back over them. "You coach volleyball too?" I asked quietly as my eyes were drawn to the girls practicing a game together on the same net. "…At the same time?"
Once again Black*Star nodded. "Yeah…though the great me likes to focus on basketball, so…" He lifted his right hand and pointed towards the office where a blond woman I recognized to be a part of my P.E class senior year, shuffled through some papers. Her name was Jamie. "Jamie's the other P.E teacher here so she usually helps out with the volleyball team."
"Alright girls!" Jamie called out in a brittish accent as she exited the office; checking something on her clipboard and making sure she had a whistle around her neck. "Let's quickly practice your blocking!"
"HAI~!"
"Wow…" I breathed as the girls lined up at the net to do the very thing. "She used to be so shy and so quiet…what happened?"
"She hooked up with Hiro." Black*Star smirked with his arms crossed as he kept his eyes on 'his' team. "You know…the guy who was 'never' shy." Lazily, I looked at the blue haired man as he lightly kicked the basketball back into a boy's hands. Why didn't I know that? I talked to Hiro every once in awhile back in school and he never mentioned getting Jamie to be his girlfriend…
"When did they…?"
He shrugged. "Around the end of senior year, I think." Black*Star then answered; still not looking my way. "She was all upset because Molly died in that fire...and then Hiro came along like the shining prince he is and fixed things and made her life actually…livable…surprisingly…" His eyes narrowed. "That dudes a prick."I looked at the blond P.E teacher on the other side of the gym and watched as she told the girls about some new skills. That's right…Jamie was bi-sexual. She was in love with her best friend Molly back in high school but was too shy and nervous to say anything…I remember hearing about the fire and how Molly had died in it…but I didn't get to see how it affected Jamie. I guess it really shook her up…maybe Hiro coming along and Molly's death really opened her up to try new things…
Black*Star lifted his whistle that rested against his chest and brought it to his lips so he could blow into it and then point at one of the players. "No points for that shot." He then said as the whole team looked his way; even some of the girls playing volleyball. "The ball bounced off court before it went in the basket."
"But coach—"
"No buts," The blue haired man snapped; eyeing each student of the school that played on the basketball team. "Now play the game right…some of you" Lifting his hand, he pointed to a couple of the players to our right. "Sit out…there's too many on that team." He cringed as they pointed to their selves in question. "Kid would not be pleased…"
"Kiddo-Sensei?"
"Yeah, him."
I studied how Black*Star spoke to those children. He seemed to be much more mellow than he used to be and I was sure it was because of Soul. Or maybe he acted like this just to make sure the players knew whose boss! It was certainly odd of him to acting like it, but it almost seemed that it was natural…since it was a response to Soul's disappearance. In fact, all of us were mellow about it…we just wanted him to come home…
"Hey lady, you friend's with coach?"
To my right, one of the basketball players that had to sit out was looking my way with a curious smile. "Oh…yeah," I told him in response; realizing that the other two who sat out were looking as well. "I met him in elementary school," I then said with a small forced smile…It couldn't be real unless Soul was there to make appear. Like when he'd play the piano for me or dance with me before dinner if he heard music playing on the record player. He'd even make me smile just by looking at me…
"Are you gunna come see how our first game goes?"
"When is that…?"
"The Sunday after…next…Sunday…"
We all looked at Black*Star as he picked up a runaway volleyball and tossed it back over to the girls. Then he turned around and gave me a thumbs up. "…I guess the first game is pretty much in two weeks then," He then said as he gave me one of his own forced smiles—though I knew most of it was true. "The volleyball team's first game is the Monday right after." The basketball players around me looked my way and spoke at the same time.
"You wanna go?"
"Kid, Liz, Patty and Tsubaki said they'd go." Black*Star said to me as he walked over and stood on the last bench before the bottom. He then got to his knees and put his hands together so he could give me a puppy dog face. "Please? It's my first game as coach!" His hands were then in the air. "It's a big deal!" Suddenly, he stopped, dropped his hands and got back to his feet; giving me a somber look. "Or…is Soul…a problem…? I totally understand if you—"
"N-No!" I said with my hands up in defense. "Don't worry, I'll be there." I then said to the kids with another forced smile. "Rain or shine…" I looked at Black*Star and my expression darkened. I didn't like what I was about to tell him…but I felt as if it should have been said anyway…
"Soul with us…or not."
In the hall on my way to the main entrance, I spotted Kid as he left one of the classrooms; a stack of papers in his hands as he shut the door. I heard him mumbling something about holding them asymmetrically, and let a small smile appear that was probably—I doubt it just a little—real… "Hey, Kiddo," I greeted as he spotted me in the corner of his eyes. He seemed to flinch, but managed a small smile in return and waved with his free hand; which had been quickly filled with papers to support his "symmetrical" balance. "You just going home?"
"Yes," Kid answered as he waited for me to catch up. Then as soon as we were next to each other, we both were walking side by side. "I really need to get home, so I decided to correct the rest of the tests there." He then said to me as he flipped through the pages of tests. I glanced over and saw the sloppy handwriting all over the sheets that obviously screwed with Kid's head…but he seemed to handle it well now that he was a grown man. Though I did see him sigh after going through all the Econ papers. "Usually Liz and Patty help me correct them since the children's handwriting drives me crazy!"
"I can imagine…"
He seemed to spark an idea or remember something and looked my way with a smile. Sometimes I wondered if he ever felt depression when it didn't involve Liz and her relationship with Tod… "Speaking of the girls," He said to me as we turned a corner to walk down a different hall together. "They wanted you to come over tonight since they were doing one last "sleepover" before they're officially "adults", plus…" Kid shrugged and looked forward again just in time to open the main doors. "They want to cheer each other up. You too…so they'd appreciate it if you went." We stopped at the top of the stairs and he seemed to look into the skies nearest cloud. "Hey…Maka-San…"
"…Yes?"
"My father and a few others are currently searching for Soul." Kid said to me, almost completely out of nowhere. "You don't need to worry…Soul will come home." His golden eyes narrowed at the cloud and I looked at it as well. "I know he will…he mustn't leave you behind like this," I definitely agreed with him, but at that moment I was a little preoccupied with the cloud we had been looking at. It was shaped as if it was some kind of word…though it seemed like he didn't even notice… "Well…I probably should get going…" I heard him breathe out in question as I studied the cloud. What did it say?
"S…O…S…?"
My eyes widened greatly.
"When we're far apart, I can see things that represent how he feels"
"He needs…help!" I nearly screamed at the top of my lungs as I fell to my knees; causing Kid to stop in his tracks half way down the stairs. He looked up to me quickly and nearly dropped all of the papers before running back up to me with a call of my name. But I kept my wide eyes on the clouds that were shaped as Soul's cry for help. "K-Kid! Soul…he needs me!" I yelled as he knelt down beside me and set a hand on both my shoulders. "H-He needs us! We need to find him!"
"Maka-San please calm yourself!"
"But Soul!" I yelled as I lifted my left hand to point at the cloud in the sky. "The clouds! They're telling me that he needs—"
Kid looked at the clouds and then back to me with a puzzled expression. "Maka-San, they don't say anything," He then said to me; causing me to look down quickly and into his golden eyes. He was giving me a serious look now, and I knew he wasn't lying. Though I knew it was true in his eyes, but I was the one who had the ability to see the signs that told me Soul needed help…not him. So I was the only one that could see the cloud shaped like it was. My shaking green eyes made their way back in the direction of the clouds I had been looking at and, to my surprise, saw that they were normal puffballs in the sky again…no shapes or letters at all… "See?"
'No way…' I thought as Kid helped me to my feet and went to go pick his papers up. I began making my way down the steps as well and met up with him to walk towards my apartment. 'There's no way…' I gulped and my hands snatched up a handful of my sweatpants as I walked alongside my longtime friend.
Was I just imagining it?
"There we are!" Kid said proudly as he set down a pot of food in the middle of the dining table us women sat at. I sat at the end across from Tsubaki while Liz and Patty sat on one of the wide sides across from Kim and Jackie on the other side. "Bonne apatite, Ladies~" He took off his oven mitts and grabbed the large spoon in the pot so he could begin to put the food—which was spaghetti—on each of our plates. And as he did that, Liz stood up and held her glass of wine up with a smile.
"A toast to Maka," She said to us all; causing me to look up from me meal as Kid came to me to put the spaghetti on my plate in front of me. Everyone around me smiled lightly and took their glasses as well and lifted them up while I just watched. "She's hurting the most right now, and yet she still seems to be sane." She smiled at me with a real smile and I knew that it meant well. "I dedicate this toast to her for being such a strong person, a nice friend, a beautiful woman, and best of all…the bravest person I've met in a long time!" They all lifted their glasses higher and tapped them together as I stood and took my own and lifted it. Liz smiled my way again and leaned over a little to tap my glass with hers and then we all took a drink just as Kid finished filling the last plate.
Kid made his way back over to me and filled my glass back up since I had chugged the damn thing, and once we had sat back down, I looked in the older sister's direction. "Thank you, Liz." I then said to her as Kid finally left the room to ourselves. She only waved it off with a "no prob" and a swing of her hand, and then began to eat her dinner like everyone else that had come over. I guess I was lucky to have friends like them…I lost the love of my life and they lost one of their good friends and yet they tried their best to keep me and theirselves happy. They were all good people…all of them.
"What happened with Tod, Liz?"
Said sister looked up from her meal and glanced over to Tsubaki since she had spoken. "Oh…well we got in a huge argument yesterday about…" Liz hesitated and looked my way and I used my fork to shift the pasta around my plate. "…Soul…" I gave her a quick glance but went right back to my food as she continued. "He doesn't even care what happened and he told me that I shouldn't care either because…" She hesitated again. I could feel fear in her soul…she probably didn't want to say what she was about to tell Tsubaki… "…Well because "Soul is a rude, douche, who steels women away from people" and that "Soul punched him in the face for no reason at all," …and all this nonsense! I almost hit him, but…that would have been abuse and lot's of bad things could have come out of that—"
"I understand," Tsubaki breathed out as she gave me a small glance as well before looking at Liz again. "Are you two still together?" She then asked; sparking a little interest from me actually. Though I knew I looked incredibly gloomy, I was just as curious as everyone else at the table. "Sometimes fights like that can really make a relationship too rocky to handle…" Tsubaki then said to her. "Are you two doing alright?" I could feel Kid's soul bursting with curiosity as well from inside the kitchen…I could feel that he was standing just outside the door listening…
Poor, Poor, Love Struck, Death the Kid…
"Well…" Liz looked down at her wine glass and stared at it for awhile before looking back up to the black haired woman at the end of the table. "Yeah, I guess…" She then said; causing all of us to fall completely silent and widen our eyes…well except for Tsubaki, who had a serious look on at the moment. "I told him that we probably should see other people."
"That's definitely a break up!" Kim said from the other side of the table as Liz; a fork up in the air with a meatball stuck on the end. "You and Tod are officially over then."
Liz shook her head as Jackie from beside the pink haired woman nodded in agreement. "I…I don't think we're exactly over—" But something cut her off before she could even finish saying what she wanted to tell them. And from what I tell…it came from within the kitchen…most likely from Kid…
"YES!"
A crash came from within the kitchen and all of us girls jumped in our seats—except for Patty though: she just kept eating her dinner as we stared at the kitchen door. Liz got to her feet and set her napkin down before scooting her chair back so she could make her way over to the door. "Kid?" She called out as she pressed her hand against it; sounds of the Econ teacher's cursing and the sounds of pots and pans being clashed together rumbling behind the door. "Hey…you alright?" She called again as she pushed the door open to walk inside. As Liz checked on the OCD freak, I couldn't help but smile lightly. Kid had overheard the conversation and found out that the love of his life may be single now…how lucky of him. I wished things could have been that easy for me when it came to getting Soul's affection in return…
The crash in the kitchen wasn't the only thing that happened to get us to pay attention to the black and white haired man throughout the night. We kept catching him eavesdropping, and he always came in to the bedroom with drinks asking if we were thirsty. Once he blushed because of Liz and lost focus, tripped and spilled all over her pajamas. The spill wasn't the only thing he was freaking out about though…mostly because the stain on her clothes was…asymmetrical. He literally tore the clothes right off of her—yes up to the point where she was just standing in her bra and underwear—and quickly made his way out of the room with a beet red face and bleeding nose; mumbling out apologies as he made his way to the laundry room.
Poor, Poor, Love Struck, Death the Kid…
"Are we at least cheered up a little bit?" Liz asked as she slipped on one the nightgowns she never wore. All us other girls looked up from our blankets and I from my book. They all nodded with small smiles and I knew they were true. They were all a little less bummed about Soul…mostly because of the humorous night the flustered Death the Kid had given us. Though my nod was a lot more forced then I thought it would be. I thought coming to this slumber party would have cheered me up like it should of…but all it did was make things worse…
I lied down and shut my book so I could set it aside and rest my hands on my belly. The other's began talking about their jobs and some "cute" coworkers and what not as I stared at the ceiling. They were lucky to have jobs…I worked as an assistant at the library every once in awhile just to pass time and earn some extra cash…especially when Soul didn't have a job. That reminded me…he wasn't able to start his job since he had been taken by some mysterious person that's still a huge mystery to all of us. That's what made me angry for the most part…Yes I was sad, and I missed my little "Shark Pup"…but I was ticked off that Shinigami-Sama hadn't actually sent out professionals to go see if they could find out who took him!
'Soul…' I thought as I shut my eyes to go to sleep. 'Please…tell me…' There was silence…the only thing I could hear was the idle chit chat next to me in the bedroom…though it was still muffled out from my concentration. 'Please tell me if you're ok!'
…Help me…
My eyes snapped open and widened to their limits. That…that was definitely Soul's voice!
