A/N: Here's a long one for you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
Chapter 10: Anger
Maka's POV:
It had been the worst sleep I had in a long time. I woke up every few hours screaming to my nightmares, only to be comforted by sweet nothings and calming pats on my head. I didn't know or care who was responsible for getting me back to sleep each time, but they never failed to be there. I just seemed to be in a cycle of never-ending horrors, each one worse than the last.
It slowly ceased, and I finally opened my eyes to the light. The person who had been by my side throughout the night was not present, and I found myself in Jamie's house; the room I had slept in before. I glanced around, and all I found was an empty chair by the bed, and a glass of water on the night table. The sheets were entangled around my body, probably from flailing around throughout the night. Sore and tired, I grudgingly uncoiled the sheets from my body, and went into the bathroom to clean myself up. Looking in the mirror, I realized my eyes had huge bags underneath them and appeared bright red where the white should be. Tears were stained down my face, and my lips were dry and parched. The bruises on my face were starting to turn from black to dark green, and the scrape on my face had scabbed over and began to scar. I took a face cloth from the drawer and ran it under the tap, waiting for it to warm up. I leaned on the sink for support, completely drained. I scrubbed the dirt, tears, and sweat from my face, looking a lot better already. I placed some eye drops in my eyes, removing the puffy, glazed look they had. And last, I thoroughly brushed my teeth, feeling much better now that I was cleansed. I looked at my wardrobe, now a pair of pajamas rather than my jump suit. Apparently someone had redressed me.
Not knowing where else to go, I roamed towards the kitchen in the silent house. Walking past the living room, I saw Wes passed out on the couch in a deep slumber, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. I continued walking, and passed Jamie's room, hearing his loud snores as I proceeded on. I guessed it had been Wes by my side all night, him being the one to have come and found me, since he was in a better state than Jamie last night.
Upon arriving in the kitchen, I decided to make us all eggs and hash browns, no bacon left to use for today. No feelings or thoughts were currently present as I began pouring oil in a pan and cooking the eggs on the stove. I decided to peel the potatoes in the meantime, forgetting about the eggs beside me. I peeled in a trance-like state, and soon I started to smell smoke, immediately hearing the fire alarm going off right after.
"Aw shit." I cursed, turning around to be met with the black remains of my food. Groaning. I snatched the pan from the element, and completely forgot about the heat as it burned my hand. Yelping, and not sure what to do with it, I threw it in the sink under cold water, splashing the hot oil over my body and making me screech. I jumped back and dropped the searing hot pan on my foot, and I collapsed to the ground and backed up, crying and frustrated. I cradled my hand, watching it blister up. The fire alarm was beginning to get irritating, so I yelled at it,
"Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! I hate you! You're so FUCKING annoying!" The first time that cuss had slipped out of my mouth. I heard Jamie storming down the stairs and I got scared, almost as if I might get in trouble. He would be in a terrible mood, considering he was most likely hung-over. I heard him shouting and throwing things at the alarm from the other side of the counter. That's when Wes stumbled in, and began yelling at Jamie,
"Jamie! Calm down. You're getting riled up over nothing! Go sit down, I'll take care of this, okay?" Jamie charged out of the room in a rage. Wes pulled a chair out from the table, stood on it and ripped the batteries from the loud device, ending its irritating song. From the angle he was at, he looked down and saw me on the floor, leaning against the counter. I gazed up at him with water-filled eyes, and he sighed. Stepping down, he approached me, and gave me a meaningful look, letting me know 'we can't know each other right now.' He looked tired, as if he had gotten a worse sleep than me. He probably did. He went to reach for my hand to help me up and I just shook my head.
"Jamie will be mad at me. He's going to be really mad."
"Maka, stop this. Jamie will get over himself. Just let me help you out here. Okay? Go sit on the couch in the other room and I'll go get the first aid." I shakily got up and walked over to the living room. Where Jamie was. Upon seeing me, he immediately exploded,
"Maka what the fuck were you doing!?"
"I'm sorry Jamie… I forgot about the eggs I put on the element… I just wanted to make us all breakfast."
"Well ya sure fucked up on that didn't you? Goddamn it you're such an idiot. Next time, don't bother if you're going to cause this much grief." He barked, impatience written all over him.
"Jamie I'm sorry… It was an accident."
"Yeah sure kid. YOU were the accident!" Jamie declared, making the emotion that was gone from myself reappear suddenly. I cried again, feeling extremely angry and frustrated with myself for being so useless.
"Jamie, back off, would you? You're being such a fucking dick. You don't say that kind of stuff to people." Wes interjected, seemingly coming out of nowhere.
"You do when it's true! For fucks sakes. It was obviously a mistake asking you to stay here with me." I didn't say anything; I just hung my head in shame and embarrassment, feeling like a complete imposter in this house.
"You know what Jamie? You're right. You were a big enough asshole to hit a girl who was already abused. A big enough asshole to drink when you know you shouldn't. She already feels like shit, and it honestly isn't that big of a deal. What's your problem?" I could feel the tension rising between the two, and I was the only one who seemed to realize Wes's slip up; He said he knew I was abused.
"I didn't hit her! Why would I do that? Now you're just making up a bunch of bullshit to make me look like a prick!"
"That's because you ARE a prick! And yeah, you did hit her. She told me last night while you were to busy hurling your insides out. God dammit Jamie. If you don't start taking your medication you're going to kill someone!"
"Oh yeah? I hit her? Then why hasn't she said anything to me about it? Huh? Tell me that!" Jamie stood up now, trying to seem more intimidating. Wes's booming voice spoke over Jamie's at the same time, screaming,
"WHY DO YOU THINK SHE HASN'T SPOKEN UP THIS ENTIRE TIME, TRYING TO TELL ME I'M WRONG THEN!?" Wes stood as well, standing a few inches from Jamie.
"Please stop fighting" I mumbled, unnoticed by the infuriated men. Jamie answered to Wes's remark, each of them shoveling the coal into the fire until it was burning the whole house down, metaphorically.
"WHY ARE YOU SO SENSITIVE ABOUT THIS TOPIC ANYWAYS!? WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT HER? YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HER."
"I DON'T HAVE TO KNOW HER TO KNOW THAT SHE CLEARLY ISN'T BEING TREATED PROPERLY. AND MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE I FEEL AS THOUGH THIS IS GOING TO END THE SAME WAY AS IT DID WITH JANELLE"
"Guys that's enough. Stop fighting over this." I spoke louder, but they still refused to pay any attention to me.
"OH YOU'RE MAKING THIS ABOUT JANELLE NOW? WELL JANELLE WAS A WHORE WHO SLEPT WITH MY BEST FRIEND. SHUT THE FUCK UP WES I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ANYMORE." Wes went to speak, but I ever so rudely interrupted,
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" I hollered, fed up with their childish behavior. They both looked over at me, dead silent. "You're both being so ridiculous. This is my fault so why are you two fighting over something entirely different? Jamie, I'm sorry I woke you up and I'm sorry I thought I was welcome here. I can confirm that you hit me" His gaze fell, and tears immediately sprang to his eyes; He felt horrible. "And Wes, he was being a jerk, yes. But you didn't help when you obviously brought up a painful past experience. Now both of you sit down, and relax." Ignoring my command, Jamie came over to me and gave me a big, tight hug.
"Oh Maka. I'm so sorry. I don't want you to leave, please stay here with me? I didn't mean to hit you… never let me do that to you again. Oh I'm horrible" He mumbled, sobbing continuously the entire time. With each word, his embrace on me got tighter and tighter, until I could hardly breath, and the bruises all over my body started to scream in pain.
"Ow! Jamie let me go please." I wheezed, trying to remove his hands from my waist. He jerked back, more shame spread on his face, tucking his hands behind himself.
"I'm sorry Maka…"
"It's alright Jamie. Now maybe you should take your pills and get some more rest… Everyone seems to be pretty irritable today…"
He nodded, and turned to face Wes, "Could you call into work for me? I'm already super late, and I feel like shit."
"Sure thing buddy. Just go get some sleep." A complete turn around from how the two were talking earlier, Jamie gave me a shy smile and stalked off towards his room. I let out a huff, and plopped onto the floor. Wes did the same, and we both just sat there in silence for some unknown amount of time. I guess Wes remembered my injuries because he crawled over to me and began treating my burns. He put some soothing ointment on my hand, and carefully rolled the gauze over it. My toes hurt, but I didn't care enough to say anything. Stressed out and exhausted, I asked,
"What time did you bring me back here?"
"I'm not sure. Late."
"What time is it now?"
"Uhh… around noon actually."
"Oh actually? Want to go out for lunch?"
"Sure why not?"
We grabbed some money and headed out the door. We chose to go to a cute little café down the street. Now this café happened to be by the DWMA. And the DWMA seemed to be on its lunch break currently. I took no note of any of this, forgetting completely about Chrona and my other potential problems. That is until Stein, Chrona and Soul approached me, and Wes had suddenly disappeared. I frantically glanced around for him, and checked my phone to see if he left a message. He had, and I quickly scanned it before they were in talking distance. It read,
"Maka, it won't be a good idea if any of them see me with you. I'll talk to you at home. Be safe, would ya?" I deleted the message just in case, and tugged my hood over my head, casually eating the muffin I had purchased.
"Hey Maka. Can we talk?" And then they were in front of me, Soul's perfect voice speaking to me once again. I almost melted on the spot, but a voice in my head had me on edge immediately,
"Give me control, Maka.
Soul's POV:
Maka was not in classes today, so Chrona, the Professor and I decided to look around town for her during lunch. Chrona had caught a glimpse of her first, walking towards the café by the school. We walked over, and for a moment I thought I saw Wes. However, the closer we got, I realized she was by herself, with that stupid hood over her head. We came up to her, and I spoke cheerfully, as though nothing was wrong between us.
"Hey Maka. Can we talk?"
"Sure, have a seat." She said, just as perky. Her voice sounded off, sweeter than usually.
"Actually Maka, we were hoping we could do this inside, in my office? It's kind of personal." Stein said next, gesturing to the school. Without saying anything, she got up and walked off to the academy, apparently taking the lead, myself second, Stein third, and Chrona trailing behind in last.
Upon arriving, Chrona shut the door behind us, and Maka whipped around to face Stein and I.
"So what can I do for you three?" She questioned, acting completely ignorant to the ambush we had prepared.
"Remove the hood, first Maka." She easily complied, and gently slipped the hood off her head. Her blonde hair seemed shinier and brighter; her skin had a beautiful glow to it. Her eyes were cast downward, seemingly avoiding something. But then she glanced up at me, and I knew something was off. She was smirking, almost mockingly, and those were not my Maka's eyes. Not only were they blue, but they were threatening and deceitful. This was not Maka.