Everything was back to normal.
Nothing was further from the truth.
Maka sighed, bitterly clutching her pillow to her knees. She sat alone in her bedroom, back pressed against the wall, right next to the door.
She didn't know what she was expecting. The grip on his wave link hadn't eased up, it'd tightened, only this time, something grabbed her back.
As if adding insult-to-injury, she could picture it. She could picture him, playing the piano. She imagined the dark melodies he'd played for her, that first day. The first day they met, when he sat there in his elegant pin-striped suit, playing his heart out.
"This is the kind of guy I am."
Dark, sinister, enchanting.
Yes, that was definitely him.
Suddenly, the door flew open.
..It was him.
He was finally home, back where he belonged. She knew he'd come back! She knew he wouldn't leave her, she knew it was only a matter of time before..
Of course, she bitterly realized, she was day dreaming.
The wind had pushed the door open, she'd let her emotions get the best of her.
He hadn't come back any other day she'd been waiting for him, and today was no different.
Everything was back to normal. Everyone acted as if nothing had changed, as if he'd never even left.
Tsubaki sat with Black*Star, admiring his every move in shy silence.
Kidd walked along with his weapons, as Liz and Patty conversed and bickered about every trivial thing. He didn't mind, he enjoyed the company. They silenced his constant panic.
Even Chrona sat silently, happily in his little home at the academy, day-dreaming of his new friends. He'd yet to learn what happened to Soul, all he knew, Maka hadn't been showing up to class. She'd been 'busy' lately.
Busy grieving. Dwelling in her own sorrowful guilt. The pity, the shame, the words that drove him away. It was her fault. Her fault he'd gone. Why shouldn't she grieve?
She was alone. She sat alone in her bedroom, unhappy, desperate, worried. Not too long ago, only a few days ago, she'd felt a great terror in his wave link. Something so big that it shook the little wave link she'd managed to grasp. Something that bad couldn't be good, it was equivalent to a greater fear. Madness.
She prayed she wasn't too late. The minute she felt it, she gripped tightly, unable to sturdily hold on, unable to comfort him.
The madness faded, but not completely. She felt it silence. Then, one day, she stopped feeling it altogether.
Everything. The madness, the fear, the terror, his wave-link. It disappeared.
Her weapon had disappeared, without a trace, with no chance of seeing him ever again.
She sighed.
Maka Albarn shouldn't be spending her weekend like this. After a long week of lounging around, doing nothing but feeling sorry for herself, she really should do something else. She should get up. She was a strong person, who brought the Kishin to his knees. She'd be damned if she was going to let her own pitiful emotions be her downfall.
So, she threw on her uniform accompanied by her black button up trench coat, and took a walk.
She flew out of the apartment, dashing along the empty streets.
He didn't belong there. He didn't belong in her mind, not all day, so why was he there? Why couldn't she stop? It's never been this easy to miss someone before. She hated it.
She missed someone. A man. She hated men, they were all cheating jerks, just like her father.
That's what she'd been trying to convince herself all week. Her memory retaliated by recalling the day they beat Blair. The day he'd tricked her into believing that same thing, only proving her wrong in the end. She felt like a fool.
She still does. Foolish for ever believing Soul could be anything like her father.
"Cool guys don't cheat on their partners."
That's what he said. It rang through her head, like a siren, alerting her every time she'd tried to force the thoughts into her head. Always trying to force some type of excuse as to why she should forget him.
It was as simple as that, without him, she wouldn't be alive now. He had the scar to prove it.
His scar.
For once, she actually wanted to see that damned scar. Just to know he hadn't disappeared, just to prove it'd all been a bad dream, that he hadn't vanished into thin air.
She ran, and ran, and kept running, gaining speed.
What she was running from? She didn't know. She assumed it was the pain. The emotional pain she'd never been able to handle. The pain of losing Soul. She hadn't grieved over Soul since their fight with Chrona, when she thought she might actually lose her weapon partner.
She ran forward once more, suddenly stopping as she spotted the messy white hair, pulled back in the black headband..The leather jacket..Jeans..
No, she was day dreaming again.
This couldn't be happening.
This time, he really had vanished into thin air. Slipping right past her, as if he never existed.
She broke down. She couldn't fight it any longer. She missed him, and that was the sour, bitter truth.
To her dismay, her only comfort was the brick wall she'd run past. She rested her head against the bricks, bending, staring down at her feet as her arms lay limply to her sides.
She was crying, she realized, as the tears hit the ground. She hadn't cried in so long, not since the fight with the Kishin, never tears of sadness. Those were tears of pain, and so were these. The Kishin could never inflict this much pain, never in a million years. This was a new pain, one she wasn't familiar with. Not since her Mama had left on her journey around the world. Even then, she'd dealt with it far better than she was now. She hadn't moped around for days on end until she could no longer stand it.
The tears wouldn't stop. They crashed down on the ground with violent force, mocking her very being with their presence.
Suddenly, they stopped.
Two feet joined her view. Two, familiar black shoes.
She couldn't help it. She looked up, greeted by blood-red crimson eyes, and white hair pulled back into a head band. The same leather jacket, the same T-shirt, jeans, everything.
Was it really him? It couldn't be..Surely she was just imagining..
Without warning, he reached out and violently ruffled her hair.
Damn him. Why the hell were his hands so rough?
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!", she screamed.
It was the first thing that came to mind. The only proper words at the moment, besides, "I missed you". Of course she wouldn't say that. She'd wipe that damn smug look off his face, first. Then maybe she'd tell him..Maybe.
He merely laughed, flashed every inch of his razor-sharp teeth. Those familiar teeth..He practically showed them off now, as compared to that month ago, the day he left, when he'd avoided the subject.
"Relax Maka. Don't you know it's not cool to leave your Meister? Damn you have a tight grip. You held onto my wave link like it was your job. Of course I'd come back."
She broke into a low chuckle, which grew into a giggle, which grew into a laugh. He laughed along with her.
Breaking their laughter, he stared off into the distance.
She looked behind her, trying to find whatever caught his attention.
Then she saw it. The academy, outlined far in the distance.
He chuckled, "I'm finally home."
Without warning, she ran into him, nearly knocking him over, pulling him into a tight, deathly hug. One that was far overdue.
"..You really missed me, didn't you.", he whispered, reluctantly hugging her back.
Was it a trap? Was she going to rip him apart now?
She nodded, "Don't you ever do something so stupid, ever again, Soul!", she growled into his shirt.
He laughed, "Sure thing, Maka. As long as you stop missing so many classes. Ditching once in a while is cool but to stop showing up all-together, just because of me, Maka? That's totally uncool.", he chuckled.
Before she could stop herself, "Why are your hands so rough?"
They involuntarily dug into her back. It was as if they were dead, and he only held them on for attachments, and nothing more. They were soft, the last time she checked. Him being her partner, that was often. It was almost constant, and never had his hands felt so rough..So..Bruised.
"I wasn't exactly welcomed home with open arms, Maka.", he sighed as he caught a glance of her pained face, "But that's in the past now. I'm fine now, alright? I'm home now and none of that matters. So stop dwelling in the past, it isn't cool."
"...I'm sorry.", she mumbled.
"Sorry? What for?"
"For asking you about your teeth. I shouldn't have asked, I should have stayed out of your business."
He chuckled, "It's alright. I majorly over-reacted. It isn't your fault. With Wes being there, it was just a little hard, alright? Everything I used to know came rushing back to me and for a minute there, I felt like Chrona. I couldn't deal with it. So I ran, and I've beaten myself up ever since."
"...Really?"
"Really. In fact, I think it's time I told you the story. You just..", he trailed off.
"What?"
"You have to promise you're not going to hunt me down and eat my soul after this."
"...", damn her weapon was odd, "Alright."
They walked back to the apartment, where he lay his stuff down. When he finally set the last of it in his room, she noticed something a bit odd. A new attachment. Something standing up on its frame at the corner of his desk. She recognized that little face anywhere. Soul Evan's, stand with his older brother Wes Evan's, kneeling next to him. It was a nice sight, she realized, despite his un-amused face.
She asked about that too, before she could stop herself. She clearly wasn't in control today. Something else was driving her.
She'd only ask even more questions if he didn't explain the whole story, rather than just a little exert, so he decided.
He decided he'd tell her the full story.
The story of the Evan's boy, who lived in the Evan's house-hold, who'd endured so many things that would drive a normal child insane.
He left out no detail. From the day they'd introduced him to the piano, the day his Father shoved that human soul down his throat, to the day his grandmother died, until the day he'd arrived at the academy.
Every bit of it, a story of how a boy journeyed far from home to find the right path, only to return, nearly two years later. It wasn't until then, he realized, he'd been on the right path all along.
Sitting here with his smiling Meister, he realized his grandmother had been right. It would take a bit of time, but at last, he'd finally find his Grigori angel. She was sitting right in front of him, and he knew it too well.
He knew, at last, he had a place to call home.
~Fin~
The end. In case nobody noticed, I based the ending off of the second ending to the Soul Eater repeat show 'Ao No Kaori'. With a twist in the ending, of course. As appealing as smiling at the sun is, I decided it'd be a little bit more..Emotional, I suppose?
More Fictions coming soon. Hope you enjoyed.