Chapter 9
Maka next woke up in a hospital bed by a window that looked out at the main street below. On her bedside table was a vase of cliché, gaudy, bright red roses. Obviously from her dad. It was late, judging by the darkness outside. She looked down to find her hands wrapped in thick, tight bandages. The same kind of bindings were enveloped around sections of her arms and legs as well.
"Oh, you're awake?" A nurse spoke, appearing in the doorway at the far end of the room. "How do you feel?"
"Fine…I guess." Maka frowned. When had she last been awake? It felt like forever.
"It's been a week since you returned to Shibusen Your friends, they told me to call them as soon as you awoke, but I think we can wait till morning. You should rest some more. I'll bring you some water." And with that, the nurse left Maka alone.
"A week?" She thought in utter shock. "Where was I until a week ago? How did I get here!"
The next morning arrived bright and sunny. Maka awoke from the sun's rays shining in on her face, and turned over, half-asleep, away from the intrusion of light.
"Maka?"
She opened her eyes again, meeting Soul's bright red ones that stared right at her. He was sitting in a chair by the table of roses, his crossed arms resting on the edge of her bed and propping his head up. It was obvious he hadn't slept much.
"Soul!" Maka smiled softly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He frowned ever so slightly when his gaze passed over her injured hands, then shook off the feelings of guilt when she sat up slowly, and gave him a serious look.
"How are you doing?" Soul asked awkwardly, running his hand through his messier-than-usual hair.
"I'm ok, but-!"
Soul's eyes rested on one of the many healing cuts on her face, then moved his gaze to her scarred and bruised arms, then finally came to a stop at her hands again. Maka noticed this, and snapped her fingers in his face, forgetting her injuries and surprising herself with the shooting pain that flew through her hand.
"Owwww…" She grumbled, shooting Soul and accusing glare, "Now look what you made me do…" She clutched her hands together.
"Hey, I didn't make you do nothing… Let me see, huh?" Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed her hands in his, and held them there, looking down at their intermingling fingers with blood-shot eyes.
"Anyway," She sighed heavily, "How have you been? Doesn't look like you've been getting much sleep by the looks of it."
"It's not my fault…When you aren't near enough for me to know when something's wrong, I get restless."
"That's stupid."
"Is not."
"Dummy." She pulled her hands away from his touch, and huffily crossed her arms over her chest.
"You're so harsh, Maka. Soul grinned teasingly at his meister in a laughing way.
"Stop making fun of me, would ya?"
"Sure."
A few hours later, Black Star and Tsubaki burst into the room carrying "Get Well Soon!" balloons. Black Star was being so overly boisterous however that he was kicked out the room by the unnerved nurses. Tsubaki smiled apologetically before following her meister out the door. This visit was closely followed by Kid, Patti, and Liz, each of them offering large, overstuffed plush animals (inspected by Kid that each was perfectly symmetrical in every way). They had been on their way to pick up their instructions for a waiting mission, and left soon after arriving, leaving Soul and Maka alone once again.
"I can't believe I've been sleeping for so long. I'm going to be so behind in my schoolwork…" Maka muttered, shaking her head, already exhausted by the thought of all the make-up tests she would most likely be subjected to when she returned.
"You won't be doing much with those hands." Soul pointed out, "Even after you're released from the hospital."
"Meaning I still have lots of time to study!" She smiled in relief at this bit of good news.
"Is that all you're worried about?" Soul suddenly hissed, surprising her with his change in mood, "School? You could have died back there. You worried everyone so much! What's wrong with you! Why would you take on such a dangerous mission without me?"
"Soul-!"
"Was it to prove you were strong? Because if it was, Maka, so help me-!"
"I'm sorry, I-!"
"You'll never understand how weak you made me feel. When you seemed so out of my reach, out of anyone's reach…"
Maka had given up trying to interrupt him, and listened quietly to his words.
"I need you to vow something to me." He finally heaved a sigh, and held out his pinky finger. "Don't ever leave your weapon alone, unless I give you permission. Got it?"
Maka held out her finger, hesitantly at first, but then wrapped her own pinky tightly in his, a small smile on her pale lips.
"Yeah…" She murmured, before sliding her hands beneath the cool, comforting underside of her pillow. "Soul, what happened? I hardly remember anything from a week ago. The only things I do remember is when you guys were all around me and I couldn't get up from that really hard ground…"
"You remember what you were sent to do right?" He asked, referring to her mission. She nodded. "Well, you got the book you needed to escape with, but the problem was how deeply you had fallen in to madness. I even had to-" He clamped his mouth shut before speaking further. She looked at him questioningly.
"Had to what?" Maka asked.
"Had to nothing! Go to sleep, stupid."
"What happened to the book?"
"It's been destroyed, so stop worrying about it."
"That's such a relief…" Maka mumbled, before relaxing back into her pillow.
"Get some rest." Was the last thing she heard of Soul before falling back to sleep.
Maka was released from the hospital a few days later. Being back at her apartment brought her sheer excitement since she hadn't been home for what felt like forever. Tsubaki had baked Soul and Maka a "Welcome Home" cake, and the pair sat down at the table with two mugs of tea, ready to enjoy what was sure to be, knowing Tsubaki, a delicious treat.
"I'll cut the cake!" Maka grinned enthusiastically, taking a knife carefully in her hands and slicing the dessert into even pieces. As she passed a plate to Soul, his gaze lingered on her still-bandaged hands, unable to block his mind from replaying what Stein had told them the day Maka had been checked out from her room in the hospital.
"The bleeding from your hands was incredibly profuse. Unfortunately, we can't do much more for their current state." Stein had spoken to Maka. "There will probably be scars on your palms for the rest of your life. But don't worry, I'm sure they'll fade in time as well."
All Maka had said to this was a simple-minded "ok". But was it really ok? It was her skin, and she now had tattoos of something she didn't even remember doing etched into her. How could something like that possibly be "ok"?
"Hey, Maka." Soul stated, as he twirled his fork absentmindedly between his fingers, giving her a sideways glance.
"What?" Maka replied through a mouthful of chocolate cake and frosting.
"So, when did Stein say that you can take the bandages off?" He inquired, idly stabbing his dessert with his fork.
"Um, whenever, I guess." Maka murmured, acting as though she was barely paying the slightest attention to her partner.
"I see… Are you going to take them off today?"
"Maybe."
Even Soul could see that the idea of this frightened her, because for half the day, she wandered around the house in a strange sort of daze, stopping every few minutes to glance down at her hands, even making a move to remove the bandages. But every time she got close to uncovering what lay beneath the wrappings, she would lose her nerve.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Soul frowned, finally intervening after becoming so agitated he couldn't take it anymore. "Just take them off, it won't be that bad!"
"But I-! What if it's worse than Stein made it out to be…?" Maka collapsed on the sofa, holding out her hands in front of her face. "This is harder than you think. Everything, from my time with the witches to all you guys coming to rescue me, is a huge gap in my memory. And now I'm being told that the evidence of this is burned into my skin? How can I just accept that?"
Soul remained silent, and slouched beside her on the couch. He wasn't sure how to handle this situation, but this whole ordeal brought back memories of when it was him in Maka's situation. She had been so openly anguished and guilty about the gash that still remained etched across his front. He then understood how she had felt at that time.
"I'm sorry," She suddenly apologized, making him look around at her, now confused, "I shouldn't be complaining, I mean, you didn't when this happened to you. And yours is much worse than what I have to deal with."
At this, Soul turned right around so that he faced his meister, who shifted her position so they stared at each other dead on. Soul showed her the most pouty frown she had ever seen, and she bit back a laugh.
"What you just said," He leaned closer so that he was inch away from her face, and Maka's eyes widened as a light blush appeared on her cheeks, "is a bunch of crap." He finished, pulling himself away from the close proximity and facing away from her again. Maka crossed her arms in apparent exasperation.
"I'm being serious here." Maka snapped, trying not to look too hard at his shirt while thinking of the jagged wound that lay beneath it.
"So am I, stupid. Stop being so ridiculous. I didn't deal with anything terrible. I was proud that I could protect you when you needed it. So if you don't mind, give me some credit."
Maka shut her mouth and returned to looking ponderingly at her hands, before leaving the living room for her own bedroom, where she flung herself face-down upon her waiting mattress, pulling her duvet cover right over neck. She sighed heavily, before rolling herself over so she gazed up at nothing, and there she eventually fell asleep without really meaning to.
Later that evening, Soul called Maka to the kitchen for dinner, but when she didn't appear from her bedroom, he groaned loudly, and stomped up to her door, which was open a crack, a sign that it was ok not to knock. Her lights had been turned off, so the room had a dim, shadowed look to it.
"Maka, dinner's-!" Soul poked his head into her room, finding her lying on her back and breathing quietly, clearly in the midst of a deep slumber.
"Geez…" Soul muttered to himself, "It's too early to just fall asleep like this…And didn't you sleep for a whole week in the hospital?"
As he said this, he leaned over her bedside so he stared right into her sleeping, expressionless face. Unthinkingly, he placed both his hands on either side of her face, and his mouth twitched as he tried in vain to hold back a toothy smile. After everything that had happened, their lives had already almost returned to normal. Almost.
"I missed you, Maka." Soul whispered in her ear, before sweeping off to return to the kitchen.
The next morning, Maka opened her eyes, feeling warm and safe for the first time in a while. She glanced around her surroundings to make sure she really was home in her bed in her room, and she released a short sigh of relief, relaxing back into her pillow. As she looked up at her ceiling, she flexed her fingers awkwardly, feeling her skin rubbing against the bandage. As she did this, a determined feeling seemed to set in her mind, and without a second thought, she jumped out of bed and tip-toed quietly down the hall.
"Soul." Maka knocked on his door, and when he didn't answer, she opened it slightly before allowing herself to approach the lumpy bulge that lay on the bed in the far corner of the room, "Soul, wake up!" Maka shook the form of his her weapon's shoulder impatiently before Soul sat up, rubbing his eyes, still half-asleep.
"What is it..?" Soul yawned widely, rubbing his snowy white hair before looking up at Maka, who now felt defensive and suddenly unsure of herself. "Well?"
"Um…I just…well you see…"
"What?"
"About my hands-! Can you maybe just…sit with me while I take off the…?" Maka inquired, referring to the wrapping tightly fastened to her skin.
Soul looked slightly taken aback by this request, but recovered quickly when he beckoned her to sit on the edge of his bed so that they faced each other. Maka's hands shook so that it was difficult for her to keep a firm grasp on an end piece of the bindings. Fortunately, Soul saved her the embarrassment and held her hands one at a time as she unraveled the bandages.
The wrappings eventually fell to the floor, and the pair were left to stare in absolute silence at the scars, burns, and blackened skin that made up most of Maka's fingers and palms. Tears trickled down Maka's face, staining Soul's mattress.
"It'll get better, like Stein said." Soul finally spoke, stroking the more tender parts of Maka's palms. Through her tears, Maka was able to relax her head against her weapon's shoulder. Together, they listened to the muffled world that could be heard from Soul's window, always slightly ajar.
Life goes on, even if time seemed to stop for them at that moment.
"I know…" She whispered in reply, before a smile spread out over her mouth. A real smile that Soul had not seen in what felt like an eternity.
Her smile that made him feel braver, warm inside, and positively certain he was in love with her. He believed, then, that he could take on the entire world if he could create and see more of those smiles.
"Whatever may happen," Soul grinned at her, "we'll be fine."
o thank god. ITS FINALLY OVER! LOLLL im sorry this took such an excruciatingly long time... but you'll be glad 2 kno that im already half finished with my next SoulXMaka project. its a oneshot, and i've been writing it in my free time at school. ^^ hope u enjoyed this, my next update should b coming up soon i expect. O GUESS WHAT! im moving 2 scotland at the end of the year. i plan 2 stalk JK Rowling. just kidding. but id like 2. but i wont i promise.