Intertwined

Chapter 11 - Maka's Hidden Strength

At last, after what seemed like hours, the fun arose from its temporary grave. With morning sun resurrecting, Maka knew it was time. She'd have to make her move and she'd have to make it fast. She immediately hopped on Souls motorcycle, that still smelled like him-not that she noticed-and a few times threatened a tear to her eyes. She wasn't going to cry, every tear she shed from now on belonged to the past. She would no longer be rendered helpless. Never again.

Finally, she peals out of the ally like a maniac. She barely had to step on the gas, after all it was Souls. It must have carried a part of him with it, so it's only a wonder that it has the same hasty, free attitude. She only hoped he'd still have it by the time she arrived.

"Dammit. It's morning. They're putting me in the car. Dammit! Let Go!", he thought, attempting to kick and scream with every fiber of his body. In a normal situation, he would've been free by now. This was his brother however, with his professionally trained body guards and even Wes himself would be a handful to take on. How he longed for the day he defeated his brother..

"No. Shut up. Stop thinking that way, think about Maka. She's coming soon isn't she? Dammit Maka! You're running out of time!", he panicked as they shoved him into the limo once more.

"This way.", Maka thought, making a few left turns.

Something told her exactly where to go, when to turn, and how to get there. She was completely unfamiliar with this neighborhood and this part of town, but somehow, no part of her felt lost. The only thing she could think about was saving Soul. A part of her nearly slapped herself silly, she was actually encouraging thinking about Soul for once. Every other time he crossed her mind she'd simply kick herself and tell herself that Soul isn't the one she's looking for, and that she doesn't need to depend on Soul. This time it's different, she isn't depending on Soul. Soul is depending on her, and by the look of her feet on the acceleration, it doesn't look like she's ready to stop.

One more turn and she notices a black moving vehicle turning the corner almost a block away. She has no time to waste.

The car stopped at a red light. Perfect. She's almost there..

CRASH!

"No!", she panicked.

Just her luck. The minute they've stopped, her one shot at catching up, some idiot slams into the motorcycle.

She looks up.

No, this isn't just some idiot. This is the king of idiots. That despicable face, the booze in the backseat.

Her Papa is there to greet her, and he doesn't look happy.

"No!", she screamed.

She doesn't have time for this! She has to get to the limo. For a moment, she closes her eyes and runs in the middle of the road. The cars are coming to a sudden halt as they approach her, only a breath away from running her over. Just as she expected, the fear is weighing down her legs, and just as she expected her Papa is getting out of the car, running after her.

She's racing against time, against the stop light, against road rage, against traffic, against her angry Papa, and against the limo. The odds are all stacked against her.

"Dammit! I'm not running fast enough!", she yells at herself as another car is too close for comfort.

"No! I won't lose Soul! I won't give up! I have to run FASTER!"

Soul is staring down at the floorboard, contemplating every way he's going to torture his brother, and if necessary, hide the body. So far everything he's come up with has been far too merciful.

"Wes! Look!", the body-guard to his right points out of the tinted window.

Wes takes a look behind him and rubs his chin.

"It seems like your friend doesn't know when to give up, Soul.", he chuckled a bit.

Soul looked past his brothers fat head where he could barely make out the figure in the tinted window. Everything became clear, for a moment he was running there with her. There was no doubt about it, Maka was going to kick some ass today.

"I said FASTER!", she commanded, flying off of her feet.

Her feet barely touched the ground. She only came in contact with the earth when she wanted to run faster, when she wanted to jump higher. She was almost there, she could feel it. So far three cars have crashed and it's kept Papa busy. Good, traffic came in handy today. Something hit her like a ton of bricks.

What was she to do once she reaches the car?

"Dammit.", she sighed, "No! Stop thinking! Just run Maka!", that familiar, angry voice commanded.

She grit her teeth and clenched her fist. She had enough speed, which meant even greater force. She had one chance. God knows what she's about to do is going to be utterly painful, but for the moment she doesn't care.

She can't imagine herself losing. All she can think about is hugging Soul one last time. She wasn't going to miss the opportunity this time. No matter what happens, she made a promise and she's going to honor it!

First, she needed to accelerate. Her Papa was throwing beer bottles behind her, only causing her to run farther away. The traffic was difficult to overcome, she hated the thought of getting hit. If she was a minute to fast or one minute to slow she'd surely die. Not only would she die, but she'd let Soul down. In which case she's probably rather be dead anyway.

No. She wasn't going to die today, and neither was Soul. She had no idea what they wanted with him but they weren't going to get him. However, the likely chance of a teenage girl punching her way through a bulletproof glass window, was her basic mission impossible.

There's no turning back now, the light was about to turn green.

Suddenly, one of the windows have rolled down. She notices a pair of ugly, brown eyes staring out at her. She has no idea who this man is but he's wearing a black suit, as if it were his job. Something follows his head.

No. This isn't happening. The man is pulling out a gun. It's pointed directly at Maka's head. Her rage is building over the climax, she'd never felt this way before. Never in her life has her blood boiled this badly, never in her life has she been so determined. However, determination doesn't mean victory. For the time being, all she can think of doing is punching that stupid glass window.

He fires his first bullet.

"I can't believe this is happening. Dammit!", Soul growls under his breath, "They're firing at Maka out there! All I can do is sit in here like a damn idiot?! Run faster Maka! Faster!"

He stares out of the window, looking on past his brother's head as he watches the girl with pigtails, rushing to save his life. This isn't humanly possible. At this point, he isn't even sure if she is a human. Somebody that fast, somebody who's actually dodging every single bullet! This isn't natural. This isn't human!

"Dammit!", Wes screams, turning around to look as well, "Stop missing and shoot her! Shoot her feet!"

She avoids the shots once more, this time she's moving from side to side. This time the impossible is happening. She's dodging every single bullet, she's coming to Souls rescue, she's repaying her debt, she's going to win!

The driver has fled the scene. The bullets had scared him away. Soul noticed and flashed a silenced smirk. It was hard to move his lips underneath the duck tape, which was getting fairly irritating, so he settled for his own triumphant thoughts. He'd have to flash a million smirks and a billion smiles to express how much faith he's putting in Maka now.

Then it happens.

CRASH!

"I can do this.", Maka huffed.

"Don't start getting tired!", she ordered.

"I can do this! They aren't going to shoot me! I'm too fast for them! I'm not scared!"

She begins to repeat the words as her speed increases immensely. This time she knows what she's doing as she clenches her fist.

"I can do this! I won't lose! I'm not scared! I will not be BEATEN!", she shouts as she lands a mighty punch at the blacked out, limousine window. Luckily for her, the window shattered entirely.

She smirked a bit. No wonder the window had broken so easily, it was never bulletproof. She had worried for nothing, but her fear had aided her. Her paranoia became the reason she hadn't been crushed by a moving vehicle, the reason she hadn't been shot, the reason her father hadn't been able to catch her. The minute she's inside of the limo, all hell breaks lose.

"Soul!", she screams as she noticed the albino in the opposite seat, gagged and bounded.

"Bastards.", she growled.

The gunman in the window was quickly pushed out as she used all the force in her body to ram into him from behind. One push sent him out into the middle of the road. To her surprise the car hadn't been moving, but she was too distracted to check for a driver. She was so close to victory now.

"Kill her!", ordered a young man in the seat next to her.

The limo, luckily for her, had a wide backseat and a raised rooftop. There was no doubt, she had just enough room to fight.

"In your dreams!", she growled, which surprised both her and Soul.

She was up against one last body-guard, and the famed Wes Evans. He was definitely Wes, he looked too much like Soul, at least to be anything besides that of a relative, he was also far too young for his father.

Maka had no control of her body at this point. Whatever had lingered in her blood, was revealing herself. She used the seat in front of her to hoist her back legs up and kick Wes in the face with her boot. She immediately landed in front of Soul and threw a punch at the man next to her. Soul was squirming rapidly now.

She grabbed Wes by the front of his shirt now and slammed his body up against the shattered glass. So far, Wes hadn't made a single move and he'd been left with a bloody nose and fractured skull.

"I won't lose.", she growled as she slammed his head into the ceiling, stomping on his back.

As the other man noticed, she'd already swung a fist at the mans jaw. He almost seemed un-phased by it, until he wobbled a bit as he stood up to walk. She kicked again, punched with all of her might, and finally landed an impressive kick into the one part of the man, that immediately sent him down and out for the count.

With an unconscious Wes, two defeated body guards, and a missing driver, the winner is determined. She relaxed for a moment, before sitting next to Soul who had wide, tired eyes.

"Soul..", she sighed quietly as she rested her head on his shoulder.

He looked down at her and leaned forward.

She followed his body language and untied the knots binding him, and finished by slowly removing the duck tape on his mouth.

"Soul. I'm so sorry.", she sighed as a few tears swelled up in her eyes.

He sat silently, rubbing his wrists and ankles.

"Soul I'm so sorry I shouldn't have run away like that! I shouldn't have slapped you. This is all my fault! I shouldn't have dragged you into this. Please forgive me?", she looked up at him with her familiar pleading, determined eyes.

He didn't have to speak to give her the answer.

She looked at him with her sad eyes again and the only thing he knew to do at that moment was to grab her chin, and pull her into the longest kiss ever experienced.

Maka's eyes grew wide as she looked at Soul, kissing her passionately with his eyes closed. She finally felt it. She finally understood, and for once she wasn't the helpless one. She closed her eyes, kissing him back.

"Maka?", he finally spoke, breaking the kiss.

"Yeah?", she mumbled, pulling away for a second.

"Where's my motorcycle?"

"I love you Soul.", she flashed her infamous apologetic smile, pulling him back into the kiss.

Whatever he was yelling at her was blissfully muffled by her lips, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Luckily for her, once the driver had fled the scene he'd left his keys in the ignition. Stupid move, but she'd thank him if she had the chance. Once their reunion had ended, they tread shamefully back down the street to grab his motorcycle, and latch it onto the back of the limo. Soul made it a point to steal his phone back from his brother, which he confiscated, and call the police.

Once the police arrived, Maka's story was so unbelievable, they actually had to ask for a witness. Being the captive, Soul was permitted as a trustworthy witness and pleaded Maka's case. She wasn't thrown in jail, they had been allowed to ride home in a damaged limo, and Wes and Spirit were arrested. All in all, it was a happy ending. At least until they came home and found out Black*Star and Tsubaki had been "sleeping" all day long. That wasn't happy, they had to throw up then.

It's about midnight. Maka decided she'd stay with Soul one last night to make sure he'd be alright, and that none of his injuries were too serious. He sighed and shrugged it off, pointing out that Maka herself, was injured far more severely than he had. She flashed a perfect smile. Of course, he was wrapped around her finger in a matter of minutes after that. No words necessary.

Soul was sitting in the living room, laying on the couch receiving little to no sleep as he heard a familiar sound echoing throughout his bedroom. What is that, no, crying again?

He sighed and walked into his bedroom once more.

"Maka.", he said, lightly shaking her shoulders.

After the third "Maka" her eyes fluttered open, drenched in tears.

"What's wrong Maka? Another bad dream?"

She sighed and bowed her head in shame, laying on her side so he'd be facing her back. Silently she dried her own tears, recovering from her short, choppy breaths.

"Do you want me to sleep in here tonight?"

"No Soul. I don't want you sleeping on the floor.", she murmured.

She nearly jumped in surprise as a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, followed by the familiar smooth skin nuzzling into her neck.

"Who said I was sleeping on the floor?", he smirked.

She giggled a bit, falling asleep quickly, and for the first time in over a year, Soul slept peacefully without the help of his drugs.

Relax, there's an epilogue.