Sorry it's been ages since I've last updated but it's nearly the end of the story so you wont have to put up with my inconsistency much longer!
Finding the tunnel Cal had gone down wasn't hard; it was the only other exit from the cavern apart from the one we had entered through. Like the other one it was a jagged but wider and lit by more lights from the ceiling.
I ran down it, afraid that I would be too late to help Maka. I wanted to blame Maka for this, to say it was all her fault for leading him on and trusting someone who was so against me, but I couldn't. I guess that's just love. I shook my head and smirked.
"Maka!" I shouted down the tunnel, increasing my pace so that I was now sprinting. No one answered.
As ran the walls around me started to change. They had wires running along them and it began to look less like a cave and more like a laboratory. The floor was still rock but the deeper into the tunnel I got the more the rocks seemed out of place and the cold silver metal seemed to belong.
Suddenly it struck me that what had happened here had been going on for more than just the couple of days since Kirimi had been with us. It must have taken months, if not years, to put together something like this.
A muffled cry broke through my thoughts and I stopped running, listening intently. Hushed voices were also there now that I was listening. I spun my head round, looking for the source of the noise but I could see nothing but a mass of wires applied thickly to cave walls which had been covered in thin sheet metal.
Then something caught my attention. Some of the wires where hanging loose, drooping down slightly on the wall. I stepped forward, looking at the thick cables. I turned my arm into a scythe and slashed at them, cutting the wires and sending sparks down onto the floor. The lights flickered and noises rang out through the tunnel; of unhealthy mechanical whirs, shouting in panic, and warning alarms starting as the equipment shut itself off without electricity.
Steam leaked out of a crack in the wall just down the passageway and for a moment the wall of wires shimmered before completely disappearing. And behind it, hidden by the holographic image, way the way I was looking for.
I turned the corner hurriedly into a darker room. It was lit with a strange blue light that reflected of the dark stone of the walls. It was coming from a tiny sphere in the centre of the room, and there behind it was Maka, bound on the floor
"Maka!"
"Soul!" She cried out to me in return.
"Well I didn't expect this…" Cal smiled, walking out of shadows, his eyes narrowed, "But it makes no difference, I can deal with you." My fists tightened and I growled but Cal just laughed, "You still don't get it do you! You can't win this Soul, the time gate will open soon and Maka will come back with me to the future. I'll leave that child will be dealt with by the scientists here but really she has nothing to do with me."
"Why are you doing this?" Maka shouted
"To save you of course…" He smiled at her, "You'll understand when we're home but till then please be patient."
Before I had any time to ask the room began to shake, rocks falling from the walls and the blue sphere growing, until finally everything stopped. The time gate was open.
I ran for Maka but I was too far away and Cal and her were already only metres away from the door. The chance of my future was slipping away. No, this can't happen, not when I'm this close, not now…
And like a miracle to answer my thoughts Cal stopped, his face frozen. The blue rippled and a boy jumped out, crashing to the floor but recovering fast. He looked up and on seeing Cal and Maka wasted no time in swinging his leg out to kick Cal across the room.
The boy bent down to Maka just as I reached her.
"Mu- um… Maka, are you ok?" He asked seriously, untying her bonds.
"Yes, thank you…" He voice was weak and surprised.
"Maka!" I shouted to her and she jumped up into my arms, hugging me tightly. I smiled and put my hand on the top of her head.
"Oh Soul, I'm so glad you came! I thought I was going to be trapped with him, I thought… I thought I was going to lose you…" She whispered the last part.
"I promise that you never will…" She looked up and took the opportunity to place a light kiss on my lips before blushing and turning to the stranger, who was still standing by the corner.
"We have to leave, and quickly," he said, tousling his brown hair out of his eyes. "This place will burn be burnt out soon and the quicker we go, the more of a head start we get, the better."
"Burn?" I asked. The guy just shrugged his shoulders though.
"That's what y-…they said on the other side." He mumbled.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Maka said, smiling at me and gripping my hand. I turned into a scythe and she spun me once before firmly gripping me.
"What about him?" I asked. All eyes turned to Cal's unconscious body. The stranger scratched the back of his head.
"I guess we'll just have to take him with us, I mean he can't die, his futures written…" he sighed heavily, "What a pain… I guess I'll have to carry him…"
So with Cal slung over his shoulder, we began to run.
...
The main cavern was full of people, mostly scientists, trying to put out the spark which had spread to a roaring blaze of a fire. I could feel Makas shock through her soul wavelengths.
"Leave them, the portal is still open, they can return if they wish. We can't though…"
Maka nodded and ran towards one of the gaps in the machinery, not stopping to care about the orange tongues of fire that licked at the edges of her coat as she ran and reached for the edges off her pigtails. She made it to the other side but didn't stop for the guy. She skidded as she turned and headed straight for the tiny exit, running in leaps up the dark tunnel.
"What about him?" I asked, looking back but seeing nothing but darkness.
"He'll be fine."
"How do you know?" I asked unsurely.
"I just do. His soul is strong and he came for a purpose, not to die for our sake." I smiled as the tacking sound of footsteps echoed up the tunnel behind us.
Maka stopped after about fifteen minutes, breathing hard with her hands on her knees.
"Common, we need to keep going." The stranger said, readjusting Cal onto his other shoulder. The sound of crackling had been following us for a while now and I knew that the next time I glanced backwards I would be staring into lit tunnel instead of darkness.
"I'll run, then you won't have to carry me." I told her, transforming and holding out my hand to her. She smiled up at me and I couldn't help giving her a toothy grin. She snatched my hand and I pulled her up. The determined look was back in her eyes and that was all I needed to see to know that we were going to make it. When Maka was this determined how could we not.
I know it's quite short but oh well, i'll update sooner this time! :)
