Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
Someday
by. Poisoned Scarlett
Halloween.
Maka peeks out of the bathroom when the doorbell rings, toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. She quickly rinses her mouth, running over to the door. There's a chair sitting right beside the door, on it a bowl bursting with candy of all types. Tsugumi had nearly emptied the bowl into her pumpkin bucket when she wasn't looking earlier. That girl had only grown cleverer as the years rolled by. The little girl had left to trick or treat earlier that night with her parents and Maka had stayed despite Tsugumi's insistence to accompany her. Maka hadn't wanted to intrude on their family bonding time; after all, it wasn't often Tsugumi's parents could be together like this, mostly due to their conflicting work schedules.
"Trick or treat!" a group of children chorus when she opened the door, holding out their bags and buckets.
"Wow! You guys all look great!" Maka laughs, handing out candy. "Happy Halloween! Be sure to watch out for witches and goblins!" She forewarns with a giggle, waving at the hearty parents who laugh at her joke. Although it's not really a joke because their children could be snatched up by witches. They could be hurt by goblins. They could be hurt by all the things that were roaming freely on this particular night. Something about the moonlight affecting them, Soul had let slip once.
Maka returns to the bathroom, applying a facial mask while humming under her breath. She was digging through her drawers for her flannel shirt when another knock sounded on her door. In loose sleeping pants, a white camisole, and her facial mask on, Maka heads over to her door and opens it.
"He—whoa, what the hell are you supposed to be? The Hulk?...you missed some spots."
"That is not funny, Soul!" Maka steams. The mask is an unhealthy green color and she wants to make a face at Soul, but her face feels as if it has been cemented in place. She settles for a growl. "What are you doing here? Step inside, you aren't old enough to go trick or treating yet," she smartly says, letting him walk into her house. She peers down both ways, finding no children ready to knock on her door next, and shuts the door behind her.
"I was actually here to ask you if you wanted to go to a party, but this is better," Soul says, staring at the TV that's screening a horror movie marathon. He sits down on her couch, already engrossed. Now she thinks about it, he's dressed up more formally than usual.
"Party?" Maka perks up. "What party?"
"Some lame paranormal get-together down by Hook Cemetery," Soul dismisses, more interested in the movie than the party.
"I want to go!" Maka says, excitedly. "Can we go, Soul, please?"
"But the movie…" Soul trails off, reluctantly.
"The movie will be there tomorrow. They're having an entire Horror Movie Marathon until the end of October," Maka rolls her eyes. "You can come over to watch them tomorrow, we're going to that party tonight!"
"You're not even ready!" Soul accuses, eying her green facial mask. "Actually, you probably are—OUCH!"
"I'll be out in a few minutes," Maka mutters, marching back to the bathroom. She rinses off the mask, patting her face dry while Soul turns up the volume in the living room. As Soul had worn a well-tailored suit, Maka assumed this was a semi-formal event and rummaged through her closet for a dress.
She takes out a rather old model. She particularly likes this dress because it's fit for all occasions, with its scarlet ribbon that ties on her back and its silk black material. The only complaint she has is it's a strapless dress, but Maka quickly finds a black cardigan to go with it. She slips on black heels, runs to her vanity and stares hard at her hair. After a moment, she just lets it fall down her shoulders and moves onto applying some eyeliner and lip balm.
"Okay! Let's go!" Maka announces, scowling when she sees Soul had grown quite comfortable on her couch. He would wrinkle his suit if he kept laying like that. But he straightens up when he catches sight of her, causing her stomach to flutter nervously with his cool gaze. It doesn't give anything away; she hats it when she can't read him. "Well?"
"You're good," he replies, standing up. He turns the television off and turns back to her, holding his hand out. "You're gonna' want to hold onto me for a while."
"How come?" She asks, taking his hand anyway.
"Let's just say the supernatural aren't very welcoming to human guests," Soul drawls, glancing down to her chest. But he is looking past it again, his gaze fixed on something beyond what she can see. "Even if you are as abnormal as they come."
"Abnormal?" Maka repeats, bewildered. She places a hand over her chest. "I'm abnormal?"
"Your soul is. I told you already, it's different—we see your soul type every one hundred and fifty years or so," Soul explains. He had mentioned her strange soul on various occasions, but she never put much thought into it. "You're rare. It's probably why you can sense us better than others. You know about that, right? The reason why you always feel watched and why you always know there's something hiding around the corner?"
She looks down and nods, deciding not to comment.
The streetlamps have dimmed. The only guidance they have is the moonlight, which, too, dims with every guttering cloud that rolls past it. She can see a few stars twinkle in the distance the closer they approach Hook Cemetery. She lets her eyes fall down to their joined hands and when she looks back at Soul, she finds him looking elsewhere with apparent disinterest. But Maka doesn't try to let go of his hand: she just makes sure not to do anything bold, like squeeze his hand or, she swallows, swing it between them like they were some sort of happy couple.
Because they weren't.
Not yet.
"Why a cemetery?" Maka blurts out, trying to shake herself of those thoughts before Soul caught on.
"Because no ones visits a cemetery at night," Soul chuckles. She gasps when she hears something swoop overhead, the distant crow making the hairs rise on her arms. Despite herself, she squeezes his hand, and she tenses when he squeezes back comfortingly. "No one in their right mind would ever even think of walking into one on this night. And if they do, they're...not here for long," he adds, with a dark smirk.
The gates to Hook Cemetery are old and rusty. They groan when Soul pushes them open, waving off threads of spider webs and dust with a grimace. But Maka notices there is activity instantly, from the way classical music drafts tranquilly from up ahead, around a row of tombstones decorated lavishly with flowers, to the way a ghostly girl in a white dress glides past her unseeingly.
"Are you scared…?" He whispers, trying to catch a glimpse of her expression.
"Y-you won't let anything happen to me… right?"
"Of course not," he snorts. "Public execution isn't my style." He grins when she looks up flatly. "Take a joke, Maka. I won't let anything happen to you, just stick close and ignore the witches. Everyone else is pretty cool."
"Why aren't witches friendly?"
"They think they're better than the rest of us," Soul answers. "So they believe they shouldn't spare us a glance, much less talk to us. It's uncool, so just ignore them. They shouldn't cause too much trouble tonight, anyway."
They arrive to a part of the cemetery not rowed with tombstones, where the grass is rich with life and the trees loom overhead comfortingly. Maka has never seen so many of her fairytale creatures come to life in one place. She spots werewolves hitting up a couple of witches towards the edges, some with successful results while the others stick their noses in the air and stalk away. She can see other ghostly men and women twirl in a middle of the entire scene, wisps of white freezing when they brush past her ankles. There are others who appear normal—she catches Tsubaki in a long, empirical, dress up ahead—but she knows they're not quite human. They hold dark secrets, those beings spread out around the consecrated grounds, some linking elbows with their dates, some conversing with fellow friends, others gone stag and trying to find a date in the midst of everyone.
"And no one ever notices this?" Maka gapes.
"Nope. Not a single soul," he muses. "C'mon, I want a drink," he says, leading her through a weaving path to the refreshments table. On her way there, she catches sight of Tsubaki again and the girl waves back excitedly when she spots her. A boy with stark blue hair, combed in the vague shape of a star, stands beside her with his black overcoat open to reveal a clean white shirt. He's speaking with an African American man, two small children playing around their feet.
But the children don't look like regular children. She can see strange markings on their mocha skin and their almond shape eyes take up most of their face; dark blue and red respectively. She briefly wonders what they are, as one of the twins sneezes a plume of fire, while Soul reaches the refreshment table and sighs in relief when he's handed a glass of wine by a man whose skin is a corpse blue.
"Thanks, Sid."
"No problem, Soul!" Sid directs empty, black, eyes to Maka. She can't help it: she stares a little. They look like someone gauged them out. "Here you go, ma'am. She's human, right?" Sid asks Soul, who nods simply. "Huh! We haven't had many of your type around here. They'd be too scared to ever get along with us. Don't worry about the drink, it's just soda," he smiles.
"But...you're not scary, you're really nice," Maka trails off, unsure if she said something wrong when Sid laughs and Soul cracks a smile.
"That's a first," Soul comments.
"Nygus would love her!" Sid adds.
"Is she here tonight?"
"She should be. Last I saw her, she was by the food table. I'm not sure about now, she was saying something about making sure no one crashes the party."
"Medusa, you mean?"
"Yes, her," Sid nods and Maka's curiosity is piqued.
"Who's Medusa?"
"Hmm… spreading rumors was not the type of man I used to be, but I suppose you would not caught up with the news. There has been talk that the witch Medusa was planning on coming here tonight. She was exiled from the convent a few years ago for illicit and illegal projects that went against the Code of Magic."
"She was abusing her magic," Soul simplifies, taking a drink of wine while Maka digests this information. "So, Head Witch Maaba stripped her of her rank and banished her from the Land of Witches. She's got a hit on her head, but she's a crafty bitch. No one's managed to injure her enough to kill her."
"Wow…." Maka whispers, wondering just how strong this witch was compared to Soul. "Is she stronger than you?"
"She may be!" Sid cheerfully says before Soul could reply. Soul cuts him a dark look. "Ah, calm down, Soul! While you may be stronger than her, magically speaking, she is, like you said, a crafty thing. She'd outwit you and gain the upper hand like she has with the rest!"
"Yeah, you're right. Soul isn't that smart," Maka agrees sagely. Soul growls a warning under his breath. She merely takes a dainty sip of her wine, hiding her smile from him although Sid sees it and shakes his head at their antics.
The rest of the night goes as planned. Although Maka had been wary of the sky for any sign of that witch, or any sign of danger, after two hours with still no sign of anything, Maka allowed her guard to drop. Although, that might have been the wines doing. Soul made sure to keep her glasses in check, to her disgruntlement. He didn't seem to believe her when she told him that she had never gotten as drunk as that one time on Saint Patrick's day.
She had met the elusive Black Star, too, although she'd quickly wanted to knock his overinflated head right off his shoulders. He was the single-most arrogant man she'd ever met, not to mention he practically expected her to bow down to him as if she were some servant! He'd been lucky Soul had steered her away and Tsubaki distracted Black Star by pointing to another guest. They had only just prevented a brawl from happening, to Maka's dismay. She was sure she could take on someone like him intellectually—he certainly didn't strike her as someone very bright—and, hell, physically, why not?
Black Star aside, she had gotten to know so many of the guests! Some were funny, some were the walking dead, some were uptight, some were sullen and some were just plain creepy! But she enjoyed the diversity, beaming a smile to Soul when he asked her if she was having fun. She supposed the only reason they'd stayed until past midnight was because she was enjoying herself, as Soul did not seemed very entertained with the entire party. But who knows how many he'd attended? Maka had decided.
She also discovered he didn't like dancing.
He'd graced her with one dance (because she forced him) and refused any other, shoving a few crackers in her hand when she tried to get him back to the swaying crowd. She'd glared at him for an hour after that, purposely ignoring him until he grumbled a lame apology and said he'd dance with her all she wanted later, when her feet weren't killing her.
She gave him props for noticing.
And it was that which found her walking barefoot down the lonely streets of Death City, Soul faithfully by her side as he had been for the past few hours.
"You're gonna' get glass stuck in your foot."
"Not if I watch where I'm going!" Maka chirps, swinging her shoes in her hand. The sky is such a dark color but not ominous. It doesn't seem as frightening as before, Maka marvels, perhaps now that she had been exposed to this new world she would no longer come to fear the dark of her hometown?
"Whatever, suit yourself," Soul shrugs, and they both walk in comfortable silence the rest of the way to her apartment. By the time they arrive, she has begun to yawn widely in drowsiness. She feels his hand press against the small of her back as they both climb up the stairs to the second floor, guiding her sleepy self toward her apartment door. "Keys?"
"Turn around!" Maka insists.
"Fine…" Soul rolls his eyes, pivoting on his heel. He counts to three before he turns back, catching glimpse of black lace this time. He is slightly impressed—dare he say she wore it with even more appeal than he thought she could?
Maka opens the door, allowing him inside as well. She flips on the switch in her living room, but pauses when Soul doesn't enter. He's blinking at her from the door, frowning.
"What are you waiting for?" Maka asks, cocking her head. "Come in!"
Finally, he does. "You didn't invite me in," he comments, but doesn't explain.
"Eh? I thought that was just for vampires," she laughs a little, but when he only scowls, she stops. "Does it apply to...you, too?"
"I'm guardian of this region so, yes, to ensure I do not bring harm to anyone, I have to be invited within a household," Soul stifle a yawn and plop down on her couch as if he'd been there a thousand times. Truthfully, he had only been over a total of three times. But she doesn't mind him making himself at home – she practically gave him full reign of her television set the last two times he dropped by or followed her home after a long day at work. "Or else I'd make myself sick if I entered without permission from the owner."
"Sick how?"
"Eh," is all he says, waving his hand around. Maka decides not to ask; he'll tell her eventually. She decides she can get it out of him the next time he visits her home and heads to the bathroom to change.
"Don't you have some important Warlock matters to attend tomorrow?" Maka shouts, slipping back into her sweatpants and camisole and washing away the make up on her face while she waited for his reply.
"Nah, the day after Halloween is pretty chill!" His eyes flicker over to her when she comes back, dressed and ready to sleep. But before he can even begin to excuse himself home, Maka lets herself fall beside him comfortably and grabs the remote.
"What're you watching? Oh! I heard there was going to be this really good horror movie at ten... maybe they'll repeat it right now!" Maka glances at the clock. It is currently one in the morning. She definitely wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight if she planned on arriving to work early, Maka thinks wearily.
"I've seen this one before," Soul states. She placed the remote between them again. He sinks back into her comfy couch, uncaring for the wrinkles his suit will get as they both begin to watch the movie that was already half way through. "They play it every Halloween."
"I haven't seen it. I hardly watch TV…" Maka admits, rubbing an eye out while he snorts something about her reading too much to ever indulge in cable. She only watches a few minutes of the film before her eyes feel heavy. Then she's fighting sleep, beginning to nod off. Her home is warm, his body even warmer pressed against hers. Even before she closes her eyes, she's dreaming of black ties and sharp teeth…
"Hey," she feels someone whisper, their breath on her cheek. "Maka, wake up and go to bed. Come on." She feels Soul reach for her wrist, coaxing her awake by pulling her forward.
"Ngh," she groans. "Just leave me here…" She mumbles, unwilling to leave her spot on her couch. It felt too comfortable to leave for the cold sheets of her bed. "It's warm..."
"You can't sleep on the couch, Maka," Soul dryly states and Maka finally opens her eyes. He's leaning over her slightly, frowning at her. He's still in his suit, Maka realizes, and the movie on the screen is rolling the credits. Just what time was it? She wakes up a little more, stifling a yawn while Soul motions to her bedroom with his head. "Kid's probably wondering where I ran off to this time."
"You should call him," Maka says, worriedly. She sits up properly, adding: "What time is it?"
"It's about to be five."
"Five?" Maka gasps. "I can't go back to sleep! I have to wake up at six, Soul! Thank god you woke me up! I would've missed work if you hadn't!"
"You're seriously not planning on going to work with only three hours of sleep, are you?" Soul asks, incredulously. But she only nods firmly and he sighs. "Why don't you just skip? One day isn't going to kill you."
"I can't. If I'm able to work, then I will. I'm not going to miss out on a day because I was too lazy to wake up and go," Maka says, sincerely. She stretches out like a cat, her back cracking as a sigh of satisfaction escapes her lips. As her body slacks, she becomes aware of his gaze upon her, and she turns to look at him. "I get out early today, at noon," she says, rubbing her arms a little. "I can come back and catch up on my sleep."
"Or you can just stay home and sleep-in."
"I'm going to work, Soul!" Maka firmly states. She doesn't fight him when his arm wraps around her shoulders and he brings her closer to him, a splash of refreshing body wash wafting to her. Rather than stiffen, she yawns a little into his chest while his chin rests on the top of her head. She shifts on her thigh, resting against him comfortably. She would wait until five thirty, Maka thinks drowsily, and shower quickly and go to work. Although the bank does not open until eight in the morning, she has some things she needs to sort out in the back. She could almost imagine how good it would feel to come back at noon, to slip under her covers after a magical night and sleep without any worries.
"Think you can hold out til twelve?" Soul murmurs.
"I've done it before," Maka whispers, closing her eyes and smiling faintly when she feels his arm drop from her shoulders to the curve of her hips. She makes sure not to fall asleep within his comfortable embrace, suddenly shifting upright when she realizes it's already five twenty five. "I have to shower and change. And you need to go back home before Kid really starts to wonder where you're at!" Maka warns, and stifles a squeak when Soul merely pulls her back down on him.
"Wait up," he drawls. He's planning something; she can see it in the way his eyes cloud with thought. "What's the rush? You still have half an hour."
"I have to be there by seven. I haven't even showered or changed!" She deadpans and wakes up a little more when his face nears hers. "Soul…?" She realizes what he's about to do instantly and she draws back a little, cheeks pinking. "D-don't you need to be invited for this..too?"
"Invite me," is all he says, not closing the distance between them. But she can feel his breathe on her lips. It's unfair; he knew she would invite him.
"Okay." She feels his lips touch her own and she only blinks her eyes closed and returns the soft kiss. It's not a heated kiss like their first one, not a hasty one like their second. This one is soft, with lazy strokes of their tongues as Maka keeps in mind that it's already five thirty and if she does not hurry up, she really will be late.
"Go home, Soul," Maka muffles between kisses, their mouths meeting again a few times before she adds: "I'm serious."
"I know," he mocks, a slight smirk on his face when he captures her lips once more and all the fight goes out of her again. At least until the clock hits five forty: then she abruptly parts and makes her way to the bathroom—asking him to lock the door on his way out, pressing shaking hands on her cheeks because things are very different between them now. Things have changed drastically with this invitation.
Soul lounges on her couch for just a few minutes before disappearing, running his tongue over his lips and, for once, actually liking Halloween.
A/N: Halloween update yay! I also have other updates planned for this story that aren't holiday-based, but birthday-based and such. So expect a lot of updates in November :D
Scarlett.