Hope you liiiikeeee.(;
"How much longer is the ride?" I asked as Soul started the motorcycle.
"About two hours." We took off down the trail in the woods. By this point I definitely wanted to turn around and go back to the DWMA and forget this whole thing ever happened. But Soul told me it was too late to quit now.
"We were supposed to have been back by now, weren't we?" I asked.
Soul nodded. "Oh well. Minor setbacks."
Minor? I thought to myself. I wouldn't call getting attacked by a kishin and almost getting sliced in half minor…
As the ride grew longer, the path got wider, and the trees became more spread out. I started recognizing things. I squeezed my arms tighter around Soul nervously.
"Don't be scared, Red," Soul told me. "We're only breaking into the academy you were expelled from and stealing things from the headmaster that expelled you." He laughed. "No biggy."
I scowled and felt like that would have been a good time to punch him.
Then we saw it. Huge, brick, and looming, it towered over us like a giant. "Not as cool as the DWMA," Soul mumbled. I agreed.
He stopped the motorcycle and I climbed off. My wounds ached.
"Now, what's the best way into this place?" Soul asked, business-like.
"We could go in through the library," I said, walking around the side of the school.
Soul looked thoughtful. "Might take a while..." he said. "Besides, the manlier way to do it would be to just crash in through the window, grab the stuff, and run out."
I facepalmed. "Library it is." I dragged him by the collar around the perimeter of the building. The library window was already open. "They must have known we were coming," I murmured to myself.
"Ladies first," Soul said, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes, well used to this by now. The window was about four or five feet off the ground.
"Gimme a boost," I said to Soul. He nodded and hoisted me up onto the window ledge, then he gave me a small shove and I squeaked as I tumbled inside. I heard him laughing from outside and I popped my head out the window to glare at him. He stopped laughing and climbed inside after me.
I stood up and brushed myself off. "Where to now, oh faithful leader?" Soul quipped.
"This way." I grabbed his arm and pulled him around the bookshelves. The librarian was staring at me as if I'd come back from the dead. "Hey, Shelly," I chirped as I blew past her desk with Soul in tow. I think Shelly fainted. "Poor old woman," I said over my shoulder to Soul. "Looks like the sight of the wily former problem student Melody Marshal was too much to handle. Bless her soul."
Soul laughed. "You're horrible, Red."
I smirked to myself as I led the way out of the library and down the main hallway. Things started to come back to me as I passed my old classrooms. It was a Saturday so very few students were out in the hallways. They were probably all hanging out in their dorms or gone to town. It felt eerily lonely, as our footsteps echoed through the corridors. The few students that were there took no notice of us.
"Wait. Down there," I said, and screeched to a halt. Down a hall to my left, was Lady Death's office.
"Is she in there?" Soul asked.
"Let's find out." I ran down the hallway and stopped in front of the door. I peered inside the small rectangular window. "Yes..."
He frowned. "What do we do now?"
"Lure her out," I replied casually.
A shark-tooth grin spread across his face. "And how exactly do we -"
I cut him off. "Like this." I stepped back from the door, took a deep breath, and hollered, "KISHIN! KISHIN IN THE GARDEN!"
The few students in the halls screamed and stopped what they were doing and looked around desperately to see who had announced that, and the ones in dorms or classrooms peeked their heads out to see what was going in. Within moments the commotion had escalated. I whirled around to an astonished Soul, laughed and hissed, "Come on!" and yanked him around the corner into a dark, empty classroom just before the door to Lady Death's door flew open. I peered out of the doorway just enough to see the back of her cloak whisk out of sight.
Soul and I fell against the wall, laughing and catching our breath.
"Troublemaker," he teased. He stood in front of me, his red eyes glinting with excitement.
"Who, me? Psh, no," I bantered.
"Yes," he said quietly, stepping closer. "Don't argue with me, you'll lose." If he wasn't smirking, from the way he said it I would've thought he was angry.
I laughed. "Soul, I..." My words died in my throat.
He was so close and his eyes were shining, and he had me pinned up against the wall and his hands were on my hips - when did those get there? - and my heart was pounding in my chest and he was leaning closer...
Then my brain seemed to catch up with real life. Suddenly I remembered the reason why we had come here in the first place, and I pried myself away. "Come on, we gotta hurry," I mumbled over my shoulder to him as I hurried out of the room. He followed me into Lady Death's office. I stepped towards the pictures on the wall, finding that my brain was having a hard time functioning because it was still trying to register the shock that Soul and I had almost...
"Melody, stop!"
I froze where I was, then turned around slowly. There in the window was Tsubaki. And Black Star. And Maka, and Kid, and Liz and Patty. And Crona. What were they doing here? Had they followed us? No, I realized, Crona had gone back to get them after the kishin attack. My mouth was suddenly very dry and when I wanted to speak nothing would come out and I stood there with my mouth wide open like an idiot.
Tsubaki said, "Melody, we believe you now. You don't have to do this."
I scowled. "Yeah, you believe me now that you've seen it yourself. But you couldn't believe me before when I was telling the truth?"
"If they'd just asked me in the first place I would have confirmed everything you told them," Kid said matter-of-factly, narrowing his eyes at the others.
"Shut up, Kid," Liz grumbled.
"We're sorry," Tsubaki continued. "Super super sorry and we should have believed you before because that's what friends do."
Maka nodded in agreement. "Please come home with us," she added.
I scoffed. "Home?" I shook my head, looking at the ground. "The DWMA is not my home."
"We'll make it your home," Maka pleaded. "You can move in with me and Soul."
"What?" Soul and I said at the same time. Shocked, I glanced at him, only to find he was looking at me. I looked away quickly, a blush creeping onto my cheeks.
"Let's just get out of here," Maka finished. I looked at everyone's faces. They all looked sincere. I bit my lip, then slowly nodded and went to the window, Soul following close behind.
"Atta girl, carrot top," Black Star said cheerily as he started helping me out the window.
Suddenly, Maka gasped. "She's coming; I can feel her soul presence. Hurry guys!"
Then the door swung open. I stopped dead in my tracks, one leg out the window, one leg in.
"What's going on here?" Lady Death asked. My heart sank into my stomach.
Busted.
