Godsends
Episode nineteen:The strangest duet.
CHAPTER INSTRUCTION:
Please open in a different internet page YouTube.
Type in the search bar 'Amrita piano by Yui Makino'.
Click the first video you see (It should have a picture from Tsubasa Chronicles) and hit the pause button.
During the chapter, when Soul says the following:
'Five, six, seven eight…'
You shall play the video. Further instructions will be given through descriptions.
Thank you and enjoy this new chapter!
.
"You're late, just as I predicted!" Maka shouted as soon as she saw Soul's motorbike approaching the apartment. She was wearing the same combination from those past days: red checkered skirt, yellow vest…etc.
Soul groaned a little when he heard Maka's scold. What a way to start the day...
"Just for a few minutes, what's the difference?" He complained, parking in front of Maka.
Maka eyed Soul with a scolding glaze and crossed her arms. She seemed to be very annoyed at the times Soul wanted to talk back.
Soul rolled his eyes and patted the sit behind him. "Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just get in".
Maka made a small triumphant smile and went to sit behind Soul. She held strongly his waist.
Soul turned the motorbike on and took off to his home.
"Say, Maka?" He called, while riding.
"Don't distract yourself while driving, you'll get arrested!" Maka yelled.
Soul rolled his eyes again.
"Never mind that, did your dad get home yesterday?"
Maka tightened her grip on Soul for a second, and her expression became angry. (Soul couldn't see it, but he could tell very clearly).
"Yeah, almost at sunrise! I can't believe he even had the nerve to come back smelling so strongly of alcohol, he's so unbelievable!" She complained between all the noises the motorbike made, making Soul feel a little bad for her.
"Was he okay with you coming with me today?" Soul asked, speeding up to directions that where unknown to Maka.
"No, not really." Maka responded frankly. "But it's not like he considers if I'M okay with him going to clubs, so we're even…" She finished ironically.
'Cool, Maka. You sure know how to handle those kinds of things…' Soul thought with a smirk as he took an exit that went to the outskirts of Death City.
"Hey, just where did you live?" Maka asked in a somewhat worried tone.
She finally saw her surroundings. The outside part of the city was just a freeway that connected to other cities, and the scenery route was made out of only green areas…a most unlikable place to have a mansion.
"Outside the city… Much of a greener place, and our mansion was the only building around!" Soul responded with a tiny hint of excitement.
Maka smiled to herself when she heard Soul like that. It was almost as if he was eager for something; she was glad to be there for him.
.
.
"Is…is this it?" Maka's voice resounded in the deserted space.
Soul could only mutter. "…Yeah. Or the remains of it…"
Before Maka, Soul, the bike and the driveway, there was something that looked more or less like a haunted mansion. The windows where all dirty, some even broken; the grass was poorly taken care of, and the silver and red and brown painting that once made the house look so omnipotent was dry and almost fallen apart. A very pitiful view, indeed…
Soul lowered his head and tightened his hand in a fist.
'It's worse than last time I came…At least the grass still looked green back then!' He scolded himself mentally for not coming before. For not being able to prevent the horrible decay to happen… He could've done something with the locked up founds of his parents; if he wanted to… but he just was too selfish.
"Soul…?" Maka's voice called in concern. "Where you alone last time you came?" She asked in very obvious worry.
Soul nodded very slowly.
Maka made an assuring smile, and without Soul's permission, took his hand into hers.
Soul got a little surprised at the sudden contact, making his eyes go a little wider than usual.
"Oii-!" He managed in an off-guard, kind of shaky tone.
Maka didn't really expected Soul to get nervous, so she chuckled very lightly.
"Well, you aren't alone this time." She said confidently. "This time, I'm here for you".
Soul's look widened even more for a very small bit.
"Huh…" He muttered, turning his head to Maka.
The one he loved was there for him.
"Didn't you listen?" Maka asked with cheeriness. "I'm here for you, so let's just go!"
There was nothing to be afraid of, and there was nothing to regret.
Soul made a very small grin and squeezed Maka's hand tightly, and Maka's eyes widened a little, since she didn't expect a response.
"Thanks for being so cool". He quickly said before letting go of her hand and going ahead into the mansion's front door.
"Oh—wait!" Maka managed, jogging a little to catch up with Soul, feeling a little mad at him for not explaining why the sudden gratitude and grin.
Soul simply ignored Maka's little exclamations as he opened the rusty front door, for its locks where all messed up and loose.
The pair entered what seemed like a main hall, which looked like a gigantic fairy-tale or movie-setting ballroom. Once beautiful and spectacular, this 'ballroom' was filled with dust: the paintings on the floor and walls where dried up and almost blacked out, and the chandeliers on the very tall ceiling where looking extremely fragile and unclean.
"This… it kinda looks like an old horror movie…" Maka mindlessly said, completely entering the ballroom and closing the door behind her, making a very loud echo and rusty noise.
"Well, when it was clean and pretty…" Soul said, entering along, and getting to the very center of the ballroom, his steps sounding very clearly and loudly. "…Right here was the place where the rich and snobby parties where held out. This was the exact place where either mom or dad would step in to show off Wes's violin skills or to recite some stupid 'thank you all for coming' speech…"
Maka's look chirped up. Soul seemed to have good memories from the house, and not only torments or tragedies, like she had expected.
She then noticed that at the end of the ballroom where stairs tapered on a fancy, yet old-looking carpet.
Somehow, Maka couldn't help herself but to imagine how a rich party was like:
Millions of people mindlessly talking or slow-dancing to very boring and slow music, little snotty kids crying over who's mom's got the biggest mansion, preppy teenagers talking about the same things, adults bringing themselves to eat and compliment the expensive food that the hosts had ordered and actually nobody liked…but on the very top of the stairs, Maka imagined that Soul would be there. Sitting calmly and looking down at them, uninterested on the 'party' and minding his own business: being cool, like he always tried to be. He was dressed up for the party, but had no intentions to go downstairs….back when he was still frozen cold.
"Maka?" Soul's voice called, getting Maka back to reality.
"Yeah?" She quickly said, just realizing that she was standing alone in the ballroom, and that Soul was at one of the corners of the room, ready to open a new door.
"You where spacing out?" Soul asked while cocking an eyebrow, making Maka chuckle nervously.
"Um…yeah. Just checkin' out the stairs, you know…" She tried saying as casually as possible.
"Uh, okay…Wanna see the rest of the house or not?" Soul asked, holding out the door for Maka, getting impatient.
Maka only followed quietly yet quickly.
For about half an hour, Maka and Soul had been walking only on the lower part of the house, and in each room, Soul would explain wither a funny or important experience or detail he'd remember. The only thing that saddened Maka very deeply was the state of every room, for she couldn't even begin to imagine that those pitiful things where as cool and marvelous as Soul described them…It was a little impossible, even for her.
After checking out the whole place from downstairs, they went upstairs to see everyone's room. Wes's was the biggest, considering it was only for one person. It had the most expensive-looking pieces of furniture (now barely standing), and the remaining decorations gave a very elegant, yet now dead, atmosphere. Soul's mother and father had a room that was almost exactly like Wes's, only with a bigger bed, and a slightly colder atmosphere.
'Just like a rich person's house and rooms should be like, right?' Was the kind of logic for decoration that Soul's parents used.
"Soul, do you think your room is in the same condition… like the ones we just saw…?" Maka asked with a tiny hint of melancholy. She and Soul where now walking on the hallways that where outside each room and led to another.
Soul smirked. "I wouldn't mind. It's not like I enjoyed having that room anyways, since my mom chose it for me."
He then led Maka to his room: It was exactly the same as Wes's, only smaller.
Maka cocked an eyebrow as soon as she saw it.
"Didn't your parents take your opinion on anything at all? Even your own room was of their choosing?"
Soul chuckled, and stopped walking, making Maka stop right behind him.
"I know they didn't mean it. Deep down, my parents cared for me and Wes, but liked to act snobby in front of everyone else. Especially mom…"
Maka smiled, since Soul's tone relaxed at the mention of his mother.
"Sounds like your mom isn't as half-bad as I thought…" She said.
Soul resumed his chuckling. "Yeah. She was pretty cool, to be very honest. When it was just the family, she was loving and light-headed. When it was rich people, she would try her best to act frivolous and cold…just to fit in." He said with a voice that sounded calm, and at ease; Soul had great patience when it came to his mother, just as Maka had the same kind of respect for her mom.
"Did she make it up for you?" Maka suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
"I mean, if you didn't get to choose your room, did she do something to make it up?" She clearly asked now.
Soul grinned nostalgically.
"Actually, she did. She said I could choose any room of the house and make it exactly as I wanted, so I could hang in there…"
Maka looked up to Soul in expectation and smiled with thrill.
"Can we see that room, Soul?" She asked with glee.
Soul's grin widened as he nodded. "I'm guessing it'll look the same as the other rooms, but what the hell. Let's go".
Soul then began to lead Maka deeper into the upper part of the mansion. They returned to the stairs, and instead of taking the right path from them (which led to the rooms), took left. They walked deeper into a very long hallway and reached a door with a very strong blue color that stood out brightly from all the dust and blacked out painting on the hallway.
"This door's the only blue one…the rest are either white or brown". Soul remarked with curiosity. He opened the door easily, since the lock that guarded it was oxidized.
Maka stood quietly outside the door while Soul allowed himself in.
"What's wrong? Aren't you coming?" He asked, noticing that Maka wasn't moving.
"Soul…this is your special room. Are you sure it's okay if I go in?" She asked with a very unusual shy tone.
Soul got a little surprised by the sudden question. No one really asked his permission to enter that room with him…his family would just allow him to do as he'd please, and leave him go by himself…this was actually the first time someone would be with him on that special room with him.
"It's cool. You can come in". Soul said, opening the door for Maka.
Maka made a small smile and enter right away.
Before her and Soul stood the strangest place Maka had seen. The floor was just like a ballroom's. Checkered black and red, and the kind that made a lot of noise if you stepped in with heels or formal shoes. The walls where a dark shade of red, and there was only one window, adorned with crimson-colored curtains. A big black closet was placed at the end of the room, where instruments and formal clothing where stocked. A few meters away from the door, was a very old record-player rested on a small table, and several discs where right next to it.
Finally, the most notorious thing on the room was an enormous black piano. Even though it looked a little wasted from the years past, it was big and very elegant… It was the object that made the room different from every other in the mansion, and what gave life to Soul's special room.
"This room is awesome…" Maka managed, amazed by how very 'Soul-alike' everything was.
Soul stepped into the room right after her, shook some dust off the piano bench and sat by it.
"I call it 'dark room'". He proudly said, showing off a pointy grin. "Feel free to walk around, I don't mind if you do".
Maka made a wide smile, as if she was waiting for that remark. "Okay then~!"
As curious as ever, Maka walked; she eyed with interest the old discs with interest, and found out that her dad had many alike those. She passed her hands through the windows and everywhere she could touch to clean off dust. Finally, she opened the closet to find something that she didn't quite expect.
"Soul…look at this!" Maka called, making Soul stand up with a lazy groan.
"What?" He asked.
Maka took out two plastic bags from the closet, which where held by clothespins.
"Can I take a look at these?" Maka asked, holding up one of the bags.
Soul nodded.
Maka took of the clothespin and removed the plastic from the clothing it was holding…along with the bag, a pair of shoes fell into the floor as well. She then held upper to Soul's face the clothing.
It was a suit.
Incredibly enough, the suit wasn't damaged at the very least: a black tuxedo with white striped, a red formal shirt with a black tie, and the complimenting shoes that where on the floor where simply the most elegant pieces of male-clothing that Maka had seen in a long while…
"Soul. You've gotta put this on…!" Maka offered, turning to Soul with a pleading look.
"What?! No way, this was my dad's! He just liked storing it here!" Soul tried, only to get a very displeased look from Maka.
"Come on, put it on, put it on!" She chanted, throwing the suit and shoes at Soul, and quickly pushing him out of the room and into the nearest bathroom with force.
"Hey wait—MAKA!" Soul called with annoyance, trying to struggle against Maka.
She just made a very evil smile.
"I don't want to see you back in the room unless you put that on~" She then closed slammed the bathroom's door, and went back into the dark room.
Soul stared blankly at the door for a few seconds, and then at the suit.
"Urgh…SO un-cool…"
.
5 minutes later.
"I'm changed…" Soul called as he let himself back to the dark room, and found Maka sitting on the piano bench, reading a really old songbook that was by the piano.
"Oh, welcome--" Maka said, but then stared at Soul.
It was least to say that he looked handsome. Somehow, Soul looked older, calmer, and even more mysterious than what he always did… the suit fit him just as perfectly as she had deducted.
"You, uh, look nice". Maka quickly said, burying a slightly blushing face on the songbook, making Soul's look turn in confusion.
"Okay…? What are you doing?" He asked, sitting next to Maka.
"Oh, it's just that I recognized one of the songs in here…" Maka said with a smile, showing the piece she was reading to Soul.
A piano piece called 'Amrita'.
"A piano-only song. Kinda fun to learn, but too slow for my tastes…" Soul said with slight arrogance.
"I can actually sing this, you know". Maka said with confidence, making Soul break out in a snort.
"What?! Do you know what kind of freaky high-pitched tone you need to sing that? Your voice is totally different from that, you moron!"
This remark earned a strong Maka-chop.
"I don't need to sing exactly like the singer does! I can sing however I want, and I can even show you!" Maka said in a very determined tone.
Soul chuckled. "Yeah, right".
Maka made an annoyed noise and stood up, again to the closet. Feeling a little frustrated, she took the other clothing bag and looked at it.
"Can I see this one as well?" She called to Soul.
"Yeah, whatever…"
Maka did the same with the suit, and this time, was left even more surprised.
"Whoa… Soul, look at this…I found a really beautiful dress!" She said in a surprised tone. "The accessories are here as well!"
Soul turned kept on being sitting and looked at the dress. His look widened when he could recognize it:
"A beautiful dress…Of course it's beautiful. It was one of my mom's favorites, and it was the match to the suit I'm wearing right now…" He said with a very unusual serious tone, and with a hint of melancholy.
Maka's look relaxed and saddened at the same time as she looked at Soul.
Then, she quietly looked at the dress while an idea sparked up in her mind.
"I'll go put this on…" She announced quietly, still staring at the dress.
"Eh?" Was all Soul could say.
Maka made a warm, small smile at Soul.
"I'd like to test your mom's taste in clothing…and I'd like to see how the combination looks with your suit". She simply said.
Soul speechlessly watched how Maka's smile turned into a childish one.
"Be back in a bit!" She cheerily said, running out of the dark room.
"Oii, wait a--!" Soul managed, only being able to reach out a hand, as the dark room's door smashed, and Soul was left alone, and confused.
He helplessly sat back to the piano bench, and left out a distressed sigh.
"Honestly, what do you pretend by confusing me so much…?" Soul asked to himself.
.
5 minutes later…
"Soul!" Maka's voice called from the other side of the door.
"What?"
"I'm ready…"
"Then just come in already!" He this said with an annoyed tone.
Maka opened the door and quietly stood in front of Soul, holding her hands together in front of her stomach, looking as elegant as she could.
Maka was wearing beautiful, long black dress that almost reached her ankles; it had delicate swirls at the end, and it made her figure look a little more adult-alike. Maka's pigtails where adorned with black ribbons, and her feet where standing in pointy, not-so tall heels that complimented nicely.
Soul couldn't help but to stare blankly at Maka for a few seconds.
"Isn't it pretty? The size was just perfect!" Maka said with a small smile.
Soul's expression was a little too surprised at the moment.
'Perfect. Why, oh, WHY do you have to look so PERFECT on that?!' He cursed mentally.
His real response; however, was other:
"It uh…looks good, I guess…"
Maka laughed a little, and then grinned with malice.
"Also, don't you think this makes me look not so flat?" She said cheerily, holding up the ends of the dress and bowing over playfully, like a little princess.
Soul's face flushed instantly, and as to not hurt his pride, he turned to the piano's direction to hide his embarrassment.
'Don't you think I noticed that by myself already?' He asked Maka mentally. (Sure as hell he wouldn't get an answer, anyways).
Maka took this action as an instruction to sit over as well, right next to him.
"So…" Soul called, perking up Maka's interest.
"Yeah?" She replied with a cute smile.
"Do you still wanna prove your point? Wanna make the duet?" Soul offered, not looking into Maka's eyes.
Maka's smile stood as it was. "Yup. You play, I'll sing as I please".
"Okay…" Soul said. He took a breath, and opened the piano to see its keys.
As dusty as they where, he tried them out first:
Do, Re, Mi...
"Okay, it still works..." He announced, making Maka smile.
"Then play!"
He took a very deep breath...
"Five, six, seven, eight".
(This is the Que. Please play the video, and as you hear the song, read what's down.)
Soul began playing a soft intro. It was quiet, flawless and a very relaxing tune that Maka instantly recognized…
.
.
.
Maka took a breath as her singing began:
.
(Listen and you can hear the distant sound…
of someone humming a familiar song,)
(like sacred nectar… like a dream
Let me sleep surrounded by it…)
...
(Why… is the world being washed away… in contradictions and helplessness?)
(At sunset,
we always watched the madder-red clouds together)
(but you can't be with me anymore…!)
(When the silver rain began to fall…
I thought that it was a part of me,
and I dried my tears…)
(The shooting stars that rain straight down, on your body..!
on your shoulders are...)
Amurita…
.
(Pause on 1:52 and skip to 2:58… Don't play yet.)
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Soul mindlessly and flawlessly played while Maka sang. Her voice was completely different from the original voice, but it was somehow more unique this way. It was quite more interesting.
He decided that since the next part of the song was exactly the same as the first one (just with different lyrics), it was okay to skip at his very little solo.
All was going so smoothly that he didn't even need to ask Maka if it was okay or not to skip. She knew the song just as well as him, so she was perfectly okay with it.
It was as if their 'souls' where ressonating.
.
(Play)
A quicker, softer piano solo began. Maka even closed her eyes to feel it.
It was a warm, and very kind piece of music... at the same time it was nothing like Soul, it reminded her of him in do many ways-- like his very subtle kindness.
Maka put her hands on her hearth, closed her eyes and sang the final part of the song with all the feeling she could put in:
.
(When the silver rain began to fall…
I thought that it was a part of me,
and I dried my tears…)
(Shooting stars cascade straight down…!
and become the rain, that falls on you...)
Amrita…
.
.
The beautiful duet began its ending. With Maka's singing part done, she smiled too look over at her pianist. Soul played a final solo part that was a little longer than the normal solo; his fingers started running through each piano key in a brilliantly swift manner, and with each key, the music began turning lower, and lower…
Until there was no more sound.
.
.
Maka and Soul didn't say a word. They where far too surprised by the ending product of the song:
The strangest duet ever.
They awkwardly sat next to another for no less than a minute, and Soul wasn't looking anywhere near normal; it was almost as if he was concerned, or confused, or even surprised at what they had just done with such diferent styles.
"We… we just did this, didn't we…?" Maka finally said, aiming a very nervous smile at Soul, trying to snap him back as reality as quickly as she could.
Soul didn't look up into Maka's eyes. There just wasn't an usual quick response...
He kept on processing the situation.
Soul stared mindlessly at the piano, and then, without making eye contact with Maka, at her face…and the mouth that was able to sing with him-- a thing absolutely no one would have ever done.
The face of the girl he loved.
His one and only singer.
Soul was far too quiet, and Maka was beginning to freak out a little by that.
"…Soul? Are you okay?" Maka asked in worry, taking Soul's shoulders and forcing him to look at her face.
To Maka's worry, Soul was looking just as bold and frozen as ever, but little did she know...
… that Soul just wasn't able to hold on anymore at this point…
"I'm sorry", he muttered.
.
The green eyes that had closed to feel the music with him where now wide in surprise as Soul, without Maka's permission, had reached out to her face and kissed her on the lips.
Soul didn't go any farther. He just pressed his lips roughly into hers, and Maka was so surprised that her eyes didn't even close during the whole scene.
As soon as Soul had kissed her, he backed away, lowering his head.
Maka stared at him in the blankest, and most surprised expression she had ever made. She passed a finger on her lower lip, and looked at Soul with a questioning stare.
"Wha…what was that…?" She asked in a nervous, slightly shy, and very confused voice.
Soul looked away in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it…it's just that the song…" He finally said, his voice heavy, and clearly embarrassed. "Let's say it was just my way of…praising you for the singing… and…you..." He couldn't bring himself to say the last. He gulped, and his hands trembled a little. "...You...you know".
Soul wanted to run.
He expected to be scolded, called a 'molester', Maka-choped… anything but the real reaction that he got from Maka.
...
Maka simply allowed her face to go as near as Soul's, and returned the peck.
Also in the lips.
Soul got wide-eyed, and his face reached the crimson color of his eyes.
Maka smiled at this reaction, and blushed in a very light tone.
"Then…this is just me appreciating your compliment, and…you know". She simply said, smiling with ease. She also wasn't able to say out what she was thinking, and Soul knew exactly what it meant.
But even so, Maka was feeling very, very happy.
Soul grinned as he usually did, and opened his arms for Maka.
Maka closed her eyes tight and threw herself into the first hug from her newly found recruited love.
.
.
.
End Chapter.
AN:...
I….i hope you enjoyed the chapter, and that the instructions weren't confusing…….
(I'm not going to say anything too relevant here 'cuz I want reviews with only your reactions from…you know, the scene at the end….)
BTW, this isn't the end of Godsends, in case you're wondering. :)
See ya next chapter, you guys….
PS: this is the corniest love scene i've EVER made, seriously. Dx