Soul Eater

Yes, I'm back with the 37th chapter! I'm so glad I got to update today and that I didn't have to wait until Saturday! This weekend for sure though, I should be getting my new laptop. So smiles everyone! :)

Anyways, thank you for waiting patiently for me! Another thanks to my readers, reviewers, followers, ect.! Sorry for grammatical errors and hope this chappie meets your expectations!

P.s. As much as it suprises me, the end is slowly approaching. O.o

Untouchable

Chapter 37 – Switching Over

Maka scurried down the sidewalk, trying her best to not bump into to people. The sun was slowly starting to set in the horizon which made the evening sky look beautiful. Of course, her mind was too busy to be thinking about something like that. It was getting late and she wanted to get a certain issue over with as soon as possible.

Grabbing on to her purse which was wrapped across her body, Maka looked again at the piece of paper in her hand. She hadn't seen her mother since she had come over to her house, but luckily for her, her mother had left her the name and address of the hotel she was staying in. Maka gulped as she stopped in front of the traffic light. Inside her chest, she could feel her heart pounding loudly.

No matter what, she had to tell her mother that she refused to go with her. She didn't want to leave her current life and especially not Soul. What in the world would she do without him? The day before, Soul had said many sweet things to her that had kept her up all night. She couldn't stop thinking of the fact that he had invited her to live with him in the future. Never in her life did she ever expect to get a proposal like that. To her, things like that only happened in books and in dreams.

Yet, somehow, she had managed to find a perfect boyfriend like Soul in the real world and she didn't want to let him go. She wanted to be with him because she loved him. It was as simple as that. She loved her mother very much as well, but that love couldn't compare to what she felt for Soul E. Evans.

When the walk signal finally appeared, Maka quickly crossed the street, leaving several people behind. The sooner she got that over with, the better she would feel. Sighing to herself, Maka checked the paper in her hand to realize that she was getting closer and closer to the address. For some strange reason, she was starting to feel nervous and she could feel tight knots forming in her throat. She was kind of starting to regret about not telling anyone she was going to her mother's hotel.

Even though it had a couple of days since her mother's arrival, her head was still swiveled by many surging questions. She kept wondering to herself why her mother had decided to come now. Why had she decided to take her along? It just didn't make sense.

Before Maka knew it, she had arrived at the hotel. It wasn't anything expensive or fancy, but it looked decent enough to stay in. Maka looked at it for a few more seconds before she slowly started to walk toward it. Then, she suddenly heard her mother's voice coming from ahead. Maka quickly snapped her eyes shut, thinking that her mother had seen her, but she hadn't. That's when Maka noticed that she was walking toward the hotel, shoulder to shoulder with a man.

It was getting dark, but Maka could see her mother clearly from where she was standing. The lights form several stores and shops allowed her to see her mother's smiling and laughing face. Distraught, Maka began to speed walk toward her and that's when she saw the most shocking thing in her life. Not only was mother walking with a man, she also had a baby in her hands. Her mother was carrying a small sleeping baby in her hands.

Maka's jaw dropped as she stared at them with watery eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She couldn't believe what was going on. Was that the reason she had left her? Did she leave her so she could form another family with another man? Maka didn't want to jump into conclusions, but she couldn't help it. Her mother, the man and the baby looked like the perfect family; something that she never had. Immediately, rage and anger began to form inside her as she watched her mother walk toward the hotel doors.

Was this the reason she had wanted her to come along? Did her mother want her to leave her dad so she could become a part of her new family? Cold sad tears dripped from Maka's eyes as she stared at them. She knew reality hurt, but she never knew that it could kill. Her heart was torn in half. She thought her mother had come just for her, but now Maka could see clearly that her mother had come for her own selfish purposes.

She wanted to yell at her. Maka wanted to scream at her and ask her what was going on. She wanted to know who that man was. She wanted to know who that baby was and why she was holding it with such tender care. She wanted to ask her why she was here and why she had come back to Death City. It was clear that she didn't need her. It was clear that she wasn't wanted. Did she come because she suddenly remembered she had a daughter? Did she come because she felt sorry for her?

The last thing Maka wanted was her pity. She didn't need that and she didn't want it, but still, everything hurt her. Maka forced her eyes to look at them as they all happily entered the hotel. They seemed like the perfect family and that fact enraged her. She was giving that baby something that she never gave her. It destroyed her to think that her mother didn't love her as much as she did.

Sniffing, Maka wiped away the tears that slowly ran down her cheeks. She gripped tightly on the strap of her purse as she turned around, giving her back to the hotel. She didn't want to see her mother anymore. She didn't want to have nothing to do with her. The admiration that Maka had for her slowly started to disappear and the only feeling she could express toward her was sadness. Maybe it would have been better for her not to show up at all. Her mother should have just kept living the way she was without telling her anything. Maka would have preferred that a thousand times than to figure out that she had formed another family with another man.

Why didn't she tell her about her new family when she went to visit her at her home? Did her dad know about it? Maka's head was slowly throbbing as her chest ached. Unlike before, she wasn't walking with pizazz and urgency, her energy levels sinking down to the ground. She wondered if she would even be able to make it home.

Maka pulled out her cellphone from her purse and her fingers threaten to call Soul. She wanted to tell him what was going on. She wanted him to give her those words that would always make her feel better. She wanted to hear his voice. Wiping away her tears again, Maka stuck the cellphone back into her purse. She didn't want to worry him. If he heard her how upset she was, then he probably wouldn't hesitate to run toward her. The least thing Maka wanted to do was bother him.

Why did these things have to happen to her? She had already collapsed once and she definitely didn't want that to happen again. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to have the strength to stand up to those sorts of things. Maka sighed to herself, looking down at the sidewalk. She had to learn to face her problems on her own before she goes crying to Soul.

There was just so much on Maka's mind that she didn't even notice the person that suddenly pushed her hard into an alley area, on purpose. She tumbled to the ground, landing hard on her body. She groaned as she slowly sat up. Her eyes were snapped shut but she could still feel the cold salty tears running down her cheeks. She rubbed her eyes and opened them to find two large shadows hovering over her. She gulped; frighten to know who was standing before her.

"Look who we happened to find." The voice said in a sarcastic manner. Maka didn't have to look up to know who it was. "Aren't we lucky? And here I thought that I would never see you again."

Maka flinched at his terrifying cackle. This was what she got for trying to see her mother secretly. Not only did she receive a cold betrayal from her mother, she was also unfortunate enough to have a run in with the bastard of Giriko.

The sad thing about the whole situation was that he still scared her to the core. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she could feel her entire body shaking and quivering with fear, her hands trembling, the sound of his laughter piercing straight through her skin. Maka, of course, tried not to show it. She looked at them before she slowly stood up and even though the sky was getting dark, she could still see Giriko's face clearly. She could also see his blonde friend standing right next to him as well.

"What do you guys want?" Maka told them with a firm voice. As each second ticked by, her nervousness began to grow immensely. She tried to walk past them so she could step back onto the sidewalk, but they didn't let her. They kept blocking her path which sent her anger soaring. "What do you want?! I don't have time to mess with you!"

Giriko looked at the blonde guy, whose name Maka couldn't remember, before rubbing his chin with his hand. Then, out of nowhere, he went crazy. "Did you forget what your stupid boyfriend did to me?!"

Maka didn't say anything and instead focused on the ground. How could she forget something like that? Soul had gotten into a fight with him just to defend her. Soul had been the one to protect her and now that she was alone, how was she supposed to deal with him? "What about it?" Maka said with a nervous smirk on her face. "Did you come get some more?"

"You bitch!" He hollered at her and before she could comprehend what was going on, Maka felt Giriko's hand pinning her hard against the wall by the throat. Maka tried to push him off, but he was just too strong for her. "It's called payback!"

She tried to talk, but the words wouldn't come out of her dry mouth. Giriko's hands were squeezing so tightly around her neck that she was having trouble breathing. The more she struggled to push him off her, the tighter his grip would become.

"A little bird told me that the best way to get to Soul was to get you." He told her with a hiss, which made Maka snap her eyes shut. She scared. She was terrified that Giriko would actually go all the way and kill her. Why was the world filled with such hateful people? Maka wished to be home, away from everything and everyone.

"So that's what I'm doing." Giriko told her with a sly grin on his face. Luckily, Maka could feel one of Giriko's hand release her neck, but her joy was short since he began pulling on her hair with no mercy, untying her pigtails. "I'm gonna screw you so badly that you'll never be able to face Soul again."

She had tried her best to not cry. She tried her best to keep her fear inside her, but now, hearing Giriko's voice so close to her, Maka broke lose. She started to scream from the top of her lungs, crying more than she had ever had. She was scared, afraid of what the psycho that was holding her would do. "Let go of me! Leave me alone! Please! I haven't done anything to you!"

"I swear if you don't shut your fucking mouth, I'll crack your skull in half. " He told her, but he didn't even give her chance to respond. He immediately placed his rough hand over her mouth, preventing her from saying one word. "Do you have any idea what your idiot of a dad did to me?! That idiot tracked me down to the end of the earth and almost killed me! How dare they humiliate me that way!"

"That's what you get for being such a weakling." The blonde said with no emotion even though he didn't bother to remove his headphones.

"Shut up, Justin! This has nothing to do with you! " Giriko hollered at him before giving him a death glare. Then, he turned his attention back to Maka with a mischievous smirk on his face. "You're gonna pay for everything I fucking swear! Everything is your damn fault! "

Maka expected the worst, but nothing came. That's when she realized Giriko's hand reaching into his pocket to pull out a pocket knife. He flipped it opened as he gave out a laugh. Maka stood still, afraid to move or to even breathe. Why did everything have to happen to her? Her nerves practically jumped in the air when she felt the rim of the knife touch her neck. There was no doubt that he was crazy and that Justin was just as crazy for not stopping him.

"Are you scared of me now?!" He exclaimed to her as he got closer and closer to her face. He was so close to her that she could feel his hot sticky breath hitting her skin. "So what are you gonna do now, huh?! Who's gonna come save ya'?! No one! No one cares about you! I'll doubt they'll miss you if you were to suddenly disappear!"

Maka wasn't about to listen to him. Without a minute to spare, Maka shoved Giriko away as hard as she could. She managed to get him off by mere luck, but her arm managed to get cut in the process. In a matter of seconds, blood began seething onto her white shirt. She groaned, holding on to her arm while the pain traveled throughout.

"You idiot! That's what you get!" He exclaimed at her with a roaring laughter. Maka's body trembled at the sound of it. "You're pathetic!"

Maka was trying to comprehend what was going on when she saw Giriko coming toward her again. Ignoring the pain and fear she felt, she tried to run away, but Giriko responded quickly, grabbing her messy loose hair again. He threw her violently on the ground before he lunged toward. Maka yelled, wondering if she was living her last seconds on Earth.

"What the hell are you doing to her?"

Then, everything went still. Giriko turned his attention to the voice that had come from behind while Maka still laid flat in the ground. She laid there motionless, not bothering to look up at her rescuer. She could feel her tears flowing down her cheeks, dripping onto the hard cold ground. She didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to be home. She was tired of always suffering. She was tired of always living in the depts of problems.

"Who the hell are you?" Maka heard Giriko say as he turned around. He wasn't looking at her, but Maka could hear the anger coming out of his voice.

"Leave her alone or I'll make you regret it." The voice said. Maka wanted to see who the person was that was defending her since the voice sounded kind of familiar, but she didn't have the strength to open her eyes. Just a few seconds ago she thought she was really going to die.

"Oh really?" Giriko said to him with sarcasm, pretending to be scared. "What are you gonna do about it?! You have some nerve coming here and ordering me around like that! Who the hell do you think you are you asshole!? This has nothing to do with you! Get lost before I lose my temper!"

"Like you haven't lost it already." The person, who was clearly a guy, responded. Maka forced her eyes to crack open to see the soles of their shoes. Who was that person taking a stand for her? She knew for sure it wasn't Soul, so who was it? "If you don't get yourself out of here," He paused for a slight second. "I swear I'll call the police. Is that what you want? Or I could easily beat you to death. I could take you and your friend on any day."

The more she thought about, the more familiar the voice sounded. Where had she heard it before? Who was it? Maka was about to sit up when she heard Giriko explode. "Fuck you! Go to hell! It's not like she actually matters!"

After that, Maka didn't hear anything else from Giriko and figured that he had probably left. That's when she heard hard heavy footsteps come toward her. "Hey, Maka?" The voice said to her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt badly?"

She opened her eyes and when she finally looked up at the person that had practically saved her life she was surprised to see Wes. He kneeled down in front of her, pushing her hair from her face. He looked at her with gentle eyes, something Maka had never seen before. She didn't know if she was imagining or not, but she could almost sense kindness coming from him.

"Wes?" Her voice squeaked which caused Wes some amusement. She tried to sit up, but he motioned her not to. "What are you doing here?"

"I just happened to be walking by when I hear d your scream." He told her with a soft voice that Maka had never heard before. Everything was strange for her since she always figured that Wes hated her for being his brother's girlfriend. "Consider yourself lucky."

Maka didn't say anything and managed to sit up. She couldn't help, but change her opinion of Wes just a little. He could have just ignored her. "Thank you." Maka told him before she cleared her throat. "Thank you for saving my life."

He didn't say anything as he scratched the back of his head. Then, surprisingly enough, he took off his coat and placed it around her shoulders. "It's pretty cold outside."

"Oh. Thanks." Maka told him even though she found his gestures a bit suspicious. She wondered what he was up to. "I wasn't really that cold, though."

Wes shrugged when a wide smile appeared on his face. Before he stood up, he grabbed Maka gently, picking her up from the ground and carrying her bridal style. Of course, Maka was thrown into a panic, feeling her face flush red with embarrassment. "What are you doing?" She tried to exclaim, but her voice was out of energy. "Where the hell are you taking me? I can walk on my own, so I demand that you put me down right now. Put me down right now! If you don't, I swear I'll scream."

He didn't listen to her and continued on walking. "Be quiet. You're hurt and you look like crap." Wes told her bluntly with a bit of coldness which made her feel a pang of guilt. He had saved her life, so she kind of felt obligated to obey. "You should be grateful that I don't leave you laying there."

It seemed to Maka that the nice Wes was gone and that the original one was back. Still, she didn't have the strength to ponder about it nor did she have the strength to push him away. She could still feel her arm bleeding, but not nearly as much. "Where are you taking me?" She asked him again, out of breath. "Where are you carrying me to?"

He sighed and hesitated to answer. He looked at her with an annoyed look that made her swallow her words. "I'm taking you to Soul."

"Soul?" Maka said through a whisper. Just by hearing his name, Maka's nerves and anxiousness went at ease. She needed him. She needed him more than ever. Feeling a tug in her heart, Maka sniffed out her last tears. "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? I thought you hated Soul."

Maka didn't understand what was going on. As far as she knew, she always thought that Wes hated them and now it seemed that he was helping them, more specifically her, out. What was going on? Looking up at him, Maka waited for an answer. That's when she felt her head starting to spin, making her feel a little nauseous.

"I do hate Soul." Wes responded to her before he gave her a smirk. "But that doesn't mean that I hate you."

…

Soul was in his room, spinning around and leaning back on his wheely chair. He was desperately trying to think of what to do with Maka on Valentine's Day since it was almost coming up. Groaning to himself, Soul sat up and returned his focus to his laptop. No matter where he looked in the internet, he couldn't get any new unique ideas.

In all honesty, Soul hated Valentine's since he was always jumped by girls who were trying to confess to him. If he could, he would just stay home and not go outside at all. Valentine's was always a bother and he didn't want to have any connection with it.

Of course, things were different now. He knew girls always enjoyed those kinds of thing, so he wanted to impress Maka with something special. Soul wanted that day to be special, a day that she would always remember. It would be their first Valentine's Day together, the first Valentine's that he might actually be looking forward to.

Annoyed by his lack of ideas, Soul snapped his laptop shut without turning it off. He leaned back on his chair again, letting out a sigh. He stayed that way for a couple of seconds, letting the silence absorb him. He started closing his eyes when he heard a loud slam coming from outside his room.

Soul didn't budge from his seat since he knew that it was Wes that had come home from work. He was looking up at his ceiling when he heard Wes calling him from the living room. "Hey, Soul!"

Grumbling under his breath, Soul sat up from his chair and stood up when he heard Wes calling him a second time. He didn't know why the hell he was bothering him. If it was that important he could just come tell him. Soul kicked around his dirty clothes before he headed toward the door. The sound of Wes's voice always made him feel angry and annoyed.

"What the hell do you want?" Soul asked him from the hallway, but when he reached the living room, his jaw dropped. His eyes widen as his heart suddenly accelerated inside him; Maka was asleep on top of Wes's arms. After a moment of shock, Soul suddenly felt his hands curling into fists. He could feel his blood boiling inside his veins. "Why is Maka with you?!"

Soul tried to constraint himself, but it pissed him off to no end. He hated seeing him with her. It infuriated him since he was the only one that was allowed to hold her that way. Wes stayed silent as he looked at the sleeping Maka in his arms. Then, he carefully placed her on top of the couch without disturbing her sleep. Then he turned to look him and Soul could practically swear he saw Wes smirking at him.

"Try to keep your voice down." Wes told him, placing his index finger over his lips. Soul growled at him before giving Maka a quick look. That's when he noticed Maka was wearing Wes's jacket. "You don't want to wake her up."

Without thinking about it twice, Soul charged toward him, grabbing him tightly by the shirt, his anger and his frustration flaring up to the maximum. "What the hell did you do to her!? Why the hell is she with you?!"

Wes pushed him off roughly and gave him a death glare. "I didn't do anything to her, so stop jumping to stupid conclusions. You can't always blame me for being the bad guy." He told him with ha shrug. "Instead of throwing your hot air on me, go bring me a piece of gauze or something. She's bleeding from her arm."

Soul couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maka was hurt? She was bleeding? Soul looked at Maka and sure enough, he saw her sleeve red with dried blood. "What the hell did you do to her?" Soul asked him with a sense of calmness, but when Wes didn't reply back, he exploded again. "I asked you a question you, dumb piece of shit! What the hell did you do to her?!"

"I told you already." Wes replied with sternness. He started walking toward Maka, but of course, Soul didn't let him come near her. He stood in front of her, preventing him from getting one inch closer. What the hell was going on? "I didn't do anything to her. I wouldn't gain anything from hurting her. Or would I?"

"Stop playing dumb with me." Soul exclaimed to him, feeling his fists a couple of minutes from hitting his face. "Just tell me what the hell happened! Why were you with Maka?! Why is she hurt!? You better say the damn truth!"

"You should wait until Maka wakes up so she can tell you. I have no idea what happened, all I did was save her." He told him which brought a nasty looking grin on his face. "I gotta say, though. She was pretty happy to see me."

"Are you doing this to mess around with me?" Soul asked him as he furrowed his eyebrows. He hated Wes. There was no doubt about it that they hated each other, but he hated the fact that he was getting Maka involved in their problems. Whatever had happened, Soul knew that Wes had probably something to do with it.

"You know what, Soul?" Wes said after a few moments of silent. He placed his hands in his pockets before giving Soul a mean glare. "Think what you like. I'm not gonna stand around here and waste my time with you or with her."

He was about to walk toward the door when Soul stopped him from doing so. He stood in front of him, feeling angrier than ever since he was completely being ignored, but he decided to keep his calm. "Did you save her from someone?"

"I did."

"Why?" Soul gritted his teeth as he stared at his older brother. Just what exactly went through his mind? Why did he help Maka out? Soul could feel loud throbs in his head that weren't allowing him to think straight.

"I don't know." Wes answered simply before he headed out the door.

The living room was left with dead silence and the only thing that could be heard was the loud and uneasy breathing of Maka. Soul turned to look at her. Even though she was sleeping, her face didn't look as peaceful as he would have liked. Cursing under his breath, Soul got close to her and snatched Wes jacket away from her, throwing it to the floor with disgust.

Everything was his fault. Everything that happened to him or to her was his fault. She probably lived a peaceful life before she got involved with him. It frustrated him that he couldn't do anything to keep her safe. No matter what he did or what he said, the world was always against them.

Why couldn't they just live a normal high school life? Why couldn't they be a normal couple? Why did they have to go through so many trials? Why them? Why him? Why her? That was his real concern. Why her?

Soul sat down on the edge of the sofa and looked at the wound that had been inflicted in her arm. Her sleeve had a big red stain of blood even though the cut wasn't too deep. Sighing, Soul started patting her hair and hoped that she was at least having a pleasant dream.

Ever since he was little, Soul had certain rules that he promised himself to always live by. One was to never beg anyone. Second one was to always keep his head up. Third was to live by the moment without worries. Of course, by now, he had broken all those rules. He begged for Maka's love more than once. He bent his pride around to get close to her. Now, he always lived with caution for her sake.

He was also about to break his fourth rule because of Maka; to never cry.

…