It had been a long day. When his manager asked him to stay longer than normal with the promise of extra pay, Soul reluctantly agreed, though not without complaint. He would be dead tired afterwards, but the money was worth it. Overtime? More money? No problem! He could handle it.
Barely. If he was tired before, he was exhausted by the end of the shift. He was lucky he didn't fall asleep during the drive back. Days like these were ones where Soul absolutely despised living on the 5th floor of his building. There weren't any elevators of course, so the climb up the rickety stairs was a journey. But once he had unlocked the door, he immediately spotted his saving grace.
There it was, the greatest of all convenient furniture: the living room couch. It had been in sight and nearly tripped just to get to it. Sleep was like water to a dehydrated horse for him and he planned on drinking as much as he could. Never before had the stained cushions seemed so alluring, and when he plopped onto it, nothing could ruin the satisfaction.
He only got 10 minutes in before his roommate had other plans. Fuck.
Black Star was an interesting character to say the least. He was a good friend, but there weren't many people who could handle being around such a wild man, and there were even some times that Soul himself felt his sanity being tested around him. An air raid siren couldn't compare. His long spiels about how great he was, his screams of rage whenever he died in a video game, the way he ate- even his snoring was loud enough to be heard from across the apartment.
That's all stuff that Soul had mostly learned to tune out though. The moaning, however, is where he could no longer hold out.
Whenever Black Star would bring someone over to "get it on with"- as the man himself had said- Soul learned quickly that it was best to leave it be, find something to help him ignore it. The first time this had happened, he had tried to get him and his partner for the evening to quiet down via blasting his music, hoping they would get the message and he could avoid having to knock on the door to tell them to shut up. But regardless of how he could have approached the situation, Black Star wouldn't have reacted well, since the man did not like to be interrupted. Soul's actions resulted in being confronted by a very angry blue-haired roommate and the unfortunate sight of his junk; something that he did NOT want to ever lay eyes upon.
So whenever the situation happened, Soul usually resigned to listening to his music through his headphones. His iPod should have been another savior.
The problem was that it was dead.
He had the charger on him, but charging then and there wasn't going to cut it; the moans were getting louder by the minute and the headphones alone weren't enough. Soul couldn't take much more of it.
And that is how Soul ended up sitting on the floor at the end of the hallway of his apartment complex, leaning against the wall with his headphones. The outlet behind him was charging his iPod, and he was confident no one would be able to steal it. He wanted to get some charge on it so he could listen to it comfortably without it being attached to the cord, but he was already beginning to nod off again. The headphones, which were already on his head, were doing wonders blocking out everything even without the music. There wouldn't be any harm dozing off like this, right?
It wasn't too hot or too cold.
Somehow the hard floor was comfy and the wall made the perfect pillow. His neck would hate him in the morning but for now there was nothing better.
At least he would finally be able to get some sleep.
Sometimes during his slumber- he's not sure how much time had passed- Soul thinks he could hear faint beeping in the distance. It's rhythmic pattern didn't bother him though. He could ignore it too...
There was something bothering him. He was having one of those nightmares where he's stuck in an endless black sea and he couldn't breathe. Only this time, it really did feel like he couldn't breathe. And unlike usual where everything was cold, this time the void was strangely warm.
No, hot. It was burning. Soul would wake up from the nightmare eventually though, he always does. His breathing was becoming more and more difficult to manage, however, and it was starting to get too real. Any minute now he would sink to the bottom. Would this be the dream where he would finally stop struggling to swim out…?
He feels a strong kick to his ankle.
It was just enough to wake him from his dream. But he was more disoriented than usual. Looking around him he spots a girl getting up from the ground. She's saying something but he can't hear.
"Wha?" he grumbles.
She's in front of him in an instance and her lips are moving. The headphones are dragged off and he's being shook aggressively.
"-you doing? Get up!"
Something smells like it's burning.
He's wide awake now. His red eyes widen at the bright green ones staring at him. He knows those eyes, they belong to his very cute next door neighbor, Maka, that he may or may not have a slight crush on, despite hardly speaking more than four sentences to her. Right now though, those eyes of hers reflect extreme worry.
"Holy shit, what happened?"
"Isn't it obvious?" she shouts. "We have to go. The building's on fire, get up!"
He has no time to reply before she's grabbing his arm and yanking him up from the floor. Immediately, he coughs. The smoke in the hallway is thick and dark; preventing him from seeing the woman completely.
"Sh-shouldn't we crawl on the ground?" he asks, squinting his eyes that stung from the smoke.
"Yeah, you're right," she says, sinking to the ground as he does. He can make out her form a little bit better. There are parts of her ash blonde hair that are more ash colored than others.
I wonder if my hair is the same.
She talks to him as they crawl. "You're lucky I tripped on you, I couldn't even see you before."
The severity of the situation hits him. If she couldn't see me, would anyone else have been able to? If she hadn't tripped on me- oh Death.
"Why are you slowing down, we have to get to the stairwell!"
I could have died, holy shit I could have died. I would have suffocated to death and no one would have known. That's why it was so hard to breathe. Even now, I-
The anxiety must have been obvious on his face. "Hey hey, calm down!" the girl exclaimed. "I'm freaking out too, but now is not the time to have a panic attack. The stairwell isn't that far."
Loud creaking from behind startles them both and he continues to crawl with her. Another thought shakes him though. "Wait, my roommate, I need to go back for my roommate!"
"You mean the guy with blue hair? I think he's fine, Soul, I heard him shouting through the halls earlier. He probably just didn't see you."
Well that might have been one bit of good news so far, but he doesn't have the time to celebrate. They had a stairwell to find. Luckily for them, even when they're crawling on the floor it didn't take them long to find the door to the stairwell.
"You remember my name?" Soul asked as they both stood up.
She looked at him incredulously. "What? That doesn't matter right now. I'll explain later, just hurry up and open the door, we're running out of air."
It was a reasonable demand considering he was directly in front of it, but being rushed put him in a position that momentarily left him without caution, a fact that came to be when he noticed a searing white hot pain in his hand without warning upon roughly grabbing the door's handle.
"Ah, fuck!" Soul jumped back and closed his burnt palm into a fist, holding the wrist with his good hand. His back collided with Maka as he hissed in pain. "Dammit, that's not good."
"Are you okay?" she asked worryingly. At his nod and "uh-huh," she touched the door handle briefly with her middle finger to test the heat.
Soul swatted her hand away. "Don't be stupid, you're gonna get burnt too."
The action surprised her and she scowled at him, but Maka had to admit that now was not the time for arguing, even though she knew he was right. His coughing was getting worse. "If it's that hot, then the stairs are no good."
"You think the fire started on a floor below us?"
The short woman got on her tippy toes to survey the stairwell from the small window of the door. To her horror, flames were already crawling up the wooden steps and banister. "Looks like it." She backed away from the door quickly to prevent receiving an injury similar to the semi-white-haired man beside her. "We need-" she stopped to cough into her sleeve, the rest of her words coming out in a harsh rasp, "We need to find another exit, fast."
It only took a few seconds after for Soul to come up with an alternative. "The fire escape!"
Maka looked up at him as soon as she finished putting her shirt over her nose and he did the same. She was squinting at him, her eyes finally starting to feel the effects of the polluted air. Soul's surprised she had been holding out for so long. "The fire escape? That's all the way in the other hallway."
"We don't got much of a fuckin' choice now do we?" he shouted. He could imagine the state of the floor they were on would look like the stairwell soon, and he didn't want to stick around to see.
The ground creaked loudly, a sign that made both of their stomachs turn. With his good hand, Soul grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. "Forget crawling," he shouted. "We'll fall through the floor at this rate."
When he released her hand, Maka sped up, effectively taking the lead. Using her other hand that had not been previously occupied, she let it slide against the wall as she jogged. The smoke was getting thicker by the minute; their vision was already limited, but their eyes were becoming blurry from the tears that formed to moisten their stinging eyes. There was no way they would be able to find the hallways perpendicular to the one they were in unless she felt for it. Maka understood this. She only hoped they were going in the right direction.
When her hand did not feel any more wall, Maka internally cheered. She tugged on Soul's sleeve. "This way," He could barely make out her form as she started running faster, but he followed through, his footsteps letting her know that he was on her tail.
Neither of them were able to ignore a particularly loud groan below them and they stopped abruptly. The floor wavered slightly. Soul moved to the wall and tried to flatten himself as much as possible, as if he were trying to become one with the shitty old wallpaper. They made eye contact, their irises the only thing they were able to make out clearly. As if forming a mental decision, they nodded and turned their gaze back towards their goal. He shuffled against the wall as Maka took a slow step forward, and-
A loud crash erupted, not from behind or in front, but right underneath them. The floor was giving out. Maka jumped ahead to avoid it, but the section of the floor beneath her gave out as well.
Soul's head shot in her direction immediately upon hearing her scream. The embers from the floor below sprung up around Maka and he nearly leaped for her before he remembered his own situation. He was barely keeping balance on the sliver of the floor and still remained.
"Shit, hang on, I'm coming!"
Once he managed to shuffle away from the edge and in front of the floor, he crawled over to her. The flames from the floors below illuminated her fearful expression as she desperately clung to a fractured piece of board.
"I don't have much of a choice- I'm slipping," she retorted. True to her word, her hands were slippery from sweat, and her draining strength made it all the more difficult.
"Here, grab my hand!" Soul shouted, thrusting his good hand toward the hole.
Her right hand slowly left it's twin to reach out for Soul's outstretched hand but the plank her left hand was still attached to creaked. Maka yelped as it slid downward from its position abruptly only to stop again.
"Shit shit shit, keep holding on."
"Again, not much of a choice!"
She could feel the heat of the flames licking at her boots and making her body uncomfortably hot as Soul dangerously leaned his body forward into the hole, his hand still reaching for her.
"Quickly this time," he barked. "Grab on as fast as you can."
It was risky, but she followed his instructions. Her right hand, snached his wrist quickly and was followed by her left one. The plank she had held onto fell to the inferno below her, but she dared not look. Not when she could feel the embers kissing at her bare legs.
Unfortunately her hands were slipping out of his grasp and like Maka, Soul's strength was also deteriorating. One hand wouldn't cut it. His bad hand, whose fingers were splayed behind him to keep his balance and his palm off the ground, joined with his good hand to grip hers tightly. Soul hissed in pain; he could feel the blistered, irritated skin peeling but he did not let go, no matter how much pain the heat brought to his epidermis.
Maka was still slipping, but Soul would be damned if he was going to let go. He would not let go. He may have difficulty breathing and he may feel weak enough to faint, but he had enough strength left in him to be able to pull her up, inch by inch. Once Maka's knees were finally above, she used them to bend her legs and shuffle herself forward into his clutches.
If both of them weren't already out of breath, they most certainly were now. But the fire escape was close.
"We...we have to keep going…" Maka rasped. The effects of having her eyes widened from the shock of the fall for as long as they were were starting to catch up. She rubbed aggressively at the tears uncontrollably falling before another fit of coughs erupted from her again.
Both of Soul's hands latched onto her sides. "Can you stand?"
"Hardly," she replied, her weak voice matching the energy of his. "I'm no better than you right now, but we're so close. I'll have enough stamina."
He nodded and helped her to her feet. They stayed close to the wall as they continued their trek through the hallway. They didn't go nearly as fast- Soul nearly fell over taking a step too big, a woozy feeling taking its toll on him. Despite his swarming vision, he was still conscious enough to notice Maka limping as they continued. Was that blood running down her calf?
He was about to ask if she was okay when he caught a twinkle of a blue light down the hall. "Is that..."
Maka noticed it too, just as a bright red light replaced the previous cool color. "Yeah," she interrupted, her reply nearly breathless. "Thas...thas th…"
"Hey, c'mon stay with me," he said, almost as a warning and he gently, but firmly shook her shoulders to keep her awake. "Just a few more steps…"
With her acknowledgement of his order, they both made their final stride, ignoring the loud crackle of the scorching heat behind them. The flames from the hole and stairwell had been quick to catch onto the shag carpeting and the wallpaper, both discolored with age. Neither of them were going to turn back, not when they were nearly there, nearly at the-
The window. Just outside of it was the fire escape, their ticket out of there. They could barely make out the outside world through the burn of their eyes and the lack of oxygen to the brain, but the flashing lights were there and brighter than ever. The emergency vehicles were waiting for them, but they still had to make their exit. They could not wait for the fire to be put out.
Maka made a tentative touch to the latch of the window. It wasn't scolding hot, so she grabbed it and started pulling with all her might. She grunted as she pulled, but it barely budged. Soul covered her hands with both his good and bad hand. They looked at each other and immediately understood. We're getting out of here alive. With the last bit of their energy, they both pulled and pulled. Their strength was leaving them, but their resolve was stronger than anything physical.
Suddenly, the latch popped and the window was unlocked. They were still working together as they both pulled the window up halfway and pushed it the remaining way up, the smoke leaving through the new opening. Neither of them could process the crowd outside yelling, nor could they register the firemen rushing to the burning building.
Red eyes met green. Soul gave her a shaky, toothy grin. They were in the homestretch now. He tried to tell her that, tell her that the hard part was over but he couldn't. He tried, he strained his throat but it felt like he was swallowing ash. His vision was blackening, and this time it wasn't just the smoke. No...no I can't stop. Not here, not now. We're just a few steps away from the outside…
Soul tried to focus on his feet as he made a trembling step towards the window sill. One leg. He managed to get one leg out. He gestured to her to follow, hoping she would get the message without having to tell her verbally, but she didn't come forward.
He turned to where he had seen her standing a moment ago, ready to join him on their descent. But she was no longer standing. He watched with draining consciousness as she sunk to the ground, her back sliding against the wall and her eyes fluttering as if her mind was in a battle with sleep and wake.
"-M...ka," Soul choked out. He slowly reached out to her and tried to pull up. But she wouldn't budge. He tried again, and he felt ice drop in the pit of his stomach in terror. He didn't have enough strength to pull her. Not this time. His arm weakly tugged at hers. They both knew it was no use. Maka's eyes remained closed as she shook her head, her way of telling him to go on without her.
Soul turned to see his foot still over the edge of the window. He could use the last bit of stamina he had left to get his other leg out, maybe hope the firemen could drag him the rest of the way down.. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. He would not leave her behind. Instead, Soul found himself pulling his leg back from the sill and dropped to the ground to crawl right beside her.
He moved his good hand over to her and clasped her palm into his. Her head fell onto his shoulder and he squeezed her hand to offer comfort. This is where I go, huh? We were so close but in the end, I guess this is where it all ends. At least...at least I had a cool partner to go out with. I'm sorry, Maka…
With the echo of apologies still ringing in his head, he let his tired eyelids close one last time.
Despite the fire he knew was still raging behind them, he was starting to feel better already.
It wasn't too hot or too cold.
Somehow the hard floor was comfy and the wall made the perfect pillow. His neck would hate him in the morning but for now there was nothing better.
At least he would finally be able to get some sleep.
He wasn't hungover but damn if that light wasn't making his headache ten times worse. The faint beeping really wasn't helping either.
Soul's eyes opened ever so slightly into slits. The white light wasn't shining directly in his eyes, but it was still brighter than the darkness he had been in for who knows how long. The beeping was becoming increasingly louder to his ears, it was a rhythmic pattern.
His memories of the last time he was awake- the blistering heat on his skin as he moved through smoke and ember; the burning, dry sensation of his throat and lungs every time he inhaled or coughed; his companion with tears streaking ash down her cheeks- they all came flooding back to him and his eyes immediately shot open. Even now he could feel it as he listened in on the beeping. Strangely enough, it had quickened, but it didn't get louder now that he was fully conscious.. Fire alarms don't do that. Trying to clear the confusion, Soul focused his slightly blurred vision. He could make out lines above him on the ceiling, indicating that he was not in heaven but in a hospital bed, which meant that the beeping wasn't another fire alarm, but what he assumed was a nearby machine indicating his vitals.
How long...was I out…? He felt a pressure on his face and in his burning throat, and touched a plastic material covering his mouth and nose. The oxygen mask was secured onto his face snugly. The beeping slowed down.
I didn't die. Holy shit, I'm alive. But that means-!
She had to have made it too. There's no way he'd accept that he was the only to have made it. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, he turned his head to survey the room he was in until he spotted that familiar ash blonde hair and those bright, peridot eyes. She was awake! And despite the ventilator she was connected to, he could tell she was smiling. She was smiling right at him!
Soul tried to speak but found himself unable to produce a sound with the tube sitting uncomfortably in his burning throat. He watched her as she picked up something- a small white board a red dry erase marker before she began writing with her slow, shaky hand.
He patiently waited for her to finish until she turned the sign around for him to read. The letters were wiggly and messy, but they were large and bold enough for him to see.
[Are you okay?] her sign read.
Soul nodded quickly, perhaps a little too quickly when the action made his head throb. When she pointed at the table beside him, he noticed a white board and green marker. Quickly, he snatched the two and produced his own message.
[I'm fine. Are you? How's your leg?]
Maka squinted her eyes to read. Neither of them could see her leg since it was hidden under the blanket, but she looked at it for a second as if she could before writing on the board
[Same I guess. Leg stings a lot but I'll manage. How's your hand?]
He gazed upon his dominant hand before crafting a response.
[Hurts like a bitch, but it's ok. Sucks tho bc I'm a rightie.]
[That explains why your handwriting is so bad] her sign teased.
His semi-singed eyebrows jumped in mock offence and she smirked at him.
[Shut up your handwriting is shit too]
[At least mine isn't smudged]
He looked at his sign's writing and scowled.
[Whatever] he replied.
If she could, Soul was sure that she would be giggling gleefully. He looked down at his sign for a second before he held up his finger and erased the previous message he showed and replaced it with a new one.
[Hey so we're not gonna die, are we?]
She shook her head and started writing again, but he didn't fully relax until she showed what was on her board.
[No. I woke up way before you did. The doc came in earlier and said we were lucky to have made it. Want me to tell you everything he told me?]
Maka relayed to him everything the doctor had told her in a short summary. Soul paid attention but still had several questions, all of which she was happy to answer. There still weren't any doctors who came in, so they moved on to asking each other questions not related to their condition. Eventually, they delved back into their casual banter and teasing through terrible, colorful penmanship.
[You know my name]
[We've talked before. Hard to forget someone named 'Soul' who has white hair and red eyes. Also sharp teeth]
Soul grinned as wide as he could, which in return was met with a smile of her own.
[Yeah, hard to forget someone named 'Maka' who wears pigtails. What are you, 5?]
His tease didn't affect her though. Instead, she looked at him smugly.
[Nothing wrong with pigtails. Especially if they get the attention of your neighbor who thinks thinks you're "really cute" and that they "may or may not have a crush" on you]
His eyes widened and he understood her smugness.
[I said that out loud?]
[Yep]
[Shit]
[It's okay, I think you're cute too]
A tinge of pink dusted his cheeks as he read.
[Am not!]
[Are so!]
[I am not cute]
[Agree to disagree. You can't change my mind]
He glared half heartily at her, but gave up trying to convince anyone that he wasn't cute.
Soul was prepared to continue their little 'argument' until a 'clack' resounded. He was curious as to why she had put her whiteboard and marker down, until Maka had reached out to the bed he was in with her hand.
He smiled and reached out his own hand, the one that was burned but bandaged. The beds were too far for them to hold hands completely, but they had just enough length in their limbs to connect their pinkies, which hooked onto one another with ease. As they looked into each other's eyes, they knew they would be alright.