After what felt like several hours Soul and Blackstar left Stein's lab. They were debriefed and asked to explain their entire encounter with the…deceased. When Blackstar explained that they thought Stein would want to use the cadaver he waved them away while his features twisted into a sick grin.

Soul shuddered at the idea of what was going through Stein's mind as they both turned to leave.

"I don't think I wanna know what's going to happen to that dude. All I know is he is definitely better off dead in this scenario."

Blackstar laughed as they reached the dining room, "It was a mercy killing from a merciful god."

"I guess everyone gave up and went to bed," Soul added as they made their way through the empty room to the residence hall.

"Ah well, get a good sleep, you did well today. And we all get the day off from training tomorrow so sleep in if you want dude! Night," Blackstar said through a yawn as he entered his and Tsubaki's shared bedroom.

Soul nodded his head in response and tried to enter his room carefully in case Maka was asleep.

"Oh hey Maka! I didn't think you'd still be up," Soul said as he plopped next to her on the bed.

She was lying on her stomach with a paperback book a few inches from her face.

"Well I said I had something to show you," she said as she pulled her knees up underneath her and sat down.

"You still want to show me tonight?"

"Yeah, unless you're too tired. But I figured since we don't have to be up for training we could stay up," she replied as she stood up and stretched.

"Alright, I'm still a little energized from the mission anyways," Soul said as he followed suit and stood up.

"I'm already ready, but you should suit up. I'll grab towels and meet you at the dining table."

"Suit up?"

"Swim trunks! I'm sure there's a pair in your drawer they had a bathing suit for me," she replied with a smile as she walked out the door.

"Swim trunks…" He mumbled to himself as he rifled through his drawers in the dresser.

Within a few minutes he threw on a pair of black swim trunks while leaving on his black t-shirt before he wandered down to the dining table where Maka was waiting for him.

"You found some! Great let's go!" She said excitedly dashing to one of the doors behind the table. She led him down corridors passed doors and rooms, even took a turn down a hallway that started to slant slightly downward.

"Maka, where are we going?"

"You'll see in just a second…and here we are!" She said stopping in front of an unremarkable door. It had a number 324 plaque next to it, but was otherwise unidentifiable from every other door they had passed.

"Are you sure we aren't lost? You took a lot of random turns and stuff, I lost track a while ago."

"Yes! I have an excellent memory for directions, come on," she replied as she pushed the door open.

Instantly he could smell chlorine. He followed her through the door.

"Whoa," he said taking in the giant Olympic sized swimming pool before him. None of the overhead lights were on, but he could see clearly in the lights shining from the bottom and sides of the pool.

"Its great right? And apparently everyone barely uses it. I figured the last time I went swimming it didn't go so well. And I thought, who better to have with me when I face down a large amount of water again, than you!" She said brightly.

"You aren't afraid to jump in even though you drowned in a past life?" He asked skeptically.

"Well the circumstances are a little different. But I am a bit nervous. That's why you're here. I used to love swimming though; I definitely want to overcome any residual nerves. You swim right?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably the only form of athleticism I was even okay with," he replied.

"Really? You've taken to everything so well here! Training with Blackstar, basketball…"

"Well, I was never very motivated back then. That and I had to play it safe, wouldn't want any injuries to keep me from practicing the piano."

"Oh right, of course," she said as she walked over to a chair on the pool deck and tossed their towels down. She looked at him nervously before continuing. "No judging, I wouldn't normally pick out such a…flashy swimsuit. This is just what they had in the drawer for me."

He shrugged in response as he started tugging off his t-shirt. As he was walking over to put his shirt on the chair Maka awkwardly took off her sweats. Underneath she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit, it was black and looked totally plain at first. Then he realized that the sides of the swimsuit were basically non-existent and consisted of crisscrossing strips of fabric. The whole effect was quite stunning, but he knew that Maka was a shy and self-conscious girl, so he could see how she'd be a little adverse to showing that much skin.

"I think it looks great Maks," he said hoping to make her feel better.

"Um, thanks," she said quietly. "I think Liz probably picked it out, she's a…riskier dresser sometimes."

He thought about Liz's never ending supply of skin-tight crop tops and cut off jean shorts. "Probably," he said with a chuckle. "Even in that swimsuit you're showing less skin than Liz on an average day."

Maka laughed, "True! Ready?"

He looked at her curiously.

"Last one in is Blackstar's jockstrap!" She yelled before tearing off to the pool and jumping right in.

"Oh shit!" He said running after her and cannonballing in.

They both resurfaced and pushed their sopping hair off of their faces.

"Man, I thought you'd be at least a little nervous getting in," he said paddling over to be closer to her.

"Naw, I really have always loved swimming. And a warm, clean, chlorinated pool is a lot different than a dark, turbulent river."

"How can you be so cavalier about the way you died?" He hadn't meant to ask so abruptly but he had been curious.

"I don't know…Maybe because we didn't really die. And well, we're still here, and together so the outcome was kind of…worth it you know? Like maybe we have a whole new set of problems and constraints. But we got to leave so many demons in the past, and we have great new friends and a safe place to be, and we can keep getting to know each other."

He felt the same way, but in all honesty he still felt kind of guilty for wanting to kill himself in the first place.

"Soul?"

"Yeah, sorry I got thinking too much. You're definitely right. The circumstances that got us here were...not so great, but these last few weeks have been kind of awesome. I feel like…kind of free. More free than I have felt before. I know its weird because technically we have to stay in this crazy underground lair thing. But I can choose how to spend my free time, I don't have to practice songs I didn't choose and miss out on friends and life because of piano and…yeah."

"Awh, getting all sentimental. You big sap."

He splashed her.

"Hey don't be embarrassed," she said giggling and trying to shield her face from his splashing. "I hear all artists have a lot of feelings."

He kept splashing but started laughing as she had a harder time avoiding the onslaught of water.

"Come on Soul!" She said trying to splash him back.

He stopped abruptly and looked at her evilly.

"What?" She said, squinting at him suspiciously.

Instead of responding he dove under the water and swam towards her. He opened his eyes underwater to avoid getting kicked in the face. He saw her frantically trying to swim away but she hadn't reacted fast enough. He got close enough to grab one of her ankles and tug her back a few feet. He didn't actually want to scare her by pulling her under or anything. Just give her a reason to panic for a second or two.

He swam passed her and resurfaced a few feet away. He came up and took in a deep breath of air before he looked back at her. She was glaring at him.

"What," he said laughing, "I thought you were pro swimmer, what are you scared of?"

"Hmph," she grunted before she suddenly dove at him. She managed to swim the gap between them, put her hands on each of his shoulders and dunk him under before launching off of him to swim away.

He came up laughing hard enough that he was at risk of drowning. He swam to the side of the pool to hold onto a wall.

"It's so easy to rattle your cage Maka," he said still grinning.

"Why do you like to get me going so much!" She said huffily treading water a few feet away from him.

He could hazard a guess, but not one he wanted to share so he just shrugged.

"You make it easy, and it's fun," he replied.

She glared at him but he could tell she wasn't really upset.

"Do you want to swim a few lengths?" he asked, unsure what they should be doing at this point.

"Yeah, okay," she responded before gracefully diving below the surface and swimming away. Her long form cut through the water easily.

He kicked off the wall and started to swim parallel to her. They swam the length of the pool, back and forth silently for almost ten minutes before Soul felt tired.

He stopped at the shallow end of the pool and lay back to float belly up while he waited for Maka to finish.

About a minute later he felt her swim up to him and tap him on the shoulder.

"Tired?"

"Yeah a little," he responded standing upright in the shallows of the pool. He made his way over to the edge of the pool and hoisted himself up to sit on the ledge, his feet still dangling in the water. She floated passed him lazily as he looked on. The eventfulness of the day had finally caught up to him and his shoulders started to slouch and he felt his eyelids droop a little. Maka hoisted herself out of the pool and settled on the ledge next to him.

"So how was it leaving?" She asked.

"I did think much of it at first, but I felt a breeze when we walked outside and I never realized how much I took the wind for granted," he finished with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I miss the sun, and quiet evening breezes," she said quietly.

"You should ask to go next time Maka."

"Maybe…Was it scary seeing that guy again?"

"Not really. We've been preparing to fight like that and honestly it felt pretty good to use all this new strength," he hadn't really thought of it until Maka asked, but he knew it was true. She had a tendency to make him actually experience his thoughts and feelings, rather than them just happening outside of his awareness. "And that guy earned a solid ass kicking."

"Well, you guys didn't just kick his ass…you killed him."

He turned his head a little to get a better look at her, he couldn't really read her tone and it was making him anxious. She was still staring at her feet as she slowly moved them back and forth through the water.

"Does that bother you?" He asked, uncertainty shading his tone.

"Not really. Do you think it should?" She asked turning slightly to meet his gaze.

"No. That guy attacked you, and he's clearly a brute. Someone who has been pretty violent in the name of supporting Medusa's cause."

"You think so?"

He nodded.

"What did it feel like to kill a person? We'll probably have to do it again. If not her flunkies then Medusa herself at some point," she said.

"I don't know."

She looked at him questioningly, head tilted slightly to one side.

"I wasn't the one who landed the finishing blow. I wasn't evening fighting to kill to be honest. It happened really fast and I didn't really know what the best course of action would be. Blackstar seized the moment though and just put a boot to the back of his head. It was logically the right call in retrospect, but I was just following Blackstar's lead. I wasn't even as violent as when I attacked your ex. That guys face would probably have been unrecognizable to you even after it healed."

She smiled at him a little, "Did I say thanks for that yet?"

"You did," he said smiling back.

"Well thanks again," she said still smiling.

"Anytime," he said with a wink. He realized then just how close together they were. They were sitting right next to each other initially, and over the course of the conversation they had leaned in even closer. If he leaned in even a little bit more their foreheads would be touching. He could even lean in just a few inches and kiss her if he wanted. Even as the thought crossed his mind they had both leaned in just a little bit.

And then the next part happened so fast that he didn't even realize what had happened until it was over.

They were about to kiss, he could tell! But in the same instant he realized so had Maka. He could tell because the shock registered on her face and her eyes had gotten so wide. Within an instant of her eyes popping open he felt her hand in the middle of his back and then suddenly he was in the water.

He stood up and pushed his hair out of his eyes while spitting out some of the water he had almost swallowed from the shock of his surprise dunk.

"What the hell Maka!" He grunted, glaring at her. She was still seated on the ledge of the pool. The real killer was that she was laughing.

"Sorry…I thought you needed to cool down," she said trying to bite back some of her giggles. He narrowed his eyes and snarled at her. His snarls were pretty scary if he said so himself, the pointy teeth really helped.

As quickly as he could he launched retaliation. He doused her in a really big splash and used the moment she took to wipe the water from her eyes to reach out of the water, grab her by the waist and pulled her into the water too.

"If I need to cool down than so do you," he said, crossing his arms as she stood up a few feet away from him in the shallows.

Thankfully she was smiling and nodded as if to say 'Fair enough.'

Now he didn't know how to feel. Had he read the situation wrong? Should he be embarrassed? Ashamed? Apologetic? Was she trying to turn him down gently by making it a game? Either way, if she was going to act like nothing happened than he had no choice but to do so as well.

"Now if you're done trying to drown me, can we pleeease go to bed? I still want a hot shower and to sleep until the next time we have training," he said whining.

"Yes, you big baby," she said turning and hoisting herself back out of the pool.

He shuffled behind Maka as she led him back through the labyrinth of the compound to their room. As quickly as he could muster he gathered what he needed and headed for the showers. He was shivering from still being cold from the pool and was waiting for the shower to be steaming hot before he jumped in.

His eyelids felt dangerously heavy as he lathered the shampoo into his hair and the soap onto his body. He stood silently trying to stay awake as he watched the suds run off his body and circle the drain. With a big sigh he made sure there was no more shampoo left in his hair before turning off the water and wrapping himself tightly in the plush towel. He didn't even wait for his hair to stop dripping before he shuffled slowly to his room. He remembered to knock quietly before entering, lest he accidentally intrude on Maka. But then again, who was he kidding, she was an efficient girl, except when it came to showers. She'd be gone for a solid fifteen to twenty minutes and come back still in a towel.

He pulled on his shorts, wrapped a towel tightly on his head and flopped onto the bed. Maka would probably scold him for climbing into bed with wet hair, but he just couldn't be bothered to care.

Why was he so tired? The mission had gone reasonably well, and even the attack they endured had seemed like a trivial inconvenience now. Granted he had been awake for well over twelve hours at this point. And at the time of the fight he did get a bit of an adrenaline rush… Maybe this was the crash after the high. He let out a big tired sigh as his eyes fluttered shut. He felt the pull of sleep but was interrupted by a small knock at the door.

"Mhmmm," he called in response.

The door creaked open a couple inches.

"Does that mean I can come in?" Maka asked through the crack with eyes closed tightly.

"Yes yes," he mumbled, closing his eyes again.

She walked in and closed the door behind her. "Keep your eyes closed," she said.

"I know the drill. I don't get how you can spend twenty minutes in the shower and still not be clothed when you get back." He said groggily.

"It was not twenty minutes," she said indignantly as he heard her shuffling around the room.

"Mmmm just about though," he replied, knowing full well she might throw something at him if he irked her enough.

"Whatever, and you know what…oh damn it Soul, get off the bed before your hair soaks through and it gets all soggy."

"Makaaa," he whined. "I'm too tired to blow dry it.

"Okay… well just sit up, I will help."

"Help?"

"I'll do it for you, and I'll even do yours before I do mine so you can sleep. Cry baby," she replied pulling the hair dryer from the vanity and plugging it in behind the nightstand.

He complied and sat on the side of the bed closest to the hair dryer. He sat there with his eyes closed as she ran her fingers through his hair and blasted it with hot air from the blow dryer. It actually felt really nice having someone do it for him. Her fingers combing through his hair was really soothing and relaxing and he found himself leaning into it and struggling to stay awake. Maka had forced him to dry his hair before bed many times before but he hated it. It took a long time for his thick mop to dry and he got tired of standing in front of the vanity and lifting his arms to hold the dryer.

But this was much better.

When she stopped it was almost all too soon. Almost because he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep.

"Thanks Maks," he mumbled as he crawled under the covers.

"That felt nice, way better than when I do it myself," he mumbled sleepily.

"You're welcome. Don't think that means I'll always do that for you though. You big baby," she said as she moved away from the bed to blow dry her own hair at the vanity.

He chuckled a little but then fell asleep before he even heard Maka start the hair dryer up again.

Maka stared at her reflection as she tried to dry her hair enough to not make her pillow all soggy. She ran her fingers through her hair as she blasted the strands with heat. She looked at her face closely in the reflection.

What happened today? She thought as she continued to mindlessly dry her hair. Did she and Soul almost kiss? She was surprised that the idea did not repulse her, given her past experiences with men. More surprising was how nervous it made her. Whether it was a good sign or not, she was not ready to let herself go there with anyone yet. Not with the dangers her and Soul would be facing soon. With the instability of the world around them and their past demons still peering at them from the shadows she found it hard to trust any happiness she felt. Ultimately she couldn't speak for Soul, he seemed to be thriving in their new environment, especially based on what she could remember from their past. But every once in a while she could still see a haunted look in his eyes.

Did he see the same in hers? She put the hair dryer away, satisfied with her, mostly dry, hair.

After turning on the lamp on her nightstand she turned off the overhead light and crawled into bed next to the snoring Soul.

The snoring stopped a little as he rolled over in bed and tossed an arm across her.

"Soul?"

The only response was even breathing.

"Soul," she whispered again a little more loudly.

"Hmm?" He said groggily.

"Was it nice to get a break from me?" She asked, thinking about the endless hours they'd spent together, essentially since they met.

"Hm?"

"You know, we haven't really been apart since we met fifty whatever years ago," she whispered.

"No… You're pretty dumb for a smart girl," he mumbled.

"Rude," she mumbled as he started snoring again.

"You're rude," he mumbled back.

She smiled to herself in the dark of their room as she settled in under Soul's arm.

Eventually sleep took over, and then just as suddenly it felt like she was hurled back to awareness. She was standing at the top of a cliff, a high cliff, but not so high that she couldn't make out the writhing figures at the bottom. It looked like the cliff was overlooking a lake of tar except that it was haunted by ghostly figures writhing just below the surface reaching clawed fingers up to the sky as if trying to invite her in.

She looked around to take in her surroundings. It was foggy and all she could see was a few gnarled looking bare grey trees dotting what landscape was visible through the fog. Except to her left where Soul was kneeling and peering over the edge. He was in tattered clothes and shaking violently, his eyes wide with fear.

"Soul?"

He turned his head slowly to look at her.

"Maka?"

"Where are we?"

"I…I don't know."

"Have you been here before?"

"Yes," he said sadly, turning back to facing the black sludge lake.

"Soul, I think this is a nightmare."

"You're probably right," he said monotonously, not turning away from the lake.

"Let's leave, I don't like it here."

"I don't know how Maka, I don't come here by choice."

"How do you normally get out of here?"

He swallowed audibly and turned to face her again. "Someone pushes me in. The monsters drag me under, the black sludge fills up my nose, my mouth, my lungs. When everything is blackness, I wake up."

"Every time?" She asked.

He nods.

"Do you know who is pushing you in?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes it's me but a twisted darker version of me. Sometimes it's a faceless dark creature. Sometimes it's my father, sometimes it's…"

"Who?"

"You," he said with a grimace.

"Oh Soul…I would never." She said as she reached out a hand to him.

He flinched and she felt tears well up in her eyes. "Soul I promise I would never do that to you."

He looked more closely at her squinting. "Are you really here? Not just a part of my dream?"

"Yeah, I think somehow I got sucked in."

"Will you please not leave me here?" He asked sadly.

"If we go anywhere it will be together."

"So, you promise you'll never leave me?" He looked at her eyes wide, fear still lurking behind them.

She was taken aback by his words, but her own response tumbled out. "I promise."

"Don't write cheques you can't cash," a voice hissed from the fog.

"It's coming," Soul said.

"What is?"

"The evil me that usually pushes me in."

"Why don't we just jump, together? We'll wake up togethe. It'll be over."

"I…I've never just jumped in…"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Come on let's go Soul, we'll wake up together and it will be over and we won't have to face the evil you." She really didn't want to see an even more messed up version of Soul. This sad, scared one was scary enough.

"Okay," he said hesitantly.

He grabbed her hand tightly.

They counted together to three before jumping in.

It was horrible. The back sludge was thick and sticky and immediately filled her nose and blocked up her eyes. She could feel the hands of the creatures grasping at her, pulling her in deeper. She could not resurface and it took all of her willpower not to scream. The only thing keeping her sane during the experience was the warmth of Soul's hand in hers. She was suspended in both the heavy weight of the sludge and yet nothing at all. Her lungs were screaming and it felt so frighteningly real and like the time she drowned. Then her body gave up, just like in the river and the sludge filled her lungs and then she was awake.

Soul sat up next to her covered in a thin layer of sweat yet shaking violently.

"Maka?" The word came out between chattering teeth.

"Yeah. I'm here."

"Were you…"

"Yeah…I was there too, for real. How often do you have that nightmare?"

"Uhm, like twice a week," he said rubbing his own arms in an attempt to stop the shivering.

"Why did you never tell me?" She asked, unable to mask the sadness in her voice.

"It's just a stupid nightmare it doesn't mean anything," he said trying to shrug it off.

"It's not nothing. You said saw me pushing you into that…that nightmare pit…And it was so real to you when we were there."

"Well of course it feels real when it's happening. But it's not. Haven't you ever had a dream Maka? It's only reality until you wake up."

She couldn't shake the visual of him looking up at her with fear in his eyes, and the way he implored her to stay with him.

"I guess. But it's more than your standard dream if you're sucking other people into it."

He reached behind his head and scratched his neck, "Yeah…Sorry."

"Don't be, clearly not an intentional move on either of our part."

He nodded. "Can we just try to sleep now?" He asked, exhaustion audibly in his voice.

"Yeah Soul, roll over and come closer."

He followed her direction and she snuggled closely against him, hoping it was enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

She waited patiently for him to fall asleep while running her fingers through his hair trying to calm his heart rate and his breathing. It didn't take very long as he was still exhausted from the days events and likely even the nightmare. Soon enough the air was punctuated by his little snores.

The hard part would be for her to fall asleep. Her mind would not stop racing around what this shared dream experience could possibly mean. Logically she understood that she couldn't possibly figure it out tonight, let alone without Dr. Stein's insight, however, she was guilty of constantly over-thinking in almost any situation.

She sighed and tried to keep her mind tuned to the even rhythm of Soul's breathing next to her. Eventually sleep took over, her last thought being relief that they had no reason to wake up early tomorrow.