And just like that he was gone. Maka was scared, yes. But there was more to it than that. The Prince himself didn't scare her; it was something else there. What scared her is what she saw in his eyes. Deep down, he really believed what he said was true. He thought he was a monster.
With the Prince fleeing the scene, the civilians felt it safe to return to the area. Hands helped Maka up, checking to make sure the girl was fine. She was all but numb.
Why would he think those things?
Why would he say them?
Why does he want me gone?
Her thoughts echoed in her head begging for an answer. Only resounding silence was her response.
"Ms. Albarn are you alright? Are you hurt?" Maka waved the people away and regained her footing. Without another word she stumbled forward, following the same path as Kid.
The crowd parted before her, whether in respect or fear she didn't know. All she could do was keep moving forward.
~~0~~0~~0~~
Eventually she wandered into an ally, now completely lost. Without the drone of the city she had nothing but time to think. And in this situation it was a dangerous past time.
What did I do? What set him off? I just don't understand.
"He… you want to understand us? You want to help us?" The memory flashed through her mine with a searing pain. Maybe he was right. This wasn't where she belonged and everyone knew it. No matter how hard she tried she would always be different. Always on the outside looking in. It's kind of funny, Kid says that they want my life. Well I would trade any of them just to be able to understand him a bit more.
"You'll only tempt us with what we can never have. You know nothing of us." Maka came to a stop and stared at the blood red moon. Usually it was a bit lighter but tonight it took on a dark and crimson hue to match the pain of the people below it. Maka hadn't realized that it had gotten so late but she didn't particularly care. She didn't even know where she was going.
"We are the monsters that terrify the world, we deserve to live on the fringes, always watching, always removed." But she was the one on the outside. She didn't know when it happened but all she wanted was to be a part of their world. Even if she left she wouldn't find peace. Maka knows she doesn't belong down here. Everywhere she would go she would be treated like something different. In a world of monsters she was the one they wouldn't ever really accept.
"Run Maka. Run now, because of you stay any longer you will join us." But that's she had wanted. Why couldn't he see that? She was truly happy here and while she did miss her life at home it had gotten to the point that she wouldn't go back other than to say goodbye.
What really got her though was not the words. Words are spoken, taken back, thrown around, and used up like they are meaningless. Really, words mean nothing when it comes down to it. They are just sounds we make. It's the feeling behind them that counts. And the feeling behind his words didn't stem from anger. They came from sadness.
Looking into his eyes Maka saw a life time of suffering. All his life he had to work for everything, fighting hate and prejudice. At some point he would just have to give up. But no, he never did. He fought and fought, slamming down the pain deep inside him and just pushing it away. Just the thought was more than Maka could bear.
"Run Maka. Run now…" Maka collapsed onto the cobblestone. A dark cloud blew in front of the moon snatching away any light that could have ever eased her pain.
That's it. She thought holding her hand to her chest. Her limbs have long since grown cold and numb. The frozen weight on her chest made her clarity all the more painful. I did this to him. I broke everything.
Maka stared blankly into the ground thinking of everything he had said. All of this happened because she was here. If somehow she had kept her distance and stayed away he wouldn't have ever had to feel this way again.
Now that's just stupid. Maka barely noticed the approaching steps of her body and cared very little. You took forever to find, loser. You need to get out of the cold. You'll freeze to death.
"What does it matter?" Maka asked dully still staring at the ground. "I do nothing but cause pain. Isn't it fair I finally feel some in return?"
Pain? That's what you think this is all about? Pain. You really are and idiot.
Maka's head snapped up filled with rage at the girl. She just didn't get it. The world was just a game to her, she didn't care about others. "I hurt him! The only person to truly care about me and I reopened wounds that should have been closed forever. I destroyed him for my own selfishness of being here. If I had never reminded him of what he wasn't , what he couldn't have, he would have been happy. I'm glad he hates me now. I deserve worse than that."
Baka. The girl crouched down and wrapped her arms around the broken body of Maka. He doesn't hate you. He never could.
Maka looked up with dead eyes. Something about them just made the girls heart sink.
"Then why? Why would he do this? WHY?!" Maka's scream resounded through the alley, echoing into silence while the girl just stared at her disbelieving.
Dumb shit… can't you see it? He doesn't hate you.
It's because he loves you.
The rare smiles… the laughing… that look in his eyes. It was all so obvious.
Maka shot up, throwing her counterpart back, less out of physical force and more out of principle. She looked down at her madness and smiles offering a hand.
"How can I ever thank you?" The girl took it and surprisingly Maka felt a small tug on her hand. Nothing substantial but more like strong breeze. She stood up and brushed herself off. The bandage-like scarves covering her were perfectly spotless but Maka didn't mention it.
Psh! Thank me? I just want you to get laid and return back where I belong leaving your sorry ass here. Maka simply smiled and shook her head.
"Thank you." She folded her body into a hug and for a moment she felt as if she was actually there. Then just like that she was gone, running down the street with a smile on her face.
Welcome back to the world of the living, my soul. Or dead… ah I don't give a shit.
~o~o~
She was stepping blindly. It didn't really matter though. She knew that she would find him. Maka raced through the deserted streets as fast as she could. To the rest of the city's inhabitants she was a golden comet that was gone in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly she stopped. A wave of sadness hit her like a small ripple barely moving on the surface. She listened and the backed slowly towards the ally she passed. In it she could just barely hear the sound of breathing. But more importantly, her heart was racing wildly, and she knew of only one reason why.
She wandered carefully down the alley way, alert for the tiniest of sounds. A few steps later something inside tugged at her and she stopped to look around. There leaning against a dumpster, on the filthy ground and surrounded by trash was a broken and numb reaper.
He tensed up as she arrived. His lanky legs were folded up near his chest and his arms hug over them like a broken puppet. His head was tucked in between the limbs and his beautiful golden eyes that held back so much were curtained by his dark hair.
She didn't say anything because, quite frankly, now that she was there, she didn't know what to say. So she just sat next to him and quietly stared at the stars. As they flickered in and out of existence she wondered if there was some higher power looking down on them now.
Realizing said higher power was sitting next to her she smiled a bit. More time passed and she just let herself think. Something that she had really be neglecting the last few days. She thought about home, she thought about her old life, but most of all she thought about her future. She knew he loved her and she didn't care how or if he believed it himself but she was content to just sit there until he figured it out.
000000000000
He wondered why she was still here. Why she had even come in the first place. He couldn't look up, he didn't deserve to. She should have left, she still could. So why did she stay?
"Do you hate me?" He asked in a voice so soft it was barely heard even in the silence.
"No."
"Do you fear me?"
"No."
"What is it you want?" She shifted slightly then settled back into comfort. He could just see the tips of her fingers resting on the cobblestone. Hand that were so soft and pure, hands that he should never touch.
"What did I do that scared you so much?" The hand crept closer to him. He wanted nothing more than to take that hand in his and feel her warm skin, to apologize and beg her never to leave him, to stay by his side for the rest of eternity. But instead he flinched knowing that she would pull away.
"What makes you think I was frightened?" He spit out the words like venom. Each one flew out of his mouth ripped into his heart like a rusted knife. But it was for the good of her.
"I saw it… in your eyes. You only looked angry to begin with but looking deeper I could see the fear…and despair." He was silent not trusting his own voice. "What is it that could possibly cause anyone that much grief?"
He still didn't respond, hoping nothing more than for her just to go away. He couldn't stand her being this close, just in reach. It all felt too possible.
"Do you want me to go?" Again nothing but as she started to stand words not of his accord forced their way out. "Wait-"
She settled back down into silence. The Prince inhaled shakily as he tried to find the right words. "You don't belong here. Something so innocent and pure will be tainted by the evil here."
"Kid, you're not-" He raised his hand and she feel silent. She needed to understand why. Why she should never return, why this place is a danger, and why he doesn't deserve to even lay eyes on her.
"There are very bad souls in these worlds. They are not born that way but eventually hate and pain corrupt them. Some have done things that are unforgivable, even in the broad scheme of things. The worst people ever born to humanity do not deserve to be reborn. Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, Bloody Mary: These were all people who gave up their humanity to feed their hatred. Their souls have been tainted by their actions. When the end finally did come, they received what was just. After serving so long in the fall in order to destroy the evil, their humanity was burned away and they could never return to the human world."
"It was then that the demons were born and as they were beings of death, rapes, and every other form of atrocities they came to serve here as a last bit of torture; watching all of the others in the world pass on to live again. This is why you cannot stay. I am a Prince of evil; I not only bring death but revel in it as well. Everything around me is tainted black and you will never avoid it."
She was silent all throughout. It is something that worried him. He had expected disgust or fear or some form of a reaction. But instead she just asked a question. "Do you care about Liz and Patty?"
"Yes. They are very trusted by me." He couldn't understand why she hadn't run. Why she asked such an unrelated question. But he still didn't look at her, his eyes trained forward.
"Who were they?" the subject is something that has haunted Kid as long as he had known them. It was the tragedy of their story that allowed him to hold their loyalty so close.
"Lilitu was who you humans have named Queen Isabella of Spain. She and her husband had facilitated the Spanish Inquisition killing tens of thousands over what they labeled as the correct religion."
"And Patti?" Her voice remained impassive but this is the part that killed Kid the most. It is what truly marks them as something beyond special.
"Her name was Joanna. She was the illegitimate daughter of the King before and Isabella niece. It was here, growing up side-by-side that they became like sisters. They kept the relationship until Isabella died. When Joanna finally did pass the scales weighed heavily in her favor and she was marked to immediately move on into the garden in the kingdom of life. However, she refused not because she clung to life but because she knew her sister was not waiting there. At her demand my father condemned her to hell where her humanity was burned away so she could stay with Lilitu and she too became a demon. She burned there for thousands of years with her only crime being the urge to stay with her sister." Kid knew that this is the part where she screams. This is where she see the true him that could do that to his so called friends. This is where everything truly falls apart.
A weight slams into his side and knocks him to the ground. He doesn't mind he deserves it. If only the marks would actually stay, that way he could feel some form of penance for what he's done.
But as he hits the ground he finds a warm body was lying on top of him. Finally, he has the courage to meet her eyes. They glisten with tears, reflecting the moon in a while that tosses the usually vivid green into a deep red. Inside they hold deep sadness but not for herself.
"I- I don't understand." She holds him closer and somewhat pulls him back into sitting position before placing her arms tightly around his waist and pressing her head into his chest.
"Don't you see? You gave Patty what she really wanted. You gave her, her sister back. Something she would have never found again, no matter how many lives she lived. You aren't a monster Kid, you're a and your my angel." Her tears wet his shirt but he really didn't mind. He was far to shocked to do anything. Instead he just wrapped his arms around her as she cried, a small smile gracing his face and a foreign emotion blooming in his eyes.
"I need you too Maka."
Nothing else was said. They simply remained on the dirty stone until the sun started to paint the sky with its brilliance.
"Kid?"
"Yes?"
"Can we go home?" He nodded and gathered the girl in his arms. While there was nothing physically wrong with her, he felt the emotional burden of the day had worn her out. Without another word he started towards the castle.
He placed her in her bed smiling at the way the light fell on her face. Even covered in dirt he could see her beauty shine through. A soul shattering beauty that could only belong to one.
"Kid?"
"Hm?"
"Can you stay with me?" Her eye's flicked open momentarily. They were hazy and dull, only a second away from sleep taking total hold.
"Of course, anything for you…" My beautiful angel, I will never let you go again.
Le all done. Well we're all done with emotion for a while which is good because I suck at writing this stuff. Anyway for those of you wondering Maka really doesn't know how Kid loves her, wither it's as a sister or something to be treasured but she'll figure it out soon. All pans out in the end.
As for the next chapter we will see some more explaination of how things work and then a bit of diving into a shippers dream.