Important announcement: From now own Hatred/Stein will be known as the god of Chaos.
Reasoning: One of my lovely snacklets pm'd me and asked why there would be a god of hatred and that there really never was one in history. Very valid point. I orionally had him as hatred due to a completely different story that was supposed to end at chapter 20… we see how that ended. So for now Chaos sounds smoother and still makes sense where hatred really doesn't anymore. Nothing else has changed, just the name. Sorry.
If someone has the free time I went back and changed what I caught, leading to the chapter 23 debacle…. Sorry bout that. But if you find any more would you tag that chapter in a review or pm so I can change it? Thanks!
Enjoy and review!
"Sup, tiny tits." His hair was pushed back by a yellow fabric with a band button pinned about his brow. His leather jacket screamed money and sin and yet was so perfectly Soul.
"Soul." She couldn't help but repeat herself as she stared at was inarguably her best friend for half of her life. He didn't look much different from the day she left. Maybe a few years older. Suddenly a horrible thought hit her. "W-why are you dead?"
Her parents had made sense. Her mother and father were up in their forties and her father's liver could have easily given out. Her mother may have caught some disease in a third world country for all she knew. But Soul… he was too young. It was too tragic.
"Ah… that's the million dollar question isn't it?" He smiled softly before holding out his arms. Without hesitation she dove into them. For the first time since she had her face off with Chaos she let all of the grief over her lost life pour out. She cried for her parents, for the mother she never got to meet and the father she never go to know. For the woman down the street who used to bake her cookies. For the girls who cheated off her in math class. For anyone and everyone who she had hated, loved, or helped. But mostly she cried for Soul.
"You don't belong here." She whispered into his chest. The hole in her heart had ripped into an anger filled pit and she was seething. She harshly shoved him away with tears still prickling her eyes. She was anything but quiet now. "Leave! This place isn't for you. You are too young to be here! Get out!"
She backed wildly away clutching her arms in a primal need to be comforted. The boy before her represented the last thread that connected her to her old life and there he stood, barely even a man.
"Maka… Can I just-"
"How old are you?" She interrupted, her eyes shaking. Fear choked her like a noose. Nothing seemed right anymore. When he didn't answer it just made it worse. "How old, Soul?!"
She felt something shimmer into existence behind her. Wrapping it's arms coolly around hers. Dirtied white bandages floated ethereally around her.
"23." She felt the restraints tighten with the chokehold on her throat. The horror and pain hit her like a freight train. When she left they were 17. He only lived 6 more years before he died.
Before HE took him.
No… that's not… no. Maka clutched her head and willed the voice away. Her knees gave out as she fought her inner self. This was her fault not Kid's.
Are you the one who plays the strings? The voice was gut-wrenchingly comforting in the strangest of ways. It was so cold and smooth but somehow spoke in a way that was so horribly true she couldn't ignore it.
Are you the one who picks the foul note? The bandages began to wrap around her appendages, coating them like a mummy. They were almost icy to the touch but it helped her hold on to her beating heart.
Are you the one... Her voice was right by Maka's ear now. She could feel the soft breath that came with every word chill her skin and send shivers down her spine.
Who cut the string? So close to the edge Maka latched on to the only thing that was there. Her vision was slowly cut off while the last of the gauze scarves drifted over her eyes. Just giving her a moment to hide in her grief.
0000000000000
Kid felt a twang of horrid choking feeling when she dove into the humans arms. However when she cried every emotion drained away into panic. He wanted nothing more than to do anything he could to make her stop. When she finally did, he wished for anything else.
She stood so mechanically, like a puppet in the hands of the unskilled. Her movements were jerky at best and downright inhuman at worse. The beautiful jade eyes that he had become so accustomed to were focused on the ground. He looked warily at his father who was just observing the girl with equal amounts of caution but also something else. Something akin to understanding.
"You." He jumped when she spoke. Honestly he had expected her to run or to scream, but just to speak was unsettling. Her voice was dark and gravelly. It was hard to hear from under her hair.
"Maka?"
"You." She didn't move, she just calmly repeated the same word a bit louder, like she had forgotten she said it the first time.
"Are you okay?"
"You!" She screamed and in spite of himself the prince flinched back. But not from her voice. No, he flinched because the eyes he had become so familiar with shown with a dark aura of hatred. Not dislike, or anger but pure hatred. "You took him! You killed him!"
She launched herself at the Prince and for the first time in his life he didn't leap to defend himself. He didn't throw up his arms as she clawed at his face. He didn't try to catch himself when she pushed him back. He didn't even try to push her off when her small once loving hands balled into little fist to slam into various parts of his body. He didn't even feel the pain because one thought plagued his mind.
Is this my fault? Every single hammering blow felt like a nail being driven into his brain. In a way she was right. He heard the note and cut the string. He ended this human's life. In all effect, he killed Soul.
"I hate you! I hope you die! I hope you never find happiness!" Kid took it all he had deserved it for causing her so much pain. Every time she tried to change something for her he just hurt her more. He accepted everything he could except for one. "I DON'T LOVE YOU!"
Kid too felt the pull of madness at his soul but he had no reason to resist. He accepted it readily as the power flushed into his body. His eyes pulsating a dark and sickly purple before a pulse wave threw the fragile girl back allowing him to stand. She was on him again in an instant. He held his arms out bearing his chest. Maka had become everything to him, if he lost her then there was no point existing anymore. He would give her what she wanted.
"ENOUGH!" The shout of Lord Death shook the very walls as it resonated through the room. Maka was frozen by the innate fear all creatures held for God of Death. Gone were his father's half-moon eyes and smiling mask. In its place were empty sockets and an aura that filled the room with wrath. "CHAOS. I CANNOT STOP YOU FROM RESIDING IN MY CHARGES. BUT YOU WILL NOT FUNCTION IN MY HOME."
The teenagers fell to the ground as a freezing hold air passed across their souls. It left Maka gasping for air and Soul lying on the ground. Kid felt so exposed, like his deepest recesses had been violated.
The hand of death. He thought as the echo faded. He had never seen it used and only heard of it once. Deumos had let it slip one night that it was how he had frozen Medusa's armies at the end of the war. Never had he felt just a freezing pain.
"You will never appear in my presence again in the form of a coward. Understand that if you do I swear to Life I will spend the rest of my days sawing away at your string until it finally snaps. Is that understood?"
The room was devoid of all sound. Not even wind or outside noise dare make itself known. When the silence was finally shattered it was by a sickening laugh. "Very well Death God."
Kid gripped his head and trembled on his knees. The voice came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. He was not yelling but it rang like gong in his mind. "But you cannot hold them forever. The girl will be mine… and perhaps the boy as well."
Suddenly everything faded. Kid lifted his head as any weight disappeared leaving the four inhabitants of the room taking a deep breath.
"Kid…" Maka had fallen a few feet away from him. She looked so small crumpled on the floor; like a china doll with broken joints. Her glass eyes wet with tears threatening to spill out. "I didn't mean-"
"I know….I know." He smiled weakly at her as he attempted to regain control of his limbs. They were shaky but definitely still functional. He heaved himself up with considerable effort before wobbling over to Maka. He held out is hand to assist her but also as a branch of peace. Even if it was somewhat weak.
"I'm sorry." She stated simply as she took his hand. Her body had relaxed for the most part but some of her muscled still tightened with the tinge of regret.
"All is forgiven. But it is I am needs you forgiveness. You were technically correct. I did cut his string."
"Oh sure, but who helps up the dead guy? No takers, okay cool." The shark toothed boy called over from where he had also fallen. As a pure soul the hand of death probably affected him the least, with him being well, dead.
"Oh you are such a stick in the mud Soul." Maka attempted to reply scathingly only to find her voice had lost most of its bite. She bit her lip as if to hide something.
"Maka, it's not his fault you know." He replied his tone more serious. As he walked forward Kid faded back into the wall. As much as he wanted to interfere this was not his moment.
"I don't understand. What do you mean?" He rested his palm softly on her small shoulder. She looked like she could break any moment.
"He didn't kill me."
"Then who did?"
"I-I did. I killed myself."
There was silence.
"SOUL EATER EVANS! How dare you throw your life away like that? After all the times I saved your life as a child you just go and toss it out like yesterday's newspaper? Where's my book? Kid! Go get my book." The sadness had drained out of her faster than water down the sink. Now she seemed more akin to something of a rampaging lizard monster.
"Maka it was an accident."
"Accident my foot. What did you just happen to fall on a knife while cooking? Or trip and fall down the stairs? Those are not accidents, Soul. I told you to always wear socks with grips on the bottom."
"My god, you are gonna kill me." He backed safely away before taking a deep breath. "I OD'd."
The silence was unnerving. Maka stood as still as a statue and her breathing was even. Her eyes revealed nothing and the eerie calm even had his father shifting nervously in his seat. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY EATER!"
Honestly he voice even rivaled his fathers at the moment and he was sure it could be heard most anywhere else in the palace as well. "What did I tell you about that shit? There are only two things that can majority fuck up your life. A baby and drug. TWO! Two Soul. Two things that can very easily be avoided."
"Well you see…." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"What." Maka eyed him suspiciously before a realization hit her. "Oh gods no. SOUL! Who's life did you ruin?"
"Hey! I didn't ruin her life. Just changed it a bit is all."
"You better have. I WILL be looking into this. What was her name?" Kid wondered briefly if it was healthy or normal for humans to change emotions so violently and quickly.
"Aura." Maka impatiently tapped her foot and wove her hand at him. "It's not cool to kiss and tell you know."
"It is when it means I have a niece. Tell now or you can kiss the bottom of my boot."
"Maka! You are such a nag!"
"5….4….2…"
"What happened to three?"
"One quarter."
"Oh my god fine! Jesus." Kid watched the exchange with interest. It had all the traits of two people who disliked each other but the two involved were smiling. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
"I met her on tour. They found me the last day I saw you. A few hours later a record producer heard me playing on the street and offered me a temporary spot in a local band. After a few months the group accepted me as their full time lead guitar. After that we started opening for a pretty big band in the UK."
"That's so great Soul! You got do live doing what you loved."
"Yeah, I tried to write you. For the longest time I thought you resented me. I didn't come back for years, it wasn't until your father told me I knew you had disappeared." The mood in the room dropped and Maka shifted uncomfortably. "Who woulda thunk you were hanging out with Gods. Swanky."
"Get back on point, punky." She smiled as the two settled back into the familiar back and forth.
"Right well, I met her one night after a show. The guys always took girls back but it was never my thing. I always hung in back while they picked, just signing autographs and shit. But then I saw her. She wasn't falling all over herself hoping to be noticed by me or one of the guys. Instead she was standing quietly in the back, clutching a rolled up poster.
Even after we had all gotten on the bus she waited way past everyone else. I looked out the window three hours later and she was still standing there. I was curious and so I went out to meet her." He took a deep breath and Kid saw his eyes mist over dreamily. Like someone recalling the best moment of their life.
"Maka. She had waited out there for 6 hours, just to have me sign something. And it wasn't even for her. It was for her younger sister who was in the hospital. She was so kind. It reminded me so much of you my heart ached."
"What happened after?" Maka asked genuinely entranced. She leaned forward with anticipation.
"I gave her my address so she and her sister could write and they did. One day she told me her sister was going to pass soon and I convinced the guys to go visit her. I mean it would be so uncool to deny a dying wish."
"Did… did you make it on time?"
"Yeah. She was a sweet girl. Curious and hyperactive. It was like she stored up the last of the energy she had knowing we were coming. She died a few weeks later."
"That's awful."
"That's life Maka. We can't always control it."
"So then after?"
"It took a few years but we finally go together. It wasn't long before she got knocked up and we got hitched."
"What did you name your baby?"
"Jade. I swear Maka, she had your eyes. And her smile, sometimes I swear with the way she resembled you, you really could have been her aunt." He smiled sadly recounting the events of his life to the friend who never got to have hers.
"But it was after the birth, things started to go wrong. It was my fault really. I was always gone. I supported them finically but a tour bus full of rock stars isn't a good place to raise any child. I was going to quit once she was born but out of nowhere the company of the band we toured with offered us a record deal. I had to take it.
Suddenly it went from month long tours to years long with only a few days in between. I would jet home and sleep only to leave the next day for the states or Milan. Things got out of control so fast. All I wanted was a bit of that control back."
"So you turned to drugs?"
"Yeah." Kid saw the boy draw in on himself. He seemed so scared and ashamed.
"Then one night I just took too much and… well you know the rest." He gestured around him and smiled meekly at the girl.
"Oh Soul, you poor thing." Maka embraced him and wept those small diamond tears Kid had always thought to be so beautiful. She wept so often for others he wondered if one day she would run dry.
"No point in pitying the dead Maka. It's wasted on us." A clearing of a throat broke the spell held over them. They finally took notice of the remaining two parties in the room.
"I hate to interrupt but it is time for Soul to move on." His father bounced up and down in his seat, seemingly enjoying the reunion of the two. But he was right, his kingdom was no place for the dead (as ironic as that is.)
"Oh." She looked sadly at her lifelong friend and sighed. Kid almost asked for more time but as it was the boy's soul was flickering out of existence. It was time for him to go. "I'm going to miss you so much. There's so much I never got to say."
"Yeah me too… Actually Maka I-" She looked up with her green eyes shining and he faltered. For the first time he turned his gaze on to the young reaper. Something dark flashed through him but only for a moment before he nodded in acknowledgement.
"What is it Soul?"
"Nothing. Make sure he takes care of you. I don't wanna have to come back from the dead to beat his ass." She giggled and missed Kid nodding back, the pledge between men made. Though no words were said the message rang loud and true.
Don't you dare hurt her.
"Mr. Evans. It is time to judge your soul."
Sorry long one. I know it's not my best. But I just had so much of the emotional crap last chapter I couldn't stand it. Besides I think this way it was much more characteristic of Maka and Souls relationship. I may rewrite it I am not sure.
Also. I may not post next Saturday for this or for Verdant flames. Spring break is coming and I have a desktop so it's staying home. I should start a go fund me for a new laptop so I could write more often. Sigh.