Chapter three has arrived! I'm pretty sure there's nothing confusing in this chapter unlike the last one, so enjoy it thoroughly! Oh and I apologize in advance for the cliff hanger, but I have to have something to keep you guys and girls reading, right?
Disclaimer: I own Soul Eater! But only in my dreams...sadly...
Soul was in cooking when Ash reappeared. Without Kid. Soul was a bit worried, but there were so many reasonable explanations that didn't involve Kid being in trouble, so Soul shoved it to the back of his mind and concentrated on chopping carrots. Today, they were preparing the flavoring for their chicken and tomorrow they would be able to cook it. Of course because of Maka and Kid absence, Stein assigned Soul to some loser girl who kept trying to flirt with him. He found it rather annoying, but if Kid had dealt with it yesterday, Soul could deal with it for one day. At least he hoped it was one day; Stein had marked something down in the partner charts after they had switched.
Soul returned to his task and began cutting green peppers and then onions. His knife flashed quickly, much faster than Ash's who was working in a partnering of three. This made Soul smirk and despite his troubling thoughts about Maka, he began to enjoy the friendly competition Ash had always offered him. Truthfully Soul had missed Ash; they were close friends despite going to different schools until now. Every weekend when they were little they would spend at either of their houses. Going for walks, playing video games, and all the other mischief little boys get into.
Class was soon over and Soul grinned proudly at his mass of chopped vegetables before looking at Ash's. His eyes went wide. Ash had an enormous mound of vegetables in front of him, enough for 2 partner groups. This immediately put Soul in a bad mood, though he would never show it. That would be admitting Ash had won their undeclared competition and losing was definitely not cool. Soul turned back to his own pile, and carefully scraped it off the cutting board and into containers that would keep them until tomorrow. He could feel Ash standing behind him, but Soul ignored him all the way to math. Then he realized Ash was still behind him and he turned around.
"Are you lost Ash?" Soul's smile was forced; his mood hadn't improved much.
"Nope! We have math together buddy!" Ash smiled largely and pushed past Soul into their classroom.
Soul was frozen; it felt like Ash was intruding on his memories of Maka. Her smiles yesterday, her cute face, her musical voice and her beautiful eyes. Green eyes that Soul could stare into forever; regardless of whether she was mad or happy. The bell rang, but Soul just stood outside staring blissfully into space.
Eventually he realized class had started, but he didn't feel like going in. Ash always whispered comments about girls; which would really annoy him because his heart was only for Maka. Soul felt himself droop as he remembered the fact that she was missing. Without really thinking, Soul headed down a random hallway and daydreamed about Maka; checking in closets every once and awhile. He soon grew bored of this and stepped in the next closet he saw, hiding from the teachers who randomly patrolled the hallways to make sure all the students were in class. (Oooh creepy! I would hate that.)
In the darkness, Soul felt around for somewhere comfortable to sit. His hands found a squishy piece of clothing and he gratefully sat down, still occupied with thoughts of Maka. Then he bolted up and stumbled out into the lit hallway before turning to look in the closet. Sure enough, it was a black sweater just like Makas and on the floor beside it was a scrap of paper. He picked it and the sweater up, carefully unfolding the crinkled scrap. It was his address that he had written down for her yesterday. Soul self a sinking feeling in his stomach and yet he was filled with elation. Maka had been here! However, Maka was not here now. He closed the door and ran to the office of the school; maybe they could do something about this.
Soul was sad again. The principal hadn't been able to do anything after all; there were no security tapes for them to check or anything. Nothing. Maka was alone again and Soul felt even more helpless than before. In a sudden surge of anger at the unfairness of it all, he kicked the curb. That only got him a pain in his toe and as he limped onward his mind tried to dig up a similar pain. A pain from years ago that involved Ash. Ash…Toe…Curb…Maka…Soul finally remembered and was startled at what the memory revealed to him.
It was just another Saturday afternoon and just another picnic with Ash. They were going to a playground that day with a full basket and plenty of ideas for fun. Chattering about what they were going to do, they walked under the bright June sun in wonderful moods. Soul was just a kid, he didn't know enough about the world to be worried. Ash was a bit older than Soul and a lot more mature. In fact he was so mature sometimes Soul found himself wondering why Ash even hung out with him. But the ADHD of a child wiped away that thought as soon as it arrived and so it was that Soul turned to Ash and gave him a dare he would regret.
"Ashy! I dare you to go pick on one of the kids at the playground!" Soul's smile was open and innocent; he didn't realize how mean it was to pick on people.
"SURE! YOU GOTTA WATCH ME, KAY?" Ash was always a bit outspoken as a child but Soul didn't mind. After all he was 9 years old too.
So when they got to the playground, they carefully put the basket down and ran toward the swing set. Soul stubbed his toe against the barrier that kept the sand in and he went sprawling face first at the feet of a little girl. She was tiny and dressed in an adorable little red dress with twin pigtails hanging down from her head. At first she giggled, but when Soul didn't get up, she poked him. He was too embarrassed to raise his head, but then he realized how uncool it must look to be lying in the sand with a girl poking him. He sat up and the girl leapt back, startled.
She had pretty eyes, but Soul didn't really notice them. He was too busy wiping the sand off his face and watching as Ash claimed the best swing in the park. The handicap one; it was the children's favorite because one could actually be pushed by another child. Even now Ash was sailing through the air with a horde of admiring kids watching and arguing who got the privilege of pushing him. Then his attention shifted back to the girl who was still standing in front of him. He smiled and got up, telling her to wait there before running over to Ash.
"Ashy! Ashy!!!! Come on let's eat! I'm hungry." Soul was pouting and some of the girls there blushed at the white-haired boy's cute face. He was too young to understand girls and their feelings though, so as Ash leapt off the swing with an ooh from his audience, Soul ran back and grabbed the girl with pigtails.
"Wanna eat with us? We got good food!" Soul grinned at her, feeling something quivering in his tummy and thinking it was just hungry. He couldn't explain why he asked this girl to eat with them, but he would soon regret it.
"U-uhm…sure." She smiled shyly and followed Soul as he led her to the basket.
Ash soon ran up and began pulling out his favorite food. They talked, mostly just Ash because Soul had grown up learning not to talk with one's mouth full and the girl was very shy around someone as boisterous as Ash. Soul tried to smile encouragingly at her, but her eyes were glued to the tabletop in front of her as she ate an apple. Then Soul spotted a tree that was just begging to be climbed. Quickly he scoffed what was left of his lunch and then ran towards it with a shout of joy.
He grabbed a low branch and swung his little body up and over, straddling the branch. Then he stood and reached for the next branch, jumping a bit to close his small fingers around it. Again and again he reached branches and swung himself up. Finally there were no more branches that could hold his weight, so he surveyed the playground that stretched beneath him. It was beautiful. He could see brothers and sisters and friends playing together; he could see the new kid who had stolen the awesome swing; and he could see Maka and Ash. They were standing, the basket was on the ground and Soul could tell both were very angry. He tried waving to them, but they didn't even glance at him. Then Ash shoved the girl and Soul nearly fell off the branch with surprise.
Sure enough, once Soul regained his balanced perch on the branch, Ash was picking on the girl. Very severely. She was on the grass and shaking with fear or sobs, Soul couldn't see which. He watched as Ash grabbed the girl by the pigtail and kneed her in the gut. Once he let go, she collapsed again and tried crawling away; but Ash just continued kicking her with a big smile on his face. Soul felt disgusted at his friend's enjoyment of the brutal beating and when he looked down beneath him that bad feeling translated into a sudden fear of heights. Soul began to cry with fear so he tore his eyes away from the ground that was so far below him and focused on the fight again. Ash was gone with the picnic basket, and the girl was lying on the ground not moving at all.
The sky darkened and the sun chuckled maliciously at Soul's predicament. He was still on the branch and the girl was still lying prostrate on the ground. The stench of his upchucked stomach contents blew in his face again as the wind changed and brought storm clouds in the playground's direction. Soul whimpered and tried for the 30th time to climb back down. His body froze in fear every time he looked down to spot the next branch below though, so Soul stayed where he was and concentrated on the girl again. All of the other kids had left with their mother or fathers but the girl was alone. Soul wished he could go see if she was all right, but then she started to get up. He gasped and clenched the branch tighter, not noticing the bark was scraping his hands.
She slowly stood up and looked around, before running over to the tree. Soul grinned thinking she was coming to save him, but she ran right on past and into the arms of an approaching woman whom he had failed to notice. Afraid to be stranded any longer he called down to them.
"Help. I'm stuck in the tree. Please help me!" The woman looked up and her eyes widened. Clearly she was surprised to find a boy in a tree when a storm was approaching.
"Hold on there deary, I'll get you down." Detaching the girl from her jeans, the woman began to scale the tree; moving from branch to branch fluidly. When she reached Soul she gave him a smile and asked him if he could hold onto her when she climbed down. He nodded of course, his fear vanished with the comfort an adult offers to all children. Soon he was set on the ground and the woman carefully crouched down in front of him.
"Do you think you can mak-" A crash of thunder interrupted her and made Soul jump nervously. She smiled at him and said.
"Well you're coming to my house before it starts to rain. You can call your folks there, all right? Come along young missy, we're going home." With that she stood and herded the two children in front of her.
The woman's house wasn't far or quite nearly as large as Souls was. It was pretty enough on the outside, but the inside made Soul gape. It was beautiful and the rooms were all tied marvelously together. Strange things hung from the walls and ceilings, but he found it all interesting. The girl just slipped off her shoes and padded after her mother into the kitchen. Copying her, he bent to untie his shoes and carefully set them next to hers. Then he quietly followed her, staring about in awe. The woman was already busy making hot cocoa for the two kids so the girl grabbed Soul's hand and gave him the grand tour.
She was much more relaxed now than she had been at the playground and he found himself losing the inferior feeling this house gave him. The girl showed him her mother's room and hers, the room where they ate and then a simple room with 2 couches and a variety of paintings strewn about the walls. She told him proudly that her mother had painted them and then her green eyes lit up with an idea. Dragging him back to the kitchen, she asked her mother if she could show him her studio. The woman agreed with a smile and Soul stared back at her as he was dragged off to yet another part of the house.
It was what he presumed to be the attic and it was a true artists studio. In other word it was chaotic and there were canvases, paints, sheets, easels, and other various drawing implements strewn everywhere. The girl plumped down on a stool that was painted random colors and watched as Soul walked around the room. He was impressed with the paintings, even though they were only partly finished. Clearly her mother was a very talented painter, and he being the child he was, turned to her and asked,
"I like this painting! Can I have it?" He pointed to a painting of a spring morning with a blue jay and a cardinal singing to one another.
"I dunno. I'll ask mommy!" She jumped off the stool and ran out, leaving Soul to stare at the painting that had caught his interest. It was quite pretty and he thought maybe he could see words if he looked close enough. But he got distracted as thunder crashed and the room flashed with blinding light.
Sometime later Soul was walking home from the girl with pigtail's house. He didn't remember much after that big flash of lightning, but he had his painting tucked under his arm and every once and awhile he would glance at it. It already had a place on his room's wall in his head and he planned to show it off to his parents that night. They would coo over it and ask why he was so late returning. His mother would-
Soul jerked out of the memory abruptly, not wishing to continue down that line of thought. He had arrived at his house anyway, so he concentrated on whether he had brought that painting with him when he moved here. Thinking it might be in his room somewhere, he dropped his bag off by the kitchen and walked in only to recoil in shock. There was a red message scrawled on the walls, the kind you see in horror movies when a murderer is coming for you. It said
"Soul…I have your girl. What are you willing to do to get her back, in one piece?"
He sank to the floor, heart pumping frantically and read the words again and again as if that might somehow change them. No luck there, so Soul started to make his mind work, processing the fact someone had Maka captive. Then a thought occurred to him and he lunged across the room to smell the red liquid. It was paint, not blood and Soul sighed in relief. There was no way for him to contact this mysterious person; no phone number or anything. And that was when he heard the jingle of a cell phone. It was S.E.X. by Nickelback. (Yes, Soul would recognize that. Sorry I had to throw in some humor here because I'm insane. And if you don't know that song, go listen to it!) He found it lying on his bed and tensed with apprehension as he answered it.
"Yes? Who are you?" His voice sounded pathetic. So not cool but he was too scared to really think right then.
"That's not important. Have you thought of an answer for my question?" The voice was deep and masculine, clearly the person was using a transmorgifithingy to change his voice. Or her voice, Soul didn't really know.
"I would do anything. Anything for Maka!" That was a dumb thing to say, Soul thought.
"Good. Meet me at room 173 tomorrow at seven. At Shibusen high. Tell no one or she will pay for it." –click-
Soul let the phone drop and stared into space. Maka had been kidnapped from a closet. Tears began to leak out of his eyes as he thought of her at the bastard's mercy. It was unforgivable, so he got up and walked to his closet and began rummaging through it. Sure enough, the painting was there and he set it on his dresser before running outside to a field nearby. Soul knew some karate (Lucky Soul. I wish I had learned it.) and he figured if he was going to meet Maka's jailer he should be prepared.
When Soul returned to his apartment later, he saw the paint had been cleaned off his wall. This disturbed him, so he went straight to sleep clutching a baseball bat for safety. If the guy could break into his home, he didn't want to be caught without a weapon. The night passed swiftly and when morning came he groggily got out of bed, showered and dressed. He left his hair to dry naturally and left for school; it was 6:30 but he figured the sooner he got there the better.
He had brought his baseball bat and sat quietly in the room until the clock said 7:00. No one appeared, though he waited until the end of second period to leave. Then his eyes caught sight of a fire alarm and with a snarl of frustration born of helplessness, he smashed it without thinking. Instantly water poured down from above and a loud alarm sounded. In this way Soul walked out of the school and back to his home where he had left the cell phone.
Stupid, stupid, stupid…I hate life.
Heehee. So that's chapter three! Already. Wow. Anyways that was Soul thinking at the end and notice how I didn't change viewpoints at all! Aren't you proud of me? And please don't yell at me to hurry up and write the next chapter; it's being written whether you want it or not! Review please~! Oh and I figured out how to respond to reviews now too! Happy day, happy day ain't it?