Warnings: SEVERE Angst, Kidnapping, Implied rape, character torture... Enjoy?
Pairings: SoulxMaka Implied KidxPatty and BlackstarxTsubaki
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.. if I did.. I'd be rich. :D
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There was my souls room, the black piano, the bench and the chair... the checkered floor and even the broken record playing repeatedly over and over. It was all so heart achingly familiar that I'd almost forgotten that I'd swallowed the Demon a long time ago. It was quiet - but that was okay... it worked better for what I had to do to find Maka. I concentrated on her soul wavelength, the feeling that I got when we resonated, and the feeling of her soul.
'Maka...Come on Maka... you can pull through this... give me a hint... anything." I could feel a faint flicker in my room, and I concentrated harder, before I finally felt it - that touching of souls that I knew meant Maka. I opened my eyes and found that my surroundings had changed, I was now back in our apartment... but the walls were different. Normally a cream color, they were blood red and ...wet? Like new paint, only it didn't smell like new paint, it smelled metallic... Oh god... the walls were covered in blood. I pounded down the hall towards Maka's room and found her curled up on her bed, sobbing like I'd never heard her sobbing before. She looked the same as she did in the video, but this time, I could hear her unlike before.
"Soul... please help me..." I broke then, and rushed to her side where I knelt on the floor next to her bed and took her hand in mine. I could tell that if I did anything more, she would be in huge amounts if pain, so instead, I settled for kneeling next to her and holding her hand. The instant I took her hand, she tightened hers on my fingers and froze, as if staring at my fingers, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. I smiled in my crooked way and waited until she noticed. Her eyes traveled up my hand, to my wrist, then to my arm and my elbow. My elbow led her to my shoulder, then to my chest and, finally, my face. I noticed then that I was dressed as I sometimes did at home, dressed in a white sleeveless shirt, and some black jeans. I had the slim black headband in my hair, and I knew that she focused on my face first, then my hair and eyes.. as if she didn't believe it. "SOUL!" I'm glad that I was kneeling, or I know I would have been knocked down with her exuberant hug.
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, despite the fact that I knew she was probably in extreme amounts of pain. I couldn't help but hold her - she was injured, and it was my job to protect her.. She pressed her face into my shoulder and neck, and I could smell her Vanilla shampoo and wash soap... a smell I knew many women wore.. but this had underlying hints of Maka and Maka alone. I clung to her, just as she clung to me - though she was crying in what seemed an endless amount of tears.
"Maka... Gods.. I thought I'd never find you.." She started shaking rather violently, and I knew that she was having just as much of a problem with this as I was having on my own. I lifted my hand and ran my fingers through her matted hair, gently untangling the chunks that had been stuck together by dried blood and sweat. "Talk to me, Maka..."
"You know this isn't Real.. Soul.. We're not really here... I can't get away from her." The broken hearted words f hers almost broke my own heart - hell..it did.. I could feel the thing shattering into pieces around me.
"Just for a few moments.. we can be together.. Even if I can't get to you physically right now.. Maka.. " I lifted her chin, forcing her to look at my face - forcing her to see. "Maka, I *WILL* save you. You're my Meister.. My other half..." The one I've given my heart to. She smiled slightly, a crooked, bastardization of a smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Maka... Can you tell me anything about what's going on? Can you tell me anything about where you are?' I knew that I would concern the people waiting on me.. our friends if I stayed here too long.. but so help me.. I wasn't going to leave Maka until I absolutely had to. Her fingers tightened around my shoulders, and I could feel her nails digging into my shoulder blades.
"I... don't know. I was coming back from making a late night run to the library... and they surprised me. I woke up here.. before... before.. -" I frowned, having to lift her chin out of my shoulder, to force her to look at me again. What was asking her get so choked up? Why was she so upset? So help me, if they'd done anything to her, I would ..."He... they.." She made an odd, broken gesture towards where she rested in my lap, and I found myself confused... At least until I remembered that in the video, she'd ben chained with her hands above her head. ...I felt a fury like nothing I had ever felt - so much that I lost sight of everything due to the white that clouded my vision, the ringing in my ears that blocked out all sound. Only the shaking touch of Maka's fingers on my cheek brought me back to myself, and her frightened face. "Stay with me.. please?" I knew that she was scared almost to death, and I nodded, shifting my grip on her so I could lift her up. I lifted her into my arms and took her carefully into the bathroom where I set her down on the toilet.
"I don't know if this will help you, Maka... but there's no reason for you to be so dirty here in our souls.." I had had my back turned to her while I'd been grabbing a towel out from under the sink, so I'd missed the involuntary jerk at my use of the word 'Dirty'. When I turned back to her, she had averted her eyes and was looking at the side of the tub. "Don't Maka Chop me for this.. but I am gonna help you...uhm...yea... But I won't do anything uncool!" I flinched when she lifted her hand, looking at me, but she only held her hand out, and I took it in my own, bringing her hand to my chest. She gave me a watery smile, and I knew then that she trusted me to help her... bathe. I knew that I was as red as a tomato - but I wasn't about to abandon her here. I supported her while she stood, helped remove the shredded clothing she wore and then reached over to twist the taps of the tub. I ran my hand beneath them until the temperature was at a level that would help her get clean, but not burn her.. and help sore muscles.
With her assistance, I got her into the tub - after removing the towel I'd wrapped around her for posterity's sake after we'd undressed her. I knew that I was burning up with embarrassment, but the desperate clutch she had on my arm told her that my leaving for her sake was out of the question. We got her settled into the tub, and with the barest of touches, I began cleaning her from the scratches and the wounds. As I shifted her around, I always had my opposite arm hooked around her for support so she didn't slip in. I was as gentle as possible around her wounds - but I knew they still stung from her grunts and quiet hisses of pain. First her neck and shoulders, then her back and arms.. Her legs were from the feet up, then when I got to her torso, I handed the washcloth to her so she could do it. Instead of cleaning herself as I'd hoped, she just dropped the washcloth and looked up at me. I laughed softly and hooked my arm around her shoulders again and began to gently clean her front. This was.. so strange.. but at least she wasn't Maka Chopping me for it. We got her body clean and I reached over to empty the disgusting water as I reached for the vanilla scented shampoo she'd come to favor.
During the entire bathing process, we hadn't said a word to one another - the only 'communication' I'd had from her other than the soft sounds when I cleaned her wounds, was the near constant grip on my arms that she had. If my arm was in front of her as I washed her back, she clung to it with a deathgrip - if I was using that arm to wash her, she clung to it, but shook the entire time until she could transfer her grip to an arm that I wasn't currently using. When we finished, I helped her stand and wrapped her in a clean towel before lifting her up and carrying her from the bathroom. I knew that she was capable of walking, but.. I was already soaked, and I didn't mind. Any contact with her was something I clung to as desperately as she clung to my arm. We got her dressed in some flannel pajama's she wore after I got all the wounds ointment and the worst bandaged with strips of stretchy bandaging we had in the cupboards. I carefully tucked her beneath her blankets and when I'd turned to grab another blanket, she'd transferred her grip and clung to my hand. I turned with a smile, and finally heard her speaking.
"Please... stay here?" I gave up on finding another blanket and crawled beneath the blankets with her, not sure how much contact she'd wanted because of her ordeal, but she made up that choice for me.. I wrapped my left arm around her waist, my right going under her head so she was using my shoulder more or less as a pillow. I stayed like that until she drifted off to sleep, then remained there until I fell into a restless sleep myself. I knew that I wouldn't allow anyone to touch her... not while I was around.
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I woke up with a start, at first, I was confused about the smells of antiseptic and bandages, but then it clicked. I sat up in the bed of the medical ward, the thin blankets falling from my chest. I glanced up at the room around me and noticed that Kid was discussing in low tones across the room with everyone but Tsubaki. Where was Tsubak-.
'How was she, Soul?" I fell back to the bed and dry washed my face with my hands before looking at the concerned ninja weapon who was instantly joined by our comrades. I smiled crookedly at their guess that I'd found her.. Then again, it was light outside - so I could only guess at how long I'd been 'asleep'. At the question I got angry all over again and threw myself from the bed, grabbing my jacket on the way..
"You had better have a plan to get her by now... I will kill anyone who gets in my way." I knew I was practically snarling, but I couldn't care less - Maka was being treated... like..like... I clenched my hands into fists and started towards the door - when someone stupidly got in my way. The person in question tried to grab my shoulder and I spun around on my heel, my arm already a scythe as it came down towards them. Instead of the feeling of flesh around my blade, I felt it stop short, and heard the clang of blade to blade. I planted my foot and spun, my other arm transforming to attack again. Again, Deathsythe blocked my swing, then he repeated that action three, four, five times. I didn't care that we were fighting in the infirmary, or that my friends were nearby trying to figure a way to stop me - I was so furious that I was being stopped when all I wanted to do was save Maka. If I had been thinking logically, I would have known the consequences of my actions, but I wasn't thinking in *ANY* semblance of Logic.
I swung to go at him again when my arm was stopped midswing, bringing me around to look at the man who'd grabbed my blade. Stein had used his freaky wavelength and stopped my arm cold. The look on the faces of my two opponents was rigid, and damn near frozen in their fury.
"That's enough, Soul Eater. You may consider yourself under arrest." I froze then, gaping at them in horror. What.. wait.. NO! I jerked away, finding that I was backing up into our resident zombie, Sid. His arms lowered to grab my biceps and I struggled, only to find that I was facing his weapon now to. This.. wasn't supposed to be this way... As they pulled me out of the room, I could see the faces of my friends, and their stances of defense - though Kid was standing in front of them with his arms held out as if to stop them. I didn't hear any words they were exchanging, but I did notice that Blackstar held Tsubaki in his hands, in her chain scythe mode. I dug my heels in, looking back at them with a quiet look. Find her.. that look said.
They hauled me out of the medical wing and down the hall, where they brought me down another flight of steps, then another before I arrived at the cells below the school. Sid released his hold on my arms and gave me a shove that was gentle.. for the man into the cell. After the door was closed, I looked up to see Deathsythe's face in the small viewing grid. I heard him talking, but ignored it, turning my head to the side and adjusting my seat on the cold floor. They'd bound my wrists behind me in manacles that were too strong for me to just shift my arms into sythes to escape. I growled under my breath as I heard the deadbolts on the outside of the cell clanking shut. One... Two... Three..four...The fourth deadbolt clicking closed caused a lump to form in my throat. Only the ones that were the most dangerous and slated for execution were locked in the cell with four deadbolts.. At least I wasn't in the cell with five deadbolts.. I knew that at least now, I had a chance to appeal... The fifth cell left their victims to starve in complete and total isolation.
I carefully banged the back of my head against the wall behind me, closing my eyes. "Maka... What have I done..."