Chapter 8
Used Tissues Stick to My Shoes
Previously in Chapter 4 . . .
"Look, Soul, you're my man, but I need to work this out for myself."
"But Black*Star, we're starting to get worried," I said, once I reached him.
His hand reached out all of a sudden, grabbed my shirt collar, and slammed me into the nearest wall, the last thing I expected.
"I told you," he said in a low, threatening tone complimented by an equally dark look, "it's none of your business. Do you think I care about what people think? I know it takes me longer to think through stuff, but I'm going to work this out alone. Just back the fuck off, Soul."
He let me go, then walked off in the opposite direction of our apartments.
Well that went well.
I pinched my eyes together so hard colors burst in the back of my eyeballs. I couldn't believe this was happening.
"I HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO YOU!"
"HALF-ASSED CONVERSATIONS DON'T COUNT!"
The minute we got to the club, Tsubaki and Black*Star broke out into the biggest fight I've ever seen. But seriously, did they really need to do this now?
Maka sighed as she slumped against my shoulder. "I'm getting a headache," she said, wiping some of the salt off her margarita glass with her finger and licking it. She had tried refereeing when the fight started, but being an invisible referee is pointless so she decided to just sit this one out on the couch with me.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S NOT A CONVERSATION?"
"BLACK*STAR! WE'RE PARTNERS! I THINK WE'RE BEYOND SMALL TALK!"
"Have you heard back from Kid yet?" I said low near Maka's ear as the screaming match continued.
"No. He said he'd be here."
"Well he's not here."
"Obviously."
"I JUST WANT TO TALK ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TALK TO ME LIKE A CIVILIZED PERSON?"
"SO I'M NOT CIVILIZED NOW, HUH?"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!"
"How long has this been going on?" I asked Maka.
She sighed, "About 15 minutes now."
"Damn."
"My headache's getting worse."
"Here, take a swig." I handed her my glass of Jack on the rocks (no Coke this time, this was not a night for diluted drinks), which she took and swallowed a mouthful.
Suddenly, the yelling came to a halt. We both looked up from our slouched positions on the couch to see what kind of progress was being made. Black*Star was slowly shrinking back from his fighting stance; Tsubaki had her face buried in her fists and sobs racked her body. Finally, she gasped in a breath and put her fists down by her sides.
"Look at us now, Black*Star. Is this . . . is this what you wanted? Us screaming at each other in front of our best friends? How selfish you look right now."
She took in a long, shuddering breath, wrinkling her face even more to hold back the sobbing cry that was surfacing. Even I could see this was going to end badly and I'm dumb about emotional things. Black*Star opened his mouth to reply, glanced in our direction, closed his mouth, and remained silent. He didn't even look mad or indignant anymore. His pride was completely stripped from him as he stared helplessly at Tsubaki. Eventually, she wobbily walked towards the door, attempting to make a dignified exit, and left, the pounding bass reminding us that there was a world out there very much alive and happy and not tragically upset.
Maka didn't even spare me a glance before she got up and followed Tsubaki out the door. Great. Now it was just me and Black*Star.
Black*Star was frozen there, staring dumbly at the spot Tsubaki had just vacated. I remained on the couch, staring up at him, not knowing exactly what to do or say. Maka and me had just been thrown into something we were not supposed to be involved in. If only Black*Star had gotten his shit together when I confronted him about it the other day, none of this probably would have happened. What the hell was he trying to figure out that would cause him to be so emotionally cold to her? Man, this was fucked up.
I cleared my throat after a minute or so, reminding him of my presence. "So, have you been able to work this out for yourself yet?"
"Fuck, Soul. I guess I'm just gonna have to do it," he said. Then he turned around and began marching out of the room.
"Wait, do what?" I asked, suddenly concerned with what he meant by this. I got up and followed him.
It didn't take long to find the girl's bathroom where we could hear Tsubaki's sobs coming out along with Maka's muffled voice, even though the bass was still pounding up through the floor. Black*Star simply stood there in front of the frosted glass door, as if he were debating whether to go in there or not.
He squared his shoulders, licked his lips, took a deep breath, and finally said through the door, "Tsubaki, will you marry me?"
The sobs immediately halted.
I heard Maka utter a quiet, "Wha—"
I'm pretty sure my brain exploded.
"You heard me, Tsubaki," Black*Star spoke through the door again, his confidence (or plain stupidity, I'm not sure which) showing through. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a little velvet case, calmly tossing it between his two hands. "Will you marry me?"
Suddenly the bathroom door whipped open and a chaotic looking Tsubaki burst through. Her long black hair was bursting from its once neat bun, black streaks of wet make-up streamed down her cheeks, and her eyes were red and swollen, a look of utter bewilderment and confusion on her face.
Black*Star was so startled by this that he fumbled with the box and almost dropped it on the ground. "Oh, uhh," he said while blushing a little and getting down on one knee. He smiled stupidly as he held out the open case for her, revealing a rather large and sparkly diamond.
"This is why . . ." Tsubaki started, but then screamed out, "YES! YES I WILL MARRY YOU!" She fell to her knees and gripped Black*Star around his neck, sobbing on his shoulder, his stupid grin still in place.
Maka appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, staring open mouthed at the scene before her, then she looked over at me. I gave her an equally shocked look back.
All that kept going through my mind was: What. The. FUCK?
"I thought you were going to dump me or something," Tsubaki laughed nervously as she sipped some of the wine her and Black*Star were sharing. "Or worse, that you were cheating on me."
"Seriously? I'm sorry, sweets, I never meant to do that." Black*Star reassured, then kissed her again.
They were back in their own little world, happy as ever. Maka and I stared stoically at them, exhausted, irritated, and many other emotions I don't have the capacity to describe right now.
"Can we fucking go home now, Soul," Maka muttered to me, putting her glass back on the table. It was a sure sign Maka was very tired and very irritated when she used such language.
"Trust me, babe, I've been wanting to go home."
Before I could block, she reached over and pinched my arm, hard.
"OW! What the hell was that for?"
"Don't call me 'babe,' Soul. I consider it derogatory and you know it."
"Ouch, bitch. There, like that better?"
"Soul, I swear to God, I will—"
VBBBBBBBBT! VBBBBBBBBT!
She reached down her haltered, navy dress top and pulled out her vibrating cell phone. Suddenly she held up a hand for silence from the other side of the room and stood up, alert.
"We'll be there." She ended before flipping her phone shut. "That was Kid. We've got trouble in the mountains. A young weapon/meister team went there for a disturbance call and encountered something big. Kid thinks it's the Shaman and is on his way there now."
"They got a jet ready for us?" Black*Star asked, also standing up.
"Yeah, we just need to get back to Shibusen, pronto." Maka declared, gathering her purse and heading for the door.
Black*Star fished some bills out of his pants pocket and flung them on the table before ushering Tsubaki and myself out of the Red Room.
"Heads up," Maka called from the back seat before a pair of navy, suede heels came flying up front.
"Trying to drive here," I calmly retorted, checking the side mirror for Black*Star's pick-up truck to make sure it was still following me. I wasn't allowed to look in the rear-view mirror obviusly since Maka was changing into her battle uniform back there.
"Here I come," she prefaced before climbing over the central console and into the front passenger seat, now wearing black shorts and a black tank top with a patch on the left chest that said Shibusen Special Ops. Flipping down the visor mirror, she added, "Been a while since I've battled with this much eye make-up ha ha."
I snorted a laugh. "It's an intimidation factor. I'm sure our enemies have a raccoon weakness."
"I had a dark blue dress, okay? Not much in eye color choice." She flipped the visor up. "Where's my boots?"
"Uh, probably still back there. You only tossed up your heels."
Maka twisted in her seat to dig around the floor behind her, eventually pulling up her combat boots.
Within minutes we were at Shibusen, dashing out of our cars and into a sleek, black private jet. Stein was waiting for us in the jet, ready to brief us on the situation once we were sitting down. Marie, his wife, accompanied him as his weapon.
"A weapon/meister team headed out to the Northern part of the Rocky Mountains a little over an hour ago on a disturbance call," Stein began, standing at the front of the seating area as soon as we took flight.
"What kind of disturbance call?" Maka asked, adjusting her black gloves.
"Shibusen intel picked up some strange disturbances in the normal insanity waves, almost like little black holes in the field."
"Who were the students?" Tsubaki then asked with hand raised. "I'm curious if they're one of mine." Tsubaki had been doing some extra lessons with the Shibusen students the past few months.
"They were weapon's meister Cindy and demon mace Ross. Now, Death the Kid has already arrived on scene and confirmed that the kids are still alive but are being attacked by what appear to be the Shades Maka encountered the other night." Stein turned the screw in his head a few times before continuing. "Marie and myself shall focus on getting the children to safety while the special ops teams will focus on dealing with the Shaman directly. The main mission is to rescue the children. If there are no more questions, we will arrive in 30 minutes."
Stein sat down next to Marie and Black*Star and I stood up to start changing into our battle uniforms. I was in the process of pulling off my undershirt when Maka looked up at me from her seat under the overhead compartment and quietly said, "Soul?"
"Yeah?" I tossed her my shirt and grabbed a black Special Ops tank.
"Didn't you recognize one of those kid's names?"
I thought about it while messing with my belt buckle. "Nope. Pants please." I held my hand out towards Maka waiting for her to give me my cargo pants, but nothing came. I leaned down to find her staring out the small window biting her lip anxiously. "What's wrong?" I grabbed my pants myself. My undershirt was balled up in her fists.
"Ross. The girl outside Shibusen earlier today. She called him Ross."
"Are you talking about those two kids we ran into after escaping from your father?"
"Yeah. Soul, I think those are the kids we're going to rescue."
I buckled up my belt and started pulling on a black canvas jacket. Then I crouched down in the aisle to be on eye level with her.
"Maka."
She turned to look at me, still biting her lip.
"We'll get them out of there. I know we will."
She nodded and turned her gaze back to the window, tossing the shirt in my lap.
The wind was whipping so hard we had to shield our eyes as soon as we stepped off the jet. Ashen clouds billowed from behind the tree line facing us. Stein was saying something, but between the wind and the jet, it was impossible to hear. Maka was nodding, like she heard what he said. Soon Maka was grabbing my arm and pulling me through the forest.
"Woah," Patty said next to me once we were crouched in the underbrush. Woah was right. A seven foot . . . man I guess you could say was at the center of the open, rocky area, with arms outstretched toward the sky. Two beams of light were coming from his eyes, and a high spiritual energy was radiating from his multi-colored priestly robes. In one of his hands he held a gigantic staff with a bright red jewel on the top, currently flaming.
Maka suddenly drew in a breath. "Soul, it's them," she whispered in my ear, nudging my arm in the direction of the two kids. Cindy, the pink bubble gum haired girl we saw at Shibusen earlier, was laying spread eagle on the ground surrounded by black shadowy masses. Ross, the spikey haired goth kid, was trying with all his power to get at his meister, but instead was bloodied and bruised from repeatedly hitting the barrier surrounding her.
All the meisters looked at each other briefly before Stein gave the signal. Here we go.
My adrenaline was coursing through my veins as we broke through the tree line and ran full force towards the Shaman.
"Soul!"
Time to roll.
I leapt into the air, releasing the energy flowing from within my soul to change into my weapon form. Maka's hands reached up to grab my staff as it flipped through the air, her own soul's meister-energy surging with mine. Our wavelengths hummed together for a moment as we prepared for battle, unlocking gate after gate of stored up energy and rhythm.
Her energy spiked suddenly before colliding my blade into the Shaman's staff. A white-hot surge of insanity jolted me, throwing my meister back. She instantly sprang back up on her feet and waited as Black*Star emerged from the shadows and attempted an attack.
"You alright, Soul?" Maka asked, her voice echoing around in my consciousness.
"Yeah, I've taken worse," I responded, rubbing the age-old scar across my chest.
"That was some strong magic," she said, focusing on the Shaman's staff and tightening her grip on me.
"Yeah, but he's only human right? I mean, he can still die."
Black*Star and Kid were taking turns attacking and being thrown back by the Shaman's strong magic. I felt a surge of excitement ripple through Maka before she charged around the other side of Black*Star, seizing the opportunity to land a blow from behind.
My meister might be too much of a bookworm and might seem boring or pissy on certain days of the week, but no matter what her battle instincts are unmatched. Of all the other meisters that have wanted to make me their weapon, they've never been able to measure up to Maka's.
She let out a wail as she swung me full force at the back of the Shaman's head. Time slowed suddenly, right when I felt my blade arcing down and heard Maka yelling, the Shaman's front, magic staff and all, came through his back and blocked my blow with a white-hot magic burst. For a split second, our enemy appeared to have three heads and three staffs as he battled us each.
Maka was unfazed. She flipped midair to land on her feet, then bolted forward to continue attacking from different angles. But it was the same every time; we were countered by the staff which was also blocking Kid's bullets and Black*Star's shadow attack all at the same time.
I kept all my senses trained on the Shaman, though, trying to search for openings, weaknesses, anything that would give us the advantage.
Maka's energy calmed slightly, and I could feel it softly whispering inside me, beckoning for more of my energy.
Our resonance level spiked.
"Witch Hunter!" Maka bellowed before slamming my modified blade into the magic staff. We managed to hold him for a few seconds longer than the usual, but we were still thrown back.
"Everyone! Resonnate!" Maka hollered at the other two meisters. "Soul, can you hold this for a while?"
"Yeah, go for it Maka!"
We paused for the others to resonate higher together, then leapt into the air swinging me high. Kid was counting down for firing his cannons and Black*Star was charging midair.
Just before impact, I glanced over at the trapped kids where Stein and Marie were finally pulling them to safety. Suddenly, the Shaman made a sighing noise and disappeared into the ground in a cloud of sulphurous smoke.
"Shit!" I heard Maka yell before Kid's cannon fire collided with us, knocking us both into Black*Star whom we skidded along with on the rocky ground for 50 feet or so. I quickly sealed up my weapon energy and transformed back into my human self to find that I was face down in the rocks next to Black*Star who must've caught Maka midair, shielding her from most of the landing impact.
"Oh fuck. Maka! Maka! You alright?" Black*Star yelled suddenly. I twisted around into a sitting position to see him cradling an unconscious Maka sporting a huge burn across her torso: the spot where Kid's cannon fire hit. While in most circumstances seeing her shirtless should have been completely hot and nosebleed inducing, the firey-red burn crawling across her exposed stomach as the fabric of her tank top was being eaten away induced more of a panic response from me.
"C'mon, Maka!" Black*Star whispered while grabbing her jaw and giving her head a little shake. Behind me I heard several footsteps and Kid's voice shouting something, but I couldn't hear what. Tsubaki transformed back into her human self on the other side of Black*Star, but her eyes rolled around, unable to focus on anything.
Much to our relief, Maka started hissing in pain and swatting Black*Star's hands away from her face. She cracked an eye open and found me with her gaze. Hissing in another breath she quietly proclaimed, "Goddammit that hurt." She squeezed her eyes shut again and turned her head, burying her face in Black*Star's bicep.
"HEY YOU GUYS!" Kid yelled while panting up behind us with the Thompson sisters. "I keep telling you, we need to get out of here. The Shaman summoned a storm of some sort!"
By the time I turned around from the bent over Kid to help Black*Star with Maka, Black*Star had already taken off with her bridal style. I quickly glanced over at Tsubaki who still seemed to be dazed, so I grabbed her by the wrist and took off after Kid who was already following Black*Star; the Thompson sisters were bringing up the rear running behind Tsubaki and me. Behind us I heard the rumble of thunder and then saw a flash of light; the wind was gusting heavily, too, as we sprinted over the rocky terrain towards the jet beyond the tree line. I remember looking back once to see a black boiling mass of cloud and lightning charging over the landscape.
It was slightly chaotic when I ran onto the jet with Tsubaki still in tow. Maka was lying on a table crushing Black*Star's arm with her grip as Stein squeezed this white foam all over Maka's wound. Kid hovered over Maka on the other side of Black*Star, muttering apologies. Marie, on the other hand, was focusing on the pink girl laying on the table next to Maka, hooking her up to machines and checking her vitals. The pink girl's spikey weapon stared helplessly at his unconscious meister with a haunted look in his eyes.
I didn't even notice when the Thompson sisters came on the jet after us and Liz made some comment like, "Let's just find a seat and stay out of this mess." And I was unaware of Tsubaki slipping out of my hold on her wrist to go over to Black*Star's side. Not until I was actually walking between the tables and having to tear my eyes from the comatose young girl to Maka did I realize I had moved from my spot by the door and we were already in flight.
I took Maka's hand off Black*Star's arm and let her crush my own hand instead as I placed my other hand on her sweaty forehead.
Maka looked up at me and forced a smile. "Hey."
I smiled back, more out of a sense of relief, and replied, "Hey."
"It's not so bad anymore. The foam is cooling it down."
"Good. You alright?"
"Yeah, I think I'm alright."
"Good, you're alright."
"Let that sit there for a while before we bandage it," Stein said, wiping his hands with a paper towel.
We both nodded and watched him go to the other table where the young meister lay.
"I hope she's alright," Maka whispered. "If only we'd been there sooner."
I gave her hand a comfort squeeze knowing that she was thinking of her own encounter with the shades.
Tsubaki headed over to the other table as well, to stand next to the spikey guy and hold the girl's hand. Black*Star followed to comfort Tsubaki, but not before tripping over Kid who was sitting propped against the wall between the tables, head between his knees. Maka and I watched as Stein was thoroughly inspecting Pinky's health status.
"How is she?" Maka managed to croak out in Stein's direction.
Stein stopped mid screw-turn. "She appears to be in a coma. It's as if her spiritual energy has been completely drained from her body. I'll know more once we get her to Shibusen."
The Ross guy's face was suddenly very pale and still held that haunted look of a failed weapon. The cabin was completely silent, the atmosphere extremely tense. And it didn't let up the whole way home.
Maka and I let out an audible sigh as we opened the front door to our apartment and dragged ourselves inside. I put the keys on the kitchen table and stared into space for a moment at my bedroom door, debating on whether I should shower first or just collapse immediately into bed. Maka made her way to the bathroom, but only closed the door part way. Curious, I walked over to the partially open door and leaned against the door frame watching as Maka slipped my jacket off to look at her bandages completely covering her stomach below her bra-line. She turned slowly, bending and arching to look at it from different angles. Suddenly I wasn't sure I was supposed to be watching.
"You look so uncool," I said, to let her know I was there.
"Heh, whatever. I guess we're even now." She looked over her shoulder at me and smirked at my confused expression. "We both have battle scars on our fronts now."
"That's so not cool, Maka," I sighed, holding out my hand for my jacket which she obligingly gave back. "Do you need anything? I think I'm just going to head to bed."
"Nah, I'm fine." She was leaning forward on the sink now examining her face. "Goodnight."
I eyed her suspiciously. She was acting way too comfortable and calm after all the shit we just went through today, but respectful of her space, I simply replied, "Night," before heading into my room.
2 a.m.
This was ridiculous. I was completely exhausted but my brain would NOT fall asleep. I rolled to the edge of the bed and fished out the hidden pack of Marlboro's. Maybe a long walk and a fresh smoke will clear my head. I grabbed my Special Ops jacket and my keys off the kitchen table and headed down the block.
The air was nippy, characteristic of an early summer night. I was now possibly regretting only wearing my basketball shorts I slept in, but, whatever, I was out here now. The fresh air and change of scenery allowed my mind to think in more of a linear fashion. I believe my brain was still experiencing a system meltdown after Black*Star's proposal. Seriously, what the fuck was he thinking? Marriage? Black*Star? The moon grimaced cruelly from above as I walked along the dark street.
I shook my head and took a long drag on my cigarette before rounding a corner. I guess it was no different than when he told me a few years ago that he was planning on asking Tsubaki to be his girlfriend. Yeah, that shook me up a little bit, but, hey, they lasted this long and now were getting married. When you look at it that way, I guess it does sound like the normal progression of things.
"It's not like I'm with anyone else more than her."
Black*Star had told me this one day when he'd asked her out. I couldn't disagree with him. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've been on a real date that wasn't with Maka. We went together to all the school dances and parties. Wait, one time I did get stuck on some weird date thing with this random girl from our class, but I made sure to drag Black*Star and Tsubaki with me. It didn't end well. That's all I have to say about that.
I crossed a street and ended up at the park. I sat on a bench illuminated by the lone glow of a street lamp and lit another cigarette. Leaning back and sprawling out, I looked up at the crisp night sky. Sure I've met plenty of nice, good-looking girls. As much as I flirt and allow myself to look, they never appealed to me as anything too serious. I always find myself comparing them to Maka. They're never smart enough, or tactical on the battle field, or tolerant of silence, or tolerant of Black*Star; they do stupid things to their hair; they overemphasize certain body parts; they're nothing like Maka.
Oh shit.
I love her, don't I?
"You must really love her."
No, Wes. It was just friendship. It was always just friendship. We only went to the dances together because neither of us felt secure enough to go with someone else. And guys avoid Maka now not because she's ugly or anything, quite the contrary with her long slender legs and soft blonde hair. They rarely approach her because I'm always with her. . . I'm always with her.
No. I'm just protecting her from all those creeps out there. Plus, it's not like they'd be able to put up with her like I do. See? I'm more like a brother to her. She needed a male in her life that would actually stick by her, unlike her father. That's all there is to it.
So, would I be ok if she met someone else?
. . . I ran the scenarios through my mind: her special smiles aimed at some good-looking, smart guy; said smart guy holding her hand, letting her cry on his shoulder; his arm around her; her bickering with him over the littlest things. . .
Yeah, not a problem at all.
. . .
Am I shitting myself?
I crushed the cigarette under my shoe and stood up, a hot burning sensation in the pit of my stomach. Every scenario I thought of, I pictured myself as the guy with her. What was my problem? I'll tell you:
I love her. That's my problem.
How uncool.
A/N: So there you have it. I hope you liked this chapter, because I'm pretty proud of it and liked it, especially with all the time it took me to write this. I apologize that it took me so long to update, believe it or not I have a life that is overly demanding and it took me a while to get in the groove of writing after school. So, please REVIEW because I want to know what you thought about this chapter! I'll say it again, REVIEW!