Kuroi Chi no Yume
Whoo! Another update already? I guess it helps when I've already written out the next few chapters. :D I would like to thank everyone who took the time to review this story, your reviews mean a lot to me:) Without further ado, I present to you the next chapter:
^^^CHAPTER 3^^^
Maka wasn't surprised to be woken up again about an hour later. What did surprise her was that it wasn't by screaming, but rather by a loud crashing and thrashing noise.
Is someone trying to break in? She wondered. Well, if that's the case, they're doing a really bad job of it… Another crash convinced her to investigate the source of the noise. From the hallway, she could tell the source of the noise was coming from Soul's bedroom. She hesitated at the door, but curiosity and worry in equal parts convinced her to open the door. Unable to see her friend on the bed her hand moved for the light switch, bathing the room in light.
"Soul?" For the second time that night, Maka wondered if someone had broken in. Soul's nightstand was lying on its side; the contents strewn everywhere, including the lamp that had shattered, waking her up. Glass littered the floor in tiny sharp pieces, but none of this held Maka's attention. Her attention was on the writhing boy, tangled in the bedsheets with a layer of duct tape across his mouth.
"Soul?...What the hell?" Maka strode across the room, tiptoeing her way around the shattered lamp until she reached her partner's bed. Soul's eyes were wide with horror and he seemed to be choking on something.
"Hold still." She instructed, ripping the tape from his mouth. The last thing she'd been expecting was to receive a mouthful of vomit all over the front of her pyjamas.
"Ugh! Soul what the hell is going on?" Her friend was too busy coughing up the remains of the bile to answer. Maka winced as he threw up again, managing to avoid her already ruined pyjamas this time. Soul spit the remainder onto the growing puddle forming on his bedsheets, gasping and trembling.
"Soul…"
"I'm…I'm f-fine." Her partner stuttered, still trying to recover. Maka's eyes narrowed. Enough was enough; it was time to get some answers.
"I'd feel bad for Maka-chopping you after you just threw up, but if you say you're fine again, I'm going to make an exception." Soul grimaced, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
"The tape?" Maka prompted, suddenly realizing she still held the rather gross piece of duct tape in her hand, she shook it off, grimacing as it made a splat noise upon landing on the carpet. Cleaning up this mess was going to be hell.
"I didn't want to wake you up again," Soul finally muttered in a low voice, "Heh, guess that didn't work out too well." Maka bit her lip, wondering whether she should bring up the subject of the black blood.
I can't think of anything else that's changed lately…
"Soul…do you think that this is all caused by the black blood?"
All because of me… Maka thought to herself, lowering her gaze to her lap.
"…Maybe…" Her weapon replied after a moment, "I guess I could talk to Medusa-Sensei tomorrow." She tried not to feel offended by the fact that Soul would rather talk to Medusa than his own partner, but it was tough.
"…Yeah…" She agreed half-heartedly.
I probably shouldn't be surprised he's being so distant with me…he probably realizes this is my fault…no wonder he's ignoring me…
"Uh…sorry about your pyjamas…" Soul added, rather embarrassed as he suddenly realized where most of his dinner had ended up.
"It's fine," Maka sighed, hoping the stench would come out. "I'm going to get washed up and then I can make some tea or something to calm your stomach, okay?"
"Uh, yeah sure." Soul replied, not meeting her gaze. Maka darted into her room to grab and change of clothes and hurried to the bathroom, eager to rinse the stench from herself.
He still won't even look at me. The young meister tried not to dwell on the thoughts that plagued her mind. He hates me for this… for being so weak… She discarded the soiled garments into the laundry hamper.
I don't blame him…I would hate me… Slipping into the clean nightgown, Maka banished the voices to the dark recesses or her mind and made her way from the bathroom to the kitchen to start a pot of water.
Damn it! He was still trembling. Between the terror of his nightmare and almost choking to death on his own vomit (which would've been a totally uncool way to go), Soul still felt his heartbeat race. And to top things off, Maka was more worried about him than ever. He could tell she wanted to know what was going on, but he wasn't even entirely sure himself. All he knew was that he couldn't tell her about the dreams of killing her and eating her soul. Somehow, saying it out loud made it seem more likely to actually happen and that thought scared him more than his own mortality.
"Hey Soul, the tea's ready. All we had was Lemon, I know it's not your favourite, but maybe it'll help a little…"
"Yeah…thanks." He replied. Normally the absence of a certain grocery would become the topic of a lively heated debate over whose turn it had been to do the shopping last, but this time only awkward silence filled the kitchen punctuated by the sound of Maka softly blowing at the steam curling from lemon-scented contents of her mug. Soul looked at the contents of his own mug. In truth, he didn't really feel like drinking it, but to avoid offending Maka, took a sip of the hot drink.
"Hey Soul…" He glanced up at his meister and quickly dropped his gaze. Her green eyes reminded him too much of his dream and all he could picture was the terror in them right before he had… Soul shuddered inwardly and heard the barest of sighs. Peering up he could see his friend's shoulders slump.
"Nevermind." She murmured, taking a sip of her own drink. The awkward silence continued for a while longer before Maka finally stood and gathered up the cups, rinsing them in the sink.
"How's your stomach feeling?" She asked, drying the mugs and replacing them in the cupboard.
"Better, thanks for the tea." He replied, half hoping she would turn to look at him and half fearing it.
"Good." Maka said quietly, drying her hands on the towel and walking back to her room. "Good night, Soul."
"Yeah." He sighed.
Damn it. Maka was clearly upset with him and he had no idea how to fix it. Soul glanced at the clock. It was already 3am. It hardly paid to go back to his bed now. Especially since his room probably still stank like vomit, he realized making a face. Giving up on sleep for this night, he flopped onto the couch, hoping for some decent late night specials. Despite his conviction to stay awake, Soul felt his eyelids getting heavy after a few minutes.
"Well, Soul?" The small demon asked, "Had enough of this yet? You know how to fix it." The disproportionate demon swayed, snapping his fingers to the jazz music playing from the gramophone. Soul, clad in his usual pinstripe suit just rolled his eyes.
"Of course I'm sick of these dreams! I'm can't get any sleep and now Maka's upset with me. Are you responsible for all this?" The demon laughed in reply.
"Not I, it's your own fears that are responsible. If you're tired of feeling fear…"
"Oh just quit it, already!" Soul exploded, "I'm not giving up my reasoning just to get rid of my fears." With a cackle, the demon gestured to the door at the far end of the black room.
"Well then, why don't you prove your convictions, and leave the room." Soul hesitated and the demon laughed again.
"You think you're so strong, don't you? How long do you think I've been around? Since the dawn of insanity! And there has never been a single person who can resist the pull of power forever. Even at the cost of reasoning. Fear does strange things to people, Soul. Trust me; you're not nearly as strong as you think you are." A huge grin spread across the small demon's face and Soul felt his stomach clench. "Try to prove me wrong." The demon dared, holding the door open and gesturing with a flourish. Soul clenched his fists and walked through the door, bracing himself for whatever might be on the other side.
"Sooooouuul." The demon's voice purred in his ear. The scythe weapon jumped and whirled on the small demon that had startled him.
"Enough of this!" He hissed, turning his right arm into a scythe, he plunged it through the demon with a feeling of satisfaction. The demon did not flinch despite the fact that there was an enormous blade protruding through his back. In fact, his smile seemed to widen.
"Now that was a little uncalled for, don't you think?" He asked the white-haired boy tauntingly. Soul suddenly had a feeling that he shouldn't have done that. The demon's grin widened until Soul thought his face would split in half. Then it did. The red skin of the demon peeled off like a wilted banana, revealing the shocked, pained face of his meister. Her green eyes were wide with horror and pain as she glanced from the blade buried in her abdomen to Soul's horrified face.
"Sou-" The words didn't make it all the way out before blood erupted from her lips, running down the sides of her mouth, dripping onto Soul's scythe arm. Maka's eyes grew even wider as she tried to gasp and choked on the liquid bubbling from her mouth like a fountain until the light in her eyes dimmed and she slumped limply forward.
"Maka! NOO!" He backed away from the lifeless corpse, eyes the size of dinner plates. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't know you…the demon…" He was babbling useless words. As if words would bring her back. As if words could ever make up for the thing he had done.
"Soul…" He froze at the voice that came from the crumpled body. The lifeless corpse trembled a moment before slowly rising, head hanging from a limp neck, fingers curling backwards at impossible angles, blood still dribbling from the mouth and the enormous wound. Soul wanted to step back, but found his feet rooted to the ground. The head lifted slowly, dead eyes staring into his trembling ones.
"You can run, you can deny it as long as you like, but it will happen. You've already been infected by madness and you can only fight it so long…" Her curled fingers plunged into her own chest, bones snapping like twigs, blood splurting in every direction. After rummaging around inside the chest cavity as if it were nothing more than a junk drawer and she were merely looking for a pencil, she finally pulled out a beautiful blue light and Soul could feel himself drooling, despite the entire messed up situation. Blood dribbled from the hole in her chest and Soul could even see the throbbing beat of a red organ. Her heart… Maka extended her hand with the glowing blue light and Soul could feel himself moving towards it on his own accord, completely mesmerized by its light…
"Soul, you jerk!" A voice ripped him from his madness induced dream and he gasped, bolting upright from his rather uncomfortable position on the couch. After stilling his breathing for a couple of seconds and wiping the terrified sweat from his forehead, he tried to push the frightening image of Maka from his mind. It was soon replaced by an almost equally frightening image of his partner who stood in the doorway, one hand on her hip, the other clutching a rather large hardcover encyclopedia. Her expression spelled his demise.
"You left your bedsheets in your bed all night?" She yelled, "Do you have any idea how bad the whole hallway smells now?" Soul pleaded his innocence, and Maka refused to hear him out, resorting to using her book to emphasize her point. They both secretly enjoyed the moment of normalcy between them, and when the moment finally ended with Soul reluctantly agreeing to do all the laundry and cleaning his room and bed until the stench was completely erased from every inch of the apartment, they were at a loss for where to go next.
"Well, I guess I'll go get ready for school then." Soul finally said, trying to ignore the awkward silence that had resettled between them.
"I'll make breakfast." Maka replied, turning to the kitchen, without glancing at him. Their breakfast was eaten in uncomfortable silence, the only words exchanged when Maka asked Soul to pass the orange juice. Soul offered his partner a ride on his bike to school but she declined, telling him she'd rather walk. Soul himself wondered if he shouldn't walk as well with the little amount of sleep he'd been getting lately. He'd already nearly dozed off while driving a few days ago and probably would have ended up crashing if someone hadn't honked at him for being on the wrong side of the road. But then again, it would seem weird if he decided to walk after just offering Maka a ride, so for the sake of normalcy he settled into his bike seat and revved the engine, leaving his meister quite literally in his dust.
School was the same as it always was. Long and boring. Not that Soul really knew since he spent most of the day dozing off and being startled back awake when Maka poked him with her pencil. When the bell signalling the end of classes finally rang, jerking Soul awake yet again, he nearly tripped over his own feet on the way to the door. Surprisingly Maka seemed to be the only one who noticed.
"Soul, I'm going to go check the mission board to see if there are any easy missions available, maybe you should go see Medusa-Sensei. I guess she could give you some sleeping pills or something…"
"Right, okay." Soul replied, trying to cover up a shudder with a yawn. Sleeping pills was the last thing he wanted. He didn't need help falling asleep; he needed to get rid of this black blood that was causing his nightmares. The thought of being stuck in a drug induced sleep that he couldn't wake from while the nightmares wreaked havoc inside his mind was a chilling thought to say the least. The two friends parted ways and Soul found he had to remind himself twice where he was going.
Man, I need to get some sleep! Upon coming to the door with the sign marked "Dispensary" he tapped twice on the door before opening it a crack.
"Medusa-Sensei?" He called, aware that his voice sounded gruffer than usual thanks to his recent lack of sleep.
"Ah Soul-Kun, come in." The nurse smiled, turning from the file on her desk to the young white-haired student. "How are you today? I seem to recall you weren't due for a check-up for another week…"
"Oh, yeah," In truth he'd forgotten all about it, "It's just…" What was he even supposed to say? What magic pill or shot could fix the fact that there was black blood running through his veins, keeping him up with nightmares of insanity? "I…Maka was worried since I keep having these nightmares and stuff…I haven't got much sleep lately."
"You poor boy," Medusa frowned sympathetically, "What kinds of nightmares?"
"It's kind of been worrying me. I keep having dreams of…of killing Maka and eating her soul." Why had he said that? Wasn't he determined not to say it aloud?
"So the nightmares are getting worse then?" She asked, preparing a syringe for a blood sample. Soul winced at the sight of the needle but obligingly rolled up his sleeve.
"Yeah…it's…it's getting pretty bad." He confessed.
"Okay, little pinch…" Medusa murmured, sticking the needle into his arm. Soul flinched slightly and belittled himself for it. This lack of sleep must be making him jumpy. He watched in morbid fascination as the blood drained into the clear plastic syringe.
"It's red…" He murmured. The nurse held it up to the light examining it for a moment.
"Mmm…mostly yes, but I can see the black blood cells too. The blood only appears black when the black blood is activated it would seem."
"Like during a nightmare?"
"That would be my guess, yes." Medusa-Sensei replied, draining the contents of the needle into a vial and discarding the used syringe.
"Is there anything you can give me to prevent the black blood from activating?" Soul asked, hoping he didn't sound too desperate. Medusa smiled and for half a second Soul thought it was an almost sinister smile. The moment passed, however and the nurse handed him a plastic bag with small red and white capsules.
"This is an herbal medicine I've developed recently. Take one capsule twice a day with meals. It should improve circulation of red blood cells and discourage the black blood cells from circulating or multiplying." Soul took the plastic bag gratefully and thanked the nurse.
"Well, if there's nothing else then, I should get back to work. I'll see you here next week then for your check-up, okay?"
"Right, thanks Medusa-Sensei." Soul replied, pocketing the bag and heading for the door. He left without a backwards glance. If he had taken the time to look back at the innocent school nurse, he might have noticed the sinister smile he'd thought he'd seen earlier. He might have noticed that this time it was no figment of his overly-tired brain. He might have even heard the mumbled words the "innocent" school nurse said under her breath.
"But by this time next week, Soul Eater, you won't be sane enough to make it into this office…" Unfortunately for Soul, he did not look back.
Cliffhangers FTW! Lol:) On a slightly unrelated note, I finally got ahold of Sony Vegas Movie Studio and I'm looking forward to making some AMVs! I've started a Soul Eater one and a -man one. With any luck I'll actually complete something in time for the summer Anime Kon!
Leave a review, let me know what you think so far! :)