AU and characters may be slightly OOC because of it. This isn't just a story on love. In fact, I feel like it's more about growing up. There will only be 6 chapters to this fic.
I do not own Soul Eater.
Moving On and Letting Go
Chapter 5
"So that's basically what I've been doing all week," Soul said taking a large bite of his Chinese food.
When Maka had showed up the next day, Soul had actually met her out front and suggested that they go to a nearby park to eat rather than his office. It wasn't until later that he actually admitted that Spirit had practically kicked him out at noon because he felt that Soul should take a break from work. Spirit had not known that Soul was going to meet with Maka, amusingly enough, or perhaps he wouldn't have kicked him out at all.
Maka had found the entire situation rather hilarious, and honestly she was a tad proud of her father for actually caring about his men so much. Although the feeling was a bit sour when she thought of how much compassion he had for them, rather than her mama and herself while she was growing up.
"Sounds like you've been busy then," Maka commented nodding along with Soul's explanation of the case he was working on.
"Yeah," Soul admitted, "Thanks for letting me talk about it, it actually really helps to get these ideas out in the open and get a second opinion outside of the force."
Maka nodded again understanding. "I get it, my Papa used to come home all the time and explain everything to Mama," Maka smiled at the memory. "It helped him a lot too."
"That's pretty cool," Soul commented smiling. "Enough about me though, what have you been up to? How was New Year's?"
She scoffed lightly at that. "Work work, and unsurprisingly more work," she admitted. "Just been working a lot since Christmas trying to get ahead on everything. Christmas time though Valentines is just a busy time of year."
"Wait, so you didn't even go out for New Year's?" Soul questioned stunned.
Maka gave him a pointed look, "You were working on New Year's too, so don't judge."
"Yeah, but-"
She glared at him and Soul quickly cut off what he had been about to say. He knew her well she mused with a small smile to herself.
"Well, anything else exciting happen then?" he asked uncomfortably, probably because he wanted to change the subject.
"Oh yeah, I also found out that my apartment is going to fumigated which means I have to live somewhere else for about a week, just my luck," she said before taking a large bite.
"So where are you going to stay?" Soul asked, once again relaxed.
Maka shrugged, "Honestly haven't got a clue."
"If you want you can stay at my place," Soul suddenly offered.
She was more than surprised. "No no I wouldn't want to intrude."
Soul waved her off digging in his pocket for something. "Seriously, stay at my place Maka." He pulled out his keys and started to twist one off its keychain. "I haven't been home all week and with the way this case is going, it's probably gonna be another couple of weeks before I'm able to sleep at home."
He held out the key to Maka, who was uncertain on whether to take it or not. She honestly could just stay in a hotel for a week, but she honestly didn't want to spend the money. She had thought about staying with a friend but Liz's place with Kid and Patty was out of the question as it was much too hectic, and Black Star had recently just moved in with Tsubaki and she didn't want to rain on their parade. She had even debated about staying with her papa for a while, before quickly realizing that she'd rather sleep on the streets than with that man anywhere close to her where he could annoy her to death. In all honesty, staying at Soul's place was the perfect solution. Yet she was still slightly uncomfortable with the idea.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes I am," Soul replied grabbing her hand and forcing the key into it. "I'm not coming home for a while, and I'm still paying rent so hell it'd be nice for someone to get something out of it," he chuckled.
Maka bit her lip, but she already knew she was going to say yes to Soul. "Fine, but I don't want to take your key, cause then-"
"Relax Maka," Soul interrupted her, causing her to frown. "It's just a spare key, I've still got my own if I do have the time to come home."
She sighed, "Okay, and thank you thank you thank you," she chanted actually starting to relax. "But I owe you big time for this okay?"
He laughed at that, "Fine fine, just don't try to set me up with anyone okay?"
Maka frowned. In all of her life, she had never once been asked to not set someone up. It didn't make sense, after all, it's what she was good at and people appreciated her for it. "Why not?" slipped out without thought.
Soul's expression suddenly became much more serious as he leaned in close to Maka. "I'm already interested in someone," he said as a small smirk rested on his lips. Maka tried to ignore the small shiver than went up her back at his velvety tone.
"Okay," Maka managed to squeak out slightly horrified at her own voice. She could feel the blush staining her cheeks, and she tried to ignore the fact that Soul was still smirking at her. For a couple of minutes the two sat in silence as Maka tried to figure out what to say next and Soul was obviously amused with her.
"So what do you think of Black Star and Tsubaki already moving in together," he asked out of nowhere, but Maka wasn't complaining.
"I'm so happy you brought that up," she admitted finally feeling her heartbeat return to normal. "I've been dying to talk about that with you all week."
Walking into Soul's apartment, Maka felt rather odd. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was strange to think that she would be living here for the next week, and without seeing Soul. Though she wasn't guaranteed not to see him, but he had made it clear that he was going to be extremely busy for a while.
The apartment was just so bare, and she was extremely thankful that she had grabbed a couple of household objects to liven up the place while she was there. Firstly, there was her trusty alarm clock, which she placed by the couch. Soul had said that she could sleep in his bed, but she merely had blushed at the thought. No, she was going to sleep on the couch, plus it was super comfortable.
The other thing she had brought besides necessities for the next week, was a few pictures in their frames. There was the one of her parents happily married before she had been born, then there was one of her and Tsubaki hanging out in high school, and finally one of her, Liz, and Tsubaki all in their graduation cap and gowns the day of graduation from university. All three made her smile more than any of the others she owned and she had found herself packing them without thought. Placing them randomly around Soul's apartment, she couldn't help but smile at how much more welcoming the place seemed.
And that's when it hit her exactly how she could repay Soul for letting him crash here while her apartment was being fumigated.
Strangely, it never crossed her mind that her idea might take her away from her work in order to complete.
Three weeks later, Soul finally got a break on his case and Maka couldn't be happier. Yes, she was pleased that another criminal had been arrested and taken off the streets of Death City. Yes, she was relieved that Soul might actually get a few full nights of sleep. After all, the past few weeks he had looked extremely tired every time she managed to have an opportunity to meet up with him. But what she was more excited about than anything was the surprise she had gotten for Soul.
She had managed to put it together in two weeks, so for the last week she had practically been bursting at the seams to tell Soul about his surprise. But she had resisted. She wanted him to go home to his apartment and simply see the surprise. She really hoped he liked it and wasn't mad at her for making some minor adjustments to his place.
"You're off work now?" she asked as Soul came out of the station looking exhausted, but happier than he had for the past month.
He didn't look surprised that she was waiting on him. She had warned him via text that she was going to walk him home today to make sure he didn't pass out on the way. He knew her well enough to know that she wasn't lying. The two of them began to walk together.
"Yeah, your dad made me go home without even finishing all my paperwork," he grinned shaking his head.
She giggled at that, "You know as much as you two fight, I think that he actually might like you."
Soul raised an eyebrow to that, "Really?"
"Nah!" Maka retaliated smirking.
He chuckled at that, and the rest of the way back to his apartment was filled with playful banter. However, the moment that they arrived at Soul's door, Maka quickly jumped in front of him.
Soul's confused look, immediately made Maka more nervous than she had ever been about her gift. "I kinda got you something for letting me stay at your place," she blurted out before shrinking back at how loud her voice had come out.
He slowly blinked as if still confused, "You didn't have to do that."
"I know," Maka quickly answered. She bit her lip, "I just wanted to do something nice for you, and honestly you deserve it Soul." She turned around and began to unlock Soul's door with the key he had let her borrow that she had just "forgotten" to ever give back. "Just don't be mad okay?" she said before opening Soul's door and letting him into his home.
Soul cautiously walked into his apartment, almost as if in a trance.
His silence only caused Maka to worry even more. Perhaps she had overstepped her boundaries. "I just thought that since you seemed to like them so much at my place that you might like some yourself," she rationalized out loud.
Soul still didn't speak as he walked over to the closest frame residing on the end table for his couch. "I figured you liked the pictures and would want some of your own. I mean, that's my favorite thing about my home, and it's kinda what makes a home a home ya know?" Maka knew she was rambling but couldn't seem to stop as Soul put the picture frame down and walked over to the next.
"There's six of them total," Maka continued. "I thought about getting all the frames in black, but I thought that would be a little too black and white for this place. You needed some color in here and I figured you'd like the red frames more than any other color."
Soul still hadn't responded to her, not even in expression, and Maka couldn't help but start to feel like she had made an awful mistake. Finding six different pictures of Soul from separate occasions had been more difficult than she had thought. She had actually just been trying to find as many as possible and had only managed the six.
"Please say something Soul?" she said with more emotion than she had intended.
For the first time since he had entered his apartment, Soul looked up at Maka. Carefully in silence he put down the picture he was holding and quickly walked over to her. Before she could say or do a thing, he had wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly in a hug. "Thank you," were his only words.
Slowly, Maka put her arms around Soul in return. "I'm just happy that you liked them," she said grinning while ignoring the heat she felt in her cheeks and comfortable his body felt against hers.
He pulled away from her so that he could look her in the eyes, "Like them?" he scoffed at the idea. "This has got to be the coolest gift anyone's ever gotten me." Maka beamed, "I mean it's kinda girly," he teased grinning and making Maka frown, but then he laughed. "But still the coolest."
"Good," Maka said with a nod. "I have to show you all of them though," she said now excited. "Do you know how much of a pain in the butt it was to find some of these?"
Soul chuckled at her, but Maka ignored it as she dragged Soul over to the first frame, "This one is the whole police staff, that is taken yearly is what Kilik told me."
"Ahh, so that's who you got this from."
Maka nodded, "Yeah I asked him for help and he found me two really good pictures. This one was still when you were a junior officer, but I'm not exactly sure what year honestly, and Kilik wasn't really sure either."
"Looking at it I don't really know either," Soul admitted.
She simply rolled her eyes before grabbing Soul's hand and continuing to show off her work to him.
"There's a picture I got from Kid actually, it was taken at the Christmas party this year. He had a ton of pictures but I couldn't really decide which one I liked best so I just chose the one with everyone. Oh, and there's one that Black Star got for me."
"Black Star found you pictures," Soul stammered, obviously surprised.
"Well, he didn't have that many," Maka said shrugging. "But he found me this one of you guys pretty soon after you met at the orphanage, and you've even got a little baby fat still," she cooed, knowing Soul would hate her for it.
"Shut up," he said jokingly.
"Fine fine," Maka replied, "Oh and here's the other one that Black Star found for me, when you two graduated from high school. You guys look so much smaller than you are now."
Soul chuckled, "That's because we were so much smaller."
"Well, yeah. Anyway," Maka continued. "This one is the other one Kilik found for me, and it was when you were promoted to detective and you guys all celebrated that night." Unlike the others, this picture was not posed, but rather taken on a whim as Soul busted open a bottle of champagne surrounded by other officers. "Looks like you guys had a lot of fun," Maka commented waggling her eyebrows at Soul, who proceeded to elbow her.
"What did you expect honestly, I actually don't remember most of that night."
Under normal circumstances Maka might have disapproved, but instead she found the whole situation pretty funny. "You're lucky then that Kilik didn't give me embarrassing pictures from that night."
"Do you think he has any?" Soul asked smirking at her. She only laughed, unsure of the answer but still finding the whole thing rather hilarious.
"I can't believe you had a picture of this though," Soul said picking up the last picture frame in his living room.
"It wasn't that hard to find, I mean Kilik had it," Maka admitted still laughing to herself.
"No, I mean this picture Maka," Soul said holding up the last frame in front of her face.
She quickly sobered up as her cheeks flared up to a bright crimson and she had to hold back a nervous giggle. "I actually wasn't going to give you that picture, but Liz insisted that I had to. She's actually the one who took it."
Soul was looking at it rather seriously and Maka felt herself growing more and more uncomfortable with the situation. After all, it was a picture of Soul and Maka dancing at the Gala that they had truly met at. The photo was focused on the two of them, and everyone else surrounding them on the dance floor was slightly blurry. Maka actually would have refused to give the picture to Soul had it not been for the fact that the two of them looked so damn happy smiling at each other, plus Liz had kinda forced her into giving that picture once she had heard of Maka's plan to repay Soul.
"Liz said something about that if I was going to do something like this for you, that I should make sure you had just a picture of us, and then she threatened to tell you about the surprise if I didn't use it," Maka said, still feeling awkward standing there as Soul practically memorized the picture in his hands.
"Well, Liz is right," he finally said, surprising her. Soul looked up at Maka, "I definitely need a picture of just us."
Maka was taken aback to the point that she didn't have the slightest clue on what to say. She merely stared back at Soul as he smiled almost shyly back at her. When he took a slow step toward her, looking completely serious, she felt her heart rate speed up and her cheeks heat up even more. Maka couldn't help her eyes as they glanced down at Soul's lips for just a moment before meeting up with his eyes. He was so close and she could feel her body going crazy on the inside while outside it remained absolutely frozen.
"I should show you the last frame," she suddenly spurt out quickly turning away from Soul and dodging into his room. Her heart was pounding. She didn't know how close they had just been, but it had been much much too close and she couldn't handle it. No, she was just imagining that he was leaning towards her she was sure.
"I thought you said there were only six pictures," Soul answered rather calmly following after her. Yep, he wasn't even a tad flustered, Maka noted, almost disappointed for a moment.
"There are only six pictures, but there's a blank frame in your room that matches the others if you must know," she answered smiling nervously.
Soul looked at her curiously, "Why is there an empty frame in here?"
Maka took a deep breath. "You know how the other day we were talking about how I kept a picture of my family to remind me of all the good times." Soul nodded. "Well, I wanted you to have a picture of your family as well, so that you could remember the good times and not just the bad," she admitted knowing that she was stepping on egg shells. Thankfully, Soul didn't look angry, although, he just looked rather expressionless at the moment. "I asked Black Star if he had any pictures of your family and he didn't, but he said that you did. So I bought you the frame so you could put that picture in it," she admitted slowly.
He didn't say anything, but walked past her to his nightstand that the blank picture frame sat on and opened up the small drawer. Maka held her breath, as he pulled out a small picture and slipped it into the picture frame with a sad smile. He back over his shoulder at her.
"I think you're right, I need to remember the bad along with the good," he grinned, "So thank you Maka."
The next two weeks seemed to pass in a flash for Maka. With Soul not on a case at the moment, he had more time to spend with her than ever before, and despite this being the busiest time of the year, as it was leading up to Valentines Day, Maka managed to find the time to spend with him.
It had started with them going to lunch together on Maka's break. Then Soul had begun to walk Maka home under the excuse that it was for her own protection. Maka had laughed at that knowing full well that she could take care of herself, but enjoying Soul's company, so she didn't refuse his offer. When Soul got another case a week before Valentine's, Maka had been slightly disappointed, but she knew how he worked now and wouldn't worry when he didn't answer her texts. To her astonishment, the Soul's case was solved within a few days, and she didn't have to go without his company for long. When she had told him just how surprised she was, he had merely laughed and explained that the majority of his cases were actually like that. The one after Christmas simply had been much much worse than usual. The only thing Maka could think of was that it explained just why Black Star had been so worried about Soul.
After that case, it became habbit for Maka to hang out with Soul after work back at his place. The first time had been so he had an excuse to watch a movie without sounding pathetic doing so all alone, but after that, things just progressed smoothly. For the first time ever, Maka found herself having to turn down drinks with Liz one night because she already had plans with Soul. Of course, they had simply scheduled it for another night, but Maka had been more than surprised at the aspect. Before, it had been her having to make all the plans with Liz or Tsubaki because usually they were busier than her. It was nice to be the busy one for once.
They talked about anything and everything in their lives and Maka found herself opening up to Soul more than anyone she could think of. He knew all about her family issues, but now he had come to understand them as if they were his own.
In turn, he had opened up to her about exactly what had happened to his family. How as the youngest child he had been rather spoiled and had his mom wrapped around his finger. How he hadn't practiced his piano like he was supposed to, and being good parents they had punished him by making him stay home on the night of his brother's recital. He hadn't been mad at them, just sad that he had to miss out, and then confused when they never came home. Apparently they had stopped for gas, and the rest was history.
It broke Maka's heart to hear about Soul's family, but she was also amazed by how well Soul had adjusted to it. If anything, it had fueled his desire for criminals to see justice and had caused him to pursue a career in law enforcement. She was stunned at the way Soul had taken the worst thing that had ever happened to him and turned it around and made something so positive out of it. When she told him so, he tried to convince her that she had done the same with her parents' divorce and then starting a matchmaking business, but Maka didn't think it was the same. After all, Soul took something that had affected him and changed his life for the better. She had taken something that had affected her personally, and shoved it down in the back of her head, and tried to make other people's lives better. In any case, she didn't date. Therefore, her life was not personally changed.
However, she refrained from telling Soul all that. The way he looked at her so happy to be able to share his woe with someone else that might understand on some level almost broke her heart. She did understand, but that didn't mean she was what Soul wanted her to be.
The day before Valentine's Day was always the worst for Maka. No matter how hard she tried, she always had at least one desperate idiot who thought she could set them up on a date for the next day.
"I'm sorry sir, but it takes one to two weeks for me to process your profile and match it accordingly with one of my other clients," she said calmly, although she really wanted to scream at this particular dumbass. He had been hounding her for the last hour on why he couldn't get a date for the next day, and it was immensely frustrating because she was supposed to be done for the day about half an hour ago. Furthermore, she had made previous plans with Soul that she was currently running late for.
"But I need a date for tomorrow!" the man said desperately. "I don't want to be some loser that doesn't have a date on Valentine's day!"
Not having any big plans for the day herself, Maka took slight offense to the man's words. "Look, there is simply no way to set you up with another client by tomorrow that would be a guaranteed good match." The man started to say something, but Maka held up her hand sharply cutting him off. "Furthermore, it's perfectly fine to stay home alone for Valentine's day, it's just another day of the year. You don't hear me whining and moaning about how I don't have a date for tomorrow."
The way the man's eyes immediately lit up, Maka instantaneously regretted her words.
"Then go out with me!" the man said.
Maka's eyebrow twitched. She didn't care if she lost this man as a client anymore, she was late to see Soul and she was tired from dealing with idiots like him all day. Therefore, she only had two words for him, "Get Out!"
"Can you believe his nerve!" Maka loudly complained to Soul as they walked through the park. As it was a rather pleasant day, the two had decided to take a walk before heading back to Soul's place. Plus, Maka had a theory that Soul recognized when she was worked up over something and probably needed to blow off steam, which she always did better when she was moving.
Soul only looked confused as he strolled casually beside her. "Okay, why exactly is it a bad thing that some guy asked you out for Valentine's day when you don't have a date?"
Maka rolled her eyes at Soul, "It's completely inappropriate to even suggest that I date a client."
He nodded his head in agreement, "But forgive me if I'm wrong Maka, but you don't seem that upset about him just being a client, if anything you just sound mad that he asked you out."
She bit the inside of her lip unwilling to actually admit to Soul that he was right. While it was inappropriate for a client to ask her out, she wasn't really that mad at him for that reason. She just didn't like being asked out. It made her feel extremely uncomfortable, because she didn't date.
"I'm guessing that I'm right considering you haven't said a word since I asked," Soul said rather nonchalantly as they continued to walk. "Question, why haven't I ever seen you date Maka?"
Maka went rather wide-eyed at that. "I don't know," she answered surprised that Soul was asking her something so direct.
"Liar," he quickly retorted with a small snort.
"I'm not!" she retaliated immediately. "I just don't have time to date okay?"
He suddenly stopped walking and stared at her. "Yet you have time to spend with me every day?" he asked rather harshly.
"You're mad at me for spending time with you?!" Maka quickly shot back annoyed and hurt by Soul's words. Where was all of this coming from? He seemed perfectly fine with her yesterday, but now, looking at Soul's eyes looking sharply back at her, Maka could tell he was annoyed with her. She just didn't know why. For a moment, the two of them just stood there in the park both angry though Maka didn't understand why he was.
His body visibly relaxed after a minute, "Forget about it Maka," he said as he walked past her looking rather defeated.
But Maka wasn't the kind of person to shrug his comments off, and he should have known that. "No!" she called after him, refusing to move. He looked back over his shoulder at her. It was clear that he just wanted Maka to drop the subject, but she refused. Perhaps she was just feeling confrontational. Or it could have been that she was still annoyed with her last client of the day. But perhaps, some part of her knew what was coming, and knew what she had to do. "What are you trying to say Soul?!" she demanded actually stomping her foot in frustration.
Once again, it was as if time simply stopped for them as Maka stared at Soul who was only half turned around standing there frozen. Only the silent wind brushing her hair gently reassured her that the two of them were indeed standing in silence, watching each another. She refused to be the first to break, because if she did then Soul would have won and they would have to continue on as if nothing happened. But by the look in Soul's eyes, Maka knew that something was up. Something she had said or done had irked him in a way she had never seen before.
He finally took a step toward her while taking a deep breath as if he was about to dive into something that he wasn't sure of. "I'm asking if you don't date clients, or if you don't date at all?"
"That's not really your business," Maka automatically shot back, knowing the answer, but not wanting to tell Soul of all people.
He took another deep breath and another couple of steps so that he was right in front of her. "Fine, I'll make it my business, because what I'm really trying to say is that I want to take you out on a date Maka."
Maka could feel the way her heart immediately clamped up at Soul's words and she knew that her eyes were wide in surprise. Of all the things that Soul could have said, she knew that those words had more of an impact on her than anything else could have. Her hands suddenly felt warm as Soul took them in his own standing even closer to her than before. She couldn't breathe. He was too close. It was suffocating her. She couldn't do it. She wanted to, but she couldn't.
"I- I- I can't Soul," she said gently pulling her hands out of his own. Her heart felt heavy, and it was strange to think how mad she had been only moments before.
"Why?"
She couldn't stand to look at him, not when he looked and sounded like that. A part of her wanted to say yes so badly, but she couldn't. She never could.
"I don't date," she answered truthfully looking down at her feet, unwilling to look him in the eyes. She knew she wouldn't like what she saw, so why look at all.
"Why?" he repeated stiffly.
Maka bit her lip and gave her go to response, "Because I don't have time to. My dedication is to my job. I don't have time to waste on meaningless relationships."
"So our relationship isn't important to you then?" he quickly snapped back, obviously losing his patience with her.
"No!" she looked up without thought, only to catch his eyes with her own. It made her want to cry, seeing the hurt look on his face. "That's not what I'm saying Soul!" She could feel her voice cracking, but couldn't seem to do anything about it. Why did it matter anyway? Who cared if Soul saw how frustrated she was with this whole situation. This was not how today was supposed to go!
"Then what are you saying?!" he snapped, becoming more and more angry with each passing second.
"I just don't date okay?!" she yelled back.
"Don't you see Maka! You're so busy making other people happy that you're not ever going to find happiness for yourself!"
Maka was stunned, and rather pissed. Who was Soul to judge her happiness! "I am happy helping others. I am perfectly happy just the way I am Soul!" she hissed taken aback by his words.
"Bull Shit Maka!" Soul immediately shot back. "You go and help all these people find true love and you think that will make you happy, but it doesn't. Not in the long run." Soul's eyes were flaring in anger and Maka was beginning to realize just how much Soul was pissed at her. " No," he continued "all it does is it allows you to disillusion yourself into thinking you're happy alone and helping others when really you just get to see client after client gain true happiness, while you sit at home working to help more gain that, only becoming more and more bitter with the world." For a moment Soul paused and lowered his voice. "You're so busy getting everyone else's happy ending, you've forgotten that you don't even have one yourself."
His words cut like a knife, because some part of her knew that he was right. But all Maka could do was simply stare at him in shock and silence.
"I'm sorry, but Maka, I've been hinting that I've liked you for months, and you gave all the green lights in my favor. I can't just keep chasing after you and hoping that you'll change your mind," Soul paused letting out a shuttering breath. "I'm not that guy Maka. I can't dwell on something and keep holding on when it'll only hurt to do so." He looked her deep in the eyes, "So I'm asking you one more time, do you see this going anywhere or am I just a friend to you?"
Maka tried to keep the tears from her eyes, but she knew she was failing. She hadn't known just how passionate Soul could be about her of all people, but she didn't want to get hurt. If she let him into her life completely, it would break her completely when he left. "I'm so sorry Soul," was all she could say.
The moment those words escaped her lips, Maka regretted them. The completely broken look in Soul's eyes told her everything, and even though he hadn't said a word about love, she could see that he had been falling for her just as hard if not harder than she had been falling for him. He nodded once, and then turned away from her, walking as if nothing had just transpired between the two of them.
"Can I still see you as a friend?" Maka couldn't stop the words from jumping from her mouth.
She held her breath as both her and Soul froze. The seconds passed as slowly as minutes and despite her trying not to, she couldn't help the hope that arose in her chest.
"I don't think so Maka," Soul said slowly, and Maka could feel the blood drain from her face. "I can't watch you and not want you. Goodbye," and with that he walked away.
For a few minutes Maka simply stood there and watched as Soul disappeared out of sight, never once looking back. It wasn't until he was completely gone that she realized her cheeks were damp with her silent tears.
She walked home in a daze showing up at her door unable to remember how she had just gotten there. Pulling out her keys, more tears came to her eyes when she saw the key to Soul's door. With how often she was over there, he had told her to just keep it. She was ashamed to admit that she hadn't fought him very hard on it. She had grown attached to him. Shaking her head, she tried to convince herself that it was for the best that they wouldn't see each other again. Walking into her apartment, she suddenly felt very lonely. While her apartment had always seemed so much homey to her than Soul's, now it just felt empty. She refused to let herself cry, knowing that as much as it hurt now, it would have just hurt more in the long run if she had allowed Soul what he wanted.
He'd leave her, just like everyone always did, for bigger and better things. Friends were fine, but anything more, just brought her pain. She knew better.
Love existed. It wasn't as if it didn't. She had seen plenty of couples work out so well and stay together for decades. Love was a beautiful thing that thankfully existed in this world, and Maka loved love. But she also knew better. Love may exist, but not in her life. She would have the love of her friends. Anything more never worked, and she wasn't willing to try. After all, Maka looked over at the picture of her parents happily married, they had been perfectly happy until she had come along. Nope, love, true love didn't exist for her in this world, and she was perfectly fine with that.
At least, that was what she tried to tell herself as she silently cried herself to sleep that night.