Hello again dear Reader!
It's now Maka's point of view in this chapter, I hope that you will enjoy reading this!
Disclaimer : I do not own Soul Eater
Maka
"Let's make a deal then, Maka. You swear to never tell a soul about my music, and I'll escort you to the nearest bathroom."
His words came out in a lazy drawl, his voice was deep and that sharp-toothed grin he gave me made little warning bells ring in the back of my mind. Soul was about a head taller than me but looked to be around my age, even if his unruly white hair and blood red eyes were a strange touch. He could have been a demon straight out from a fairytale. Of course his laid back attitude, with his shoulders slouched over and his hands stuffed into his pockets, kind of killed the demon image he gave out in the first place.
"All right, deal."
He passed me without another word while I fell into step next to him. Now that he wasn't sitting in front of the piano, the boy in the black pinstriped suit and red dress shirt looked like a totally different person. When I saw him at first, his back was straight even if he was leaning dangerously over the black and white keyboard. He swayed on the bench as his fingers hit the keys with such speed that it seemed as if he skimmed over them, barely brushing the notes, even if his wide demented Cheshire grin and erratic melody proved otherwise.
Once he had led us out into the corridors I spotted Liz and Patty heading our way.
"Yay! I found Maka!"
Patty's voice echoed loudly down the hall while the youngest of the Thompson sisters waved her arms energetically around as if to catch my attention. The two sisters, probably on Kid's orders, were both wearing the same simple white gowns, with their hair loose, and light brown cowboy boots. As her sister continued skipping ahead, Liz walked at a more leisurely pace towards us, ignoring her sibling's antics.
"Yeah, that's nice Patty", she drawled out.
I had arrived with Kid and his two adopted sisters/caretakers; after all, the son of Shibusen Academy's headmaster could be a handful from time to time. Anyhow, Kid had an extra invitation on his hands, since his father couldn't make it to the party, so he had invited me in order to fill all four seats that were in his car to 'keep it symmetrically used'.
"Hey Maka, it's your turn to dance with Kid and Patty."
I cringed inwardly. I HAD promised Patty that I would dance with her and Kid, but Kid's dancing routines could be… pretty special and not quite orthodox. The two sisters were now standing in front of us, Liz eyeing the boy to my left, intrigued. Noticing the intense look appearing on Liz's face, I snapped out of my daydreaming and started introducing them to one another:
"Liz, Patty, this is Soul Eater. Soul, these are Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson, the sisters of a childhood friend of mine, Death the Kid."
Liz was the first one to speak while Patty jumped right in front of the poor boy, entrapping him in a, probably, spine crushing hug.
"Nice to meet you Soul."
"Ye-yeah, same here."
Soul's voice was a bit strained, probably from Patty crushing all the air out of his lungs, but as the youngest sister released him, he took a step back, tugging uncomfortably on the collar of his dress shirt. I was too busy looking at Soul's reaction that I missed Liz squinting her eyes suspiciously between the both of us, so her next move took me by surprise. Sliding between Soul and me, she looped her arms through ours and pulled us forward, Patty marching in front of us like a soldier, grinning happily.
"Back to the party!"
"W-wait Liz, Soul was going to show me the way to the nearest bathroom…"
Not slowing down one bit, the eldest sister turned her head to face me, smirking:
"Really? You've been wandering around for the past 20 minutes and still haven't been to the restroom? What HAVE you been doing with Souly boy here?"
"Nothing! I kinda… got lost."
I added lamely, looking away from her questioning gaze while my cheeks started heating up.
"Yeah, tiny-tits over there ended up looking for a bathroom in the piano concerto hall."
"Shut up, Soul!"
Liz grinned at Soul's snark remark while I started glaring daggers at the two. I've been well aware that my chest shape had always been close to that of a flat-board, that jerk didn't have to point it out so crudely.
After a stop at the nearest bathroom, with Patty keeping Soul company outside, I went back to the garden party, ignoring the two idiots who were tailing me, Patty in tow. We hadn't reached the buffet that a familiar english accent came from our right.
"Ah, Liz, Patty. We have exactly 18 seconds before the next song starts, and it should go perfectly in rhythm with our fourth dance routine."
Kid hurriedly grabbed Liz and Patty by the hand and dragged the two girls at his sides towards the dancefloor, leaving Soul and me alone near the hors-d'oeuvres table. That's when I noticed that Soul kept scanning the crowd of people anxiously with his eyes. That is until the next song started and he saw Kid's 'number four dance routine'. I saw him lift one eyebrow while he stared at the trio, Kid in the middle holding on to the two girl's shoulders, as they all simultaneously lifted one leg, then the other, at a perfect 90° angle, to the beat of the song. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh at his 'what the hell am I watching?' look.
"Yeah, that's Kid. He's pretty special. Patty and Liz help keep his OCD under control."
"No wonder you made a face when Liz reminded you that you had to dance with them."
I shrugged and kept my eyes on the dancing trio. Suddenly Kid froze, his leg still up in the air at a 90° angle.
"Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson, don't you DARE break the stance until the song starts again!"
At Kid's orders the two girls held the pose, Patty grinning like mad and Liz looking exasperated, ready to start complaining about Kid's antics. That's when I noticed that the song had, indeed, stopped mid-track. Kid wore his usual symmetrical black suit, and the three white horizontal streaks on the left side of his hair, but it was lucky for the girls that their dresses were long enough so that holding up a leg at 90° wasn't too embarrassing. I heard the whining of a microphone and looked up to the makeshift stage in front of the wooden section that was used as the dancefloor. The speaker only took a few seconds to announce that someone had parked their car in a no parking space in front of the Theater and that they had to move it before it was towed away.
Once the announcement was finished, the music started again… but it wasn't the same song anymore. I then saw Kid breaking his stance to hold his head between both hands as he sunk to his knees in the middle of the dancefloor, weeping about the unfinished song. Liz was standing next to him, massaging her temples while Patty laughed at the scene Kid was making. I stopped looking when Soul caught my attention.
"Wow… he's got it bad. And I thought I had issues."
That's when I first heard Soul laugh. It wasn't an outright boisterous laugh, but it was still more than a chuckle. It was a deep and soothing sound that made his shoulders shake a little, and made his eyes crinkle a bit on the sides. A resounding 'whack' made me look back to the dancing area where Kid, still on the floor, was yelling at Patty to hit him on the other side of the head so that the pain would be symmetrical. Once the second hit was landed, all three of them made their way back to us, Kid's earlier fit about not being able to finish dancing to the song long forgotten.
The rest of the evening was calm and enjoyable. Soul seemed to get along pretty well with Kid while Liz and I kept Patty away from the 3 feet tall chocolate cake. As the party came to an end, Soul left and Kid waited exactly 10 pm before leaving the Theater's parking lot, going on and on about punctuality and respecting the hours on the invitation card.
The next two weeks were filled with finals at Shibusen Academy, and when friday night finally came around, I was dragged out of my apartment by Liz and Patty to go celebrate the beginning of summer vacation, and to cheer up Liz from her recent break-up.
Cheering-up Liz meant going shopping, followed by a night of heavy drinking. That's how I found myself at the Witch's Broom-Closet, a well known club in Death City for it's glow-in-the-dark beer, wearing a newly bought backless blood red dress that floated to my knees, with the matching heels that were already killing me, and my hair up in a high ponytail. I had actually wanted to buy a long sleeved forest green dress held by a white belt at the waist, but when the time came for us to leave and pay for the clothes, Liz said that she was feeling generous and that the tab was on her… I should have guessed it was a trap. It's only when we arrived at Kid's house to get ready that I noticed the scam. They had switched my green gown for the red one that I had been ordered to try on, by Liz, 'just for fun'.
The club was full, the music was loud and the bass shook through my body. It felt good to unwind after the two weeks of exams we had had. Patty and I altered between dancing and cooling off at our table, trying to rehydrate ourselves with the cool beer. Around one in the morning, Liz seemed to have gotten over her break-up, seeing how she was now locking lips with some guy that had started dancing against her. Patty was at another table, out drinking a whole table of guys who were betting on who could drink the most beers before rolling under the table. She was going to out drink the poor suckers dry.
Needing something with caffeine if I ever wanted to outlast Liz and Patty at this rate, or before I passed out on cheap alcohol, I got up from our table with my purse and made my way towards the bar. Pushing through an seemingly endless mass of dancing bodies, I spotted a familiar red head. Spirit Albarn, my father, laughing boisterously, and obviously very drunk, while holding two very curvy women by the hips, one on each side of his stool. Somehow that brought me back to reality way faster than any cup of coffee could have.
Without thinking I turned around and stumbled out of the club. The air was still chilly at night, but the cool breeze lessened the nausea I was feeling. I decided I would just walk back home and send Liz an sms to tell her that I had left. The streets were still lit up and the neighborhood was safe and completely empty at half past one in the morning. There was a soft breeze, and as I passed the first apartment complexes I felt water on my face. I looked up at the dark sky as more drops started to fall, but I knew that those weren't only raindrops rolling down my cheeks. In a matter of seconds, it was pouring, but somehow I didn't want to move.
The rain fell hard, numbing the city's noises. It was like pulling a curtain around me, hiding me from the world for a few moments. My head was light and my stomach had settled down as the rain hit my skin, sinking into my dress, heavy drops rolling down my back. It was a mind numbing feeling, calming, as if nothing in the world mattered anymore… or maybe it was the alcohol still in my system?
"Maka?"
On my right, coming out of an ally, was Soul. This was starting to be a strange alcohol induced haze. He was hunched over, trying to hold the top of his big yellow jacket over his head while holding something to his chest. He walked up to me, pulling his jacket closer.
"What the hell are you doing out here?"
"Going home. Was at a party but my dad crashed it… Man can be such pigs."
"Maka, are you... drunk?"
"Pffff, nope. Just a bit light headed. And if it looks like I'm tipsy… well I'm not. It's just because of the heels."
"Maka, you're not wearing any shoes."
At his deadpan tone I looked at my bare feet. How had I missed that?
"Hey! My shoes are gone!"
I heard him sigh, and suddenly the rain stopped pouring over my head. As I looked up, he handed me the object that he had been cradling against his chest.
"Hold on to her will ya."
It was a cat, half drenched in water and shivering. I held her close to me as Soul slipped one arm around my waist, to steady my steps, while holding the coat over us with his other hand. I noticed that I was actually shivering when I felt the warmth of his jacket seep through my skin. How long had I stayed out in the rain for?
He guided us to an apartment building that looked a lot like mine, but I was pretty sure mine was still two more blocks down the road. Then came the hard part… going up the stairs. I couldn't help giggling as Soul slipped on the wet tiles while trying to get me to go up myself. But the stairs weren't cooperating. They kept swaying so I had a hard time putting my foot safely on it before heading for the next step.
I think Soul got impatient at some point because he passed his jacket around my shoulders, wound his arms under my knees and under my shoulder blades, and lifted me up as I held the cat safely to my stomach. I started giggling at a thought.
"You know Soul, you're actually a charming demon prince."
"Huh… thanks?"
"Yeap! Because you look like a demon, with the eyes and teeth and all, but you're actually sweet and charming… and you looked hot in that pinstriped suit."
I let out a small yelp as he stumbled, almost toppling over in the middle of the stairway.
"Pfff… and I'm the drunk one. You can't even walk straight up stairs!"
"Sh-shut-up Maka. You're drunk. Don't let Blair fall over."
"Who's Blair?"
"The cat you're holding. That idiot goes out at night but she'll get scared stiff when she's touched by water. So when it rains I have to go and find her or she'll just let herself get soaked, then she usually ends up getting sick."
Soul reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hall. Once he had stopped in front of a door, he set me back on my feet, keeping an arm around my shoulders to steady me, and unlocked the door. I let him guide me inside and sat on a couch as he left for a few seconds before coming back with towels.
I watched him towel dry Blair while drying myself up with the towel he had given me. Once I deemed myself dry enough I pushed my arms through the sleeves of his jacket and zipped it up front, trying to keep the warmth in. From the corner of my eye, I saw Soul finish drying Blair and letting the cat go before heading down the main hall and disappeared into a room, closing the door behind himself.
I leaned back into the couch, sinking into his yellow leather jacket. My skin seemed to absorb the heat, making me want to snuggle into a ball and hibernate. I closed my eyes, hiding my nose into the collar and taking in a deep breath. It smelled incredible, like warm spices, and yet the smell was gentle, it didn't sting my nostrils like most perfumes did. I guessed I could just stay here a few moments, basking in the warm and comfortable silence, until Soul got back out so I could leave.
I think I fell asleep at some point since the next time I woke up it was with a splitting headache and absolutely no idea of where I was.
Last Heart to go! The next chapter will be the last!
I would like to give a big shout out to IHaveNoName and IDC, ElisaBlackcat, Sakura Akari and Nitebreaker for the Favs/Follows/Reviews on the last chapter! :)