Author's Note: I'm glad people like the story! Feedback is always welcomed if you have any suggestions!
Chapter 21: Emotionally Exhausted
'I should just stop this charade and tell Soul the truth!' Maka thought to herself, as she finished up making breakfast.
Ever since her encounter with Rachel and her friends, Maka had begun to seriously consider telling Soul the truth about her double life as Emerald.
"But then again, how would I even tell him? It would be awkward just to blurt it out and then there's the fact that he might think I'm lying…" Maka mumbled to herself with a sigh.
Maka was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice she was starting to burn the eggs until Soul spoke up.
"Hey Maka, I think the eggs are ready now." Soul stated, as the faint smell of burnt eggs began to fill the air.
Maka immediately broke out her thoughts and quickly took the burnt eggs off the pan.
"Oh sorry about that Soul. Guess I got a little distracted for a minute." Maka said, once she had cleaned off the pan.
Soul only continued to stare at Maka carefully before letting out a sigh.
"Are you okay? It seems like you've been zoning out a lot lately…" Soul stated.
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine Soul I just have a lot on my mind that's all." Maka replied back.
Soul was about to ask her what was on her mind, but Maka suddenly spoke up again.
"We should hurry and eat breakfast Soul. I don't want to be late for school." Maka stated, taking the plate of eggs and some bacon to the table.
Soul frowned and just shrugged his shoulders as he followed Maka to the table to get started on breakfast.
On the way to school, Soul continued to remain concerned by Maka's unusual behavior. It seemed like Maka was still having problems dealing with her headaches and nightmares that she was trying to either ignore or play off as not a big deal.
About midway in their walk to the DWMA, Soul and Maka ran into Black Star and Tsubaki.
"Hey you guys! It's not often that we see you on the way to school!" Black Star yelled out to them as he approached them cheerfully.
While Soul and Black Star high-fived and greeted each other, Maka and Tsubaki discussed the assignments that Professor Stein had recently assigned them.
"So did you finish that report that Professor Stein gave us last week?" Tsubaki asked.
"Yup! I actually had a little bit of trouble doing it, but I was able to finish up the last bits of it yesterday night." Maka replied back.
"Ha! You had actual trouble with an assignment Maka? Maybe you should have come to me for help!" Black Star stated, cutting into their conversation.
Maka only huffed and rolled her eyes. "You barely do any of our homework assignments Black Star! And even when you do them, most of the time you make an F on them!"
Black Star scoffed and started to march ahead of all them, but not before passing a brief knowing look to Maka on how he knew the real reason why it was so difficult for her to finish her assignments lately.
"Really Tsubaki, I don't know how you put up with sometimes." Maka stated, as she watched Black Star walk away.
'I'm surprised neither Soul nor Tsubaki noticed that look Black Star just gave me. I'm pretty sure he can see how tiring it's getting for me to keep up with being both Emerald and Maka. I want to tell the truth, but I just don't know how to…' Maka thought to herself with a sigh.
~X~
In class, it became more difficult for Maka to focus on Stein's lesson with each passing minute.
It's not like what Stein was talking about was particularly difficult to understand (he was just doing his usual dissection lesson), it was just that her head was starting to pound so much that it was beginning to make her feel woozy.
'Maybe if I just lay my head down for a minute, I'll feel better.' Maka assumed to herself, before quietly resting her head against her book and closing her eyes.
When about an hour had passed in class, Soul finally noticed that Maka had apparently fallen asleep right by his elbow.
'Okay something must really be wrong with Maka. She always hits me over the head if I even so much as doze off for a little bit, and yet here she is resting.' Soul mused to himself, as he gazed over Maka's sleeping form.
'Well I guess I should wake her up before Stein notices she fell asleep. Not only would it be embarrassing for her if he woke her up, but he would probably think it would be okay to awaken her by throwing a scalpel.' Soul thought, before trying to wake Maka up by poking her shoulder.
Soul frowned as he noticed poking Maka didn't seem to make her stir.
"Okay then. Maybe I should try with something a little sharper, like my pencil?" Soul grumbled quietly under his breath, as he started to poke Maka's cheek slightly with the tip of his pencil.
Even poking Maka's cheek didn't seem to faze her any.
Soul glared at Maka now, starting to become a bit frustrated. He didn't feel like Maka would pretend to sleep in class just to mess with him; so what was wrong with her?
Just as Soul was about to try pinching Maka, he realized Maka looked slightly pale and feverish.
Soul's eyes widened a bit in worry. "Maka are you okay? Say something." Soul whispered in alarm, starting to shake her arm.
Maka finally wearily opened her eyes and gave Soul a dazed look before closing her eyes again.
"Maka wake up! What's wrong with you?!" Soul snapped, his voice echoing in the silence of the classroom.
"Soul might I ask why you are interrupting my lesson?" Stein stated, turning his attention away from the board towards him.
"It's Maka! I don't know what's wrong with her, but she won't wake up!" Soul replied back, still trying to shake Maka awake to no avail.
At Soul's announcement, the whole classroom erupted into whispers as everyone looked over in Maka and Soul's direction.
Stein sighed and set his chalk down. "Everyone take a 5 minute break while I get this situation settled."
Stein walked over to Soul and Maka's desk and felt Maka's forehead.
Stein frowned and retracted his hand back. "Well she does feel warm; take her to Nygus to get checked out."
~X~
'I don't get why I have to stay outside the clinic. What difference does it make if I'm in the room with Maka?' Soul thought to himself, as he waited outside the clinic's door.
As soon as he had brought Maka into the clinic and set her down on a bed, Nygus had taken one good look at Maka before pushing him out.
"Whatever Maka has could be contagious, I don't want it to go spreading to other students." Nygus stated as he shoved Soul out the doors.
'I already spend a lot of time around Maka, so it's possible that I could already be infected by what she has if it really is a virus or something.' Soul thought grouchily as he slouched against the wall.
"I just hope Maka feels better soon, even when she does get sick it's usually not this bad." Soul mumbled to himself.
Back inside the office, Nygus began to take Maka's vital signs and perform a basic assessment.
"Hmm she has an elevated blood pressure and temperature. Her pulse is normal though and her pupils are reactive to light." Nygus said aloud, as she wrote down her findings.
Maka suddenly started to scrunch up her face and open her eyes slightly.
"Oh where am I?" Maka asked quietly, clutching her head in pain.
"Good to see that you're starting to wake up Maka. You're in the clinic now, Soul brought you here." Nygus stated.
"Soul brought me here? Well where is he now?" Maka questioned, looking around.
Nygus only shrugged. "I assume he went back to class. I made him leave after he dropped you off because it was possible I would need to conduct a physical assessment on you."
Maka let out a sigh and stretched her arms out. 'I don't even remember falling asleep. I know I put my head down to try to stop my headache, but everything after that is a blur.'
"So Maka, let me ask you a few questions just to get an idea on what might have caused your fainting spell in class today." Nygus stated, taking a seat in a chair close by the bed.
"Um okay then. Ask away." Maka replied back, turning her attention towards her.
"Well I noticed just a few minutes ago you were rubbing your head. Have you been having any headaches recently?" Nygus asked kindly.
"Actually I have been, but they usually don't hurt as bad as they did today. I maybe was only getting them once or twice a day at first, but now they seem to be happening more frequently." Maka stated, thinking over the past few days.
"Do you get any other symptoms when the headaches occur?" Nygus asked, writing the information Maka had just said down.
"No not really. Usually they only happen when I feel stressed about something, but today I did start feeling a bit dizzy as the headache started to get worse." Maka recalled.
"Hmm okay then. How would you rate the pain of your headache right now on a scale of 1 to 10?" Nygus asked, sitting up in the chair.
"I would say maybe a 7 or an 8 but I really don't think it's a big deal. I think if I just don't worry about it the pain will go away." Maka stated as she tried to get off the bed, but immediately felt a wave of dizziness hit her.
"Whoa now take it easy Maka! There's no need to rush back to class. I can't let you leave anyways without running a few tests. You have a fever right now and I don't want you to spread your illness to the other students." Nygus stated, as she eased Maka back into the bed.
"I'm fine though! I don't want to get behind in my lessons!" Maka huffed out.
"I'm sure Soul will take the notes for you or one of your other friends will; for right now I need you to rest and stop trying to run away!" Nygus said with a stern expression when she noticed Maka was trying to get out of bed again.
Maka sighed and buried her head back into the white pillows and bedspread.
'This is definitely not how I planned my day to go at all…'
~X~
"Hey girls, I just heard in the hallways some interesting information." Kate stated, as she met up with the rest of her friends in the NOT class.
"Oh? Well tell us already!" Megan stated, looking up from a magazine she had been reading.
"It's about Maka. Apparently she fainted in class today!" Kate stated with a chuckle.
Ashley snickered. "That is interesting! I wonder what caused that to happen."
Kate shrugged, but continued to smile. "Who cares? At least it means she isn't hanging around Soul. This is a good opportunity for me to try and get Soul to finally notice me!"
Nancy let out a snort next to her. "Don't you mean me Kate? After all we all know that I'm probably the most compatible one for Soul!"
Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes as her friends began to all start fighting again over Soul. Instead of joining in though, Rachel looked around the classroom for Travis.
Rachel smirked to herself when she finally saw him sitting on the first row and took a quick glance back at her friends. 'They are all too busy fighting, I'm sure they won't notice if I walk off for a bit.'
Rachel sat down in the empty seat next to Travis and cleared her throat to get his attention.
Travis looked up from his notes and gave her a blank stare.
"Can I help you?" He asked in an annoyed manner.
"Hey what's with the attitude? Why have you been ignoring my calls and texts? I thought you wanted to get closer to Maka." Rachel asked with a hiss.
'I do, but that all changed when she got blackmail on me.' Travis thought in frustration.
"I still want to get with her, but that's not what you care about right?" Travis stated, finally giving Rachel a side glance.
"Well of course! I don't give a damn what you do to get to Maka, but you promised me I would be able to get with Soul!" Rachel stated with a huff.
Travis scoffed and gave Rachel a cold glare. "Who said I promised you that? I never said any of the time you would be able to spend with Soul would be permanent."
Rachel shivered slightly under Travis's glare, but still didn't back down.
"You don't think you could maybe give me another potion again or a love potion I could give to Soul?" Rachel asked.
Travis growled and rubbed his head. 'This girl is really trying my patience, if she doesn't stop bugging me than I'll get rid of her permanently.'
"Listen I'll let you know if I come up with any more elixirs or stuff like that, but for now you really need to leave me alone." Travis stated quietly.
Rachel pouted and stood back up. "Fine, I hope you're precious Maka stays sick!"
Travis sent her a baffled look. "What are you talking about?"
Rachel still looked angry, but gained a smug smile. "Oh I guess you didn't hear the news yet. Apparently Maka collapsed earlier in class and is currently in the nurse's office."
Travis resisted the urge to grin wickedly at the news Rachel had just gave him as he watched her walk away.
'It looks like the poison I gave Maka is finally beginning to really flow through her system now. That's the best information I've gotten out of Rachel yet. Even though it's risky since Soul and her friends will be close by, I think I should still pay her a visit just to see how she looks.'
~X~
"Alright Maka, I'm going to start things off by drawing some of your blood to collect for lab testing." Nygus stated, as she wrapped a tourniquet around her arm.
Maka sighed and nodded her head as she let Nygus puncture a vein in arm and collect the blood into a tube.
After applying a bandage to the site, Nygus got up and went to the back area to store the blood samples.
"Okay Maka, I need you to take two of these Tylenols to help reduce your fever and just take it easy for the next hour or two." Nygus stated, once she came back in.
"The next hour or two?!" Maka cried out, as she glanced back at the clock. It was already getting close to noon now.
"I've already missed my morning class though, now I'm going to possibly miss my afternoon class?!" Maka stated, as she turned back towards Nygus.
Nygus only nodded her head. "You might get better faster if you just rest like I told you to earlier. Not only will it help you get your energy back, but it will make you feel better also."
Maka sighed and just shook her head in agreement. "Okay I'll try to get in one nap."
Nygus watched as Maka tossed and turned, trying to make herself comfortable in the small bed. After a few minutes passed, Maka finally seemed to settle down and Nygus smiled.
'It seems like the only reason she got sick could be because she was overworking herself.' Nygus mused to herself as she went back towards Maka's blood samples and ran them through the machine.
The results of Maka's blood test eventually came out a few minutes later, and Nygus looked them over to search for any abnormalities.
'Okay there doesn't seem to be anything too out of the ordinary in her system. She has an elevated white blood cell count, which could indicate infection.' Nygus mused to herself, as she studied the paper.
As Nygus read down the list though, a component she didn't recognize suddenly caught her eye.
"What is this? It's not a part of the red blood cells group or the chemistry panel." Nygus whispered under her breathe.
"I need to take a closer look at this; this could possibly be what caused Maka to get sick." Nygus reasoned aloud, as she took a small sample of Maka's blood to place under a microscope.
Even looking at Maka's blood under the microscope, Nygus still had no idea what the foreign organism was.
'I need to consult with Dr. Stein about this, it could be something serious.'
~X~
Maka had been sleeping for about half an hour, when suddenly she heard a familiar voice outside the door.
"Let me in! I ran all the way here as soon as I heard the news! Where is my precious baby Maka!" Spirit yelled out.
Maka frowned and buried her head back into the pillows in an attempt to tune out his voice.
"Spirit I must ask you to please calm down. Maka is trying to rest inside." Nygus replied back calmly.
"I can't rest easy! When I heard from Stein that my daughter collapsed in class, I dropped everything I was doing to come here!" Spirit stated in frustration.
'I bet you weren't even doing anything important papa! I'm sure you just came back from your daily afternoon visit to ChupaCabras.' Maka thought in agitation.
As Nygus and Spirit continued to bicker a bit, Soul walked back up to two of them and leaned back against the wall.
Nygus was the first to notice Soul's presence. "What are you doing here again Soul? I thought I told you to go back to class."
Soul shrugged and lifted up a candy bar. "I don't want to leave my meister alone. I only left to go get a candy bar from the snack machine because I was getting hungry."
Spirit only glowered at Soul before pointing a finger at him. "Hey you brat! What happened to my Maka?! What's this I heard about her fainting in class?"
Soul scoffed and shoved Spirit's finger out of his face. "I don't know what's wrong with her. She was fine this morning."
Spirit was not amused by Soul's answer and continued to glare at him.
Nygus sighed as she looked at both Spirit and Soul in annoyance.
"Well I can see that the both of you don't want to leave anytime soon, so I'll just let you in to see her. Once you come inside though, I need you to at least keep your voices down." Nygus stated, moving aside to let them in.
Spirit immediately rushed to Maka's side and looked her over.
"Oh my sweet baby Maka! I'm sorry I didn't come sooner to your aid!" Spirit stated, as he started to cry.
Soul rolled his eyes at Spirit's behavior and took a seat on the opposite side of the bed.
Soul sighed and decided to take a small peek Maka's face. He smiled a bit when he saw it didn't look as pale as it did earlier.
Spirit noticed the look Soul was giving Maka and frowned.
"You know I didn't forget what you told me back on the night of the gala." Spirit stated quietly.
Soul blushed slightly, but shrugged it off. "I meant what I said that night."
Spirit nodded his head and gazed back over at Maka.
"I know that when Maka wakes up, she's not going to want to see me here. Can I assume you'll still be here when she finally starts to get up?" Spirit asked in a serious manner.
Soul grinned toothily. "Do you really have to ask?"
Spirit huffed, but still stood up. "Hey I didn't ask for your sarcastic response! I'm only trusting you in Maka's care because I know she would prefer you over me."
Soul only smirked and shook his head. "I won't leave her alone, I promise."
Spirit sighed and smiled slightly. "Thanks for watching over her. I'm going to try and find Stein to see if he can take a look at her again."
As Spirit walked out and shut the door behind him, Soul turned his attention back to Maka.
"Okay you can stop pretending to sleep now. He's gone." Soul said with a laugh.
Maka opened her eyes slightly. "How did you know?" Maka asked.
Soul chuckled. "I've spent enough time around you to know when you're actually asleep or just faking it."
Maka huffed, but relaxed when Soul reached out and gripped her hand.
"Why didn't you say something earlier if you weren't feeling well?" Soul asked, slightly annoyed.
Maka blushed and looked down. "I didn't want to worry you or anyone else."
Soul groaned. "So you figured waiting until the pain made you pass out would be better?"
Maka shook her head. "No I didn't say that. Geez it's not like I wanted to pass out, I just wanted to rest my eyes for a few minutes."
Soul just sighed and leaned back in the chair.
Maka watched him gaze at the ceiling as she tried to gather her thoughts together.
'Alright Nygus is in the other room. It's just the two of us alone in here. It's time I come clean to Soul about everything.' Maka thought to herself, becoming nervous.
Maka squeezed Soul's hand to get his attention, causing Soul to turn his attention back towards her.
"What's wrong Maka? Do you feel sick again?" Soul asked.
Maka shook her head. "Um well there's something I need to tell you."
Soul frowned and focused his ruby eyes on Maka's emerald ones. "Okay I'm listening."
Maka sighed and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her anxiety.
"I know you've been wondering why I've been kind of distant over the past few weeks. I don't want you to worry about me anymore or distract you from your death scythe duties so I'll be honest with you now and tell you that I'm-"Maka was suddenly cut off by a knock at the door.
Soul sighed and turned away from Maka. "That could be your dad again. I guess he found Professor Stein."
Maka frowned and looked down. "Yeah I suppose so. I guess you should go get it then."
Soul got up and opened the door as Maka pushed back the covers of the bed.
'And to think I was just about to tell him!' Maka thought, feeling a mix of sadness and anger.
"What are you doing here?" Soul snapped out coldly, causing Maka to look up in alarm.
"Oh Soul you're here also. Good, I guess I finally get to deal with the both of you at the same time then." Travis replied back with a grin as he peered inside and made eye contact with Maka.
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 21, let me know what you think with a review and as always thanks for reading!