A/N: I can never apologize enough my dear readers, for leaving you that long with a terrible cliffhanger. I was without my laptop for an entire month after I got home from vacation because it broke. Since then, I was trying my hardest to make the ending work just right. If you do not like it, then I am so so sorry. I did try my best. On to the ending then.
Ch.5: Conflict resolved
Years ago, I had a lot more friends. It was me, Black*Star, Kidd, and Tsubaki most of the time. Aside from them I sometimes would hang out with Kidd and his two friends Liz and Patty, or Soul. As time progressed, Liz and Patty had to move away. Kidd went through a hard time and we ended up hanging out more often and getting much closer.
One day while we were at my house, we were alone in the living room, and he was telling me about how Black*Star was planning to ask out Tsubaki. We both knew he had a massive crush on her. It was cute how he was too shy to ask. But poor black*Star never got the chance. The next day, he was home sick and that was the day Tsubaki came and changed all our lives.
"Moving?" I stared blankly at one of the best friends I knew I'd ever have. She was moving! And no small distance either. She was going far away, too far to visit each other. Her dad had gotten a promotion and was required to move to Europe. "When are you going?" I asked.
"Tomorrow. I wont be here. This is where I say g-...goodbye." She had tears in her beautiful eyes and was whispering by the time she said it. But she held together long enough to hug me and Kidd each before turning away sobbing and tossing farewells over her shuddering shoulders.
There it was. That was the point where the entire world was shoved out of alignment. The next day, Tsubaki was not there as she had said she wouldn't be. But Black*Star was, and the first thing he did was question the whereabouts of his crush. We both, Kidd and I, looked away awkwardly before Kidd told him she was gone.
He tried not to show it, but Black*Star was killed inside by her leaving. He stopped showing up to school for quite some time, and me and Kidd were shoved from his life. When he finally came back to us, Kidd had moved away as well. We made it a silent pact not to speak of either Tsubaki or Kidd in his presence, and slowly, he went back to his old playful self.
We were in middle-school at that time. Grade 8, and we were all 13, excluding Black*Star and Kidd who were 14. It was in grade 10 when Black*Star asked me out. I was 15 and he was 16. Right now we are both in grade 11. We have been together for almost a year. 11 months to be exact.
I suppose you want to know how Soul fits into all of this as well huh? Well when Black*Star was gone, I had nobody to spend my time with other then Soul. I spent the majority of those lonely months in his company and we bonded even faster then Kidd and I had. We became the best of friends.
So there I am. In grade 11, with my boyfriend of 11 months, and my best friend Soul.
You cannot fathom how confused, hurt and miserable I was at that moment. All I knew was that Soul may be dead, my boyfriend may come back at any second and hurt me more, and there was absolutely no fucking hope for the disgusting little child sitting in that dark room, wrapped in nothing more then an old blanket.
A quick glance around the room told me there was nothing around I could use as a weapon to help Soul, and I knew there was no way in hell I could raise me fist against Black*Star. That ruled out me being of any use. So I was stuck in that room.
But no way in hell could I sit around doing nothing when my best friend could be dying on the other side of that door. No way. So I stood up slowly, and made my way on wobbly legs over to grab the cold doorknob. But as I lay my hand down, I heard a voice suddenly speak up. I couldn't tell what he was saying, but by the savagery in his voice, I knew it was my boyfriend.
Then, the thing that made my blood begin to pump again, the thing that pounded hope back into my broken heart, was the quiet voice that came in reply. Soul's voice.
Then suddenly, although I hadn't been aware of it slowing down so much, time began to speed considerably. There was a yell and feet crashing on the floor, I guess one was chasing the other. Probably Soul being chased by Black*Star. A number of smashes. Quite a few things were being broken. Each loud CLASH made me jump.
Suddenly there was a door being slammed, open or shut, I don't know, but it made my soul flutter in fear and hope. I could only hope it was open, and that help had arrived for Soul and I. But no new voices arose. Only Black*Star's, and it sounded pissed. He was loud enough this time that I could hear each word.
"Get back here you little shit! Don't go running' and hiding' like that or I'll fucking kill your little friend in there!" Kill me. He was threatening to kill me. But if Soul was hiding then he must be hurt. That thought kind of overrode all my fear of being murdered by my boyfriend.
I swiftly twisted the doorknob I still held in my hand, swept out of the room and lashed out at Black*Star with my fist. I missed, but what I yelled at his face next froze him momentarily.
"WE'RE THROUGH YOU JACKASS!" and with that screech, my fist made contact with the side of his face. He was thrown back a couple of feet and his eyes were wider then the Cheshire cat's, but in a second he had recomposed himself and retaliated with a yell of "HELL IF WE ARE!" and his very own fist connected with my forehead.
I stood my ground, breathing sharply, pain throbbing in my head and the world around me blurry and spinning too fast. There was a distinct click and a door to my left was opened, the white haired, red eyed face of god peeking from inside a dark room.
"Maka! Quick, get in here!" Soul commended, and I staggered over as fast as I could. As I made my way there, Soul ran past me and started to attack Black*Star again. That was no good. I stopped, and Soul noticed not long after.
"Go! Quick!" He said as he dodged a kick from my now ex-boyfriend. "I'll be right behind you I swear!" And he landed his fist against Black*Star's stomach. The boy doubled over in pain and Soul nimbly ran over and shoved me in the dark room, sliding in behind me.
It was a closet. A larger then average closet full of blankets and pillows, and dangling from the ceiling was a cord that was attached to a light bulb. Soul pulled on the cord and grabbed a thick blanket, which he wrapped around us both and grabbed me in the tightest hug I've ever had.
"Maka, oh my god I was so afraid he'd killed you. He was so pissed when he took you, and while you were gone I was going INSANE thinking what he might be doing and I'm sorry but I can't take it, you being with him any more. I heard you break up with him. I'm so proud of you..."
I began to cry harder then ever right then. I couldn't believe I was back in Soul's arms after all that torture. My ears refused to pick up the sounds of Black*Star pounding on the door to get in. I wasn't afraid anymore, I was here, Soul was here, he was breathing, we were both okay.
Soul pulled out his phone and called the police to come and get us, and to arrest Black*Star. It took a bit longer then needed since I had to try and remember the exact address for Black*Star's house. It's hard remembering things when you were just beaten, raped, threatened, and chased into a closet.
But eventually, there we sat, in safety, with the police on their way. It was scary that I could hear Black*Star continually banging on the other side of the closet door, and exponentially more so when the bangs started to sound like cracks.
Soul shifted us both to the very back of the closet, not that we ended up much further away from the door, and he pulled me even closer to him for comfort. To be honest, we were both afraid of Black*Star breaking the door down before the cops could arrive, but as we heard a very loud bang, and closed our eyes in fright, it was merely a second later that we realized it was not the closet door that had broken.
Help had finally arrived! There was a lot of commotion outside as we heard people shouting and running around. I knew what was happening, they were putting Black*Star in handcuffs to take him away. The noise died down and a tall male cop opened the door to the closet.
"Guys, I found 'em, they're in here!" The man gestured over some other policemen and within a few minutes they had helped us up and out of the cramped closet. The tall one turned to me and led me away from the others. "Are you okay?" He asked me. I could only nod.
He nodded as well before moving on. "So I was told that you were close to that boy huh?" I nodded again while whispering what we once were. "I see. Would you like to see him one last time to say goodbye before we take him away?"
This was it. I could make the choice to break from him easily, or to go and make it all harder on myself. After making the wrong choice too many times, I shook my head from side to side, and the man smiled sympathetically. "Good choice little girl."
"Maka. The name is Maka..."
"Well then, Maka. You're awfully luck you know. For most people, this goes on so much longer then it did for you. It's a good thing your friend intervened when he did." I stood there, taking all this in. And he was right, Soul had saved my life. I knew that much. Black*Star, had he be given the opportunity, would probably have kept hurting me until it was just a bit too much for me to take.
I looked over at my saviour and as I did, he turned as well, and our eyes locked. It was like I'd been hit by lightning, as cliche as that sounds. I unconsciously walked towards him and he met with me halfway, enveloping me in another massive hug.
"Maka. I have to tell you something important..." I looked weakly at him, but before he could continue, everything had gone black.
"Maka... please wake up..." My eyes shot open. I was confused as to where I was at first, but it quickly dawned upon me that I was at Soul's place. Another thing I noticed, and was grateful for, was that I now had clothes on. I didn't care how they got on me, just that I was covered. The familiar room calmed me almost as soon as I began to panic. I sat up slowly and noticed Soul was sitting on the end of the bed I was laying on, his head rested on the knees he was hugging with a death grip.
"Soul..what... What the heck happened? The last thing I remember is the police showing up and..." I didn't need to really go back over everything. He smiled very lightly and lifted his head up to look at me better.
"You feinted. Just after the cops asked us some questions you looked over and I hugged you but you passed out right there in my arms. The police let me bring you back here but we have to go to the station later to explain everything that happened." It was an easy explanation. I was glad Soul had brought me here rather then to my fathers place. The last thing I needed was to wake up to an overly doting father halfway through a panic attack at the state of his 'precious daughter'.
I began to mull over where I was in life right now. I was safe, at my best (and now only) friends house, and single. The realization of it all made me sad, but it slowly gravitated towards happiness as I realized that I was free, and as the tall cop had told me, Very lucky that this ended before something too extreme could happen.
I guess being raped falls under that category but I was still alive. Without realizing it, I had begun to smile. I noticed Soul was smiling back at me as well. At this, a full on grin came across me and I even let out a small giggle.
"It's finally all over Soul. I'm safe now." He smiled more as well and moved closer to hug me. Because of recent events, it was a little uncomfortable and unnerving, and I guess Soul knew that because he backed off after he was done hugging me. But I wasn't going to let him.
Ignoring the discomfort inside of me, I pulled him back over and wrapped my arms around him. He slowly hugged me back and I felt the grin on his face vanish. Confused, I pulled back to look at him, and a slight shock went down my spine when my eyes locked with his.
We'd locked eyes like this before, and I could sense the love in his stare those times, but this time... This time I was literally drowning in his emotion. I did not think it was possible to feel like I did right now. Not for a while. I'd just had my boyfriend, who I had loved for almost an entire year, arrested and taken away for a very long time. I'd never see him again. How was it that I could feel the way he made me feel not that long ago? How was it my heart could even work just yet?
Because when Black*Star had hit me that very first time, My heart had broken, and who had been there the moment I asked for help? Who had held every last shattered piece of my mind body and soul together, and hadn't let go? Who was it that I could completely trust with every secret? The one who was always there to be my ear to listen, or my shoulder to cry on?
Yeah, Soul. That was why I could feel this way. Because when my ex-boyfriend had crushed my capacity to love, Soul had taken it and repaired it with his own love. I could no longer deny those times he'd said he loved me and I pretended to imagine it. I pretended because it would make things harder.
But now I was ready to accept it. And that is why when he leaned towards me slowly, I did not hesitate to close the distance between us and kiss him with all the love he'd shown to me and more. Because to be honest, I loved Soul too. I don't know when it happened, but it did. And now here we were, together again, and sharing the love we both felt.
I felt his hands pull me as close as he could, and the discomfort that raged war in my stomach was soon banished as I began to feel only pure happiness. He pulled back from our kiss and rested his forehead against mine.
"Maka. I love you." My heart was going faster then it ever had before.
"I love you too Soul..." Our voices were only whispers.
He kissed me again, and wrapped his arms around my waist. He held me together again as I kissed him back, my hands on his head, pulling him as close as I could to deepen it.
I knew from that moment on that things would be different. A cliche line, I know, but it's just too fitting. Things really would change. Because I was with someone now that would never hurt me. Someone who I could trust entirely and who would love me for the rest of my life.
And no matter what hardships we faced, we would get through them hand in hand.
I would like to extend a very big Thank You to every single person who followed this story from beginning to end, and to all those who reviewed, added this to their favorites, or added me to their favorite authors.
The best of love goes out to KamiNoMa, Sailor Sofia, RebelAngel91210 and KittyAttack, for reviewing every chapter along the way.
Much love also for RandomDancing123, Rin Winters, LiahkonaAS, mynamebecait09, fangirl from lunaescence, ubyrai, midnight-heart, stifledcreativity, Narusaku1357, Domo1383, Supreme Cookieeater NANCY, .Spazz and Ophianara Blade for reviewing in general.
Favorite reviews made by RandomDancing123, Sailor Sofia, and Narusaku1357.
His hands: July 15, 2010 - October 31, 2010
Happy Halloween!