Chapter Six

How Long

"Saturdays will never be the same

It's even hard mentioning your name

Lookin' back I don't know what went wrong

But suddenly it's like I don't belong

[CHORUS:]

So how long must I wait?

And how long must I stay?

Please let me know how to live.

'Cause I don't ever wanna feel this way

Again.

Nothin' seems to matter anymore

Why can't it be just like it was before?

I hate you for the person I've become

Take me back to where it all began"

"How Long- By The Veronicas"

A strange noise filled his ears, bringing him slowly to a groggy consciousness. He slowly blinked

his eyes open, quickly blinded by the agonizingly bright lights that shone overhead. He groaned lightly as he struggled to block out the cries that surround him. What was going on, where was he?

He opened his eyes a little slower this time, giving them time to adjust. A mix of emotion filled

eyes met his and he blinked.

"Kidd… How are you feeling?" One of the faces asked, and as his mind focused, he realized that

it was one of his weapons, Liz to be exact. She looked down at him with a strong mix of worry, and relief. Patti was beside her eyes red with tears but her face was that of extreme joy, sharing very little of her sister's concern.

Kidd went to open his mouth to say he was fine, but no sound came out. Really though, he just

felt numb, no pain, no anything… it was nice. He wished he could stay here forever, in this foggy bliss where he didn't have to worry about the pain that he had felt before. Slowly everything was coming back to him. The knife, the asymmetry, the blood…There was so much blood, too much. And that voice… as much as he dreamed it had been him, the voice had been to feminine.

"Soul…" He finally croaked out.

Liz's face fell and she adverted her gaze, "We don't know where he is..."

"You were hurt really bad Kidd, why did you do that?" Patti interrupted.

Kidd frowned and tried to sit up, but the pressure on his arms caused him to flinch and he

decided against the idea.

"I…I'm not sure…How long have I been asleep?" he asked.

"Just a couple of days, Maka, Black Star and Tsubaki are all at school right now, they'll come visit

later," Liz explained, sitting back on the edge of the bed.

"The doctor said that once you were awake they would have to keep you here on suicide watch

for a few days and then you could come home with us!" Patti said excitedly, bouncing at Kidd's feet.

"Is that so?" Kidd asked.

"Yo Kidd! 'Bout time you woke up!" Black Star cried, swinging the door open, Maka and Tsubaki

following him in.

Kidd forced a smile, but it was more than just his body that felt numb.

"We were all very worried," Tsubaki said with a soft smile.

"How are you?" Maka asked.

"I'm fine." It was a lie, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, but he couldn't let them know

how he really felt. That throbbing in his heart that started at the mere thought of him. That unless he found another way to block out the pain, he didn't think he could be happy or smile. The least he could do right now was put up a front and go through the motions until he could figure something out.

He looked at his friends, he hated lying to them, but he didn't have a choice. This was his

problem and something he need to do on his own. He knew they were all worried, but he would sort it all out, there was no need to worry about him anymore, everything would be fine.

~Untouched~

She gripped his cold limp hand tightly in hers, her face filled with sorrow, but no tears fell, she

was passed that. It had been weeks since the accident, but she had yet to give up hope. Never before had she felt so alone. So defenseless. The room was bland and silent save for the annoying and constant beeps letting her know that there was still life after all in the lifeless body that lay before her, however faint.

The blonde female yawned and rubbed at her eyes before standing and brushing her partner's hair out of his face.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, but I've got to go to school now, I'll come visit afterwards," she said softly.

She paused, hesitating, as if expecting an answer, but when the pale body on the bed didn't even stir, she let out a sad and disappointed sigh and left the room, closing the door behind her.

~Untouched~

"Another sleepless night?" Tsubaki asked with concern as Maka entered the classroom, noting the dark circles that seemed to be a permanent characteristic to the meister's eyes.

Maka nodded, sitting at her desk and resting her head.

"Soul still not back from his mission?" Liz asked.

Maka shook her head in response.

"Have you even heard from him?" Tsubaki asked.

The blonde pigtailed meister sighed and raised her head to look at her friends and sighed, shaking her head.

"No, I haven't heard from him for a couple days, but he said he would be out for a while so not to worry. Besides, I trust Soul, he'll be fine and back soon," She said, yawning as she rested her head back on the desk.

"If you're not worried about Soul, what has you up so late. Don't tell me you're still worried about Kidd," Liz said, Maka could practically hear the eye roll in her voice.

"Just a little, statistics show that's he's likely to try something again," she replied.

Tsubaki rested a hand on her back with a gentle smile. "We're all concerned for our friend, but it's nothing to lose sleep over. He's getting help and it's been almost a month and he hasn't tried anything. I see that as improvement."

Liz rolled her eyes. "Yeah, as long as you don't say his name. Really, I don't think he's improved much, unless you call an emotionless zombie an improvement."

The black haired weapon sighed. "I was only trying to stay positive. Everybody seemed a little down. I mean, the whole incident with Kidd and Soul, then Soul leaves on a mission the next day, Kidd ends up in the hospital almost a week later and is stuck there for a week before they released him and now he hardly comes to school due to therapy. It's been hard on all of us, but we can always try to keep our spirits up and hope that things get better."

Maka suddenly wanted to cry. She felt the hot sting of tears threatening to spill over and fought them back. She was sure it was just stress and a lack of sleep that made Tsubaki's words hit so deep, but either way, it was exactly what Maka had been struggling with for the past month. Keeping up the hope that Soul would wake up. She couldn't help but feel like it was her fault. If only she had been calmer, more levelheaded about the situation, he wouldn't have shot off on his bike like that. He would be sitting beside her, making jokes. Even Kidd would probably be more alive than his current bland state of existence he held at the time being. She hated lying to her friends, but they were all so worried about Kidd, they didn't need another friend to worry about. Especially not when he was in fine condition just… sleeping more or less, that was nothing to worry about and Soul was strong anyways, he would wake up and everything would be back to normal. Or so Maka hoped.

The doctors had told her, after the accident, that her partner was in a coma and it was uncertain, when, or if, he would ever wake up. They suggested turning off the machines a couple times but she refused. Despite the fact that in nearly a month, there had been no response, not even a twitch, she knew that Soul would wake up, that he had too and she would wait years to him to do it if she had too and would continue to visit him every day, no matter what doctors or other people said. Soul was too strong of a person to give up because of a stupid head injury. That wasn't the Soul she knew and she wouldn't give up on him.

Maka was just starting to doze when the door opened. She didn't pay it much mind until there was a squeal to her left as Patti bounded desks to tackle her meister in the doorway.

The sight of Kidd made her heart clench, he was pale and sickly looking, his eyes were blank and distant. He flinched slightly as his weapon tackled him, but other than that, his expression was somewhat lost and rather emotionless. He really did look dead.

But it did raise Maka's spirits a little to see him. This was the first time he had come to school other than to pick up homework or sit with them at lunch between therapy sessions. This was a great sign that Kidd was on his way to recovery. Sharing a glance, Maka knew the rest of the group felt the same.

He didn't say a word as he sat down in their group of friends. He attempted a smile, but it turned into more of wince as the bell rang and the teacher entered the class room.

There was shuffling as students returned to their seats and faced the front of the class.

She couldn't believe that this had all started with just a simple drunken kiss, but perhaps there was more hope than she thought, perhaps now this was a sign that Soul would wake up as well. Then maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay again.