Usual disclaimers apply~
and as always, Enjoy you read~
SOUL----
The nice view of the calm floating clouds and the never ending sky that was the walls of Shinigami's chamber did nothing to ease him of his discomfort.
The white haired, red eyed weapon stood stiffly, surrounded by glares and questions pointed at him by the staff that comprised Shibusen. Professor Stein, Sid, Mira Nygus, Spirit Albarn, Yumi Azusa, Justin Law, Death the Kid and Shinigami-sama formed a half circle in front of him. Once again, for what seemed to be the fourth time, he repeated his defence.
"I really don't know. No one explained it to me when I was asked to deliver it," he replied, finally exasperated from all the repetition.
Death Scythe Spirit glared at him through the crowd circling around him. "Soul Eater, did you not think to ask them what the hell the object was? What if what you were carrying into the school was a bomb? Did you think of that?"
Feeling guilty since he knew that he should've done that, he silently shook his head.
"It was...as you had told me last night, 'you were out of it' right? What exactly did you mean?" Stein asked, the only one from the staff who was sat down as he peacefully inhaled from the cigarette he was holding.
Remembering that day, worrying whether Maka would hate him after knowing the truth of his lineage and her connection to him, it brought to him a wave of shame as he knew that he should've placed duty before anything else. But his problem was that he couldn't put anything before Maka; she was still his utmost priority even when she wasn't his meister anymore.
"I...There was a...family problem," he said, his eyes averted from his watchers. Hopefully they didn't catch the small hesitance in his voice. What he said wasn't truly a lie anyway – problems about the oncoming arrangement forced onto them by his mother.
It was Shinigami who nodded and allowed himself to speak this time in his usual playful tone. "Ah yes...I did get to speak with your brother for a while and he told me of your situation with your family and how they couldn't accept your being a weapon."
At Shinigami-sama's revelation, everyone in the room - apart from Soul who still had his eyes turned away from them – gaped at Soul in both pity and confusion. Truthfully, Soul didn't want anyone else to know about any of his relationships with his family. But it was Shinigami-sama that announced it therefore there must be a good reason as to why it was announced. He trusted his Shinigami boss.
"Well, I guess we can let that go for now can't we?" Yumi Azusa said as she pushed up her spectacles, looking toward their masked leader. "If his brother was in a much more concentrated condition on that day, then wouldn't he know something about it?"
"What was the object anyway?" asked Justin Law politely but loudly, a muffled booming sound heard coming from the man and his deafening music.
Stein blew out the smoke that he had only just inhaled and answered in his same bored tone, "It was a black diamond, translucent. As big as a walnut."
"A jewel?" Spirit asked with an incredulous tone. "What are we? Some kind of pawnshop?"
"It's a relic, old man," Soul retorted. "I think it was my...father who dug it up and it had just been delivered to us a few days ago." That word. Father. It was an alien word, almost a vile taste in his mouth.
"Well, it must be important if a witch had stolen it. What's your father's name and I will contact him immediately," Yumi asked quickly, not noticing the way Soul hesitated when she had asked.
Soul scrunched up his nose in distaste. Doing so will reveal his last name to them. Reveal his lineage to them. "Charles. Charles Evans."
A few of the staff raised eyebrows in recognition while others like Spirit and Kid had shocked expressions on their faces, clearly they knew of what the Evans name involves.
"Oh. I didn't know you were...rich..." Sid said in confusion mixed with awe.
"I'm not. But my family is."
"Evans..." Nygus drawled, her face formed in a way that told people that she was thinking behind the cloth strips that wrapped around her face. "So...Wes Evans? That's... He's your brother? That violinist?"
"Oh. Are you a fan?" Soul mumbled with sarcasm. Luckily, either no one heard him or they ignored his quiet statement.
"Charles Evans." It was Kid this time, who had stayed silent throughout the whole course of the conversation. His head had been bowed in thought, a hand placed on his chin. Raising his head, he focused it on his father and then looked to Soul, a grave mask as his features. "He was the man we rescued in Egypt. He had been held hostage by a large shape shifter.
"My weapons and I had delivered Charles to his home a few miles away from here. I think we will be unable to gain any information from him. You see...when we accompanied him home...he was in a comatose state." At this, Kid looked up with pity towards his friend but Soul only returned it with a blank look. He knew, of course. Wes had told him. The only information that had shocked him was that it was Kid that delivered his father to their home.
"Bad timing..." Stein indifferently commented. A large hand covered his mouth as he held the shrinking cigarette in between his fingers. His eyes flashed with a knowing look. "So, I believe our only lead is Egypt. Just where did you find him Kid?"
"A small town just outside of Cairo."
Shinigami-sama clapped his large cube-like hands together in to draw all of their attention. "Alrighty then! I will send a team into Cairo and Soul, would you mind going back to your home and take a look at how your father is faring?"
Soul could only look down at his feet as he shook his head, declining his offer. At this Kid stuttered, "But,Soul, don't you want to visit your father?"
His mind had gone blank. He didn't want to go. Raising his head, he locked eyes with Kid's golden ones and shook his head more confidently. "I think this meeting is over now right? I'm going back to the infirmary." As soon as he said the last word, he turned on his heel and sauntered out of the strange room.
-
He was genuinely curious now. Why hadn't he asked them what the relic was before? No. His mother and brother know nothing about those things. It was really just Charles.
Comatose, huh? His eyes wandered blankly as he sat beside Maka's bed, observing her peacefully reading a book. Why did he care? Why did he start caring now? Charles is just another random person, the only difference was that he had the label of his father. Just a label.
"—rth to Soul." His attention was finally drawn to the girl on the bed who he had only just noticed was waving a hand in front of his face. "What's with the spacing out? Still sleepy?" she said with a giggle.
His eyes focused on her face, and he saw that although she showed a goofy smile, her eyes betrayed her worry. Smirking, her replied coolly, "Yeah, still sleepy." He faked a yawn as he stood over her and sat beside her arm. "So scoot over, I'm gonna sleep."
"HEY! Not on this bed, Soul!" she shrieked playfully, wincing a little from the pain her ribs were causing.
"Why not? You're my fiancée, remember?" he returned with a snicker as he started to jokingly push her arm to make her move a bit. At that comment, he saw Maka suddenly stiffen. My god, did I hurt her? "W-what is it? Did I hit something? Did something hurt?" he said worriedly as he drew his arms away from her, the mood instantly changing.
Maka only slowly shook her head, and he felt a sigh of relief escape him. If that wasn't it, then what?
Oh...the fiancée comment...
The familiar awkwardness returned and he suddenly regretted bringing the subject up. Heck, he didn't even mean to...
Silence ensued and Soul could only stand back and just scratch at the nape of his neck, embarrassed at the mistake of even mentioning it. He saw his friend fingering her bed sheet, obviously uncomfortable with the current atmosphere.
Saddened by the thought – and the sight – that Maka still didn't want the arrangement to continue, he cleared his throat to catch her attention. "I'll just...go get some food..." He averted his eyes from her before he turned his body around to saunter out of the room.
He shouldn't feel hurt. He had a feeling that she didn't want it to continue. She already told him before.
That...was so uncool...
MAKA----
What did it mean?
Her heart hammered against her chest.
She laughed quietly to herself to make herself forget about what had just happened. It didn't work so the laughter stopped abruptly. Instead, she vigorously shook her head to rid herself of the tingly feeling crawling up her arms and her face. In doing so, a sharp pain danced up her neck from her chest.
Okay...don't do that again...
So, think. Why did Soul bring that up out of nowhere...even if it was meant to be a joke. No. Wait.
Why did she react like that when it could just be a joke...?
Is it a joke?
Because it was okay to her if it wasn't.
What is she thinking!?
Her heart began swelling in her chest and she could feel the little smile crawling onto her features.
Why did she feel so...happy?
C-could Soul...possibly...?
Breaking her from her line of thinking was a knock. The voice of the visitor was what alerted her to whom it was. "Soul? Oh." Death the Kid stood at the doorway of the infirmary, and all Maka could do was gape stupidly at him.
The drumming on her chest increased in anticipation. This was it. It was her chance.
"Hey, Maka," Kid greeted quietly, and it seemed like he was forcing the awkwardness away at the moment, giving conversation a chance to ensue. Good. "How are you feeling?" He walked up to her bedside, hands behind his back, a small forced smile decorating his face.
Forced, huh? "Hi, Kid. I guess I'm fine apart from the—Kid. What are you doing?"
On her bedside table were a few bottles of medicine, and Kid took the liberty of arranging them the tallest placed at the middle and shrinking down in height, all placed in a clean line along the desk. "Uh..." He looked back at her when he realized what he had been doing. His expression looked like one of a burglar's when they get caught stealing something but more comical. "Sorry...I couldn't help it."
Maka stared at him for a long moment as he straightened up and cleared his throat. He opened his mouth to say something when Maka cut him off, laughing hard from the previous scene.
As she laughed, she felt as if a burden was taken off of her shoulders. She felt relieved, that even with what they had been through, she felt this nostalgia. Their old friendship. The feeling was returning, the hate and shame dissipating. She had hoped that this would return between them after she had apologized.
She didn't know that Kid had started to laugh along with her.
Inwardly decided, she took her chance.
"Ouch..haha...okay...that was pretty painful," she said as her laughter slowly died. At the mention of 'pain' Kid quietened. Looking up, she forced his golden eyes to look at her emerald ones. Through her determination, she found that Kid's eyes reflected confusion and anticipation.
"Kid. I have to apologize. For everything. And for apologizing really late." Oddly, her voice was pretty normal, it wasn't laced with the fear that she imagined she would have. "I want to bow to you in apology but I can't at the moment."
Unexpectedly, it was Kid who bowed to her, almost parallel to the floor. "I'm sorry too. For all of those mistakes in the past." He looked up, his golden eyes gazing into hers with a flame of determination. "I just want us to return to the old times. Our friendship."
Maka couldn't help but grin widely. "Exactly what I was about to ask for. So...we're good?" she said as she reached her undamaged left hand to him.
Taking it firmly in his grip, Kid smiled down at her. "Yeah. We're good."
"By the way, you were really cool with those gun weapons of yours. You have to introduce me to them sometime." Maka said as she released their hold. She was genuinely curious about the identity of his guns. Its just like Kid to get symmetrical weapons.
"I'll bring them in tomorrow," he said, "But first I have to look for Soul. There's a mission waiting for him." At that, Maka's smile crumbled. Why? She asked herself inwardly. There was no need for her to feel like that since she knew that he will have to leave her because of his duties.
"I think he's gone to get some food." Her voice became quiet, melancholy, even though the small half-smile was still on her features. Thinking about Soul once again, their conversation from a moment ago returned along with the strange feeling that accompanied it.
She didn't want him to leave her.
Kid thanked her for the information and waved his goodbye as he left.
She was happy about her reconciliation with Kid but her happiness was balanced out with the disappointment with the thought that Soul will have to leave her again.
Looking to the morning scene outside of her window, she had not registered the fact that her prior feelings of affection towards Kid were gone and had changed their focus towards another person.
The person she didn't know who possessed the same feelings for her.
A/N: alrighty~ reconciliation~
brief and simple. unfortunately, theres no love triangle =w=;;
or is there...?
well, dont forget about kiel though...he's still in the plot xD
and a slip of the tongue is just what we need x3
Thanks to all the readers and reviewers as always~
as for the requests, i already have FFG's :D
and i've pm'ed Carol aka-neko and The Inimitable DA~
now, please dont forget to review~ :D