Author's Note: Ahhhhh, I'm so sorry! I hate it when authors don't update on a regular basis and look what I go and do! I went almost a whole month without updating! (I was cutting it close. Tomorrow it will be a month since I uploaded chapter four.) School got really busy and I got distracted writing a massive Final Fantasy crossover story (which perhaps you can read?) But now that I'm on break, hopefully I will update more within the next couple weeks. On another note, I've brainstormed the rest of the story! We now have direction! Yay!

Okay, I'll stop babbling. Hopefully, this longer chapter will begin to make up for my absence. Please enjoy!

Soul felt his stomach drop when he realized they were back by the front doors. Where they started.

"What do we do now?" Maka asked, letting go of Soul's hand. Her voice sounded shaky.

Soul sighed. "There's nothing to do. We wait." He walked towards the door and sat down, leaning his head against the cold, metal door frame. Maka soon followed suit and sat down next to him.

A few moments passed. "Hey, Soul?" Maka asked.

"Hm?"

"When do you think someone will find us?"

"Hmmmm…" Soul said, trailing off. He smiled. "They may never find us. We may just die here, you know? Then we'll be ghosts that haunt the school."

Maka whimpered. "Not funny,"

Soul chuckled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. But realistically?" Soul paused to think. "Well, since today's Friday, probably no one will be back over the weekend. We may be here until Monday."

"That's a while," Maka said.

"Eh, we'll be okay," Soul said. "Once it gets light, we can probably find a way out. The night is the hardest part."

A few more moments passed. Neither minded the silence. It was a comfortable kind of quiet, where each knew the other was sitting just inches away.

"Hey, Soul?" Maka said, suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about yourself."

Soul turned to look at her to see if she was joking. "What?"

"Tell me about you. If we're going to spend the night, we might as well get to know each other."

Soul smiled. "I guess you're right." He stared up at the ceiling and crossed his arms so that his elbows were resting on his knees. "Where to begin…"

"The beginning?"

Soul lightly socked Maka in the shoulder. "I knew that, idiot." He turned his gaze back to the cracked plaster ceiling.

"Don't forget anything! I want all the details,"

Soul couldn't help but grinning. "Okay. My name is Soul Eater Evans. Weird name, right? My parents were kind of like that. Weird, I mean. They were both artists. My dad did sculpture and my mom painted. They were that 'creative' type. Hence, the name. But anyways, their art was pretty good. It's in some museums but the two of them mostly taught art classes. I also have an older brother Wes. Our parents also really liked music. So, from a young age, we both listened and studied classical music. Wes played the violin and I played the piano. We were seriously good. We had concerts and recitals and our parents were so proud of us. But the nice thing was that they never forced it on us. We played because we wanted to, not because out parents wanted to. And then there was that day," Soul took a deep breath before continuing.

"It was when I was about thirteen. I had been practicing this piece for an upcoming competition. It was really hard and I had finally perfected it. It was going to be at the Spartoi Hall, that fancy concert hall in downtown Death City. My piano teacher drove me over early and my parents and Wes were going to drive over later. They left the house and were driving. That's when they got hit. It was just some stupid mom talking on her cell phone and driving her big-ass SUV around that wasn't paying attention and drove right into our car. Wes was fine, but my parents…" Soul took another deep breath.

"My parents died that day. And the whole time, I was playing up on that stupid stage. And I won that stupid first place trophy. The first time I won first and they never knew." Soul paused.

"After that, things really changed. Wes threw himself into his music, winning competition after competition. Me, on the other hand…I was changed. I hated music. I hated it so much. I was convinced my parents died because of it, because they were going to see their son play some shitty music at some stupid contest. After their funeral, I didn't touch the piano once."

"Wes had gotten an offer to study overseas. He got a lot of those, but he never took them because he wanted to stay back to look after me. Stupid reason if I ever heard one. There was one day where we just got in this huge, ugly fight. One of the teachers from his conservatory came to our house. They had an exchange program with another music school in France and all his teachers agreed it would best for him, as a musician, to go study there. When the teacher left, I started yelling at Wes. I don't really know why I did it. I was just so mad that he was throwing away these opportunities for his stupid, slacker brother. It got pretty bad. I said some things I really shouldn't have and he got really quiet, all of a sudden. He sent an acceptance letter to the school the next day."

"Since he went off to live in France, I've been living on my own. I rented out an apartment and have been going to school here ever since." Soul turned to Maka. "And that's my life story."

Maka took a moment to process everything.

"Do you ever miss playing the piano, Soul?"

Soul mouth twisted into a lopsided smile. "I actually started playing again recently. When I rented out that apartment, the former owner left an old piano in there. One day, I sat down and just started playing. I'm nearly as good as I used to be and I don't do competitions or anything, but I enjoy it much more. I don't really play classical anymore. I play a lot of jazz. It's so much freer. You can do whatever you want and add in whatever sounds you like. It's about the feeling of the piece, not how fast you can play your twenty-fourth notes or knowing your Baroque composers. Jazz has real soul." Soul blushed when he realized he was rambling. "Sorry, I must be boring you."

Maka smiled and shook her head. "Nah, it's cool. I wish I had something I loved as much."

"You must have something," Soul said.

"Not that I can think of."

"Everyone has a passion."

"I guess I'm not everyone."

"Well," Soul said. "Why don't you tell me your story? Maybe you'll just start talking about it unconsciously or something."

"Hm," Maka said, unsure.

"Come on, Maka." Soul said. "I just told you everything. Don't I get the same?"

Maka curled her upper-lip. "Fine. But promise me one thing."

"What?"

Maka held out her pinky. "This stays between us."

Soul looked into her eyes, mischievously. "Is it that scandalous?"

Maka snorted. "Hardly. It's more…private stuff."

Soul wrapped his pinky around hers. "Deal."

Maka smiled and unwound her finger. "Where to begin…"

"The beginning?" Soul said, with a smile.

"Oh, now we're stealing my lines? Clever, Soul."

Soul shrugged, then laughed.

Maka pursed her lips and thought. "Okay. I was born to a mom and a dad, here in Death City. They both loved me very much but each other…"

"My dad was always a bit of a womanizer. He said he would stop when my mom became pregnant when they were both in college, but I guess old habits die hard, you know? Anyways, my dad was MIA most of my childhood, leaving my mom to take care of me. She was really something. She was beautiful and smart and kind…I want to be like her when I grow up. But then there was this one time last year..."

"I was upstairs in my room when my dad came home drunk. And when I say drunk, I mean reallydrunk. He started yelling at my mom. He scared me a bit so I didn't want to go downstairs. But I guess he must've said something that really hurt my mom. It got really quiet and I just figured they stopped fighting. My mom came up later and kissed me good night, just like usual. The next morning, she was gone."

"We were both confused. She didn't leave a note or call. She just packed up her suitcase and left. We didn't know what to do but try to carry on as usual. My dad really has been trying. Yeah, there are sometimes random women around the house and when he cooks, he nearly burns the house down but he's really trying. I probably don't give him enough credit for that."

She swiped at her eyes. "Every once in a while, my mom sends a postcard. I think she's traveling around the world. They come from all these exotic places, like Fiji and Iceland. But…"

Her voice caught. "I really miss her."

Soul wasn't sure what he was doing. But he willed his pounding heart slow down as he placed his arms around Maka's shoulders and pulled her into his chest. Soul was ready for Maka to reject him and pull away but he was surprised when she leaned into him, placing her tiny hands on either side of her head.

"She sounds like a pretty crappy mom," Soul said.

Maka shook her head and smiled. "Nah, she's pretty amazing."

"But she left you to travel the world," Soul said, wrinkling his brow.

"Yeah, she doesn't really take the best care of me," Maka said. "But what really makes her amazing is that she has the courage to follow her dreams and do what she wants, even at her age. I want to be like that,"

Soul was silent, thinking.

"I haven't told anyone this, you know." Maka said, shyly.

"Oh?"

She nodded. "I don't exactly have many close friends at school. That senior, Arachne, is such a bitch to me so everyone just kind of stays away. I don't even know why she hates me so much! I don't even know her!" Maka said, hands clenching into fists on Soul's chest. She took a deep breath and unclenched her hands, laying her palms flat. "Probably my best friend is Miss Marie, the library. But she doesn't even know this much."

Soul smiled. "Does that make me special?"

Maka giggled. "I guess so."

The pair stayed like that for a while, Maka leaning on Soul's chest and Soul resting his chin on top of her head and playing with the ends of her hair.

"Hey, Soul?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

Soul sounded confused. "For what?"

"For listening."

Soul chuckled. "You did the same for me, Maka."

"I guess we can call it even, then." She said, smiling.

They lapsed back into that comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's touch. Maka could hear Soul's beating heart, a steady thump thump in their unsteady worlds.

Suddenly, there were footsteps. They both felt the other tense. What is it? Is it good or bad? They both thought.

Maka lifted her head to look questioningly at Soul. He held his finger to his lips and pulled her tighter to his chest.

In the darkness, he couldn't see much. But he heard a voice.

"Fancy seeing you again, Maka."