Please please please forgive me! I am so so so so sorry that I haven't posted in so long! There have been family issues and then college started xP I'm being overwhelmed with work. I'm going to try my best to keep up this story. Thank you so much to everyone who is reading, following, favoriting, it means so much to me. I love you all. I really do! Now, please enjoy chapter 15, Facts.
"You stupid little bitch," Loretta growled as she kicked Soul's kneeling form in the stomach for the sixth time. Soul, despite the beating he was being given, managed to smirk. "Where the hell is the rest of your soul?" Soul openly laughed at his mother.
"Did you think you were the only one to separate souls?" Soul asked with sarcasm thick in every word. Loretta brought her heel down on his shoulder. He would've collapsed if not for the chains holding him to the wall.
"You ran away after what we did to that little meister of yours," Loretta lifted Soul's head up by his hair. "Lucky for you, she doesn't remember any of it. I wonder how she would react if she found out that you agreed to it." Soul's smirk fell and was replaced with a scowl.
"You leave her alone," He growled. Loretta smiled viciously.
"What did you say again? 'She's the only friend I've ever made; I want to be close to her?'" Soul spat his blood-filled spit at Loretta's face. She dodged it easily and slapped him.
"You tricked me," Soul growled. "I was nine, dammit. I didn't know what the hell you were talking about!" Loretta laughed.
"And to think that was almost ten years ago! You know your birthday is coming up. If things had gone as planned, I was going to throw you a birthday party. Nineteen years ago, I gave birth to the worst thing that could've ever happened to me," Loretta finished with hate practically dripping from her mouth.
"Fuck you," Soul chuckled. Loretta twisted Soul's hair, pulling out a good amount.
"Tell me," she whispered, "Where is the rest of your soul?" Soul looked his mother in her eyes. He swallowed the blood that had accumulated in his mouth.
"It's with Lord Death," he whispered back. Rage completely covered Loretta's face.
"You lie," she seethed. Soul's smirk returned.
"Nope," he said almost cheerfully, "Lord Death has it." Loretta stood running her hands through her hair. She took a deep breath and placed her hands at her hips as she began pacing the small cell. She shook her head. To think her own son would pull a move like this was a surprise. She hadn't thought that he would be willing to go to such lengths. She stopped her pacing, and looked down to her broken son. There was a time when she really did love her son. But that love had been destroyed years ago. She sighed.
"I guess I'll go pay a visit to that precious meister of yours," Loretta said softly as she left the cell. The pain that shot through his heart was worse than the beating he had gotten. He hung his head in despair. He apologized to Maka. He said his goodbyes to Maka. If they managed to get out of this, she would leave him. He had been lying to her since the beginning. He had created a persona that he could no longer keep up. She had fallen in love with someone who didn't exist. And he apologized. From the very depths of the soul that he no longer possessed, he apologized.
Maka was back in the room they had kept her in since they took her. She didn't know how many days had passed since the ball. She was lying on the bed in a pair of grey sweats and a green tank top. She stared at the ceiling, imaging patterns that weren't there. She looked at her right arm. The three cuts that had been made there were deep. The scabs were starting to itch. They had been open flesh wounds so she knew better than to pick at them. She was still trying to wrap her head around all the events that had happened.
She entered the ball room and the only thing she saw was Soul. Her whole body had reacted to the sight of him. He looked healthy and strong. Her entire body filled with the same warmth she had felt at the concert hall. She couldn't help but smile. She blindly followed Mrs. Evans onto a small stage.
"I know that some of you are skeptical of the idea of immortality," Mrs. Evans started, "So for that reason, we have a new solution for you." Maka snapped out of her trance. Immortality? It was the first time she had heard of it. She looked back to Soul only to see him being escorted to stand next to her.
"We can now put your soul into a living person. As long as that person lives, you will live as well. Yes, we understand that there are a lot of risks involved that you can't control but, it is an option. We have the first pair right here!" She gestured to Soul and Maka.
Maka's heart was racing. She was scared of the words coming out of Mrs. Evans' mouth. She was also excited to be so close to Soul again. There was about three feet of space between them. The urge to reach for his hand was overwhelming. She wanted to feel with her own hands that he was as healthy as he looked. Maka felt the tears threatening to fall.
"We would advise against this option," Mrs. Evans continued. "Let us show you what happens." Two men came to stand behind Maka. One held her body as the other stretched out her right arm with her palm facing the audience. Maka didn't squirm. She looked to her right as Soul stripped of the jacket to his tuxedo and rolled up the sleeve on his right arm. He held his arm out just as Maka's arm was being held out.
She wanted to call out his name but she was too scared and too confused. Soul didn't once look at her. Instead, he hung his head. His shoulders shook slightly as the tears fell from his eyes. Maka felt her own shoulders begin to shake. Why wasn't he looking at her? How did he know what to do? Why was he here? Why had he been in the audience? Maka looked back to Mrs. Evans who was now holding a scalpel. She came to stand at Maka's right, blocking the view of Soul. Mrs. Evans brought the scalpel to Maka's arm and cut her arm in three swift swipes. Maka tried her best not to scream against the pain. Instead she bit her lip as small whimper escaped her mouth.
Mrs. Evans had expected the same exact wounds to appear on Soul. That was what was supposed to happen. Instead Soul's arm was a slight pink where the cuts should've been. It was as if he had scratched too hard. Soul looked at his arm and sighed in relief. Loretta had a brief panic attack. Her son had sabotaged her plans. She knew for a fact that she had placed his soul into Maka ten years ago. He somehow managed to take most of it back and hide it somewhere else. Loretta faced the audience.
"Well, it seems that something has gone wrong," she said politely. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience," she finished by bowing slightly. Loretta took her son by the arm and lead him out of the room. Even then, Soul didn't look at Maka. Maka was then lead to a small infirmary. She received a few stitches and was then put back into her room.
So Soul's soul was in her, not all of it, but enough for it to react to its original owner. Did that mean every time she had felt warm and comfortable with him, it was just his soul reacting to his body? Is that why they could soul resonate so easily? Was that why she loved him so much?… Maka rolled onto her side and curled into a ball. The tears fell silently.
The hardest part was knowing that he knew. He had known the entire time that a piece of his soul was inside her. There was a stinging pain in her chest right where her heart should be. She wanted to feel angry and betrayed. She wanted to feel the despair of being lied to for most of her life. But all she felt was a longing for him. Her entire body ached for him and she wondered how much of it was actually her. At that point she didn't care. She just wanted to hold him and hear him breathing.
Maka heard the door to her room open and close. She didn't bother to open her eyes as the sound of someone sitting down reached her ears.
"It seems that you've come to some conclusions," Mrs. Evans said softly. "Do you remember when we put Soul's soul into you?" Maka shook her head against the bed. Loretta sighed. "Shall I tell you?" Maka kept still and waited. Loretta stood from the chair and sat at the foot of the bed.
"You and Soul had just been paired as weapon and meister," Loretta began, "He was so happy. You see, he'd never fit in at home. We were all musicians and, although he was wonderfully gifted at piano, he didn't want to play. He wasn't very apt to the sciences and mechanics like his father. He began to ostracize himself…" Maka sat up. There were tears in Mrs. Evans' eyes. Whether they were crocodile tears or not, Maka felt almost sorry for her. Maka stared at the floor as Mrs. Evans continued.
"And soon we all began to ostracize him. He was the disappointment. But out of everyone, I treated him the worst." Loretta looked at Maka. "I did love my son," she said earnestly. "When I was pregnant, my husband had begun to see other women and had actually started a couple of new families with them. Every time I saw Soul's red eyes, I saw my husband's eyes. And I hated him.
When David came to me with his idea of immortality I thought he was crazy. And on top of that he wanted to use Soul as his first test subject. It was the first time that David was even looking at Soul as his own son. I couldn't say no. And then Soul found out he was a weapon. It was something he was good at. So when he was paired with you, I invited you over to our house. Do you remember? You used to come quite often." Maka nodded her head. She remembered. She used to call Mrs. Evans 'mom'. It was mostly because her own mom was always gone. But, it was also partly because Soul didn't call her mom.
"One day you came over and David made you guys something to eat. After a little bit, I called Soul out of the kitchen and left you by yourself. We left you alone knowing that you would eventually search for Soul. Soul had actually agreed to it, you know. Granted all I told him was that it was a new way to become closer friends. He jumped at the opportunity. He said that you were his only friend. He just wanted to be close to you.
Anyways, the process is extremely painful for both people. Soul became scared when he saw how much pain you were in. David had left me in charge and left the house. I couldn't stand to hear both of your screams. So, I left as well. When I came back, Soul had managed to put you in a bed in one of the guest rooms. He was weak. For god's sake, he was only nine. I thought that was all that needed to be done. When I asked him if he finished it he just nodded. I believed him.
Later that day your father came to pick you up. You were still asleep and we just said that you guys had been running around in the garden. At the ball, I thought that he had managed to take out some of his soul from you. But, reminiscing like this, I don't think he ever put all of his soul into you. I'm pretty sure he cut it off at one point and lied to me. Three days later he ran away. Yours was the first house we wanted to check, but you lived in Death City. Lord Death didn't allow us to go in. He said that Soul wasn't there.
David was angry. It was his first test subject and it had gotten away. A couple of years passed and this immortality business was really starting to take off. David faked his death and I went to find Soul. You guys would've been around thirteen. Instead, Soul found me. He told me to leave him alone. He said that he was happy where he was."
"That was right before we fought the kishin," Maka murmured. Loretta looked at Maka. "He went missing for a few days. He said that he needed to take care of something. I never questioned it." Loretta nodded before continuing.
"And then around two years ago, his grandmother became ill. She was the only one in our family that Soul actually loved. He came back to see her on her deathbed. I don't know what happened between them. But, he was the last one she saw. She died with Soul at her bedside. When he came out, he told me to stop looking for him. I couldn't do that. Our organization had gotten so large. There are many skeptics so we needed our first experiment to become reliable. He knew that the safety Death City had brought him was almost over. He spent a whole year running from us. We finally caught him in England. It'll be a year in ten days since we've had him.
We kept him for a while but we finally let him escape. We thought that he would go to where his soul was. At the time we thought that was you. We messed with you to see if it would get him to go to you. But he never saw you… He left you and we caught him again. You should've had some kind of reaction. That was the first time his soul had been away from his body for so long."
"I did," Maka whispered. "I hallucinated about him. It felt as though my chest was about to explode," Maka kept whispering. Loretta nodded.
"So, that's my story," Loretta concluded. "There's no more room for regret. My son hates me and I don't blame him." Loretta was almost to the door when Maka spoke up.
"October twelfth," she called out. "You took him on October twelfth." Loretta turned to Maka.
"So?" Loretta asked.
"You took him on his birthday," Maka answered coolly. Loretta stood stunned.
"Yes, I suppose we did," Loretta said to the floor. "Well," Loretta continued, "Your dinner will be here shortly."
"Wait!" Maka called out again. "Can I see him? Please?" Her voice was so desperate that anyone who hadn't had enough experience being heartless would've said yes.
All Loretta said before leaving the room was, "No."