Maka panics the second Soul's shaft goes flying from her hand. She can feel her eyes widen like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. Before she can register the kishin moving toward her, she's knocked into a brick wall. The force of the impact causes a terrible pain to shoot through her entire body. Her mind is hazy, her back and chest ache most of all, and she can just barely hear her partner shouting something.
She can't see anything. Her vision is just a pool of black and purple, any blood that was once in her head feels gone, and everything around her sounds fuzzy.
She closes her eyes and leans against the cold hard bricks. This has happened to her plenty of times, all she has to do was wait it out. She would regain her senses in full soon, and she would be fine.
A bone chilling shriek cuts through the air, paired with a cry from Soul. Maka's eyes shoot open and she practically jumps up onto her feet. She leans against the wall for support and once she regains her balance again, she begins to scan the whole area desperately trying to find her partner. She sees the kishin soul suspended in air and the burning smell from the beaten enemy lingers around her. Her eyes dart in every direction and they finally find the familiar mop of white hair slowly becoming contaminated with the red of blood.
It can't be his blood.
Her feet move before her mind does, and she was soon kneeling down next to Soul rolling him over and holding him in her arms.
"Maka," his voice is weaker than anything she had ever heard. She can tell he is in such intense pain worse than she could imagine, and yet he still manages a tiny smile when he looks into her eyes.
Her eyes are emptying out her tears so fast that her vision wouldn't be able to clear even if she tried.
"Maka, I—" Soul inhales sharply in pain.
"Soul, you're fine, stop it." she chokes out. "We'll get you to the hospital, you're fine."
"I think…" another wince. "I might…"
"Soul, no, you can't die. You're going to make it."
"Maka…"
"Soul, if you did, I will kill you." her tears are hot, coming down her face like waterfalls.
Soul manages a small laugh turning to a cry of pain, but he still looks up at her with a smile. "I don't doubt it." he breathes out. His face is now covered in both his own tears and the tears that are still falling from Maka's cheeks.
His crimson eyes close and his head falls. Her face is soaked with the pain and sadness of the mere thought of losing her partner. She leans her head down onto his chest and listens to the faint heartbeat as her tears stain his shirt.
—-
The beeping is the worst part. Aside from her unconscious partner who has been in a coma for the past month and a half, that is.
Maka can't stand the beeping of the machines— she never could. Machines indicating that they were, in fact, in a hospital, that Soul did not, in fact, make it out of that battle okay.
Sure, they had come out of kishin fights banged up and bruised, sometimes— many times— had to stay in the hospital for a few days. But that was only ever for a week at the most; seven days. Soul had been in this goddamn hospital for forty-seven days already and their apartment felt empty without him. He was going to be fine and be back home sometime soon, she was sure of it. But the wait was horrible.
She sits there staring at him, watching as his chest rises and falls with the sound of his breathing. He always was a loud breather. Her soul reaches out to his without even thinking and her heart shatters when nothing happens. She knows nothing happens, she's done that so many times before and she is well aware of the fact that he can't respond to her. His soul won't reach back, they can't resonate because he's in a coma.
She feels a trail of dampness appear on her cheek and she's quick to wipe it away. She's shed enough tears and she's tired of them.
She stands up and walks over to the window. Her legs are wobbly as she walks and she realises just how long she's been sitting down. She got to the hospital three hours ago and she hadn't moved since. She takes a seat on the windowsill and just stares outside. It's a rainy afternoon, it looks dreary and sad reflecting her own mood.
Soul loved the rain. Her loved the way it looked and loved going out and standing in it. It was relaxing for him. Maka didn't used to like it, but she learned to appreciate it over time. After so many times of Soul grabbing her hand and leading her outside to run around, to dance, to simply enjoy the weather, she eventually found it calming.
Not today. Today it's just a reminder of how the sun is gone along with all the light in her life because Soul isn't there to cheer her up. He isn't there to make her smile. He isn't there to make her feel happy.
She sees the raindrops roll down the window much like the tears that begin to roll down her cheeks. She doesn't wipe them away this time. Instead she lets them come. There is no point in stopping the inevitable sadness. No point in hiding it.
The tears feel good as they fall down. The sound of her sniffles make her feel somewhat better. She's cried so many times in this very room, but this has been the only time it made her feel less sad, less empty, less alone.
It takes her a very brief moment to realise that it's not the crying that helps her. It was the familiar feel of a soul connecting with hers. A soul that grabbed on when she reached out for him. A soul that has always been there for her and always will be.
She turned around to see those beautiful red eyes that make her heart flutter. They're crinkled at the corners and she see the corners of his lips are turned up in a smile. That smile is for her.
She runs over to him and wraps her arms around his neck. She picks her head up and kisses him, tasting the salt of her sadness now replaced with the feel of his lips on hers. It's a feeling of true bliss and joy.
She pulls away and see his eyes still crinkled at the edges, but his smile bigger this time.
"Soul," is all she can say. Her smile and downpour of tears hinder her from being able to speak and she's okay with that. That's all she needs to say is the one word. The one name. She said it and he heard it. He acknowledged it.
"You didn't have to kill me after all." he says to her.
"I hate you so much." she collapses, resting her head on his chest. "Don't ever do that again. You're not allowed to die."
"I love you too, Maka." he says as he presses a kiss to the top of her head.
They sit there without another word spoken. The only sound in the room is their content breathing and that goddamn beeping.