Eventide

Chapter XV

"You know, you look good as a brunette." Soul smirks while he readjusts the wig on my head.

I pout and look away from him. "I prefer my blond hair. What's up with these contacts? They are itching." Soul had not just given me a brown wig to wear, oh no, he had given me blue contacts and other clothes for me to wear. He said if a Meister from the Star*Clan sees me around Soul and then feels my wavelength, they might put two in two and hunt for me. I understand he is concern and want to be safe than sorry, but it was a little bit uncomfortable for me to wear those clothes, wig and contacts.

"Just bear them this one day. I promise you as soon as we get back to our apartment, you can rip everything off." A large smirk grows on Soul's face. "And a surprise will be waiting for you."

"A surprise?"

Soul nods. "That's right. A surprise." He plants a quick kiss on my forehead. "Let's go. It is time to fool some Star*Clan members." Soul grabs my hand and we walk out of his apartment, descending the stairs to find his motorcycle outside. We both get on and I put on his helmet while Soul revives the engine. It roars mightily before it takes us away. The wind blows in my hair as Soul avoids crowded roads as possible. He lurks in the shadows and I'm surprised how few people that actually notices us. Soul's bike isn't exactly quiet and it is very flashy with its orange beauty, many more people should have noticed the bike but only a handful did.

The bike pulls into an abandoned road. Soul kills the engine and gets of his bike. "I will teach you a trick and the road you will be taking. You will be running alone or else our cover will be blown. I will be waiting for you at a specific place. I will keep an eye on you with my Soul Perception." Soul speaks while he opens the secret compartment to put the helmet away and taking up an ear piece. "Put this on. I will be giving you instructions through this." Soul hands me it and I put it into my ear.

"But it doesn't have a microphone, how am I supposed to talk to you?"

Soul chuckles and cups my cheeks gently with his strong large hands. "As much as I would want to hear your pretty little voice, you won't need to say a thing. All you need to do is listen to my voice and follow my instructions."

I nod understandingly. "Are you sure we will be alright?"

"Of course we are. I'm not going to let anyone touch you." His hands gently slides down my neck, my ribcage to then gently seat around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "I don't like when people touch what is mine. You might not officially be mine, but I'm going to work my butt off until I get you back." His forehead gently touches mine and his lips soar over mine, not quite touching but one little twist of my head and mine would collide with his.

"Now for the instructions." He murmurs and I can almost feel his lips feather over mine. He pulls away and takes a step backwards, giving me some space. "Switch to your spiritual form."

I nod and close my eyes. My heart beats strongly in my chest. Its beat can crush boulders and bones. "By the way, you never let me tell you what the difference was between our different hearts." Soul didn't say anything, but I knew he was listening. "It is difficult to feel it since the beat of the heart is overpowering it." That is when I feel it, the gentle waves of my soul wavelength. It gently caresses my skin and I feel how my heart and soul switch like a switch and I turn into my spiritual form. "The soul is like a gentle caress. It is the total opposite to our heart." Slowly I open my eyes and there is a nice white glow around me like I had seen was around Soul and Hiro.

"Good. I'm going to be quick with my explanation. For us to be able to fight Kishins we need to use the strengths we get when we are in spiritual form and the one you will need is speed. It is quite easy, you picture it in your mind how you move quicker and quicker, how your feet almost fly over the ground as you run faster than the wind." Soul backs away from me and gets on his bike. "Run around that tree and see if you got it."

It wasn't hard. I got it on my first try, I was almost shocked with myself of how fast I could move and I was even more surprised that I had the time to avoid all the trees and branches. It is amazing.

"Can you hear me?" Soul speaks to me through the walky-talky in his hand.

I nod toward him and he smirks.

"Okay, listen closely, run straight forward. That will lead you out of the city." I don't let Soul finish his sentence before I'm running forward faster than the wind. The trees and branches go right through me. I giggle and run faster. Everything around me should look like a blur, but it isn't, I can see every leaf and every branch in HD quality. This is so beautiful.

"Keep running. If you can, run faster, the Star*Clan has caught the bait. Don't worry, they are far away from you, they won't have any chance to catch up with you." Soul's voice breaks out through the speakers of the earpiece.

I don't want to think about it. I just keep running. I force myself to run even faster than I did.

"You are starting to close up on me. Don't lose your pace, just keep running." Soul says and I find myself smiling. Through the branches and trees I could spot Soul's bright orange bike. A bright yellow flash comes into view and I don't go through it as easily as the trees. I run right into it and I groan loudly, finding myself on the ground with a large headache.

"MAKA!" Soul hollers into my ear through the earpiece. I hear the branches break and I turn back into my physical form. Soul's arms wrap around me and he runs with me away from the forest, I find myself on Soul's bike and he speeds away.

"That didn't go as planned." Soul says while he carries me inside of his apartment. "What did you even do? Your head is bleeding."

I groan as Soul set me down on his couch. "I don't know, I just kept running toward you and then it was this yellow glowing thing and I ran right into it. Then I found myself on the ground with this massive headache."

Soul makes a low hum, that sound definitely means he is thinking. "The only reason you could have run into something in spiritual form is if you ran into a Kishin or something else." Soul runs his hand over his rough chin, he definitely needs to shave. "I wonder… the only reason I can come up with is a blood line. It is the only solution that can turn physical objects into solid forms inside of the spiritual realm."

Everything slowly starts spinning and I breathe deeply while I focus on one spot on the ceiling. "But why would they use this blood line out there?"

"I don't know. I will have to investigate it furthermore."

"Can you get this blood line around my house? I don't want that Kishin to get to my father."

Soul gently nods while he grabs my hand. "Of course, I will get Wes to work on some right away." Soul immediately grabs his phone and sends away a text to who I suspect is Wes about the blood line. A stark black color captures my interest and I see a large flat screen TV.

"Why is there a TV here?"

Soul chuckles. "Surprise."

Wait. So this is the surprise? A TV?

"Why did you get a TV? You said you never get a moment for yourself so why bother then with a TV?" I ask confused.

"It isn't for me. It is for you."

I blink my eyes rapidly. "For me? But I don't need a TV."

"I got it for you to keep you occupied. Now when the Star*Clan is moving out of the city, I still want to keep you here for quite some time before you go back to school. We don't have that many books and I doubt you want to do your homework all day long, so I got you the TV to keep you entertained." Soul smirks while he gently lifts my head and lowers it on his lap. "Besides, cuddling up on the couch and watching a movie doesn't sound like a bad idea if you ask me. It gives a sense of normalcy and takes our minds off Kishins and Meister stuff."

I giggle. Those eyes on his. They are hypnotizing.

When I was young, my mother always used to tell me the eyes were the windows to the soul, you could always tell if someone was lying by looking them in the eyes. The eyes do not lie. That lesson she gave me is the most important one and the one that stayed close to my heart. Every time I look into Soul's eyes, I see the sincerity and the affection dancing like flames. I don't know if it is a Meister thing, but I really can see his emotions in his eyes. I doubt if Soul would lie to my face today, I would be able to see through it.

It just feels much easier to read Soul, he isn't like a wall anymore and we are actually able to keep conversations going. The bored expression is gone and now he expresses what he is thinking and feeling. Before all of this Meister stuff, I never thought Soul was even capable of expressing his feelings. I thought he was unable social awkward or something, but it all proved to be to protect outsiders from harm and not get them entangle in the web of invisible enemies to their eyes.

"I could use some normalcy right now." I smile wide.

"Sure, what do you w―"

His phone starts to play a typical melody that comes with the phone. Soul sighs loudly and curses before he answers it. He doesn't say much, he makes humming sounds while he stares off toward the wall. His eyebrows narrows and his eyes turn into an ice-cold stare.

"I will come immediately." Soul ends the call and gently takes my head away from his lap. "Sorry, the movie night have to wait, they boys need me at the barn. You stay right here. Wes will come here before nightfall so you won't be alone for too long. The apartment is protected so that Kishin shouldn't be able to get inside." Soul says as he walks toward the door. "I will be back at sunrise. See you." The front door closes behind him and I hear him lock the door.

I sigh loudly. I'm left alone.

A feeling of abandon and sorrow overtakes me, weighting down my body. I shouldn't be feeling like this. I knew Soul wouldn't be able to be around me twenty-four seven, but I had still hoped for him to not rush out like that. He isn't my personal bodyguard. He needs to take care of the others too, when night falls they will need to fight the Kishins while I stay locked up here inside of the apartment.

If my soul wavelength was so dangerous and fearful to the Kishins, then why aren't I on the field fighting against them? I managed to achieve Soul Force before, so I can do it again.

I snap out of my thoughts when someone gently raps against the front door.

Who can that be?

Slowly I get up from the couch not to upset my poor head that much. Unlocking the front door to then open it, I was convinced I had fallen asleep on the couch, or I was unconscious inside of the forest or I was high on medicine that Stein had given me while he treated me because this can't be real. There is no way this can be reality, this breaks all the laws of logic and the system Mother Nature set up.

"Mama?"

Gently the woman with the same eyes as me smiles back toward me.

"Hello Maka." Her voice is still as high and feather light as ever. I swear I can even smell the familiar scent of tulips and tea from her favorite perfume my father had gotten her once on her birthday. "May I come in?"

Words were out of my vocabulary. No words existed as I stood at the doorframe gaping like I had something to say but the words flew away.