Authors note: Hello all! This is my first ever FanFic although i have read plenty, and i would greatly appreciate any input you may have, im hoping this story might not be terribly long but there's always a chance that could be the case, anyways; please keep reading and i hope that you like it!
Chapter Two: Weapon or Meister.
Getting Maka to the Shibusen infirmary without touching her was tricky but with some tugging on her clothes, well placed hands, and luck they managed. The rest of the day was a blur for Soul who was tired enough to sleep for a week, every new task seemed to drain him even more. There was too much noise, too many people speaking to him and around him, all he wanted was the quiet of his home. Their home. No. He couldn't go there without her, it was noisy here but just the thought of being in that apartment without her made his hands sweat and a shiver run down his spine. No. The chair beside her bed would have to suffice. When the evening time rolled around and everyone was asked to leave, Naigus came by Makas' room. She offered him a blanket and some crackers but thankfully didn't ask him to leave. He wouldn't even if she asked and she knew it. 'I must be in shock' he thought to himself while absently rubbing at his ice cold arms and glancing over at Maka who looked as though she could be asleep.
Her face was serene, cast in the soft yellow light of the moon whose never ending laughter felt mocking tonight. He noted how her hair seemed to catch the light in the room and glow, he breathed in the staunch smell of disinfectant that seemed to cling to every surface, and the gentle hum of Maka's soul. He closed his eyes as his soul reached out for hers, groping blindly for the comfort of her presence. He watched as her chest rose and fell with each slow breath under the weighted medical blanket they covered her in 'at least she's breathing' he thought to himself as he pulled his own blanket up under his chin and settled down a little further in his chair. 'She's still breathing'.
Soul wasn't sure when it happened but somewhere between watching Maka as she lay there in the dimly lit infirmary and the morning when he woke to Stein shaking his shoulder gently, he had fallen asleep.
"Did you stay here all night Soul?" Stein asked, a little surprised. Yawning loudly and stretching his legs, Soul murmured "mmhmm" before sitting all the way up in the stiff and uncomfortable chair he had fallen asleep in and rubbing the heels of his hands into his eye sockets until white dots danced behind his lids.
Stein nodded, his clinical expression sliding back into place, he accepted that as an answer and took to personally checking all of Makas charts and vitals. It was then that Soul got a good look around the room, he mentally scolded himself for not noticing earlier how familiar the room was.
Soul shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and took a slow turn around the room to reminisce. The wainscoted yellow walls, the large paneled windows, Stein looking at charts, and the silly 'get well soon' posters. All of it took him back to their teenhood and how many times either of them had been in that bed. In this room. In a situation much like this, fearing for the life of their partner. A sudden loud knock on the door broke through his thoughts and made both of them jump. Soul looked at Stein and cracked a small grin "a little jumpy Professor Stein?" he ribbed. Stein cleared his throat and stated that perhaps neither one of them had slept very well last night.
Stein recovered from his embarrassment with a cough as Naigus strode in with a hard plastic tray of food for Soul and a thick stack of papers for him "Here Soul, you should eat. Get your strength up." she chirped. Spinning on her heels she handed the stack of papers to Stein with a nod. Soul ate but mostly poked at his tasteless grey infirmary food by Makas bedside as Stein and Naigus held a hushed conversation by the door, Stein nodding and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose every so often and Naigus tossing a wrapped finger in his direction.
Once her business was settled Naigus asked Soul to leave his tray just outside the door in the hallway and she would retrieve it on her way back through, and with that she was busy down the hall again. Soul looked up from his tray to find Stein looking at him expectantly "what's up?" Soul asked, raising his eyebrows until they disappeared beneath his bangs.
For what felt like the longest minute of his life Soul stared at Stein, trying-and failing to read his face, his body language, his soul. Anything. "Ahem" Stein cleared his throat making Soul jump again and held up the stack of papers in his hand. "These are the results of all the tests we ran yesterday on Maka" he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose once more and flipped to a page in the middle of the stack "i'll have to bring in a few different witches to assess this curse further but for now it seems that Maka is stable and it doesn't appear that this curse can be spread through contact so you should be able to touch her again."
The words had scarcely left Stein's mouth before Soul already had Makas hand tightly clasped in his own, he traced the familiar scars across her knuckles with the pad of his thumb and recalled in detail when and where each one had come from, he was there for all of them. Protecting her and fighting beside her all of this time, as a weapon Soul was willing to give his life to protect his Meister, that was his job.
Shame darkened his features as he realized that this time she had been alone. He hadn't been there and because of that he almost lost her. Soul felt a flare of red hot rage flood his body and grimaced. How uncool. Leaving your partner defenseless and then having the nerve to feel sorry for yourself was not how cool guys operated. He would have to apologise to Maka later for being the lamest partner ever when she woke up. When not if. When.
After what only felt like a few minutes, but had to have been much longer, Soul felt a soft touch to his shoulder "Soul? It's Tsubaki. We-we're here to see Maka" Soul turned to meet the worried eyes of his friends who no doubt walked in on him muttering to himself while holding Makas hand, 'So not cool' he chastised himself. "Did Stein leave?" Soul asked Tsubaki as he stood up and gingerly placed Maka's hand back at her side.
Tsubaki opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Blackstar who jumped on the foot of Makas bed and loudly proclaimed in his signature raucous voice "DON'T WORRY MAKA! YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW BECAUSE YOUR GOD IS HERE! IT'S ME!" before Soul had a chance to kill his best friend for jumping on Makas bed Tsubaki had Blackstar on the ground and writhing in pain "now Blackstar" she admonished as if she were speaking to a child "we talked about this, you cannot jump on a sick or injured persons bed" Soul shook his head as Blackstar whined some excuse about gods doing what they want. He loved Blackstar like a brother but sometimes he truly wondered if he was raised by wolves.
Soul turned away from Blackstar to wave at Liz and Patty as they entered the room and strode toward him "Hey Soul" Liz spoke with an apologetic voice as she stepped up to Makas bedside. "I'm really sorry about this but could you talk to Kid in the hallway like really fast? He's stuck on something and he said that he can't come in here until he talks to you about it." she pressed her palms together in a way that looked like she was praying and squeezed her eyes shut. "Uh.. yea i guess so" he mumbled, rubbing his neck absentmindedly before turning and heading to the door.
Soul glanced back at Maka as Liz sat on the foot of her bed and Patty gyrated wildly around next to her rattling off some story about giraffes being the true villains of the savanna before stepping out and pulling the door closed behind him. He looked down the quiet hallway in one direction and then the other before spotting Kid. He sat on one of the cloth covered benches a few feet away from the room pushing his palms together the way Liz had. Soul meandered lazily over to Kid who looked up as he approached with sorrow etched into every crease of his face.
"Hey Kid" he regarded the reaper with a respectful nod before leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. If he couldn't act like a cool guy then at the very least he could look like one right? Soul cast a sidelong glance at Kid who nervously fidgeted with his hands in his lap before springing to his feet. With robotic movements Kid came to stand directly in front of Soul and bowed dramatically at the waist, "uhhh…" Soul croaked dragging the last vowell out..
"I'M SO SORRY" Kid blurted loudly. Standing back up at attention he began to ramble and pace up and down the hallway "If I had known about the prolonged resonance I would never have even thought to split you up, I wouldn't even have considered it!, I didn't know, you never said anything. Maka never said anything! I suppose that does explain the look on her face when I asked. I just wanted her to say yes, I didn't want to hurt her! She looked so hurt Soul! I've never seen Maka look like that before, what do I do!" he took a deep wheezing breath without stopping his pace "This is bad, this is so bad. So so bad." Kid was beginning to spiral as his volume began climbing with each confusing admission "KID! What the hell are you talking about?!" He all but shouted coming away from his place on the wall and bringing Kid to an abrupt stop, split them up? Not happening. Kid hurt Maka? When did that happen? He would have noticed. Maka was awful at hiding her true feelings from Soul, she always had been.
Kid stopped his tirade and looked at Soul, his golden eyes pouring into Soul's crimson ones, "You're a death scythe now." Kid explained slowly "I thought that Maka would need a new partner to go on missions with since you would be handling official Shibusen business" he prompted, watching Soul closely, prepared to face his anger head on.
Souls mind was reeling, Kid wanted to split them up. He wanted to assign Maka a new partner and leave him all alone. And Maka knew. "How?" Soul asked in a dangerous tone causing Kid to shudder "what do you mean how?" Kid squeaked darting his eyes side to side and subconsciously looking for the fastest exit "how did you hurt her!" Soul spat, his sharp teeth grinding against themselves.
Kid took a moment to process the question; his jaw working, before stating matter-of-factly "Maka has weapon blood. She's
perfectly symmetrical. Perfectly." Kid said the last word wistfully and Soul wanted to strangle him. "To put it bluntly I asked her to come and train to be my weapon. But there's something else.." he let his voice fade away at the end causing Soul to lean in closer to hear him "in order to convince her to agree I may have told her… that you didn't… need her any more"
His face felt numb as he stared at Kid, his hands hanging limply at his sides. That's all he could do. He stood frozen like a statue as Kid's words washed over him, wave after wave of revelation. He was numb to everything. Everything, except his own raging emotions. Maka is strong, and brave, even without him she could take on a witch. Even though he knew it was stupid childish jealousy burned in his stomach at the thought of Maka- his Meister being someone elses weapon. Supid and uncool.
He should have known that something had happened. He should have known! You didn't want to know his demon quipped as he resurfaced in Souls mind. It was easier not to know, easier on Soul. It's always about Soul. He didn't bother arguing with his demon or trying to send him back to the red room. He was right. Soul was selfish and he knew it. Maka was never selfish. That's one of the things that made her the coolest partner ever. She hardly ever asked for anything from him, just his time and maybe some cleaning around the apartment.
He knew without having to ask that if Kid told her Soul didn't need her anymore that she would believe it, she always felt that he did all the work in their partnership anyway. Why wouldn't she think he didn't need her any more? She felt that he made Death Scythe all on his own. It was always a silly argument to him because of course he couldn't have done it without her, since the beginning no other Meister even came close. It was always Maka.