Their lunch went well, Soul thought. He'd taken Maka to a small restaurant that wasn't overly packed and sat in a quiet secluded corner. Conversation didn't last long between the two of them, as Maka seemed too preoccupied looking out the window towards the busy streets of the kingdom.

They'd gotten a simple rabbit stew. It wasn't warm like the food inside the castle, but it was still filling all the same.

As they walked the quiet paths back to the castle, the sun still high in the sky above them, Maka plucked the hood from her head, resting it on her shoulders. "Thank you for today," The Princess started, pausing mid-step.

Soul stopped a few paces behind her, confusion lingering on his face. "It's no problem, really." He insisted. "I'm sorry we have to cut it short."

Maka turned to him, dropping her hands to her side with a huff. "A few hours is better than nothing, really. It means a lot you were willing to go through all of the trouble of sneaking me out in the first place."

Not really sure how to reply, Soul simply nodded, shrugging his shoulders. "I doubt being stuck in the castle all day is any fun," he guessed, remembering the first day he met Maka. A week ago today, the Princess had been standing on her balcony, looking out towards her kingdom longingly.

Maka had erupted into laughter.

Her laughter was so free and pure, so childish despite her adult years. It had Soul stiffening, taken back when his rocky heart leaped in his chest.

"Sometimes, I feel like the Princess who is waiting for their Prince Charming to come and break them out of their jail cell." Maka admitted through breaths of laughter. "Its such a stupid thought, but, all i can think about when im in the castle are those fairytale stories when the Princess lets down her long and luxurious hair for some knight to come and save her from captivity." She paused, her head bowing as she fiddled with the cloak in her hands.

"I know other royals probably have it worse. At least I have the freedom to roam the castle as I please."

Soul, deciding to ignore the heaviness that came with the second statement, broke out into laughter. "Does this make me your Prince Charming, Maka?"

With a screwed up nose, Maka doubled over in laughter once more. As she composed herself, she chuckled slowly and warmly, reminding Soul of honey. "I think this makes you my knight in shining armor, actually," Maka finally replied, lifting her head to meet eyes with Soul.

"So that makes you my Prince Charming, then." Soul pointed out, quite fondly. "That doesn't sound too bad."

With another hum of laughter, Maka took a step closer to Soul, knocking their shoulders together softly. "I'd hope it didn't sound all that bad, I personally think I'm pretty cool, you know."

"Oh, aren't you just full of yourself," Soul cooed, pushing back at her shoulder and taking another step down the path. "You wish you were cool."

"I don't have to wish to be something when i'm already it."

"Who on Earth told you that you were cool? Your mom?" Soul could feel his natural humor seeping through his "guard" facade with every step closer to the castle's premises.

"You know what," Maka barked from behind him, sprinting down the path after him. "She did, actually! And she's pretty damn cool!"

With a simple shrug, Soul felt Maka's presence at his side once again. "I mean, she's the Queen and all, so I guess by default she is cool."

With a huff of satisfaction, Maka fell in-step at his side with ease. The rest of their walk to the castle was quiet. For the most part, Souls attention was set on the land around them, scanning for any possible "dangers" that could arise.

It was quiet around them; not the eerie type of silence that had you on edge, more of the comforting quiet that had you swaying in ease.

It wasn't hard to sneak back into the castle premises, thankfully. It seemed as if most of the guards had abandoned some posts. Normally, Soul would be the type to think that was irresponsible and would be putting the royals in danger, but right now all he could be was thankful as he grabbed onto Maka's arm and ushered her around the castle.

"Where are we sneaking back in?" He whispered to the Princess as they shuffled around the castle walls.

"The window at the bottom of my tower," Maka replied through staggered breaths.

Soul simply hummed, urging Maka to run faster as they ran the entirety of the castle on uneven land. After what had seemed like a lifetime, they finally rounded the castle tower they were looking for.

The window was still open, thankfully. Without saying a word, Maka was quick to bring herself to the window first, pulling herself up and through the window with a surprising amount of strength. Once safely inside the castle, Maka turned to look out the window with a surprised look on her face, the hood of the cloak having fallen back to her shoulders once more.

Soul had a past of sneaking out and in of windows himself, so he hoisted himself up and through the window with ease, trying not to cringe at the sound of his armor scraping against the corners of the window.

As he settled his feet back on the ground, Maka was suddenly standing in his face. "We did it!" She whisper-yelled as she grabbed onto Souls arms, giving them an enthusiastic shake.

Taken back, Soul stiffened under the sudden touch. "Yeah, we did," he huffed under his breath.

With a shit-eating grin, Maka let go of him, turning and making her way up the stairs with a bounce in her step. With the smug feeling of having been able to practically kidnap the Princess from the castle for a day successfully, Soul followed the Princess up the stairs with a smile.

The rest of the day after that went along without a hitch. It had seemed like no one suspected a thing, thankfully.

When they had made their way up to Maka's room, the Princess had discarded the cloak under her bed after insisting it would look suspicious if Soul left with it in his hands. After that, Maka went on a long tangent about how beautiful it was out in the kingdom. Soul never thought the loud and crowded market-square was b beautiful in any way, but he didn't make any comment about that to Maka. If she was happy, that was all that really mattered. That was the purpose of taking her out in the first place; to make her happy.

After dinner, and having endured weird looks from Liz and Patty all night long, Soul escorted Maka back to her wing.

"Goodnight, your highness." Soul laughed, watching as an unimpressed Maka opened the door to her tower.

"You're so weird, you know that, right?" Maka shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Awe c'mon Maka, you know you love it. You love me."

He was pushing her buttons, he knew he was, but nevertheless, he felt a welcoming wave of satisfaction at the pink hue that tinted the Princess's cheeks after his comment. Even though she still looked quite unamused with his joke, Maka rolled her eyes, dropping her hands back to her sides.

"You're an idiot." Maka huffed before dipping her hand into her back pocket. "And to think, I got you a present and everything and now suddenly you're making false accusations."

With all of his confidence practically shattering into thousands of pieces in front of him, Soul watched as Maka pulled out the small leather pouch he'd remembered her running back to retrieve.

"You got me something?" He sounded more confused than he was surprised, because he was. Why was The Princess getting him gifts?

Looking up at him through half-lidded eyes, Maka handed him the pouch. "Take it as payment, for today." She started, her eyes flickering away from his. "I doubt you meant it when you told Jackie we were friends and all, but I still thought it would be nice to get a friend a present as well. I saw it at the last stall. I hope it's the right color. It looked like it was the same shade as your red cloak."

Maka almost looked guilty as Soul took the pouch, but he refused to read much into it.

With hesitant fingers, Soul pulled open the pouch to reveal a silver brooch in the shape of half a circle. Gems of white decorated the circle as a sword made of ruby pierced through the middle.

It was beautiful.

Soul was left speechless. He couldn't remember the last time he'd received a gift, let alone such a nice one. Looking up, Maka was staring at him with wide eyes, her bottom lip worried under her top teeth.

He felt compelled, after the events of the day, to finally admit to their friendship. While Soul, at the end of the day, was nothing but a guard to Maka, he could still be her friend; despite Blackstar's fears.

"I wasn't lying about that part." Soul confesses, worrying the cold silver item between his fingers. "I think we're friends, Maka."

A small, yet timid, smile broke out on the Princess's face.

"Thank you for the gift, seriously. This is probably the nicest thing I've gotten in a while, it looks wicked expensive." he hissed out his last words, studying the brooch carefully.

"I'm glad you like it. It was no problem getting it for you.I have the money to spare, you know."

He wasn't sure what exactly compelled him in the moment to take a step forward and close the space between them, but he did it. He swept the Princess into a short lived, and frankly awkward because of his armor, hug.

With quick fingers, he pinned the brooch to his cloak.

"How does it look?"

"Quite dashing, if i'm being honest."


His walk back to the guard's quarters was a quiet one. He watched in absent thought as the sun set just beyond the mountains, streaking the sky with hues of purple and pink. His bones burned with tiredness, but nevertheless, he felt relaxed.

After some time, he found his fingers tracing the brooch over his heart. It was cold still, the gems feeling foreign under the pads of his fingers. He couldn't help the smile that curled onto his face.

He didn't own any personal possessions that were not related to his uniform, as he'd discarded them long before becoming a guard. His fellow guards had a fair amount of personal possessions, whether it be family photos, items of jewelry, or even pieces of fancy clothing for special occasions.

He never thought it was important to invest his money for his own selfishness, as most of his saved up money went to buying items the guards needed.

His hands fell limply from the brooch as a soft, yet pleased, sigh escaped his lips.

He hadn't gotten a gift from someone in a very long time. Sure, Kilik and Blackstar always got him small things, whether it was a piece of warm food, buying him lunch, or even helping pitch in to buy new linens for his cot. He appreciated the two of them very much, but it was never like they had gotten him something so permanent.

Having been lost in thought, Soul hadn't caught onto the telltale signs of footsteps behind him. He hadn't even caught onto the fact someone was following him until he felt a solid weight press hard against his back, throwing him to the ground.

His elbows hit the gravel first. His instincts finally kicked in as his chin scraped across the staggered rocks. A shaky hand reached for his hip, grasping at the hilt of his sword. With trembling legs, he kicked his assailant as hard as he could, surprised when they barely moved off his back.

Panic was quickly settling in his chest as he felt knees dig into his sides painfully.

Using as much force as he could, he twisted under the assailant's weight, the back of his head hitting the gravel with enough force that caused his vision to sway in front of him.

There, straddling his lap was the last person he'd expected to have attacked him.

"Blackstar?" His voice sounded wrecked and through his distorted vision, he blinked. Warm liquid was flowing down from his chin to his neck, his nose burning.

Blackstar from above him looked down upon him with a look of utter disgust. His cheeks were covered with soot, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat.

"You're the dumbest piece of shit, you know that?" Blackstars voice was emotionless, so stony cold that it sent shivers through Souls spine.

"What the fuck, Blackstar," Soul hissed back, his tone dripping weith venom. His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword with an unsettling feeling of anger and fear mingling together.

Why was his friend attacking him? Was Blackstar turning on him or something?

"I didn't mean to hit you that hard, idiot," Blackstar hissed at him, his hands grabbing onto either side of his face. The touch burned. Pulling his hands from his sword, he swatted at Blackstars hands.

"Don't touch me." He warned, his fingers latching around the others wrists.

"I'm looking at your chin."

They sat there on the ground for a moment longer as Blackstar uselessly inspected his chin in the low light, his hands quickly leaving as Soul shoved him off him.

"What the fuck was that for?" He hissed, sitting up.

"Kilik told me you and Maka never showed up for breakfast." Blackstar started from on the ground across from him. "He told me he searched around the castle for you came and found me earlier this morning asking me to go and find you because he knew something was up."

They sat there in silence, Souls heart pounding in his ears.

"What do you mean he knew something was up?" His tone was cold, but he didnt care. What right did Kilik have to just assume "something" was up? What right did Blackstar have to just blatantly attack him for no reason?

Blackstar pointed an accusing finger at him, his voice rising dangerously. "You took him outside of the castle, didnt you?"

"I didn't." He lied through his teeth, his voice holding the same bite as Blackstars.

"Stop treating me like I'm an idiot. I'm trying to help you, what don't you get!" I don't want to see your ass getting kicked out of the kingdom for treason or something!" Blackstar yelled desperately at him. "You know exactly what happened in the Kingdom of Cinder with that selfish prick of a prince! Do you want to be the next guard that's tried for treason and become just another passing story?"

Anger flooded his system. Adrenaline flooded his system, every muscle in his body flying into the fight or flight response. The anger in him was boiling deep in his system as hot as lava, and it was starting to spill out.

"Shut up," He warned, his fists curling at his sides.

"No, I don't think I will," Blackstar challenged back with a crimson tinted face. "You've known the Princess for a week and suddenly you're her beck and call? You're constantly all over her."

"It's my job! I'm her guard." He pleaded, willing the fire in his system to cool with no avail.

"Liz and Patty are royal guards too, but you dont see them sharing breakfasts with the King and Queen, hanging out in every room with them and helping them sneak out of the castle to go to a stupid market-square!" Blackstars voice boomed around them, echoing. Anyone in at least a miles radius of them could definitely hear them, but it didn't seem like any of them cared to face the facts here.

"Where's your proof that I supposedly took Maka out of the castle?"

"Princess Maka," Blackstar corrected harshly, "I told you, Kilik asked me to go find you, so I went searching. I bumped into Jackie at the market-square an hour or so ago and said you showed up this morning with some new guard, and i know you were supposed to be with Maka today."

He paused mid tangent, eyes traveling from Souls face to his chest where the brooch laid pinned crookedly. "Let me guess, she bought that for you, right? Is that not the first sign of manipulation?"

He was frozen like a deer in headlights. There was no way he could get around the clear fact that he did actually take her out of the castle. But, that didn't matter to him anymore as the thought of Maka manipulating him once again floated around his brain.

"You're going to end up like that guard from Cinder," Blackstar taunted, "What was his name? Kid?"

The lava that had been boiling in his system finally exploded as he sat up and punched his fist hard enough into the gravel for it to make a disgustingly crunchy sound. Blackstar finched, eyes widening just the slightest.

"Shut up, you have no idea what youre talking about!" Soul screamed, his voice cracking as hot tears began to spill down his cheeks. He wasn't sad, he was angry. The type of anger that evoked ugly rage. The type of anger that caused tears to form unknowingly. "You're blowing this way out of proportion, you know that?"

"I told you I didn't mean to hurt you," Blackstar growled back. He was red in the face, like the color of an over-ripe tomato, red as a brick, eyes squinting meanly. "I know you Soul, and whatever this is," He motioned to him with a shaky hand, "Isn't the guard i know. What happened to you hating the royals? You literally preached about the spoiled rotten royals and how stuck up they were. Why are you suddenly changing your mind? Because a pretty girl came along?"

He paused, gulping in deep breaths.

"She's just using you. Imagine how lonely it must be in the castle. Imagine the entire weight of a kingdom sitting on her shoulders. She probably wants out like that Cinder Prince did, and if you're going to be his accomplice to her escape, I don't want anything to do with you."

"She's human, do you really think anyone would be happy sitting around a castle all day with no friends and a brick load of responsibilities on their shoulders?" Soul bitterly bit back. "She just wanted some damn fresh air, is that really such a crime?"

"She's a spoiled brat, she has everything she could have ever wanted at her fingertips- she has all the money in the world, she has hundreds of servants at her fingertips, thousands of 'followers'. Not to mention the kingdom people have been working for weeks on her upcoming birthday celebration. How bad can her life really be, Soul?"

Silence washed over them again as tears spilled down Souls cheeks. The salty liquid slipped down and through the cuts on his chin, stinging the wound.

"Don't do it again. You're going to regret being all buddy-buddy with her. I'm trying to keep you safe, Soul. I really am."

That night, he finished his walk back to the castle bitterly, unable to stop the tears that streaked down his face. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that his nose was possibly bruised or if he was still seething with anger, but he didnt care. None of the guards spoke a word to them as the two bruised and bloodied guards walked back into the guardian quarters, parting ways almost immediately.

Soul made his way to their bedroom, ignoring Kilik's presence entirely as he grabbed a pair of nightclothes and promptly left the quarters to make his way down the small path to the empty bathhouse.

He rubbed his cut up and bloodied hands raw. He burned his skin in scalding hot water, hissing in pain as his bruised elbows and neck slipped into the water. He scrubbed his scalp with sharp fingernails, reveling in the pain.

He cried until his throat was raw and scratchy, he hated to admit it. There really was no reason for him to cry, but it was so hard to not mourn his life before becoming a guard. He hated the empty and hollow feeling that had been left in his chest ever since he became a guard.

He hated the way Maka seemed to fill that hole.

Soul pulled himself from the bath. Drying himself off, he dressed himself, numbly walking over to the foggy mirror in the corner of the room.

He hadn't remembered looking at his reflection since he was knighted as a full-time guard, but he knew the second his face came into view that he was still the same person he was trying to run from all those years ago.

His eyes gravitated to the wound on his chin, which had already started scabbing. It wasn't as bad as he thought, thankfully, but it was as equally noticeable as it was painful.

Pulling his attention away from the wound, he took himself in as a whole.

None of his facial features had changed after all this time. His dark russet, almost ruby eyes were ringed with red, however, his lips chapped and slightly bruised; but the constellation of freckles that littered his cheeks were still the same, his cheekbones still sharp and prominent. As his eyes followed the curve of his cheekbones, he couldn't help but notice the raised skin along his hairline.

There, just below his hairline on his forehead, dipping to the right side of his face, was a slither of raised pink skin. His fingers traced the scar mindlessly as echoes began filling his head.

The sound of ribs breaking. The color of red as it stained the once white snow. The sound of a cry that kept him up every night. The eyes of a madwoman as she pulled her bow and let her arrow find its target. The sight of blood fogging up his vision as he ran. The burning sensation as the newly branded cut on his face peeled open.

He couldn't stop the bile from rising in his throat. With white clenched fists, Soul found himself standing back outside of the bathhouse spilling the contents of his stomach onto the grass.

He had no one to blame for how he felt right now but himself.

He wasn't supposed to be here.

He never belonged here in the first place, after all.