TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,
The royal courts of Eibon and Cinder have requested the honor of your presence to celebrate the union of two courts through the marriage of
His royal highness, Prince Solomon of Cinder
And
Her Royal Highness, Princess Maka of Eibon
At Priminstine Court
On Saturday, October 12th, XXXX at 11:00 a.m.
The crisp September wind brushed against Maka's face refreshingly, cooling down her heated cheeks. She'd always hated events like these, even if she did have company to keep her grounded. As much as she'd wish to lay her insecurities upon trauma, she knew well enough she'd been like this long before such had happened. She simply was not a royal who'd been built for large gatherings, but she supposed that made sense- her other half was the same way, after all.
"You look cold," the aforementioned commented from her side, "Do you need me to warm you up?"
With a little bit of a startle, Maka raised her head, turning to meet the eyes of her concerned fiance. Still, after all this time, with just a glance a smile rose to the Princess's face, warmth blossoming in her chest. "What're doing out here?" she sought back, raising a challenging eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be entertaining the guests?"
Rolling his eyes, Soul turned over her shoulder, eyes landing on the now opened ballroom door. "Well, Blackstar and Kid said they could keep them busy since they saw you step out," he responded, turning back with a complacent smile. "Is everything okay? You walked out pretty quick."
Like they'd done time and time again since the Spring had passed, they found one another's hand, their fingers intertwining.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Maka returned honestly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. At the small action, Maka watched the pinch in her fiance's eyebrows disappear. "It was just- a lot. A lot of noise."
Soul scoffed at the admission, rolling his eyes light-heartedly. "I couldn't have agreed more. Who would have known putting all of our friends and other acquaintances in one room would have led to such a loud event."
Maka simply shook her head, tugging at Soul's hands to bring him closer. "Hm, it's almost like I said that the other day before we sent out invitations for this. Who told you so? Huh?"
With pressed lips, Soul groaned, bending at the waist to drop a kiss onto Maka's forehead. "You're an idiot, you know that?" Soul murmured against her forehead, pulling away a single hand to brush away the stray pieces of hair from the blonde's forehead. "The court's going to be ten times that size in just a few days."
Maka couldn't help but groan, withering in Soul's embrace.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and all- but not for all the watchful eyes."
"Oh, don't worry. You'll be so focused on me you won't even remember the audience is there in the first place," Soul shot back cockily, tightening his grip on Maka's hand while he placed his other against her cheek.
"You're too much sometimes," Maka admitted, despite knowing his words held truth.
"But you love it- you love me."
Defeated, Maka nodded, watching as Soul's fingers danced across her cheek until they dipped under her chin. "You're right," he'd agreed with half-lidded eyes, "I do love you, sadly."
With a fake offended gasp, Soul drew closer until their noses brushed. "Oh, you don't mean that."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positively sure, Princess."
Even though Soul has used that title as a nickname time and time again over the past months, Maka still couldn't help but shiver at its use- and every time she did, Soul noticed. With a click of his tongue and half-lidded eyes, Soul bumped their noses together once more. "You still look cold," He said softly, "I can warm you up."
The finger under Maka's chin pushed up until their faces were angled together perfectly- and in Maka's chest, she could feel butterflies soar.
"Yeah? You can?"
Tilting his head just a bit more, Soul nodded. "If you want…"
Without faltering, Maka allowed her eyes to slip shut as Soul guided her forward. Their warm breaths mingled with the cold late September air- slightly chapped lips meeting one another. Although the kiss was second-lasting, just long enough to bring heat to Maka's cheeks, she could still feel the love that radiated with it.
Recovery hadn't occurred in just an instant. Reuniting, Maka found, took her back to square one all over again; night terrors dragged her down into deep panic-filled episodes and every so often when her eyes met with Soul's, she couldn't help but remember the night her love had almost bled to death in her arms.
She knew it wouldn't happen overnight though, and so did Soul; but that was okay. Maka hadn't been the only one still plagued with nightmares and fears of "what could have been's", but both of them acknowledged that was simply a human response to trauma.
They'd been working through it though; things had been better than before- more domestic- safer.
Pulling away from one another, Soul chuckled against her.
"Better?"
Maka had hummed in response, holding Soul's hands tighter in her own. "Much better."
Before another word could be shared, the distinctive clicking of heels had caught their attention. Both Royals had turned their heads at the sound, catching the sight of brown hair as someone had joined them out on the porch.
"Soul- Maka!" Jackie had called out, clapping her hands together. She had bowed her head in recognition for a moment, her hands following in front of her. "Sorry to bother you, I didn't know you two were out here."
Soul had only laughed at the sudden interruption. "It's okay, Jackie," He'd said, keeping one hand latched onto Maka's hand as they pulled away from one another. "We were just about to come back in anyway."
"Oh, perfect!" she'd exclaimed, pointing a finger back over her shoulder. "I'm pretty sure Stein wanted to make a speech or something. I saw him waiting around Kid and Blackstar."
With a nod, Jackie had turned back into the ballroom, the tail of her pink dress trailing behind her. Maka couldn't help but laugh to herself, turning her gaze back up to Soul. "She hasn't changed much since I last saw her."
"Thankfully," Soul smiled, letting go of Maka's hand.
Before Maka could whine at the loss of his warmth, a hand was pressed against the small of her back, pushing her forward to the still opened glass doors. "C'mon Princess. We have a party to finish up."
"Soul," Maka had warned dangerously, her tone sharp as she tried steadying herself on the gravel path, "I don't like this."
"It's fine," The white haired man insisted, tugging at her hands harder, "I'm here with you, I'm not going anywhere."
Maka had all but tumbled against her own feet, steadying herself against her fiance's forearms.
"I don't- I don't like it here."
Abruptly, Soul had stopped in his tracks, his expression still as he looked down to Maka. The two of them stood in silence in the middle of the gravel path, just meters away from the open field beside them.
Bad memories, Maka thought- bad, bad, bad-
"We don't have to, if you don't want to," Soul said softly, pulling Maka's hands from his forearms until he held them delicately on his own. "I just thought maybe… it would be nice to get out- make a nice memory in a place that used to be bad."
Used to be.
Maka scoffed, her eyes wandering from his eyes to the field beside them.
The grass was taller than she remembered it being in November. Flowers were still abloom- littering the grassy field with splashes of white and blue. There were no reminiscences of red anymore- no more metallic small- no screaming-
It was simply silent as Soul stood steadily in front of her, holding her, grounding her as she took in her surroundings. Birds chirped around them, bugs hummed, and across from her she could hear the steady- yet slightly wheezed- breaths of her fiance.
When her eyes wandered back to the aforementioned, she glanced down at the scars that littered his neck- and then up to the one that remained on over his eye. It had healed tremendously over the past few months, fading into nothing more than raised pale skin.
He was still here.
He wasn't gone- he was fine, healthy, even.
There was nothing to be scared about here.
"Maka," Soul called out, leaning in closer, concern lingering in his eyes, "We can leave, it's okay."
At that, Maka forced a smile onto her face. Soul needed this closure as much as she did- he wouldn't have brought her here if he himself didn't want to be here. "It's fine," Maka urged, tightening her grip onto him. "I promise, it's okay."
Soul had raised an eyebrow, wholly unconvinced. "Are you sure? You look like you're going to be sick."
"I'm not, I'm fine Soul."
Taking that as an answer, Soul began to backpedal again, tugging Maka along. "If it's too much, tell me, and we can leave."
As the two of them stepped into the field, crushing the grass under their feet, Maka could feel panic bubbling up in her chest. Before her, Soul's expression softened- his lips parting in a smile, his eyebrows drawn down. "We're okay," he insisted, holding onto her tighter, "We're both okay. I'm here."
Maka tried to focus on the smile across his face as he brought them further into the field- tried to memorize the way his smile tilted slightly to the right- tried to memorize the way his freckles looked on his crinkled up cheeks-
They came to a halt in the middle of the field- Maka's eyes moving toward the kingdom gates touching the skyline and the mountains that towered over them.
Soul turned his head, following her gaze as her eyes turned up to the mountains. "It's a pretty view from here." Maka didn't verbally respond. Instead, she simply allowed Soul to tug the two of them into the grass. Tentatively, Soul let go of Maka's hands to sit by her side, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. "See, all good," he laughed, leaning over to bump their shoulders. "The sun's going to be setting soon."
Maka raised her eyes to the sky which was cloudless and colored pink now. Distracted, she barely felt the hand on her shoulder that urged her to lay in the grass- following the touch blindly. When Maka finally returned her attention to Soul, the both of them were laying in the grass now, laying opposite ways from one another but their shoulders touching. Soul's eyes were settled on her, a smile splitting his lips. Maka couldn't help the way she smiled in return or the way her cheeks flushed with heat.
This felt right, Maka decided. After all this time, she finally felt like she was where she was meant to be. She didn't feel like she had to run to the corners of the Earth anymore- didn't feel like she didn't belong- not as long as she had Soul by her side.
"Maka," Soul called out carefully, reaching across the grass to encase her hand. "I love you."
Yet, Maka couldn't help the way her eyes averted to the sky at the admission, despite it not being the first time he'd said it. With her free hand, she brushed his hair out of his eyes, the smile she held not once faltering.
"I love you too, idiot."
