It's still dark in her room when Maka wakes up with a jerk so hard she almost launches herself off the bed with the sheer force of it. Her head is spinning, still disoriented from the weird dreams she had that tangle together, connected by a single common entity: Soul.
Everything in the dream felt so real too, like it was all really happening. The pink haired girl, the church, the room with the black and red curtains and the piano…
She closes her eyes, trying to stop the spinning by holding her head in her hands and it seems to work after a few minutes, her panting slowing down, heartbeat calming. Her hand reaches to the other side of the bed to grasp at Soul's for reassurance, but she can't seem to find him.
Opening her eyes, all she finds are tousled sheets, which at least proves to her that she wasn't dreaming that he'd laid down with her. Cuddled with her until she fell asleep, at least. Which was almost immediately because she still feels so freakishly at peace whenever he's around. But why isn't he here now?
This is what gets the fear to grip her heart. He was here, then why had he left? Is he still in the apartment? What if he had never wanted anything that happened last night, and had just came here to talk about whatever it is that he found during his mission? He had told her on the phone that there was something that related to her, but she hadn't taken him seriously at that time.
Maka groans loudly, shaking her head as if that will help clear the anxious rambling in her head as she gets up to search for Soul. She hopes he's here, at least, that would save her some embarrassment. The alarm clock on her nightstand tells her that she'd been asleep for four hours, and her mouth stretches in a yawn as if to prove that.
Her brain feeds her worst-case scenarios: what if he thinks she's crazy after the crying and imagining things? She cringes before she forces herself to turn the doorknob and to not give these thoughts any more power before finding and talking to heart still clenches as she faces the dark hallway, though.
No one can make me leave.
His voice in her mind is clear and raw as she hears the sentence ring, and she sighs to herself. Death knows he just got up to pee.
First, she checks the other bedroom, not that she thinks that he'd actually be there— she feels he wouldn't go inside a room that he doesn't absolutely need to. But just to lay some of her anxieties to bed, and she's correct. Soul isn't there.
With a sigh, her eyes roam to the end of the hallway as she silently closes the door, checking if there is any light coming from under the bathroom door. Not there, either, unless he prefers using the bathroom with the lights off. Her next guess is that he got up to drink some water, but that also proves unfruitful, and she's left with one last chance that he's still in the apartment.
Her heart is hammering in her chest as she steps as silently as possible into the living room, and there he is: sleeping soundly on her couch with only a throw blanket on him. He just didn't want to sleep with her, it seems. Inside Maka's head are two different voices, one telling her to bring him another, warmer blanket. He must be freezing! And the other is just the sound of her heart breaking.
Still, he's here at least. He didn't just hop on his bike and leave in the middle of the night. He must have meant it when he had promised to talk about everything that's been going on.
Maka walks over to the couch, fully intending to wake him up and place him in the other bedroom because it's sure to be warmer; ends up falling to her knees in front of the couch and resting her head on it to watch his sleeping face.
Contrary to what she would have guessed, he doesn't look happily asleep at all. His eyebrows are scrunched, his whole body seems tense, and she can see his eyes moving behind the lids. The conclusion is clear: he's having a nightmare. His mouth is even moving without any sound, like he's trying to talk to someone in his dream.
He's still adorable, and it is impossible to help herself as she reaches a trembling hand to place on his face. She watches with awe as his face twitches and relaxes with her thumb slowly rubbing his cheek; nowhere close to peaceful still, but calmer than before.
It almost seems like he's leaning into her touch when he squirms in his sleep, and her heart squeezes, imagining that he's doing it knowingly instead of when he's unconscious, probably just searching for warmth or some sense of safety in the midst of a nightmare.
Watching his chest rise and fall so slowly, hair tousled and face still cupped by her hand, fills her with so much ease that she feels sleep start to overtake her again even while sitting on the cold floor, and she finds herself closing her eyes and settling in for a quick nap, rubbing her eyes with her free hand and yawning hard.
But as she starts drifting off to dreamland, his hand covering hers pulls her back out and her eyes fly open to meet his crimson ones. His face has relaxed considerably upon waking up, but he seems almost as confused as she felt when she first woke up.
Maka tries to pull her hand back, embarrassed that she has been caught, but his grip is tight as he holds her there, even nuzzling his cheek into her palm. "Hey, whatcha' doing up?" His voice is laced with sleep, low and raspy and her heart skips a beat at the sound of it. How can he be so adorable and so hot at the same time?
"Aren't you cold here?" she wonders instead of answering his question, and he lets a small smile part his lips. It seems like he's having trouble keeping his eyes open as he tries to blink sleep away. He gives up the fight soon, his eyes fluttering closed as he hums.
"Nah, 'salright. What time is it?"
"Almost 6 in the morning. Why are you sleeping here?"
A loud groan leaves his mouth as he buries his face in the pillow, hand still molded against hers. Making full sentences doesn't seem to be acceptable anymore as he ignores her question, opting instead to grumpily order, "Way too early. Back to sleep."
"Why did you leave?" she asked, not taking him ignoring her question.
He lifts his head to look into her eyes then, making her shiver involuntarily. He seems lost in thought, probably trying to pull himself from the lull of sleep to string the words together. "I didn't wanna do anything you don't wanna." The words come out of his mouth in an almost inconceivable mumble, getting just a little louder as he continues. "I really think the witch is playin' us. Didn't know if I would be crossing a boundary."
She's having trouble understanding his words, but the meaning is clear; he just wants her to be sure that's what she wants. They hold eye contact for a while as her breathing gets shallow, before she answers while averting her eyes.
"I want you," she hears something missing the second the sentence falls from her lips, and she's quick to fix it with a blush coloring her cheeks. "There!" she almost yells.
"I want you, there. Sleeping with me- just sleeping!"
The save isn't nearly as graceful as she would want, and the grin on his face is huge before she covers her eyes to try to hide. He starts laughing as her groan echoes in the silence of the early morning.
"'Kay, yeah." he finally agrees, breathless from all the laughing, "Let's go back to sleep."
Then he gets up, helping her by her hand as well before guiding her back to her room. They awkwardly settle in the bed, facing opposite sides of the room, and Maka lets out a disappointed sigh; knowing Soul is thinking about keeping a boundary that doesn't exist, she probably shouldn't expect cuddles tonight. Still, having him here is enough relief as it is, especially after that nightmare she had where he escaped death by a hair.
"Soul?" she calls, silently as if he would be asleep after laying down for two minutes at most. The response she gets is a sleepy hum. "I had a nightmare before, you were in it."
Sheets rustling. Maka feels his body turn towards hers but doesn't continue before he gives her a verbal reaction. "Wanna tell me about it?" He sounds way more alert now, and she breaks out in goosebumps when she feels his eyes on the back of her neck, his full attention on her.
"Um…" she stalls, not sure where to begin since the timeline of the dream was messy. Just flashes of information jumping around different events that are connected. "We were in Italy, you and me. On a mission for some kishin egg… And we were children, thirteen or maybe fourteen." her sentence cuts off with a quiet gasp when she feels his hand snake around her waist, and she shimmies to move just a little closer to him.
Soul squeezes her waist, waiting for a moment before pulling her to lay her head on his arm. There is a goblin inside her now that craves his affection, and it's yelling closer over and over in her head. Seeing no reason to disappoint the thing, she wiggles and squirms until her back is flush to his chest, his legs curved behind hers and his arms tighten around her middle and shoulders. He is so warm against her, and being cradled in his arms like this makes her feel safer than ever.
With a sigh, Maka takes one more moment to place her hands on his, interlocking their fingers before continuing.
"There were… I think, three different scenes. One where we were sightseeing on your bike, that one was fine. Another one where we hunted the kishin egg… But the third one wasn't as fun." She takes a deep breath and squeezes his hand, having him wrapped around her body like a blanket making the dream feel less real, giving her the power to continue. "There was this church. This pink haired girl with a black sword, we were fighting her. And she just kept mentioning how the doors only open inward."
Soul's body tenses, his hands squeezing hers as focused as she can on the dream with his warm breath looming right over her neck. "Then what?" he urges, voice strained.
Maka turns around to look at him and places a hand on his chest, right where the scar is. Her eyes water when looking into his, the red reminding her of how he was lying in her arms, lifeless and bleeding; so she closes them.
"I tried to dodge, and I tried to escape through the doors…" Each breath she takes is shaky as she tries to recount the worst part. "But they only open inward. I forgot. And you…"
The tears are rolling freely now, she had no idea just how much the dream had really affected her until telling him about it. One of his hands jump to her face to catch the drops and rub her cheek slowly, crimson eyes boring into hers when she opens them to take a peek.
"You transformed back and the sword hit you… Right here." She traces his scar over his shirt with feather light fingers, watching with rapt attention as he grabs and brings her hand to his lips, slowly kissing each fingertip.
Her breath catches when he leans forward, pressing his forehead to hers. "And?" he asks, and somehow Maka guesses that he's not asking about the rest of the dream. More tears fall quickly as she thinks about her next sentence, like saying it out loud will be confirming the power this dream has on her, but she finds herself also wanting to do it. The dilemma is solved easily when Soul brings her hand back to his chest and squeezes while waiting for her, watching her intently.
"And it felt more like a memory than a dream."
It's silent for a minute after that, before Maka starts feeling warmth rush to her body and soul. Trying to figure out the reason, she almost misses the soft, slow way his soul carefully reaches out to hers, asking for permission to intertwine. With a shaky breath, she lets him in, feeling his soul coil around hers timidly. She expects backlash, a rough refusal of their connection with both being thrown to opposite sides of the room as always…
But nothing happens. They are resonating.
The rate is very low, not even beginner level but the connection is strong and healthy. Maka's chest feels lighter, the dream or memory suddenly not so important anymore as they get a feel of each other's souls. "Wow," she whispers and feels him shiver, but realizes quickly that it's not his body that's quivering. His soul is buzzing, moving all around his chest with excitement and he makes no attempt to hide that this happiness is caused by their closeness, body and soul. She can feel strength and loyalty ooze from his soul to hers, in a way that's also cautious, like he's trying not to scare her away.
It's a little embarrassing to open her soul up to him, next to his, her soul is this tiny thing with wings that's really just cute. Nothing special. The insecurity must have slipped right into his soul from hers, because he whispers, "That's not true." and shakes his head, but doesn't say anything more. His soul is broadcasting some sort of pride for her, but she can't completely figure it out.
Their resonance brings her a new sense of calm: he's right there, with her, and his soul is telling her there's nowhere he'd rather be at that moment. She completely agrees. With this sort of trust that no one is leaving, her conscious thoughts go back to the dream she had, trying to decipher its meaning. That's when her scenery rapidly changes and she's not in her room anymore; she hears Soul gasp her name, but she can't hold on to it for long before her vision is taken over by the scene in front of her.
She has no control over her actions as she uses Soul Perception on top of a building— in Italy, a feeling tells her; the many human souls in the church disappear in a matter of seconds. She tries to scream and run the other way instead of dragging Soul to his bike, but she can't. Her body is not her own, and she instinctively knows what happens after this.
But instead of going to the church, everything blurs together as they ride through the streets of Italy, and they end up in an underground tunnel, the one she knows that the kishin escaped from, bike nowhere to be found. The pink haired girl from her dream is there, as well as Soul, who's watching her in his weapon form, as she hugs the enemy.
What?
As Maka hugs the girl, a couple memories rush in; one that belongs to the girl, where she is a child and she's locked inside a room with a puppy, and one of them together on a beach, inside a circle in the sand. The scenes fill Maka with a sense of unexplainable compassion towards this girl instead of the anger she's been feeling, and she looks back at Soul to see him sitting down, watching them with a slight smile.
She's pulled deeper into the pool of these memories as the scenery changes once more with a flash, and they're sitting at Maka's dinner table eating takeout, silently with crossed brows.
Maka gets up first and places her plate in the sink. Soul also gets up, but doesn't move until she is in range, then as she tries to pass him to get to her room, he grabs her arm to turn her around and presses his lips to hers.
It's just a lip lock that goes on for seconds before he pulls back just slightly, enough to look into her eyes.
"I love you," he whispers, and she can feel the fear moving through this Maka's body, though her own reaction is not much different. His voice raises as he continues. "I've always been in love with you, and you know it! I'm sick of pretending we don't have feelings for each other. It's not like anything's changing, Maka. Stop acting like a dick because you're scared."
In her own body, she feels Soul squeeze her, their foreheads still pressing together. She vaguely notices his breathing is heavy, and wonders if he's seeing the same memory as she is at that moment.
Waiting for a reply, he keeps staring at her until she starts to shake. His eyes soften when he notices, and he runs his hands up and down her arms to soothe her. It doesn't work.
She feels this Maka's feelings coursing through her veins: she's always known Soul has loved her, just like he said. And of course, she loves him too. He's so easy to love. What's scary is that she isn't. She's always been bossy, and a know-it-all, and she's well aware that she doesn't have anything going for her in the body department; like Soul as a child has always had fun mentioning.
And like all that isn't good enough, she doesn't know how to love. The only example she has is of her perverted father and her mother leaving her. Just what is she supposed to do with that?
It's at that moment when this Maka realizes that she has seen an amazing example, and he's standing right in front of her. The way he loved- loves her is so soft, safe, and respectful. Couldn't she just take his example instead of her sick parents?
"Look, I…" Soul starts, he's never been good with long silences, she thinks. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, like he does whenever he's nervous or thinking something over, lingering for a moment to pull on the strands. "I'll give you some space. In my room if you need me, okay?"
His room? Maka is pulled back from the moment, as confused as one can be, but it's secondary to what the other Maka's feeling, which is just pure agony. Fear, sadness, anger is all there, mixing with the elation from his confession and the pride of being loved by someone like him. It's all overwhelming and Maka wants— no, needs to stay inside this parallel universe just a little longer.
The squeeze he gives her before starting for the hallway is the last straw, and she calls for him without even deciding on what to say. He turns around with a yeah? and raised eyebrows, and heat rushes to her face instantly.
"I'm sorry." Maka's practically yelling; apologizing has always been hard, but especially to him, to acknowledge that she's done something to upset him is the worst. She wants him to be happy, she wants him to be happy because of her. "For being a dick."
It's obvious that he's holding his laugh back, but his poker face is still admirable. "Thank you." he manages to say without laughing, but with a huge, stupid smile on his face before turning back around and stepping towards the hallway. The last thing Maka feels from this memory is the other Maka getting ready to invade his personal space and scream the three words back to him.
But before she can see what happens next, Maka's pulled back to reality and it makes her stomach churn. She opens her eyes to find Soul wrapped all around her, looking about as shaken as she's feeling. Crimson eyes open wide like an owl's, unbelieving and unfocused as he stares at her. The second he blinks; information starts to flow through their connection. He'd also seen some scenes, but they were different. Maka could only see flashes of some scenes, but she could pick out a few that feel significant.
The one where he confesses his love is the same, just from his perspective. She can feel his anxiety, his excitement when he kisses her— for the first time in that universe, she realizes— and his happiness when she apologizes. Then another one where she tells him, this time, decidedly not fighting. Heat rushes to her face as she connects the dots that her double didn't tell him in the first memory, and she decides to close her eyes instead of looking into Soul's, trying to gauge how he's feeling about this.
The last two scenes are much more normal than these two, but it's still intense to feel everything that Soul is, because he feels so much. One of them is where she's reading on the couch and he's trying to drag her outside to go play basketball with their friends, and she feels his worry for her wellbeing, and anxiety over the possibility of their partnership going sideways after the incident at the church. The last one is them falling from the sky during a fight, and Soul making sure he's the one taking the damage instead of her; letting her fall on his chest as they break some stall.
That seems to be all of them and Maka opens her eyes with a shaky breath to find him staring at her already. They take a couple minutes, panting and confused, before she decides to break the silence. "What was that?"
Soul shakes his head. "I don't know. They feel so… real." He pulls her even further towards his chest, sighing into her hair when she tucks her head right under his chin. "Maybe they're memories from a different universe. Is that something a witch can do?"
A dry laugh sounds from her throat as she answers, "Showing us memories from a different universe? I think if there was a witch who could do that, we would know." She rolls her eyes, that's something probably even Eibon himself would have failed at if he tried, in her opinion. "What if they're false memories she's trying to plant? You did think she's trying to mess with our memories."
Soul hums thoughtfully, taking a moment to think before answering. "Yeah, but whenever I try to figure out why she chose us, I come up empty handed. We were basically strangers until a couple weeks ago, we're just ridiculously attracted to each other. How would she even know that?"
Maka shakes her head, the smugness is almost dripping from his words even in this situation. He's completely right, but that doesn't make her want to smack him any less.
Silence reigns for a while as both are deep in thought, before Maka chooses to break the silence when it becomes unbearable. "Soul?"
His response is another hum, his mind is somewhere else but at least he's awake. "Can we try resonating again? To see if it happens again?"
He pulls back; brows crossed as he searches her face for some kind of explanation. "Sure. Why not?" He responds, sounding somewhat distant like he's not sure he wants to try it but goes with it for her sake.
Still, Maka's going to take it if it means getting closer to a solution, even just a little.
"It's just, I was starting to piece together some of the things we saw, and the more I think about it the more I'm sure that Kid and Stein wouldn't be forcing us to resonate if they didn't think we'd absolutely have to at some point." She reasons, pulling back to sit up with her back to the headboard, staring at him until he copies her.
"Maybe there is something in these visions that will bring us closer to the witch, maybe some clues about who she is or what she's looking for. Please?"
He sighs loudly, before squeezing the bridge of his nose like he's willing a headache to leave. "Might be right." He extends his hand the same time his soul reaches out to hers, and as she takes his hand, she also lets him connects their souls.
Their souls tentatively wrap around each other, bobbing and shaking as they try to settle in resonance once again. Maka's teeth grit and eyes shut closed as she tries to keep the connection between them, she feels Soul is squeezing her hand in a death grip.
After only a few seconds of forceful resonance, their souls fall apart and the connection shatters so forcefully that they're almost thrown off the bed again. It's still a failure, but at least it's the best outcome of one, she tries to console herself as Soul groans and gets off the bed; the last thing she feels of their resonance is their combined disappointment as it fizzles out without a trace.
Since the first class after their make out session at the party, this is the most awkward moment between them. Soul had gotten out of bed immediately after the failed resonance attempt and walked into the kitchen with Maka following close behind.
If they were able to look each other in the eye, the morning could've gone by in domestic bliss. They had cooked breakfast together, ate on the couch while watching whatever was on the TV, brushed their teeth after and now they are making tea, but the only words exchanged so far are eggs okay? and coffee or tea?
Soul is struggling to hold onto a groan to not annoy her, but everything feels so wrong. He wants to talk to her, figure out some theories and maybe questioning Kid, talk about them before these false memories take over their emotions but he can't seem to utter a single syllable.
That is, until Maka decides to break the silence and take the awkwardness head-on.
"Guess we should talk." She says while pouring water into their cups, pushing one towards him without even sparing him a glance.
"Yeah," he starts, trying to rank the importance of the situations at hand. Not caring what this means about the kind of person he is, he decides to completely ignore the witch problem, and goes for the one question that's been bugging him for days now.
"What exactly do you want with me, Maka?" he asks, not lifting his eyes from the teacup in front of him for one second, and hears her sharply breathe as soon as he finishes his sentence. "I can't figure you out. We had an amazing date before I left, at least I think so, but we had only one phone call when I was in Alaska and you were so distant, I could tell something was wrong."
Giving her a moment to answer, he looks back up at her but she's having a staring contest with her own cup, brows furrowed, eyes closed; like she feared exactly this question coming up. When she doesn't speak for a few minutes, he continues with a softer voice, just a little louder than a whisper.
"Last night was amazing," reaching for her hand makes her look up in shock, face flushed with the memory of everything that went down. "Before the witchy stuff hit us, of course. And then you want me to sleep next to you? What happened before that call, Maka?"
To be fair, Maka must have guessed this was coming. She had been awkward— and kind of scared, he guesses— with the romantic stuff, but it was going well before he left. The only issue they have had was that phone call.
He feels her squeeze his hand; eyes boring into his before she shuts them close as she starts her explanation. "I was jealous, I guess."
It's his turn now to be shocked, mind empty as he tries to understand exactly what she was jealous over, but he comes up empty after going over every interaction they have had. Ever.
"Why, though?" he asks, puzzled and she lets go of his hand with a sigh. His immediate reaction is panicking, thinking he's managed to push her enough for her to want to run. Realizing she's only moving to the couch, he grabs his cup to follow her to the living room, settling in for a probably long talk.
"Right after you left, I had a chat with Remera. Now that I think back to it, I'm sure she was trying to get me to get jealous and mad at you, and I played right into her hand."
So many questions filling his head at that moment, but between the elation and the confusion only one stands out. "Wait, wait, wait." He stops her, "Who's Remera? Why would she want to make you jealous?"
Maka looks at him with brows furrowed, face red with anger, probably. She yells, "One of your two dates. Death, Soul, you can't even remember her name!"
"What?" Soul is as confused as can be as he stares at her, "I don't know anyone named Remera."
"See, that's exactly what you said that time too, but she told me you guys went on a date!" she defends, "Exactly the same one we went on, actually."
He keeps looking at her, shocked more than anything that she chose to trust a stranger she's met once over him. It kind of hurts, but he still waits for her to explain more without commenting, choosing to sip on his tea instead.
"Keep talking," he urges when she doesn't elaborate.
She squints her eyes at him, but continues anyway. "Well, she told me you guys had dinner at your place and watched an action movie. And that it went so well that you decided to use the same date on me."
"And you believed her?" his eyebrows almost reach his hairline now, still more surprised but feeling anger starting to rise. He wants to shake her and tell her none of that is true, beg her to believe him, and find this girl who tried to ruin his chances with her… Who knows how he'd get her to apologize and tell Maka that everything she told her were lies.
"Well, no…" Maka stops mid-sentence, blushing but quickly covering it with her hair, turning away from him for good measure. Now that's interesting.
"And?"
She shakes her head, telling him to shut up and change the subject under her hair. It's confirmed that he's onto something amusing here, and he pushes her further. "No, no; I want to hear the whole story with all the details. No director's cuts, Maka, what happened next?"
"I told her the dinner wasn't even that good… Butyourtonguewas."
She buries her face in one of the pillows so fast he's almost not sure he completely understands what she said. A grin splits his face, hurting his cheeks as he reaches for her wrists to make her let go of the pillow.
"Maka. Oh my god, that's amazing." He manages to take the pillow, but she's still looking at the side. "Look at me," one of his hands go to her chin, pulling a little so he can see her face. She graces him with the tiniest of smiles when she sees him grinning.
"I'd pay good money to witness that moment. How did she react?"
She shakes her head as her smile gets wider, "I don't know. I walked away."
A loud laughter rumbles from his chest, and his other hand goes to her cheek to pull her towards himself, "You're the coolest." He says before kissing her softly, only lingering for a moment.
"But, I'm still curious to what got you so down about this conversation since you obviously didn't believe it at first. What went wrong?"
With her eyes still closed, she continued telling her story. "Well, not at first… But you were away, and I didn't know much about you— so I thought who's to say…" She trailes off, and Soul's throat clenches when he realizes she's right. They've gotten very close, and they are going through some weird shit together, but they don't really know each other. There was no way for her to know if he was telling her the truth in this situation.
Pride and happiness filled his chest though; her first reaction was to believe him, that meant she had instinctively trusted him. He had to have done something right, then.
"I realized the second the call disconnected that I was wrong. She probably overheard us, and it's obvious that she holds some kind of infatuation for you… She was probably lying. I felt so dumb to have gotten so worked up over nothing. I felt mortified to see you."
She sighs shakily when he brushes her hand with his thumb, and moves to squeeze his hand instead. His heart skips a beat at how natural it seems now to be holding hands with her, to her as well, apparently.
"I still had to think it over, though… What she said really affected me, and it took Kid telling me that you're in danger in Alaska to realize exactly how much I want this, want you…"
She trails off again, and its his turn to blush as she keeps squeezing his hand. His body is slowly losing most of the tension it had when they first started talking about this, considerably calmer now that he knows most of the story, and what Maka wants.
"Okay, but were you serious about the dinner? 'Cause that will one-hundred-percent affect my outlook on this relationship." He manages to breathlessly chuckle out.
Maka rolls her eyes, laughing and trying to dodge his hands as he tries to get a hold of her face again. Between breathless chuckle, come here's and slapping hands away he manages to catch her and place his forehead on hers. So? He whispers when they're both calmer, and breathing normally.
"I don't know, I would have to taste it again. It's been so long," she teases.
"It's a date." His response is immediate as he runs his hands over her arms, feeling goosebumps forming under his touch.
"You know," her voice is lower than before as she starts, but he doesn't even have to strain to hear. All his focus is on whatever will come out of her mouth, any time of the day. "I would need to sample more of your cooking before I can make an overall comment."
"I'll cook anything you want, anytime. I'll even grow the ingredients myself if you give me a couple months."
Maka giggles, and it's music to his ears. He doesn't need any piano, any violin if he can just listen to this sound until the end of his days. He wants to tell her, wants her to know he's thinking forever instead of casual; but he's just barely gotten her and she's for sure a flight risk, so he keeps it to himself.
"So, you want this? Me cooking for you until I can prove I'm an amazing cook?" he asks instead, hoping she somehow understands what he means, and agrees.
"Amazing is a very high goal, Soul. It might take some time, and I'm very picky when it comes to food. Are you okay with that?"
He's never heard a better question in his life, and nods frantically; going in to kiss her again, tackling her as her hands wrap around his neck. Way too soon, they have to separate for breath and he tries to go for another one, but she stops him with a hand on his shoulder, suddenly more serious.
"We still have the other thing to talk about, right?"
His head drops on her neck in defeat, "I would rather do this," he pouts before placing a kiss on her shoulder, and she replies with a complaining mumble.
"As nice as that feels," she sighs out, "You know we need to figure this thing out before anything, Soul."
He sits straighter, groaning but nodding anyway. She is right, if they can't understand what the witch's intentions are, they aren't even sure of the jumble of memories they have on their hands. Maka's sure to be thinking about the same thing as she reaches towards her tea with a sigh.
"So, where should we start?" he asks, watching her flushed face scrunch as she takes a sip. Tea must have gone cold.
"I don't even know." She folds her legs under her on the couch, "These memories… I hate to admit it but they're getting to me. I can't confidently say I know what's real and what's not anymore."
He nods thoughtfully, silent for a moment. Deciding that their best shot at encoding these dreams is leading Maka through them one by one, he asks: "Which one feels the realest to you?"
Her reply is immediate as she changes her position again, pulling her knees to her chest; obviously uncomfortable with the topic. "Your scar. The church."
"The dream you had? Okay, want to try putting it on a timeline to see if we can find any inconsistencies?"
She looks at him like he grew another head. "What?" he questions.
"Nothing, its just, I was thinking the same thing."
"And that's a bad thing?" he asks, mock defensively.
"No! I just meant it's more something that I would come up with." She tries to save, rapidly.
He grins, "I'm offended, Maka. What, you think I'm not smart?"
The next thing he feels is a smack on the head, before she starts retelling the dream she had while he writhes in pain. They spend around 20 minutes trying to find a gap in the dream but coming up empty.
"Well, that was a waste of time." He says, looking at Maka who's full focus staring at his chest, much like she did through the story. She looks like she's almost trying to will herself to not cry.
With a sigh, Soul tries to take a different approach. "So, do you want to try resonating again, instead of trying to use reason to figure this out?"
"Are you sure? What if it doesn't work? Or what if it does and we see something we're not ready for?" She's spiraling, he notices, and takes one of her hands to place on his chest.
"Maka, chill. We need to do this, okay? Look, Kid and Stein are sure that if we can't resonate properly, this mission is shit anyway. So let's just stop overthinking and try." Her expression is unreadable as she nods slowly. "Besides, I think after the stuff this morning, there isn't much else we can see that'll wreck us, right?" he grins, but it's crooked and heat rushes to his face, remembering a specific one of those memories.
His blush is reflected on her face as she snorts before maneuvering her hand to hold his, looking a little more determined than before, at least. "You're right. Let's try." And he feels her soul nudge hers this time.
Maybe it's because they have solved at least one issue between them, but this time is easier; more comfortable as their souls jumble together with a hum, eyes closed, and Soul feels Maka slowly place her head on his shoulder. He places a hand around her shoulders to pull her more towards himself as their souls start buzzing and dancing with a rhythm they created.
Nothing happens for a moment, and Maka burrows further into his shoulder with a content sigh, and he leans them both back into the couch. With everything that had happened since last night, he had almost forgotten just how tired he is after his Alaska mission. Even if nothing happens with this resonance, at least they could comfortably rest like this, he thinks. He hears Maka whisper something, but can't even force himself to understand and reply.
Of course, the second he thinks that maybe he can actually relax this time, everything goes to absolute shit.
Even with his eyes closed, he can feel everything around them start to change with a rushing sensation in her chest, and holds on to Maka more tightly, waiting for the resonance to violently break. But then the rushing settles, and he calls for her, checking if she's still here. He feels her nod against his shoulder. The resonance is still vibrating against his chest, and he can feel her stress flow through it.
His eyes open on their own accord, and the first thing he sees is the grand piano sitting in the middle of the room, playing without a pianist, with some creature sitting on top of it. It doesn't seem to notice them, loudly singing along to the music.
The room is dimly lit, with black and red curtains covering it and not much inside the vast space. Soul notices their clothes have changed, he's wearing a pinstripe suit with a red dress shit, and she's wearing a black dress.
"Welcome, Soul, Maka." he hears, looking up to see the creature looking directly at them. "Long time no see."
The thing is red, with horns and very short, Soul notices as it jumps down the piano, with a wide head and a sharp grin that reminds him of his own in an eerie, grotesque way.
Soul gets up to stand in front of Maka, but she's right next to him in a second. "Who are you?" she asks before he can utter a single word.
The imp tsks before answering, slowly getting closer to them. "I would be hurt, my dearest Maka, but I know that witch friend of yours is messing with your head. I'll reintroduce myself."
It clears his throat before pointing at Soul, and giggling: "I'm him."
Both their mouths fall open, and Soul feels Maka's confusion through their bond as she turns her head towards him. "Well, I used to be, at least." The thing continues before they can spiral too much.
"What do you mean?" Soul asks.
"I used to be part of your soul, your very being, Soul my boy." It says again, before snapping. It's body seems to jumble and change as it grows taller, and another Soul is standing right in front of them, just with black eyes.
"But right now I'm just a fragment of your memory."
As it gets closer to them, the room changes, the ottoman they were sitting on when they arrive disappears and the piano stops playing. The curtains disappear and they're standing on a reflective ground instead.
The imp circles them. "Seems like that witch friend of yours have done a number on you both if you can't even remember this place." It grins again when it stands right in front of them, a creepy version of himself, almost reading into his soul.
"What do you mean? What is this place, anyway?" Maka asks, but it chooses to ignore her to look directly into Soul's eyes.
"Funny thing about resonance is that it brings up all kinds of buried feelings. Memories. Secrets." It taps a finger on Soul's forehead before continuing. "Even the ones that maybe you don't want to remember. Don't want her to see."
Soul's hands clench on his sides, "Shut up." He whispers before slapping the finger away.
"Oh, hit a nerve, did I?" the thing laughs heartily. "Look, Soul my friend, we go way back. So I'll give you this one for free."
Soul hears him say not like I have a choice under his breath before he continues. "Maybe you should explore this place, huh? You'll be sure to find something you haven't seen so far. Just maybe don't bring her."
It turns around, walking back to the piano as it transfers back to his original form. "That might prove to be bad for both of you." It singsongs, and the room starts to melt around them, morphing back slowly into Maka's living room.
He doesn't open his eyes, but can feel Maka lifting her head from his shoulder to look at him for a moment—probably waiting for him to say something. His heart beats rapidly, breath coming too fast as he replays the encounter in his head. He squeezes her shoulder and hand in a way to calm himself down.
She's the first to speak when he doesn't say anything, quickly untangling herself from him and getting up from the couch. "What was that thing? Where was that place? What did it mean, it was a part of you?"
She's shooting questions rapidly, but he can't focus on any of them as he stares into the space, gaze unfocused as he tries to make any sense from the encounter.
Maka is pacing back and forth in front of the couch now, thinking with a hand on her chin before stopping right in front of him. "We need to try it again. We need to ask that thing more questions and demand answers!"
Soul shakes his head without answering, and hears Maka growl in frustration.
That's when he realizes that their resonance is still in place, though with a very low rate, almost in the background but he can still feel her annoyance, towards the imp, the situation, and now him because he's not answering her. He himself is confused and scared, in a way that doesn't happen often. When he looks up at her, she notices the resonance too, and probably feels his fear; her face dropping to something more concerned.
"Soul, is there really something you don't want me to know?" she asks, voice softer this time.
"Maka, stop. I…" he starts, and gets off the couch with a sigh before starting to pace himself. "I had forgotten about my scar before Alaska. I have no idea how I got it still. This demon thing says it's a part of me, and I don't want to believe it, but it might be true. What else have I forgotten?"
"It sounded like you should know what it was talking about. Are you absolutely sure you don't remember anything?" her hands cross on her chest now, eyes narrow and searching.
"I don't know, everything is a blur—" he starts, but stops talking as well as pacing to turn to her, "Are you blaming me, now?" His voice is sharp as he stares at her wide-eyed; more hurt and surprised than angry.
"That's not—" Maka starts, her panic obvious from their bond.
He doesn't let her speak, though. "Because I don't think that's what we need to focus on right now!" he snaps, his stance a perfect copy of hers.
Maka frowns, clearly frustrated as she shakes her head. "I'm not blaming you. I just—We have a shot here to understand what's going on. We need to analyze it."
Soul lets out a sharp breath, his shoulders tense. "You think I don't know that?" His voice is lower now, but the edge is still there.
"Then what, we ignore it because we're scared? We don't have the space to do that, Soul!"
"You think I don't know that?" Soul laughs, short and humorless before continuing. "You think I want to not remember details like some freaky imp being a fucking part of me? Or stuff like how I got this huge scar that covers my whole chest? Or just having said scar?"
Maka recoils visibly, like she wasn't expecting him to sound so lost or scared. For a second, the anger between them shifts into something softer, she's still frustrated, he knows, but understanding hangs in the air between them now.
She rubs a hand over her face as she takes a long breath in, seemingly to calm herself down.
"Okay," she says, quieter now. "But we can't ignore this. What if we get even more spaces in timelines? We have to tell Kid and Stein."
Soul feels himself flinch, turning around to not let her see the fear on his face, at least. When he doesn't answer, she continues.
"Alright, I won't push further."
Soul hears her sit back on the couch, and turns around to pace for a moment more, before joining her.
The silence is unnerving between them, and he starts tapping his fingers to the arm of the couch to somehow fill it. He can feel her still thinking of some way to explain the situation, as well as her annoyance growing that she can't figure it out.
"Soul." She hears her call out after a few minutes, "You said you don't remember how you got your scar?" She tries to keep it out of her voice, but he can feel that she's hopeful with what she thought of.
"Yeah," he answers, stiff, to the point, still a little angry.
"That's not normal!" she suddenly jumps up, making him raise his head to follow her movement.
"Thanks?"
"No, I mean. Not remembering details of a specific fight is okay, but like you said, that scar has been sitting on your chest for a long time from the looks of it. We should check Shibusen's records! If it was an injury on a mission, there's sure to be records of it somewhere there!" her chest puffs out like she's so proud of this, and he would laugh at how cute she is if his nerves weren't fried already.
Soul just looks at her for a moment, before turning his head away. He doesn't want any proof of something that he should remember, knowing his memory has been messed with is more scary than he wants to admit.
Maka sits next to him, closer now, and takes one of his hands to place it on her lap. "Soul, we have to. That's the only way we'll be sure."
He turns back towards her, the tension hanging in the air with his silence, but he nods anyway. They sit like that for a while, just slowly moving closer together before she wraps her arms around his middle. He buries his face in her hair and breathes her in, leaning back to the couch once again, wrapping her up and closing his eyes.
sorry for being MIA for so long! kiss as an apology? (::::::::::