Chapter 5

Love Me

Soul played with the food on his plate as his family and relatives chatted away with each other.

It was New Year's Eve and the past days he had spent in the hotel, staying away from everyone in his family who had wished to see him. He cried. He cried and cried and cried. He loved Maka to the moon and back and losing her… ripping out his heart would be easier than enduring the pain.

He had tried to get a hold of her. Called her, texted her, calling her father in order to reach her, but he couldn't. He was either met by silence or his calls being rejected. All he wanted was to know she had arrived back in Death City safely… and untangling the mess they had found themselves in. he didn't care about the cases of fraud she had committed, he would make sure they never reached the light of day and stay out of any punishment. He would protect her from the criminal acts and he… whatever Maka chose to do in regards of her mother, he would support her.

All he wanted was her back.

"Chin up," his mother spoke to him. "New year, new me, after all."

Soul slammed his utensil against the surface of the table, glaring at his mother. "You're unbelievable."

"Don't shoot the messenger. All I did was showing you what was within her heart."

His jaw tightened. "Shut up."

"Don't speak to your mother like that."

"I said!" Soul screamed, the room grew quiet and all attention was on him. "Shut up."

"Calm down, my son."

Soul huffed. "You call me your son but who does something like that to their own child?" he sneered. "All you care about is stability and image. You never care about me or Wes!"

"That is not true!"

"Oh really?" Soul pushed himself up from his seat and his chair banged loudly against the floor when it fell. Soul stormed over toward a waitress holding a bottle of wine, grabbing it and hurling it toward the closest wall. Red liquid splashed against the white wall and glass shards rained down. His relatives screamed in shock and covered their faces.

"Watch the paintings!" Kathrine growled.

"That's all you care about! Watch the paintings, watch the armchair, behave Soul, date hat girl Soul, don't cause trouble Soul. You never cared what I wanted. You don't even care about the love of my life dumping me because of you and this psycho family!"

"Soul, take a deep breath." Wes spoke calmly from his seat and next to him their grandma wept at the scene unfolding.

"Calm down? Take a deep breath? You're all unbelievable." Soul kicked his mother's empty chair and it flew away before he stormed out.

He didn't care. All he cared about was Maka.

To hell with his family.

…

In Death City Maka was packing her things in moving boxes. She packed down her books as she tried to not gaze at all of Soul's things. One glance at his clothes, his toothbrush or his keyboard would unleash the pain she tried to run away from.

She had left the love of her life. She didn't want to leave him. Not even in the moment she ended their relationship. She loved him and… she still wanted to be with him but… there were too much between them to justify a relationship between them. Soul needed to be in New York with his grandma. He had a family of his own who wanted nothing to do with her because of her choices, but she didn't regret her choices. Not her illegal acts.

But her mother was alive.

She had confronted her father and he had admitted. Her mother hadn't passed away. After giving birth to her, she had received serious tear damage and it had hurt. It had prevented her from nursing and… in order for her to be close to Maka, she had gotten painkillers. Spirit had felt something was wrong when she never stopped taking her pills, always persisting her pain was still present.

She had become addicted.

Spirit tried to get her sober for Maka, but it was to no use. Kami never grew attached to Maka, what was in her mind was drugs. Their marriage ended when the police caught her when she bought drugs and driving under the influence. Spirit knew he had to leave before something badly happened to their child. He filed for a divorce and full-custody. Kami didn't even fight for her.

Her mother had left without even a second thought.

She didn't know what she was going to do with her mother. She had been gone from her life for so long and she was still an addict after all of these years. It was a miracle she was even alive after this long. She wasn't sure if that was what she wanted to see her as. Perhaps it was better to let her stay in the past.

Maka grabbed some of her books and hr eyes came to rest on a picture of her and Soul, wrapped in each other's arms, smiling wide toward the camera. New tears formed in her eyes as her fingers brushed the cool metal frame. "Death, how am I supposed to move on from you?" she whispered to no one in particular as she turned away, packing her things in the moving box.

A loud banging came from the front door and she rose on her feet. It wasn't a knock, it sounded like a hammer against wall.

On her front door!

She stormed toward the front door and she slammed the door open. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!" she sneered but quickly lost her voice when she saw Soul standing behind the door with a hammer and nails in his hands.

"Hey…" he said.

She inhaled loudly and her eyes blinked away the tears welling up in them. "You're not supposed to be here."

"I'm exactly where I should be. By your side."

"Don't!" Maka warned, but it was already to late, tears spilled over and trickled down her cheeks. "Don't do this."

Soul gently grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her apartment and closed the front door enough for her to see the golden plate his grandma had gifted them with hanging crookedly with only one nail on one edge.

"Don't do this, please," she pleaded and she sobbed. "I don't want to cause any trouble."

"You won't." Soul placed the nails and hammer on the floor as he grabbed her hands. "I left them."

"I did." His eyes sought hers, but she avoided his gaze. "I love you. You're my home. My family. If my family don't want to be around such an amazing girl like you, it's their loss."

"What about your grandma? What about New York?"

"You're more important."

"I can't take you away from your grandma."

"And you won't." He cupped her cheek and wiped away her tears. "Grandma and I will stay in touch, but I refuse to let my family hurt the one I love. We will only meet my family who support us on our terms."

Maka couldn't hold back. She snuggled into his hand as she closed the gap between them by leaning her forehead against his chest. "I-I can't. Still. I've done so much bad… I don't want it to hurt you."

"It won't. I have broken my ties with my family. I'll make sure your actions won't come to light. I've plans of selling off all my buildings and cutting ties with New York." He buried his nose into her hair. "I want to take your name. I want to be Soul Albarn."

She choked on her sob. Her arms wrapped around his waist and hugged him tightly.

"Marry me. Please marry me. I will do anything for you. If you want all the money and resources gone, I will donate it all away. I will do anything, just, marry me."

"Yes," the word slipped from her mouth before she had a chance to build up her defence and deny him again. She loved him, wanted him. She didn't want to part from him. She wanted to spend all of her life with him. They had gone through a rough stay in New York City and she never wanted to return, and neither did Soul. "I want to. I want you. I-I want you back."

His mouth found hers and he kissed her breath away. His kiss sent healing warmth through her body. Her hand entangled in his hair as her legs found his waist.

Never would they part.

Never would they part again.

Thank you so much for reading this very short story of mine! It was so short, but it was so incredibly hard to find the time to write this story. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to flesh it out to my liking, but I hope you enjoyed this story nonetheless.