Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.

Side Note: I've noticed that the song, You and Me and One Spotlight by Yellowcard, makes for nice background music to this. The lyrics fit, somewhat. Check that song out, it's pretty cool!

Sacrifices for Those That You Love

by. xxBurningxx

It was simple, really. It was a mission meant for a two-stared meister, so certainly a Death Scythe and his meister could handle it, right? Just the normal: an insanity-driven kishin terrorizing and devouring helpless human souls…No biggie. The largest thing they had to worry about was getting to their train on time because Soul was reluctant to wake up that morning.

So it was only normal for Soul and Maka to be a little surprised at the immense strength that this particular kishin held.

When they arrived in the town, that was so foreign compared to their own familar Death City, they immediately started their search for the beast. The sooner they killed it, the sooner they could collect the soul and return to the comfort of their own apartment, where they would resume their normal life that consisted of arguing, Maka-chops, and then later making up about it all.

That's how it worked every time. They would always return home, to be greeted by their cat Blair, and then continue to school the following day, where their friends would welcome them back with congratulations from Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki, yells about being better than God from Black Star, and fusses over symmetry from Kid. It would never change. Or at least, that's what Maka had always thought.

To be honest, the mere appearance of this kishin frightened them. In all of the years of their partnership as meister and weapon, never had they seen such a horrifyingly deformed and demonic kishin. And they had thought that the Kishin Azura looked scary. In a way, this kishin was far worse.

They were walking down a deserted street when the kishin had decided to present itself. Most of the times, Soul and Maka were used to grotesque-looking kishins, but this one had brought a slight gasp to both of them.

Its body was long and skinny, similar to that of a snake's, but its skin was a whole different story…Its skin was made of what appeared to be…

"Soul…Are those…"

"I think so, Maka. Dead corpses."

It was horrible, and its stench was overwhelming. Its' entire snake-like body seemed to be made of one mass pile of dead bodies, most likely the remains of the humans that the kishin had devoured.

And then there was the head…No, heads; plural. At one end of the body, were three heads that were merged together in a vertical line, one stacked right on top of the other. And their faces were hideous. They had no eyes; instead, human hands seemed to trying to claw their way out of the sockets. Their mouths were all held in a permanent, wide smile that showed off jagged and uneven rows of sharp teeth.

And then it had hundreds of "legs" holding it up, but the thing was, it's "legs" were all human arms. They scuttled around in a manner that solely reminded Maka of a centipede-a disgusting, vile centipede, and towards the front of its body, it raised up in a way that formed its long neck. On its neck, there were two larger, dominant arms that were more monster than human, but human-formed nonetheless.

The fingers were tipped in long claws that must've been at least a foot long. They glistened in the moonlight, making them seem metallic. Or, perhaps they really were elongated blades…

And to top it off, there was a slimy substance leaking from each of its six, pointed ears. Poison, maybe?

"Why, what do we have here? A couple of young souls simply waiting to be eaten?"

The kishin had a deep reptilian voice that drawled out in an echoing hiss. When it spoke, a shiver traveled down Maka's spine.

"Soul…Transform."

"Got it."

And with that, in a quick flash of light, he was in his meister's hands, ready to fight the fowl beast before them.

And after the first few minutes after inducing battle, Soul and Maka had realized what they were up against. The kishin parried blows with its sharp claws just as well as they did, and as the fight drew on, the kishin was landing more and more blows, while Maka had been unable to do any damage.

After receiving a gash on her forearm, Maka jumped back, panting.

"Maka, what should we do?" Soul asked from inside the scythe. He could feel her struggling.

"I'm not sure, Soul…" She gasped, heavily breathing. Blood dripped from her newest cut. She was getting weaker, and it seemed that going on the offense was out of option. For now, defense was all she could do, but it was near impossible to dodge every attack, the kishin's scuttling was far too fast for the meister.

"What's wrong, are you ready to give up? Face it, you cannot defeat me. I have devoured the souls of thousands of humans, and you two look exceptionally delicious…" The kishin taunted them from across the street.

No. Maka wouldn't give up.

"I believe that you're wrong, kishin." Maka snarled, "It's us who'll have your soul." And then she charged as the kishin braced itself for her attack.

"Be careful, Maka…" Soul warned her, his voice vibrating through the metal of his weapon form.

"I know what I'm doing."

Acting as though she was going to strike, the kishin began a counterattack, but as it swung its arm in an attempt to hit Maka, she slipped under, slicing at the kishin's lower "legs". Though the kishin let out a wail of pain, the blow itself wasn't that big. And then Maka's eyes widened in shock at what happened next.

"Instant regeneration?" She shouted as she jumped back and watched in horror. The cut that she had dealt not even a minute ago had already begun closing up, new pigments of hands and legs filling in the spot.

"You see, girl. You are no match for me!"

After that, the battle drew on for at least another five minutes, and with each passing second, things seemed to be turning out worse and worse for the pair.

"Give up, let me eat your souls, and I shall make it quick and painless!" Its voice hissed at them, and with its arm, it struck Maka, causing her to fly a few feet, hitting the wall of a stray building with a loud thud.

"Maka!" Soul yelled, he could feel her wavelength shuddering.

"I'm fine." She said, standing up once more, she wiped off her mouth. Gripping him tightly, she hesitated before attacking again. "Soul, do you think we should flee...?"

It was a moment before he replied to her, "It's up to you Maka, but personally, I don't think that we can handle this one on our own…"

"Okay…" With him still in her hands, for a quick second, she debated with herself. Decided that staying would be more trouble than it's worth, tried to dart away from the kishin.

"Where do you think you're going girl, you cannot escape me! We shall fight until I have your souls…"

Maka continued to run, and when she glanced back, she was slightly shocked when she saw that the kishin wasn't following them. And when she turned back to face the direction in front of her, she skidded to a halt, gasping. Beginning to jut from the ground was a large wall that consisted in tangles of human arms and legs. Frantically, Maka looked around for any other means of escape, but her heart sank as she saw that they were boxed in. Each alleyway to her left and right were blocked off by the morbid walls as well.

She noted that they were soaked in the mysterious goop that she had seen being emitted from the kishin's ears. She confirmed with herself, even though she wasn't a hundred percent sure, that it was poison.

The only other option was—Up! She thought, perhaps they could escape via flying. Whipping her head upwards, an utter sense of mortification settled over her as she saw a web of arms weaving their way over the rooftops to form a sort of net that was also drenched in the goopy poison.

Swearing, she said to Soul, "What do we do now?"

"I guess we'll just have to keep fighting…"

And so they did, but then…Things took a turn for the worse when the kishin's claws found their mark on Soul's scythe. Maka watched in horror as the shining claws raked over her weapon in a haphazard manner, going in all directions, jumping back as soon as contact was made. She heard him yell, and looked down and felt her throat clench when there were five evident scrapes along the metal of his weapon form.

"Soul!" She shouted, and for the moment, he turned back to his human form. Maka gasped as she saw the gashes. One had gotten his right arm, another ripped through his shirt the opposite direction of his old scar, while a different cut had found itself unnervingly close to his neck. The last one was up the length of his shin, stopping at his knee. And slowly, blood began to soak his clothes and the ground.

"Soul…" She whispered.

"I'm okay…" He replied back, even though he was evidently not, as he was panting and gasping, in just as bad shape as she was now. Maka wrapped an arm around Soul to offer him support.

And although the kishin could have finished them off at any moment during this short amount of time, it was feeling rather generous tonight. It crawled towards them at a menacing pace.

"I have an idea, how about we settle this?" It drawled on, coming closer until finally stopping mere feet away from them.

"I'm only going to kill one of you," Maka could have sworn its multiple grins grew wider, "So tell me, who's it gonna be?"

Both of them didn't say anything, but when they did, it was with slight effort, and at the same moment.

"Me…"

And Maka was the first to argue.

"No, Soul! If this is how it's gonna end, then it's going to be me. You've already saved me before, it's my turn!" She said with all the force she could muster. Naturally, Soul would fight her as well.

"Maka, as your weapon, I should be the one to die for you! I've told you a countless number of times; I am fully prepared to die for my meister!"

The kishin chuckled, even though it sounded more like a dying snake than anything.

"Now, now…I don't want to kill both of you, so, make up your minds…Otherwise, I'll chose for you." Usually, the kishin would have given them a time limit, as this wasn't the first time it's given a meister and weapon pair this choice, but this time it was actually enjoying their arguing. Never had it seen a pair so eager to die before the other...

And the kishin had always kept its word, mainly because it took pleasure in making one of them watch as their partner was ripped to shreds. The kishin strived off of other's pain and despair.

"Me. Kishin, you will kill me." Maka said, pushing out in front of Soul and taking a step towards the kishin.

It was just about to reply when Soul growled, "No!" and pulling Maka behind him.

"Ah, you're making this more difficult than it needs to be…" The kishin hissed, even though it was secretly amused. "The longer you make me wait, the longer that it will take to kill one of you…"

Soul turned around to face his partner.

"Maka, I won't let you. If one of us dies, it's me. Okay?"

"No, Soul, it's not okay! You almost died for me alrea—"

"Almost, Maka! Almost! I didn't actually die that time, so it doesn't count!" Soul interjected. One of the first things that they were taught as weapons at Shibusen was that the weapon should always be prepared to die for the meister, no matter what, and what Maka was insisting on went against that rule by 100%. He wouldn't let her die.

"Soul..!" Tears welled in her eyes; she was begging him now, to please not make her watch the Crona thing all over again, only this time...

"Maka, I will not let you die. That's tha—"

But he was cut off as Maka shoved him to the ground behind her, and flung herself to the kishin.

"Maka, no!"

But it was too late. Seeing what was happening, the kishin grinned and cackled a maniacal laugh, slashing out with outstretched claws. Satisfaction rose in the kishin's chest as it felt the warm, familiar sense of its fingers passing through human flesh. It let the girl's body fall to the ground, fully aware that she wasn't dead yet. Good. Let her suffer.

And with that, the walls of decaying arms and legs slowly began receding, as the kishin itself sank into the shadows, disappearing. It knew just how deep the girl's wounds were, just as it knew that she would not make it.

Blood was everywhere.

"MAKA!"

Soul bent down over his meister and picked her up in his arms. Her eyes were dazed, and in them was a far off look, as if she didn't know who or where she was. Soul quickly examined the wounds, which were similar to his own except for two things.

There were five gashes, only this time, all going in one direction, from her right shoulder to left downwards.

And this time, they were all deeper than his own; she was losing blood incredibly too fast.

"Maka…Maka, stay with me…" He said, shaking her as softly as he could. "Please…"

The slow rise and fall of her chest let him know that she wasn't gone, but he wasn't dumb. He knew that her breathing pattern wasn't normal, and that normal inhaling and exhaling didn't include strangled gasps, blood, and pain.

And then he felt tears in his eyes, and despite how un-cool crying was, it was the very least of his worries.

"S-Soul," She mumbled, so quietly that he almost didn't hear her.

"Maka?" He said frantically, looking into her eyes, which still had that sense of not being all there.

"I'm sorry…I knew…that if I didn't…you would have…" She said with a little effort. She closed her eyes, and Soul was just about to panic more, but then she continued, "Soul…I don't think that…I'm going to…make it…"

"No! Maka, I promised to myself that I would never let you get hurt! Maybe the black blood…" He quickly wiped away a couple of tears.

"No, Soul." She said so quickly and stubbornly that if it weren't for the fact that she was sitting there bleeding into his arms, he would've though she was fine.

Then their eyes met.

And yet, between the mixture of dread, panic, desperation and fear that was rising in his chest at an alarming speed, he simply said, "Then…Would you care for one last dance?"

With half lidded eyes, she replied softly, "I'd…I'd like that…Soul…"

And despite everything, he gave the tiniest smile, and mumbled, "Soul Resonance."

For once, the Black Room was void of the little demon. Although, now that Soul thought about it, he hadn't had any troubles with the little imp for quite a while now. And this time, instead of the usual annoying jazz, the music that filled the room was a soft piano.

"Soul…"

Soul turned around to see his meister. In here, she was free of her wounds, just as he was. But Soul could feel it; how short their time together was.

And instead of taking her hand to dance, he embraced her in a tight hug. He embedded his face in her neck, and then quickly pulled back to look at her.

She was smiling.

He stared at her hard, desperately trying to remember every little detail, but was interrupted when she began to speak.

"Soul, let's dance."

He snapped out of his little trance, and then placed his hand under hers, resting his other one on her hip. They danced slowly, flowing with the sound of the piano.

"Soul, you know that when we leave here, I won't be with you anymore…" She said with a pained expression. He didn't say anything, but his gaze told her that he knew.

After a long moment of silence, he finally asked, "How long do you think you have…"

She thought a little, and then replied, "About fifteen minutes, maybe twenty, if my body holds up…"

He didn't say anything, but his thoughts were racing. That should be enough time. It had to be.

"I knew I should've…" He mumbled under his breath. Oh, if only he would have gotten the guts to tell her before…Before it came to this…Perhaps they could have shared many more happy memories together.

"What?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

"Maka…I've been…" He started, not looking at her. But, he had to finish strong; he returned his gaze to hers, looking her straight in the eyes, and said, "I've loved you for quite some time now…" There. It was out. He wouldn't be left with the heavy burden of knowing that he never got to tell her the truth.

Her expression softened, and then, tears began to spill.

"Oh, Soul, I do too..!"

He closed his eyes and raised his head up. Oh god, he was such an idiot! Why hadn't he told her sooner? He'd known for at least a couple of years! But now…now it was too late to do anything about their feelings. They no longer had the opportunity to be together as a couple, and why? Because Soul had been a stupid, un-cool, coward, that's why.

They held each other in a soft embrace for what felt like both forever and mere seconds at the same time.

"Soul…I think our time is almost up…" She said quietly, a couple of moist tears dripping off her face.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. Instead, he closed the distance between him and his partner, their lips meeting in one final sort of resolve. They kissed with a slow passion that held all the emotions that had been kept inside for so long; it made up for what was left unsaid over the years.

And as they broke apart, Maka mumbled, "Soul…It's time for me to go…"

He nodded and kissed her forehead, and then slowly, the Black Room faded, and Soul felt a piece of his own soul being ripped from him.

The real world slowly began to focus into Soul's view as he looked down at the girl in his lap. Her breathing had ceased to a stopping point, while blood-blood continued to trickled down in a mass puddle before him, spreading out around him and soaking his legs.

Then, reality struck.

And it struck hard.

"Maka…Maka, no. No! No, no, no, no!" This can't be happening. It's not possible. Maka was supposed to be alive right now, and if anything, he should be the one lying there, dead. Everything was in reverse, not right. It was as if the word's axis had begun spinning the wrong way.

"NO!" Soul screamed, tears pouring down his face. Never had he felt pain this immense before. Never. No amount of physical pain could ever match what he was feeling at the moment.

And then he saw it. Her soul.

Slowly rising in front of him was a little round orb, illuminated by a golden glow that it seemed to be producing itself. It looked so soft...And it had wings...

The smallest trace of a smile found its way onto his face.

Angel.

His angel.

She certainly had shed light upon his world.

And it came crashing down on him all at once.

Pain.

Regret.

Realization.

Denial.

Anger.

Desperation.

Acceptance…

Love…

Then, into the night sky, where the moon cast its glow, into the city that slept unknowingly, he wailed, "MAAAAAKKAAAAAA!"

When he returned, his home wouldn't comfort him.

Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki won't congratulate him.

Black Star would be silent.

Kid wouldn't be fussing.

And for once, Maka would be wrong when she said that nothing would change, because in that one moment that felt like forever, it did.

~end~

A/N: Okay. Whoo, this is my first official shot at a semi-long angst one-shot. Or at least, this is the only angst that I have and don't hate. I'll let you know, I actually spent a little time writing this, so I hope it's not too bad. I dunno. I sort of suck at tragic angst...

Inspiration struck from the movie The Life Before Her Eyes...Because the two girls...If you've seen it, you'll probably know what I mean, if not, well, it doesn't really matter. I hope you enjoyed it though...

Edit*: Thanks for reviewing everyone! I'm so honored that this had the power to make you guys cry! I'm touched. Thanks so much for the nice reviews!