the delta sun burns bright and violet
by. Poisoned Scarlett

She sat on the couch with her cheek pressed against his ear, her hand absently playing with strands of his hair as he dozed quietly beneath her. She shifted and his hand instinctively tightened around her waist. Maka rose her eyes to the window, the crack of the curtains where she could see the dark sky.

Soon, she could feel it.

The sun was going to rise.

Maka dropped her hand to his neck and her lips trailed down to his jaw, closing her eyes. She would have to leave soon, Maka thought quietly, but would he truly follow her into the ocean? She opened her eyes and knew that was not the problem at hand. The problem was with her singing, the way it sometimes stuck in her throat or came out warbled and awful. She did not have the ease with it like the others; she had always had to try harder than them…

I can't mess up this time, Maka thought, troubled. I have to sing…a-and he has to follow me down. She had her doubts, of course. Medusa was a cunning witch and she had tricks up her sleeve. Maka knew that she needed to touch their lips together after her song concluded and drag him beneath the waves and touch the sea ground. He would not drown if he was the one and she would regain her humanity. But she was iffy about the details – Medusa had said sea floor so could she possibly just drag him under the shallow end and, if things went wrong, just as easily push him out?

Maka looked toward the window again and grimaced. Dawn was fast approaching and she still hadn't figured out the kinks in this plan. She tensed when Soul shifted beneath her and when she looked at him, she found his eyes were open and unclouded with sleep like she expected them to be.

"We gotta' go," Soul murmured and reached for the device that had captured her attention the most after their lovemaking. The thing he called a smart phone. "We have two hours," he told her and Maka nodded quietly.

Soul shifted beneath her and sat up, holding her to him. She slid off his lap and watched him rest his elbows on his knees and rub his eyes out. His hair was a mess, messier than usual, and her eyes ran down the curve of his spine; his back, strong and tanned from months of working on a hunters boat. He took a deep breath, shoulders rising, and glanced at her, moonlight hitting one of his eyes and illuminating it a bright red.

"I'm gonna' go change," he told her. "I'll bring a jacket for you."

"You're not going to force me into clothes again?" She asked and he snorted.

"You wouldn't put them on even if I tried," he quirked his lip up. Then his smile disappeared. "And you're going back to the sea so…"

Her eyes dropped and she heard him stand up. She shifted so she was sitting upright on the couch. She felt a different sort of cold here on land and it was different than when she was in the water. In the water, she supposed it was worse. Sometimes it felt like there was no way to be warm because the waters were naturally cold. Here, as Soul returned with his jacket, dropped it over her shoulders for her to hunker into it, she could feel warmth and it was glorious—how the air could be so toasty, her body actually warm.

"You ready?" Soul asked and she looked at him. They both came to a silent understanding right then and there and Maka looked down at her lap and took a breath. She could not mess up this time, she told herself, she needed to sing right; no awkward notes, no cracks in her song. It needed to flow just this one time, she thought with determination.

"Yes…let's go."

Soul poked his head out into the hall and checked both ways. Finding it clear, he grabbed her hand and led her down the hall. She let her eyes wander with great curiosity as he led them to where his motorcycle was parked and she stopped completely when they reached the stairs.

"I…can't," she stared at the stairs, timidly.

"Here, step down sideways like this," he held out his hand to her and helped her down one by one, smiling when she finally got the hang of it. She actually looked disappointed when the stairs ended so soon. He led her to his motorcycle after, both stopping before an oddly shaped figure (in her eyes) covered by some sort of tarp. She pulled the jacket closer around her as he grabbed the tarp and pulled it off, revealing a…she had no idea what to call it, staring at the glinting chrome and orange body of it. When Soul swung a leg over it, shaking out his ring of keys and picking out the right one, she still had no idea what it was or what he was doing or how that thing would take them to the sea.

Maka shifted on her feet when he motioned her over.

"You saw how I got on?"

She nodded.

"Copy me, I'll help you," he said and Maka looked down at the leather seat uncertainly. "C'mon, swing a leg—!" He figured he should have forced her into boxers when she swung a leg and he got a very nice shot of her in all her glory. But leaving her outside while he ran upstairs for a pair was out of the question: she'd get herself kidnapped or something and she wouldn't even know it, too busy admiring everything to care. She wobbled but he steadied her, seating her on the motorcycle safely. "Hold onto my waist and whatever you do, do not let go."

Maka nodded, swallowing. She wondered what would happen next as he turned back forward. He turned the key and Maka screamed when it roared to life, vibrating beneath her frighteningly. She clutched onto him tightly and shut her eyes, her teeth clenched shut to prevent any whimpers from escaping. When she felt his hand stroke her arms reassuringly, she relaxed, and hesitantly peeked down to find the motorcycle just humming beneath them; waiting.

"It's gonna' move now," he warned her. "It's okay, it's normal. Just close your eyes if you're too scared. Don't let go of me."

"Okay," she steeled herself and when he pushed forward, clutched him tightly. She felt them pick up speed and then pause again as the garage door clamored open. Maka peeked around his arm to see the street ahead, empty and dark, and then he pushed down the drive way and they were off, picking up speed quickly. The wind was cold, battering against her ears; loud but not nearly as loud as the motorcycle. She tuned her head to watch the scenery pass them by faster than she could process, the neighborhood still blanketed with the dark of night. She only saw shadows and the occasional wash of yellow light from the street lamps. But she could see a deep blue rise of the sea at the edge and she knew the sun would rise soon from there. It would only be a matter of time, she thought, and she cleared her throat and hoped her voice wouldn't fail her now when she needed it the most.

They arrived at the beach faster than Maka thought it would and Maka watched Soul look around carefully before he drove through the wrong side of the street and snuck inside the parking lot. He parked all the way towards the end, near the boardwalk, and turned off the bike. Maka couldn't really feel her legs when she managed to awkwardly slide off: she needed to hold onto Soul for a moment, trying to calm her beating heart.

"Shut up!" She snapped. She could feel him shaking with laughter.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were laughing at me!"

He only grinned and took her hand when she was better, pulling her closely to his side as they both walked onto the sand. He took a quick look around and, finding no one, led her to the side of the boardwalk; to a small area of sea that was walled by large boulders and rocks. He could hear the tide crash into them and he grimaced at the thought of how freezing the waters were at this hour.

"You better go in now," Soul said, glancing at the skyline. It was brightening but the sun had yet to break. "While you still have time—"

"Well," another voice interjected, sounding idly interested. Soul felt his skin crawl at the hissing sound. "Would you look at that? You found him. The rejected pianist from a family of prodigious musicians."

Maka whipped her head in the direction of the voice, the infuriatingly familiar voice. Her eyes locked with sensuous golden. The woman smiled with more menace than she remembered, a monstrous growl coming from behind her. Maka darted her eyes to the figure that guarded the witch, the talons she could just see that clicked against each other impatiently. Maka grabbed Soul's arm and pulled him behind her, her green eyes flashing a violent green.

"Medusa."

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Medusa mused. "How long—two hundred, three hundred years?" She uncurled herself from her cross-legged position and stood up tall on the roof of the lifeguard cabin. "Or am I mistaken?"

"Two hundred and fifteen years I waited," Maka told her lowly, her voice darker than Soul had ever heard it. "I waited and I found him and I will not give him up to you."

"Of course not," Medusa dismissed. "Although, I do have to ask him…are you sure you want to do this?" She smiled, deceptively. "Drown for her? She's drowned more men than you could imagine in cold blood—she's as treacherous as any other mermaid, as violent as any Siren—!"

"Don't you dare compare me to those vermin!" Maka spat.

"What did you call me?" The figure behind Medusa rumbled and Soul jerked back when the woman stepped into sight. She was certainly a sight for sore eyes, a disfigured and horrendous hybrid of woman and avian. He could see her talons claw and half of her pretty face contort with rage while the other looked as if it had been burned in a fire, the eye stretched out to reveal nothing but the white—her legs bent strangely, like that of a stance of a bird he later realized. She made an inhuman sound deep in her throat, something that had Maka squeezing his hand.

"Don't fret, Eruka," Medusa crooned, reaching over to stroke her hair. "She didn't mean it, did you, Maka?"

Maka glared but said nothing.

Medusa's eyes flickered back to Soul. "Scythe, a reapers weapon. You have so much potential, do you really want to throw your success away for this girl? You can become a prominent figure in the DWMA—scythes are especially valuable given their rarity—isn't that what you wanted all along? To prove your worth to your family?" She persuaded, holding his eyes with her knowing ones. "You can earn the title of Death Scythe—but not with her by your side. She will slow you down—she has been trapped in the sea for more than a hundred years! There are things she will never understand, things she will never be able to do."

Maka clenched her jaw and dropped her eyes to the floor. She looked back up at Soul when she felt him squeeze her hand.

"I don't get what you're trying to do," Soul answered, flatly. "But whatever it is, don't bother. It's not gonna' work."

Medusa merely smiled pleasantly. "Success is what you have always longed for. I can give it to you!" She hopped off the roof and the Siren followed broodingly, keeping to the shadows. "Only if you leave her where she belongs."

"With me? I'm all for it," he grinned viciously and Medusa sharpened her eyes.

"No," she hissed. "In the sea."

Maka tensed and took half a step back but Soul pushed her two steps forward, his arm coming around to wrap around her shoulder protectively. She looked up at him as he said, "I like her better with me."

"Are you really going to throw away this opportunity I'm giving you?" Medusa sneered, sounding truly affronted. "I can give you success—I can make you into the icon you've dreamed of!" She urged, "and all I ask is for you to leave her in the ocean!"

"It sounds pretty cool and all but you were the one who just told me I have a lot of potential," Soul drawled. "So maybe it'll take me longer with this stubborn idiot by my side," he jostled her affectionately and she scowled openly, sending him a dark look he only grinned at, "But I'll get there eventually. That's good enough for me."

Medusa scrutinized them shrewdly for a second. Then she gave them both a condescending sneer and turned on her heel without another glance at them. "Suit yourself. You will never be able to impress your family anyway—they're disgusted with you," she smiled cruelly. "They will never be able to see you as their equal like you want. You'll always be the outcast of the family."

"Meh, they weren't that great, either," Soul shrugged and just because his mouth had no filter of any sort, added, "It could be worse. I could have hit every branch in the ugly tree on my way down like she did!"

"Soul," Maka choked and Medusa winced at the shriek the Siren released when she heard the jab at her appearance. "You fucking idiot!"

"Huh, you learn fast—egh!" He screwed his eyes shut when the Siren released another head-jarring shriek. He clamped his hands over his ears and Maka pulled him back quickly, eye shut in pain. Medusa only leaped back up on the roof. She disappeared without another word, dissolving into the shadows like witches do, and the Siren shot forward as if someone had cut its chain, raising her talons at Soul viciously.

"I'll devour your soul for that, WEAPON!" she snarled.

"MOVE!" Soul shouted, pushing Maka away. Maka just dodged past the furious Siren, gasping when Soul parried her slash with his scythe. He was pushed back by the sheer force but he managed to slow her enough to punch her.

"Your weapon!" Maka shouted. "Take it out!"

"Are you crazy—I can't do that!"

"What?"

Soul growled in frustration. "I've never fully transformed! I can't do it!"

Maka stared with disbelief. "What do you mean you can't fully transform? It's illegal to hunt in the waters without being able to fully transform!"

Soul grinned briefly as he blocked another of the Siren's blows, this time letting his shoulder take the burnt of it. "They didn't know that!" He shoved the Siren away. "Until about a week in!"

"Oh, you really are a fucking idiot!"

"Shut up!"

Maka grit her teeth, feeling absolutely useless. She needed to do something—anything to help! But on land, she was nothing but a mortal. Maka looked over at the skyline, biting her lip when she saw it was becoming too light. The sun would almost break! She needed to do something quick! She looked at the water and her eyes hardened with determination.

"HEY!" Maka stood up and the Siren paused, turning to look over her shoulder. "Fight me you…um…ugly cunt?" Maka unsurely said and Soul felt his jaw slack in disbelief. He had no idea where she learned the last word but when he found out, he would pummel that person into the ground for teaching her that.

"ARGH! I'LL DESTROY THAT PRETTY BODY OF YOURS AND THEN HE WON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE!" Eruka screamed and smacked Soul away, following Maka into the water when she ran. So blinded was she by her rage, she didn't realize she had fallen right where Maka wanted her—and by the time she did, backing away from the coming tide, Maka grabbed her by her long silver hair and wrenched her into the water, her face scrapping into the sand painfully.

"Ah—!" Maka gasped when a talon dug into her arm. Eruka growled at her, spitting out salt water and sand, and Maka shot her eyes to Soul. "Transform, Soul!"

"But—!"

"TRANSFORM!" Maka screamed and he gripped the end of his scythe and pulled it out, gritting his teeth against the pain, and when he saw blood wash up on shore from their fight, he thoughtlessly pulled the rest of his scythe from his body in a bright spark of light. Soul stared at the scythe that towered over him, the sharply curved blade that was about as dark as the blood that was being spilled before him. It was bigger than he imagined it'd be, yet light—fitting in his hand perfectly, the blade big enough to slice into a body three times his size.

"SOUL!"

He let the scythe swing down until the blade swiped the sand, his grip tightening as he prepared to attack. "Oi, ugly!"

"I AM NOT—!" Eruka choked in a crow and only had time to widen her eyes before the scythe swung up from the ground and beheaded her. Maka let her body go instantly, swimming back into the water with her eyes shut to shield the from the splatter of black blood.

Soul swung his scythe up so it rested on his shoulder, breathing hard and gazing down at the dead carcass of the Siren. She eventually became nothing but wisps of black; what was left behind being a bobbing red soul that cackled with the Siren's harbored hatred. He picked it up, squishing it a bit. These things were what the DWMA demanded in bulk, he thought, one down and ninety nine more to go before he could even think of getting a job there. He grimaced at the thought of actually collecting 99 more of these suckers just to join.

"Soul."

He looked up in time to see Maka smile brightly. "You did it! You transformed!"

He glanced up at his scythe and smirked. "Yeah, about damn time, too." He paused suddenly. "Uh…how do you put it back? Do I just—!" And he clenched his hand over the handle and twirled the scythe. Maka watched as his scythe became one with him again; a spark of light that ended with him gripping his arm and grimacing against the slight pain he felt for forcing the weapon back into himself. "I'll work on that," he wheezed but straightened up and ignored the pain so as not to look anymore uncool in front of her than he already had.

"The sun is rising," Maka murmured to herself and forlornly looked back at Soul, who shook out his arm one last time. She had been about to bid him goodbye when he kicked off his shoes, grabbing the jacket she had thrown in her haste and stuffing the impure soul into it.

"What are you doing?" Maka asked, puzzled.

"What's it look like I'm doing? I gotta' follow you into the water, right?" Soul arched a brow at her surprise. "You didn't think that was all talk, did you?"

"But she's right, to an extent," Maka regretfully told him. "I've lived too long in the ocean. It's overwhelming, all of this you've shown me. And sh-she's right...there are some things—!"

"I want you with me," he cringed when his feet stepped into the freezing water. "It doesn't matter if you don't get some things. I still don't get math and that's been around for longer than both of us. So shut up and let's get this over with." Maka watched with wide eyes as he forced himself into the water, growling out expletives as he reached her. Once he was in up until his waist did he look at her, his teeth chattering and his expression miserable but determined. "Hurry up! It's freezing!"

"B-but—!"

He looked at her sharply. "You do know what to do, right?"

"Y-yes, I just sing and then right before you go underneath the water, I kiss you and…then I take you all the way down, until we both touch the sea floor!" She stammered out, flustered.

"Alright, then, what're you waiting for? Sing!"

"Um…"

"What now?"

"About that," Maka laughed nervously. "Singing…I cannot really do it right…it comes out strange."

"Strange? Maka, don't tell me you can't sing!"

She looked at him with a guilty grin and, after a second of staring, busted out laughing.

"A mermaid who can't sing! Great! That's just great!" He snorted, deciding that yes she was his soul mate. He came from a family of pure-breed musicians and she probably couldn't sing to save her life, judging from the look on her face. He couldn't wait to introduce her to his parents, he thought sadistically. But singing was singing, he thought with amusement, and it didn't matter how awful it was. "Just sing, idiot," he told her with a lopsided grin. "It can't be that bad."

"You don't know that..."

"I'll find out right now."

"If you laugh, I will drown you for real."

"More like if you suck, we're screwed."

Maka bit her lip. "I won't, not this time…" Her face set with determination and she took a deep breath and looked at him. He tensed when he realized that her eyes, they were glowing. He didn't realize he was staring right into them until a wave hit him and nearly knocked him off his feet but when he looked back, she opened her mouth, and then even the violent tides didn't matter: he just saw her, her beautifully glowing green eyes and a hauntingly sweet song that drowned out the rough tides and the crashing waves and even the cold of the ocean.

Get closer, and he followed her blindly and when he couldn't touch the floor anymore, he swam and the further away she drifted, the faster he swum because now it was urgent—he needed to get to her, to touch her, to be near to her and then he was, so close he felt her hands grip his shoulders to stop him and her eyes seemed to lose their captivating glow to allow him to look down, at the pink lips that mouthed words he barely heard over the sound of her voice echoing in his head—loud, demanding, sweet and heart achingly devastating—and then he crushed their mouths together and he was suddenly underwater.

That was when panic kicked in: he had not prepared himself at all—he hadn't even thought of taking a breath. His fingers dug into her arm and his eyes shot open in alarm. Water filled his mouth and he instinctively tried to pull away but she wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him crushed to her, and then his lungs ached too much for air—too much for breath—and he only struggled for a few more seconds before he inhaled.

And nothing happened.

The burning in his lungs disappeared as if he had taken a breath of air. The water felt almost warm now. The rough waves didn't matter—they rolled above them harmlessly. The fact that his hand could touch the sea floor and he didn't feel the urge to kick back up to the surface was unsettling but that didn't stop him from grinning.

Maka's tail swiped the floor, rising plumes of sand as Soul tried to figure out the physics of being able to suddenly breathe underwater. He looked back at her and flashed her a grin that made her laugh joyously—and then she choked, her eyes widening with shock, and she gripped her throat and released a horrified shout. Just like on land, her tail slipped off her as if silk, disintegrating in the dark waters into a iridescent powder that was swept away by the tide, and then she was kicking with two very human legs and she was shutting her eyes—drowning, Soul realized with a plunge of his stomach, she was drowning.

He shouted her name and grabbed her, using his feet to kick up off the floor. He nauseously thought that he would not be able to reach the surface on time—they were deep, he hadn't realized how deep until he was swimming up with her in his arms. He breached the surface after a few long seconds with a gasp and pulled Maka up as well, the few pillars of sunlight illuminating her pale face. She sucked in air greedily, coughing out sea water and dragging in rough breaths.

"I can't—swim!" She hacked out more water when she sunk back in the water and Soul cursed.

"Wait a sec—get on my back and hold onto me!" Soul told her and she did, for once fearing the ocean that had been her home for many long and sad years. She wrapped her arms around his neck and Soul swam back to shore, nearly tripping over his feet when he reached land. Maka stumbled beside him, grabbing onto him, breathing hard and looking back at the sea with something close to regret. But when she looked back at Soul, her face broke into one of happiness.

He barely had it in him to grin down at her: he collapsed beside his jacket, uncaring of the sand that was sticking to him uncomfortably. He closed his eyes, chest heaving. He felt Maka plop down beside him, coughing a little more and taking in some much-needed air as her heart settled.

"Fuck," he blew out a breath.

Maka looked at him curiously.

"...I'm hungry."

"Hungry?" Maka blinked. She looked around, finding nothing in sight except a long strip of shoreline before her and a long stretch of road behind her. "Where would you acquire something to eat here?"

"McDonalds."

"What's that?"

"Bad food," he stifled a groan and sat up. He frowned at the sand that stuck on his skin; it'd be a pain to get it all off and not drag it into his apartment. "But that's the only place that's open right now. There's one about ten minutes from here."

Maka frowned. "Why would you eat bad food?"

"Cuz I'm starving?"

She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "I don't want to eat bad food. I want good food!"

Soul rolled his eyes. "You've never even tasted—eh," he squinted at her. "Fine. We'll go a good fast food place, only cuz you've never eaten a burger before."

"Ooh! A burger?" Maka cooed, her eyes shining. He felt his own soften at her adorable excitement. "I want one! What is it?"

"The food of the gods," he grinned and her eyes widened even more.

"Really?"

"No, you moron," he laughed when she shot him a dark look. He stood up and helped her up as well and then meandered over to his jacket, scooping out the red impure soul with a slight smirk. 99 more to go, he thought and figured he had more than enough time to collect them—even with Maka by his side. He shook his jacket of sand and placed it over her trembling, naked body. "But first we gotta' get you into some clothes."

"What? No!"

"Yes—hey, get back here! NO, MAKA, DON'T TAKE IT OFF!"

"It's hot!"

"MAKA, TAKE IT OFF AND I'LL THROW YOU BACK IN THE WATER!"

"No, you won't!" Came her distant reply, laughter mixing with her words, and he held back a sigh in exchange for a fond grin, chasing after her before she really did take off the blasted jacket and flash the coming cars down the road. He caught up with her and closed the jacket with his hands, stumbling to a stop and ignoring her grumbling wiggling so he could zip it up.

"I'm serious, don't take it off," he scowled and she scowled back. "Jeez, we're gonna' have to get you used to clothes."

"Can I not just..." She paused, thinking, and then looked at him resolutely. "I will wear them when we are outside. But not in the house," she triumphantly told him and he stared, wondering if she actually thought she somehow won this argument. Naive girl, he thought with a crooked smile, he'd at least force her into some panties when they were at home. Maybe a bra, too, he added critically.

Nah, not a bra, he grinned. "Alright, whatever. But don't bitch when you're cold during the winter."

"You're a bitch," she retorted and he stared back incredulously. She blinked back. "What?"

"Another thing," he ruffled her hair and smashed her cheek into his chest, steering her towards his motorcycle as she pouted, "You leave the cursing to me, alright? You'll never be cool enough for it," or more like you'd end up being better at it than me, he added mentally and smiled when she tried to argue—the ocean a distant hush in the background, its inhabitants a mere memory now.