CHANGING THE TIMELINE, VERY IMPORTANT: I don't know if I made the original timeline clear or not, but I'm changing it to sometime after the events in Russia. So Kid is out of the Book of Eibon, Soul is a death scythe, but his mind is a little unstable and that's why he ran away, because he felt so bad about what happened in Russia and what he did to Maka.

Just FYI in case you were wondering.

His Pressure Point

Soul

Her sleep scared him. It reminded him too much of the stillness of her face in death, and of everything he'd said over her body. First, he thought he'd be okay just being in the same room as her, but he'd woken her up almost every couple of minutes just to make sure she was still alive. Then, he had settled for resting his hand on her shoulder, physically feeling the movements of her chest as it rose and fell. When that hadn't been enough, he'd moved his face closer, so close to hers that he could practically feel the hair of his eyelashes stirring with every breathe she took.

In sleep, her face was peaceful in a way it hadn't been in death. The muscles were relaxed, yet not. Every so often the skin on her nose wrinkled then relaxed right before his eyes. Her mouth was slightly open, a small pink slash across her otherwise pale face. And out behind her, her hair moved with a life all its own.

Carefully, Soul reached out one hand. He closed his eyes when it made contact with her skin and just held it there. He must've looked strange; kneeling by his meister's bedside with a hand on her cheek and his nose lightly touching hers. Even stranger when he thought about the fact that he hadn't taken a shower in days, hadn't shaved, hadn't eaten, hadn't done anything but stare at his meister's body where it lay in the darkness of his family's walk-in freezer.

"Number one: shower," Soul murmured to himself, stroking his thumb very gently across Maka's cheek.

That was the first thing he was going to do now that his meister was alive (he'd managed to shove Maka in a shower before she'd collapsed – obviously worn out from whatever Kid had done to reanimate her stone-cold corpse – into his bed). Number two was make himself a feast down in the kitchen. He could've eaten enough for two people for every meal he missed, he was so hungry. Number three was lay down and have a good night's sleep, preferably with Maka resting beside him.

And number four was track that bastard Stephen down and rip his lungs out of his chest. He'd gotten away in all the chaos of That Night – Soul could only think of it in capital letters now, no matter how hard he wished he could just forget the whole thing – but Soul was determined to hunt him down and make a necklace out of his intestines.

Stroking Maka's cheek, Soul let the violent urge wash over him. It was a pleasant feeling, warm and soft, like bathing in blood. Stephen's blood, preferably.

"Soul." A quiet voice penetrated the bubble of Soul's bloodlust and he looked to the side, finding Kid's face outlined in darkness at the door. The young reaper nodded and disappeared out into the hall, leaving the door cracked open; obviously he wanted Soul to follow.

Reluctantly, Soul did, holding Maka's cheek for a second longer before heading out into the hall where Kid waited.

"What?" Soul asked, closing the door and shuffling a few paces away. The lighting in the hallway was dim, but it was still brighter than the inky confines of Soul's room and the white haired weapon had to blink a few moments to clear his vision.

The Evans estate was divided into three parts: the Left Wing (residential side), the Right Wing (more functional, showy rooms), and the Tower. The Tower was located on the left side of the house and, although considerably smaller than either wing, was still a large chunk of space for rooms, extra kitchens, spare bedrooms, and bathrooms. At the very top of the tower, a grand music room sat gathering dust, with a Grand Piano at its center and a row of very old violins propped up along the wall.

The Tower had been designed with the idea that the two Evans boys would share the space and use it both as a living quarters and a musical space. Most of the walls in the Tower were even soundproofed to prevent one musician's music from disturbing the other. However, it had become quickly apparent as the boys got older than living in the same vicinity would not be an option for either of them. They fought constantly and their parents had been sure that by the time they were old enough to go to college, neither of them would be left standing. Luckily, the tension came to its peak right about the time that Soul moved away, going to the DWMA to stay with Maka and leaving his family behind.

So Wes got the Tower, but in it he found unhappiness. The space was too vast and too lonely for Wes, and, ultimately, reminded him too much of his younger brother. Wes then moved into the Left Wing and the Tower was abandoned until Soul came home and took up residence there.

"What?" Kid asked with a tone of slight disgust. He narrowed his eyes in Soul's direction, voice increasing in volume and acidity until Soul was cringing. "What, Soul Eater? What is all you have to say for yourself?"

Rather than continue that line of conversation, Soul looked down, scuffing the carpet at his feet and scrabbling for a conversation changer. "So, what did you do to her?" he asked, nodding back towards his bedroom door.

Kid's eyes narrowed and his mouth hardened up, but he caught Soul's hint and followed his train of thought. "Her soul came to me."

Soul's eyes widened. "Really?"

Kid's lips quirked in a hard smile. "Don't act all surprised, Soul. I am a reaper after all." He shook his head. "Anyway, it came to me and I just . . ." He looked down. "I couldn't let her die."

"You saved her." Soul's mouth was open in awe.

"I grabbed her soul and took off running. It gave me her location and let me know that there was a chance I could get to her."

"How'd it do that?" Soul didn't really care about the specifics; all he cared was that Maka was safe and sound and alive but he wanted this conversation to continue so they didn't have to return to their earlier one.

"It was cold and relatively unharmed." Kid shrugged. "I knew her body wasn't damaged much and you were keeping her somewhere cold, somewhere were her brain activity would be preserved – to a certain degree anyway – and knew if I could get to her fast enough, she'd be okay."

"But she was dead for three days." Soul frowned. There was a little nugget of worry clawing at his chest, but he'd felt her pulse after she'd fallen asleep so he knew she was alive. At least, right now she was.

Kid shook his head. "She's only been dead." He looked down at his watch. "Seventeen minutes"

Soul's mouth flopped open. "What?"

"She was mostly dead for three days." Kid nodded his head like it was a totally rational thing. When Soul's confused face did not move, Kid sighed and dove into his explanation. "When humans die, they die for good. Kaput, no more." He flattened his hand. "But when meisters die, there's a little sliver of them leftover from their bond with their weapon."

Soul's cheeks heated. "What?"

"All Maka's brain and soul activity was preserved through your connection." Kid waved his finger in Soul's direction. "The stronger the bond, the longer the physical body can stay dead before being revived."

"That's crazy." Soul blinked, pink all over. He was very, very pleased with himself and so incredibly relieved that he and Maka were so close.

"It doesn't work all the time, but since I knew you two were so close, I knew I had a chance to save Maka." Kid shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets like it was no big deal. "Once I got here, I just slipped her soul back into her body and revived her. That's the really tricky part."

"What? Getting her soul to go back into her body?" Soul asked.

"No." Kid shook his head. "Reviving her." At Soul's blank look, the young reaper shook his head tiredly. "I performed CPR, you idiot."

"Oh." Soul looked away.

Silence grew between them. Now that the conversation was officially dead, Soul could feel Kid's anger returning in small amounts. By the time Soul had worked up the courage to speak, the carpet at Kid's feet was smoking, so fierce was the anger that radiated from him.

"So where are Liz and Patty?" Soul cleared his throat, trying to divert Kid's attention before Soul got the inevitable smack-down he knew the young reaper was preparing himself for.

Kid shook his head. "They didn't come."

"Why not?"

Kid's eyes narrowed. "A couple reasons." He could barely get the words out of his mouth. "One, I couldn't make it here in time carrying them on my skateboard, even in weapon form."

"Okay." Soul nodded, holding his breath. "Makes sense."

Kid's blinked and a white line of rage connected around his dark hair.

"Uh oh." Soul breathed.

"And I also didn't want them to see this," Kid said quietly, calm even when enraged.

Soul didn't feel the punch. He felt himself soaring back into the wall, and he definitely felt it when a hanging painting shattered behind his back, sending glass shards everywhere. But he didn't feel Kid's punch.

And maybe that was for the best.

"What were you thinking?" Kid asked, taking another hit at Soul. "Just what the HELL were you THINKING!?"

Soul did nothing to avoid Kid's punches, he took them at full force with his head lowered. "Kid, calm –" he tried to speak between punches.

"DO NOT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, SOUL EATER!" Another white line connected around Kid's head. He looked up and Soul saw that his eyes, usually a calm cat-eye yellow, were burning brightly with white-hot rage. "Or so help me Father, I will kick your white-haired ass into oblivion."

"Jesus, Kid." Soul backed up a step. The air around him simmered. "This isn't like you."

"How long has it been? Huh?" Kid followed Soul's backwards step, face painted with anger. He ignored Soul's question and instead raised his fists, pointing to the door behind which Maka was sleeping peacefully. "How long has it been since you talked to her? Since you made any contact with Maka?"

"Uh . . ." Soul looked down at his feet.

"Do you know the things your silence did to her? What I had to watch it do to her?"

"Kid, I –"

"Did you think about us at all, when you took off running into the blue, not a single word of warning? Did you, SOUL EATER?" A kick this time. Soul hit the wall hard and slid down until his knees were touching the floor. He looked up at a Kid from beneath him and nearly shuddered; the young reaper was so flush with anger, so dark and full of rage that even Soul – coolest kid at the DWMA – was ready to plead with him for mercy.

"I –" He started, but his voice caught around an apology.

"You selfish bastard! You didn't think about us at all, huh?" Kid moved closer, reaching down to lift Soul by his coat collar and shove him back into the wall. "You're your leaving would do to us? What it did to us? What it did to Black Star, to Tsubaki, to everyone?"

Another apology, another chance at redemption rose in Soul's throat and stuck there.

"She doesn't deserve you." Kid sniffed and Soul could see past the rage, for the first time since the reaper had gotten here. Beneath the anger and the bravado, Kid was sad. And hurt. Very, very, very hurt.

That's what Soul's leaving had done to him. What it had done to all Soul's friends. And Soul didn't even think Kid had liked him that much.

Kid's hands around Soul's collar tightened. He lifted Soul one, two, three inches off the ground. "Did you get her messages, you jackass? Did you?"

Soul wanted to nod, even tried to, but Kid's hands wouldn't let him.

"She stayed home for weeks, Soul. Weeks. Thinking every day you were going to come home." Neither Soul nor Kid was crying, but both of them felt close to tears. Kid's voice was thick with them. Tears and anger and a bond of pain shared with the skinny blonde girl sleeping just feet away from him. "It took everything out of her just to get up and go to school sometimes. And still. Still, you stayed away."

Soul's mouth finally opened and sound poured out.

"I had to."

That was not what he'd wanted to say.

"You what?" Kid's hands tightened and he pushed Soul even further, if possible, back into the wall.

"I had to stay away." Soul willed himself to stop talking, to shut up before his damn mouth made matters worse but it seemed it was too late for him. "After what I did . . . in Russia . . . what I did to Stein, and Maka . . ." Soul's red eyes closed and his mouth tightened with a painful grin. "I thought, if I can't stop the Black Blood, I'll give in to it. But not with Maka around. Not with any of you around."

"What?" Kid's hands loosened a fraction. His face was the picture of shock, hair, eyes, and face at least ten shades paler than they were usually. "You what?"

"A return to my roots." Soul shook his head. "I was going to let it out here, my insanity, but . . . I just couldn't."

"Why?" Kid's eyes narrowed, whether in shock or suspicion or irritation or anger, Soul couldn't tell. "Why didn't you?"

Soul closed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond.

And he was released sharply, only to hit the ground ten times harder than he would have if returned there normally by gravity, a heavy weight smashed down onto his head. Sliding Kid a look out of the corner of his eye, Soul saw that Kid was in a similar predicament. Both young men were face-down on the floor, butts sticking up in the air with their faces being ground into the floorboards. Soul saw the golden flash of a line of script out of the corner of his eye before the weight upon his head was released, only to come crashing back down with ten times more effort.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" A screech reached his ears as the book was raised and thrown down again, burning with anger and a bloodlust so intense Soul knew there was only one person it could belong to. "DO I HAVE TO MAKA-CHOP YOU BOTH INTO NEXT TUESDAY? 'CAUSE I'LL DO IT, IF YOU GUYS DON'T START ACTING LIKE A COUPLE OF DUMBASSES, I'LL BREAK YOU INTO SO MANY PIECES YOU WON'T EVER PUT YOURSELVES BACK TOGETHER!"

"Maka!" Both boys groaned, but Soul's upset meister was not to be placated.

"I have a bone to pick with you, mister," she growled into Soul's ear, tossing away the books in her hands and pulling him onto his feet by his hair.

"Owwwww!" Soul moaned, looking back towards a disgruntled Kid who rolled onto his feet with ease.

Kid frowned at Maka, rubbing a large bump on the left side of his head with feverish motions. "You could've at least made it symmetrical," he pouted.

A vein throbbed dangerously at Maka's forehead, but she reached back and grabbed the books she'd discarded and smacked Kid a new one, this time on the right side of his head.

"Better?" she hissed to where Kid was lying face-down on the floor.

Kid gave her a weak thumbs up.

"Now." Maka dragged Soul back down the hallway towards Soul's bedroom by his collar. "You and I need to have a few words."

"How much did you hear?" he asked, trying to calculate just how much trouble he was in.

Maka just glared at him.

"You controlled my brother nicely. Well done, Miss . . . Albarn." A voice spoke out of the darkness ahead of them. "And just when I was beginning to think he'd really lost it." Wes strolled out into the open with his arms folded behind him and a hateful smile painted across his face. "Looks like he has a pressure point, after all."