Maka jerked awake and then groaned as her body complained loudly. This was why she hated falling asleep on the couch, it always left her stiff, aching, and full of regrets.

She hissed as she pried open the hand that fallen asleep clutching the stupid pocket watch her father had given her, grimacing as her fingers cracked. As she pushed herself upright, her neck throbbed, as did her spine as she forced her limbs to stretch out. Her neck protested to turning left, at least until she made it crack too, and she sighed when her spine popped satisfyingly.

Man, she had had a weird dream. Something to do with…well, she could not actually remember what it was to do with. All she could remember was a distinct feeling of success after a long wait, and the faint whispering of voice she could not recognise telling her that she had down well.

She stood up and did a full range of stretches. Well, whatever. It was just a dream. She forced it from her mind as she thought of what she had to do that day.

She had homework to do, and finances to sort out, and she would probably have to call her papa to thank him for the watch, because while it did not actually work, it was fairly pretty.

Loathe as she was to admit it, maybe the old man actually did understand her taste.

At the thought of her papa though, her heart twanged painfully. She missed him she realised with surprise. She had only seen him three days before, but it felt like it had been longer, like it had been…years since she had last seen him.

She closed the pocket watch and set it on her coffee table, rotating her wrist until it cracked too. She would call Papa, get on with some homework, go through her receipts and work out her budget, and then maybe go for a walk to clear her head.

Her dream was still swirling in her brain despite her best efforts, but she was determined to shake it off.

Or at least she tried to.

The dream continued to rattle around in her head, distracting her from her homework and leaving her papa worried about her distant tone of voice. She had managed to only just talk him out of coming to check on her in person, thank god.

When mid-afternoon rolled around and the vestiges of her dream still haunted her, she decided to go for a walk slightly earlier than she had planned, to try and clear her head. The chill of autumn was finally settling in, and Maka kept her chin buried in her coat and her hands deep in her pockets as she walked.

The pocket watch that had started it all was clasped in one hand. She had meant to leave it at home, but it felt wrong to leave it behind. She felt tied to it now.

As she walked, she looked around, a strange mix of relief and nostalgia rushing over as she went, like she had not seen her neighbourhood in a long time.

She sighed in resignation and hunched her shoulders up to her ears. She needed to get out more, clearly, and probably lay off the sugary snacks before bed.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something flash in the afternoon sun. She turned her head and her heart damn near stopped.

On the other side of the road was a man with white hair, also waking with his hands deep in his pockets and shoulders hunched.

And she felt like she knew him from somewhere, even though she knew deep down he was a stranger.

The dream.

The faceless man, the empty room, all the lives she had lived, and the time she had spent chasing the white haired man. The white haired man. Soul. Her soulmate.

She stood frozen, watching as he moved down the street in the way she had come. Someone running in the opposite direction to him bumped into him, and she watched them both stumble as something fell out of the white haired man's pocket. He righted himself and kept on walking, not noticing something had fallen out of his pocket.

She stared for a moment longer, before making the impulsive decision to run across the road and scoop up the thing he had dropped.

It was a golden pocket watch, just as tarnished as hers, just like she remembered from the dream. She inspected it for a moment before running after the white haired man.

"Hey!" she called out and he jumped, whirling round to face her, eyes wide in shock. She stopped in front of him and held out his watch with a small smile. "You dropped this. Just now."

He blinked, and opened and closed his mouth several times as his gaze moved to the watch resting in her palm. "I…thank you."

She grinned, feeling giddy and ridiculous and shy all at once when his skin brushed hers as he took the watch from her hand. His eyes were intense and familiar when they met hers. She pulled out her own watch and his expression started to mirror hers: a small smile that was as hopeful as it was shy.

"Hi," she said breathlessly as she took a step closer to him, tilting her head back more so she could keep meeting his eyes, given how tall he was.

"Hey," he murmured back, voice deep and rumbling in a way she was sure she had not heard before.

She chuffed a little laugh and smiled so wide her cheeks were starting to hurt. "Long time no see."

And there we have it, my reverb! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, go check out the artwork and don't forget to review!