Maka's Dark Soul Problem

By: DemonClowSorceress

Disclaimer: *checks ownership* Nope, Soul Eater doesn't belong to me. Crabs.

Epilogue

Her Condition, His Conviction

"YOU'RE A DEATHSCYTHE?"

Dark winced at the shocked disbelief. "Yeah," she said, opening her jaw wide to pop her ears. "Since I'm the 8th Deathscythe outside of Death City, I'm technically a Reserve Deathscythe. But since there's a vacancy in Europe, I'll probably be stationed there. When Lord Shinigami summoned me to help, it was good because I wanted to tell Soul Eater in person about my promotion." She gave a half-grin that bared her fang. "And Europe is where my family's corps is making its circuit, and they're in need of a new prima ballerina."

Maka had to take a breath after digesting this fact. "I thought you hated ballet," she remarked, taking a sip of her soda.

"I said I didn't care to follow in my family's footsteps. I never outright said I hated it," corrected Dark, twirling a lock of her midnight-hued hair absently. "But I'm good at it, and it's a source of income. I may take part in a few performances as a guest artist, that's all."

"You are quite graceful." Maka smirked as she remembered just how graceful the other girl was the night before. "By the way, a question...when Allavalia cast her Envy magic, why weren't you affected?"

Dark stirred the ice cubes in her ice tea with her straw. "Why should I be jealous of others?" she said simply. "I'm a Deathscythe, I have wicked sweet friends, and I like what I have and where I am. I couldn't wish for anything more. I'm sure someday that might change, but for now...I'm content."

The last sentance made Maka think about Soul. Like Dark, he was also a Deathscythe now. If he was ever stationed somewhere else...The mere thought of seperating from him gave Maka a tight feeling in her chest, like a hand was squeezing her heart. Will he be content stationed somewhere else, with another meister?

Dark spoke in an offhand tone. "So...you gonna tell Soul Eater you like him?"

Maka choked on her sip of soda. Dark smirked. "Ah, I see I can still call it. Nice to know."

"I-I-I don't know wh-wh-wh-what you're t-t-talking about," Maka managed to get out. How can she tell?

Dark raised a hand. "I call bullshit, Your Honor. The defendant is being evasive." She gave a reassuring grin to show she was teasing. "But honestly, why are you so shy? You can see how much Soul Eater cares for you."

Maka's green eyes dropped to stare at her drink. "He cares for you more," she murmured. "That Soul Resonance...it was nothing I could have ever - "

"What, that?" Dark scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. "That wasn't Soul Resonance."

"But you moved in sync - and the Chain Resonance - !"

"Just months and months of practice that never died," she said firmly. "And I was only a conduit, not actually contributing to the Resonance."

"But - !"

Dark gave Maka a serious stare. "Soul and I are compatible souls, but we can't use Soul Resonance." Her smile returned. "That experience has only been between you and him, Maka."

The meister's face flushed. She makes it sound so...intimate. "S-S-So when d'you leave?"

"Tomorrow." Dark let her eyes roam around the street, as if looking for someone. "But I'm taking my wicked sweet time. I haven't been to Death City before, and he'd said he'd show me around."

"He?" Maybe she means Soul? A faint stab of jealousy hit her heart again despite herself.

"There you are."

Both girls turned to see Death the Kid striding up to their table, looking neat and symmetrical in his customary black suit. A warm smile was on his face when he saw Dark. "Ready to go?" he asked. "We have a lot to see."

"Sure," responded Dark, smiling back with the faintest blush on her cheeks. She pulled out some money for her drink and put it on the table. "Later, Maka."

Kid offered his arm like the young gentleman he was, and Dark slipped her hand through the crook of his arm. Maka watched as both teens headed down the street at an easy pace. Huh, Dark and Kid...I would've never pegged it. She doesn't strike me as willing to deal with his OCD...

"I see Dark has a new challenge."

Maka jumped in shock when Soul's voice floated into her ear without her hearing him approach. "Ch-ch-challenge?" she stammered, looking at his face and worriedly thinking Oh god, did he hear us talking?

"Her crush on Kid." He grinned at the retreating figures of his childhood friend and his guy friend. "I think she'll actually be able to calm his OCD down a little."

"Really?" Maka said, impressed. "How?"

"She has her ways." Those crimson eyes drifted down to land squarely on Maka's face. "So, you feeling better?"

She nodded, unconsciously feeling where her bandages were wrapped around the cuts and bruises from the previous evening. "Yeah. Miss Nygus says I'll be ready for missions in about a week." Her eyes dropped as well to the old scar on her partner's chest, hidden by his clothes. "Soul, I - "

"Don't." His hands came up to rest on her shoulders. "Maka, don't do that. Allavalia - " his voice dropped low to growl out that hated name - "Allavalia made you do that. She was controlling you. But I know you didn't want to." Tilting her head up, Soul gave her his trademark smartass grin. "I know you, Maka."

Maka had to smile back, feeling a pool of warmth grow in her stomach at his words. He knows just how to cheer me up, she thought. He always has.

He blinked, as if realizing what position they were in, and dropped his hand from her chin. "Well, anyway," he mumbled, turning back to stare at the retreating figures of Dark and Kid.

She likewise coughed to cover the sudden awkward moment. "So...whatever happened to the kishin eggs and Allavalia's soul?"

"They were split up between Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti. Lord Shinigami's keeping Allavalia's soul for the one who gets ninety-nine souls first." He seemed edgy, Maka thought, fidgeting and shifting his weight from side to side. "And...um...Lord Shinigami asked me about...Deathscythe stuff...like where I'll be...placed..."

The stab was more pronounced, a hard, hot pain in her heart that twisted and skewered the vital organ viciously. She had to swallow a couple of times until her voice was willing to cooperate enough to say, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really." The Deathscythe sounded far too chill about the whole thing. This meant he'd made a decision. He's made his decision without me.

Maka cleared her throat as burning tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. "So, where are you going? Europe? No wait, Dark said she'd be stationed there..."

Soul looked at her with a puzzled frown. "Wait, what? Maka, it's not - "

"Or maybe South America - they need a new Deathscythe, I hear," she rambled on, trying to talk enough so she wouldn't start crying. "But you'll hate it, I know it. You're always complaining about the heat here, and with the humidity - "

"Maka, will you let me - "

" - and not to mention the mosquitoes, I mean seriously, they gotta be as big as cat-Blair - "

"Maka, it's not what you - "

" - but you can't go against Lord Shinigami, because that's just stupid and I know you're not that stupid - "

"Would you just let me - "

" - but don't worry, I'll write every - " The rest of her sentance was rammed back down her throat when Soul grabbed her shoulders and pulled her flush with his body, pressing his lips against hers.

Maka's brain blanked, shorting out in a burst of neurons as he kissed her. Her green eyes fluttered shut as she responded, instinct guiding her arms to twine around his neck. His hands slid down from her shoulders to around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. When his tongue pressed against her lips she readily let him in, engaging in a battle of dominance that didn't end until her lungs begged for air.

She broke the kiss first, panting heavily and holding onto her partner for dear life. "Soul," she breathed, opening her eyes to gaze into a sea of crimson. "Soul, what was - ?"

"If you stopped to listen to me," Soul said, his breath fanning over her face, "I'd've said that I requested to be stationed here, in Death City."

Maka blinked in disbelief. Oxygen deprivation. That's what making me hallucinate. He couldn't have just said -

"I could, and I did," said the Deathscythe flatly. He laughed when Maka's eyes widened in shock. "No, I didn't read your mind. Just your face - you're an open book to me, Maka."

"But why?" She couldn't understand it. Soul was a Deathscythe. He could be placed anywhere. He could have any meister as his partner. And he wanted to stay in Death City, with her? It defied all logic.

She had meant to ask Why here? but her mouth instead said, "Why me?"

"Because you're mine, silly." Those soul-piercing orbs scorched her very soul as he stared into her eyes. He gave his shark-like smile. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Maka Albarn. It's not cool to leave such a cool girl behind."

Depite her cheeks flushing, Maka looked down. "B-B-But it's n-not cool to like a t-t-tiny-t-t-tits." Saying the insult hurt, but it was true. Soul had said it himself multiple time. And God forbid Soul Eater Evans didn't live his life by the cool scale.

Said cool guy arched an eyebrow. "What? I can't love a girl just because she's flat as a board? And you're supposed to be the smartest student at Shibusen."

Maka felt as though her world was spinning off its axis. Soul loves me? "Y-You l-l-love me?"

He leaned forward, putting his forehead against hers. "You're my meister." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Mine, and no one else's."

That was as close to 'I love you' Soul would probably ever say. Maka almost let herself believe him. But her previous experiences with her Papa's cheating, womanizing ways prevented her. It didn't help that he (unfortunately) shared a number of traits with Soul.

"Promise me?"

He frowned, confused at the tremor in her voice. "Promise what?"

"You have to promise," Maka said in a trembling voice, tightening her grip on his shoulders. "You have to promise me that you'll never, ever, ever leave me."

The white-haired Deathscythe kept her gaze, his face carefully blank. For one horrible moment, Maka was afraid that he wouldn't promise. Soul hated feeling trapped, and he especially hated being made to do pointless things.

Then she felt something in her soul. Closing her eyes to better use her Soul Perception, she could feel her little orange pigtailed soul humming deep within her. Trying to locate the reason why, Maka found it to be coming from the jagged-mouthed blue soul in front of her. It was humming the exact same tune as her soul, and in perfect time as well. He's...resonating? But why? There aren't any witches or evil humans around here -

"I promise."

Those two words made her shiver. Rather than hear them with her ears, Maka felt them reverberate within her soul. I get it. He's using Soul Resonance so I can tell he's being honest with me.

Again he spoke, the words making her shiver. "I swear on my soul, Maka Albarn, that I will never leave you. You're mine, and I'm yours."

Opening her eyes, Maka looked into the eyes of her best friend, partner, and soulmate. "That's all I wanted to know," she whispered. Blushing hard, she gave him her biggest smile as tears of happiness glimmered in her eyes. "I love you too, Soul Eater Evans."

His response was to kiss her again.

And FIN! Thank you all SOOOOOO much for staying with this story! It was a lot of fun to write!

And now here's a little extra for those who like the KidxDark pairing!

Death the Kid had never been so anxiously paranoid in his life.

Okay, yes he had, but only when it pertained to his OCD. This was a new kind of paranoid anxiety for the young Shinigami, and he actually - kinda - sorta had no idea why he was so freaked about.

Escorting Dark Nightmare Blade around Death City had been his father's idea. "She ought to have some fun here before heading off to Europe," he said to Kid after the others had left for the night. "I was thinking of having one of the students escort her around Death City for the day. A few have no classes tomorrow."

"An excellent idea, Father," Kid had replied.

"Hmmmm~" Lord Shinigami had scratched his head with one large square finger. "But who? There's Ox, or Kirikou, or maybe Hiro - "

Kid had no idea why, but his mouth had decided to spit out, "I'll do it."

Escorting her may have been Lord Shinigami's idea, but having Kid to it was Kid's idea. For some reason, the thought of another male student - or any male, for that matter - taking the female Deathscythe on a guided tour of his town had made funny things happen in the pit of Kid's stomach.

So here he was, with her, alone, after a long day of seeing the town, at his most favorite place. It's like a date, he thought awkwardly. But it's not. So I shouldn't be nervous...right?

"Death City is so interesting at twilight," Dark said. She stared over the city from her perch on the stone wall of Shibusen, an unconscious smile on her face. "It was so nice of you to do this, Kid."

He shrugged, the picture of nonchalance, and then winced in pain. His gunshot wound from last night was still sore. "It was nothing, really."

Dark looked back at him. The fading sunlight reflected off her eyes, making them sparkle like diamonds. "You look a little tired. Why don't you come sit?" She patted the wall beside her in an open invitation.

Kid swallowed past the lump in his throat. Remembering everything Liz had told him about girls and their moods before shoving him out the door, he went and sat stiffly beside the teenage girl, his golden eyes staring very hard at everything that wasn't Dark.

This was ridiculous. He could stand toe-to-toe with some of the most evil and ferocious adversaries of Shibusen, but he couldn't look a girl in the eye? He could almost hear Black*Star and Soul in his mind calling him a wimp.

"You don't have to be so tense, you know."

He blinked in surprise. "Beg your pardon?"

"You're tense as a piano wire." Dark poked his spine, sending tingles down his back. "Lighten up. It's not like a witch is gonna randomly attack us here."

Kid rolled his shoulders. "I'm sorry. It's just...it's been a rough day."

"I hear you."

He glanced over at her. "Um, about last night," he began. "That dance...it was beautiful."

Dark gave him a lopsided grin. "I wasn't going for points in elegance, Kid. It's how I fight. Years of ballet just gave me leg strength and made me limber." She pushed hair out of her eyes, then noticed how he held his injured shoulder. "Is that doing any better?"

Kid was about to shrug, then thought better of it. "Yeah. It's fine. Dark, um...will you be gone long?"

"I'm being stationed in Europe, so I really don't know when I'll be back here." The Deathscythe regarded the young Shinigami. "Why do you ask?"

It was getting dark, so Kid couldn't be sure if she was blushing or not. Feeling his own cheeks heat up, he stumbled over his next words. "Well...um, well, I was j-just wondering, you know, if...if maybe, perhaps, if you ever, um, wanted to, uh, come back to Death City..."

"Kid?"

Aw, screw it. He screwed his eyes shut and spoke in a confused jumble of words, nerves making his face turn bright red.

"What?"

Taking a breath, the gun meister regained his cool. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out again the next time you come into town," he said again.

Silence stretched between them, heavy as cream and quiet as the void. Kid felt a shudder ripple through his body as he listened to Dark breathing. What was I thinking? he thought in panic. What could she see in me? I'm just a neurotic Shinigami. She's a beautiful Deathscythe. I'm such an idiot!

"W-Would you like to?" Dark replied quietly. "With me?"

Kid looked over as she leaned against him, mindful of his injured shoulder. Shy silver eyes looked up into his surprised golden ones. Both saw shock at the other's words as well a flame of affection that made them both blink.

Kid spoke first, in a rough whisper that concealed none of his joy. "I would be honored."

Dark smiled happily and put her hand over his. "As would I," she replied, squeezing his hand. She bit her lower lip for a moment, then smiled at him.

That was when Kid noticed several things about Dark. That odd fang of hers, her odd outfit, the memory of her weapon form - not symmetrical at all, but for some reason it didn't irritate him or make him freak out.

Dark reached up and brushed at his bangs, tracing the white Sanzu Lines on his black hair. Unlike every other time the lines were brought to his attention, Kid was strangely calm. His OCD was not making him flip out and fall into depression.

Am I cured? he wondered. Has she cured me? But it wasn't so; when he looked to the rest of Death City he immediately began obessing over the blasted asymmetrical imperfections.

"I've heard that you're a gentleman through and through, Death the Kid," Dark finally said. "Could I maybe have a gentleman's promise?"

He blinked, actually needing to remember how to speak as he tore his eyes from the blatant failure at symmetry. "Of course."

She smiled again. Before he could react her lips were on his cheek and off again. He reached up to touch the tingling skin, his golden eyes wide in surprise as her silver orbs glittered with happiness.

"When I come back to visit, will you let me take a spin on Beelzebub?"

The question was so surprising, so unexpected...so Dark...that he had to laugh. And laugh he did, wrapping an arm around his stomach as it grew painful to laugh.

She'd said when. This meant that she would come back.

"Skateboarding's not an easy thing to learn," he said when he got his breath back. "It's difficult. You'll fall a lot."

Dark smirked. "I'll keep coming back," she countered. "No matter how many times I fall."

So he responded, "Then I'll be ready and waiting to catch you when you fall."

Now the TRUE END! Thank you all for sticking with me for the whole run! I luved this whole experience!

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