Where Affection Lies

By MidnightSting

Chapter 4: Affection Lies

Part 2: Inner Lies

'It's dark...' the voiced trailed and began again in agony, 'help me, my Soul... It's so dark...'

He whipped his eyes open swiftly at the sound of his meister's voice, and struggled under his own weight as he lifted himself into a sitting position. Searching frantically for her he finally realized where he was.

"What the..." he gradually stood as he glanced around their apartment. He supposed it made sense, 'home is where the heart is' after all; well, soul in this case. "What's that make this then?" he asked himself dully as he glanced around, smirking he added, "the black apartment? Not cool at all, Maka," he chuckled as he took a step forward. "But I suppose it's better than something like the black library," he finished.

"Now if I were Maka, where would I be?" he questioned himself, as he took a questioning glance at their seemingly changing apartment. The ceiling seemed to come down a foot or two, and the normally bright colors of their furnishings appeared dull. The black blood's influence he assumed.

Turning toward the kitchen he took a quick glance to confirm that she was not inside. Continuing onward he checked the living room, bathroom, laundry closet, and even opened up the front door for a moment only to find nothing but blackness like when he left the black room.

Walking down the small hallway of their shared apartment he looked sternly at her bedroom door. Normally this was forbidden terrain, and he didn't really feel all that comfortable with entering her room within her soul, no doubt the most private sanctum in her life, but figured that under the current circumstances she would, more than likely, keep the clobbering down to a minimum.

With bated breath he turned the knob slowly, and pushed the door into what he was sure would be his demise. As it opened enough to see in he squeezed his eyes closed on instinct, and opened the door until he was fully exposed to the sweet scent of strawberry mints that Maka herself emitted.

After several moments of standing there with his eyes sewn shut, and his feet seemingly nailed to the floor he opened his eyes to reveal, not a young woman with a book ready to launch, but an empty room looking only slightly different than the last time he dared to enter.

Slamming the door closed behind him with fury he slid down the hallway wall until he was sitting with his eyes wide on the ceiling. Where was she? He had looked everywhere, everywhere!

Except... He glanced at his bedroom door.

No way. There was absolutely no way Maka would be in his bedroom. Aside from waking him up in the morning with a pot or pan she was just as forbidden to enter his room, as he was hers. Whilst living with the opposite sex, one must abide by such rules, they had learned their lesson long ago, and in few words decided that unless called upon, or in emergencies there was no entering of the others room.

Though he was always more lenient about the rule then she was, preferring to do his business in the shower; she still obeyed her own rule, preferring to be fair, and safe over sorry, than enter his room on free will.

He stood again, and stared questioningly at his door. It wasn't like Maka, but he questioned if within the realms of her own soul she would enter there without reason. As if beckoning him forward black ooze began to seep out from underneath the door. He knelt down, and touched the substance inquisitively.

"Black," he paused in realization, "blood?"

Terror filled his heart at the sheer amount that poured out from the depths of his own dwellings. With mixed feelings of hope and fear he opened the door to his room, and gasped at the sight before him.

There, in the center of the floor...

"Maka!" he ran forward only to be held back by some unidentifiable force. Struggling he looked down to see black hands raise out of the puddles of blood on the floor, and hold him in place; slithering their way around his body like the snakes of the woman who'd bestowed this curse upon them.

"Damn it, let me go!" he cursed as he tore his arm free of one, only to have it grabbed by another. "Maka!" he shouted in desperation to get her attention. She didn't seem to hear him, "M-Maka?" he questioned with a shaky voice as he realized that the blood on the floor appeared to be oozing out of a crescent slash in her chest. "Maka!" a scream caught in his throat, as he feared the worst.

Her head was bowed down as she sat on her knees in a pool of her own black blood. Hair flowed up and down as if in water, and her clothes followed suit. Her hands lay before her palms up as if she were staring intently at them. After a moment he realized that there was blood in her hands too, but it was a normal crimson, and obviously not her own.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Soul whipped his head in the direction of the sound. From the corner of the room he saw the shadow of a person dance across the wall as the source of the sound moved across the room towards them.

The laughing moonlight that sank through the window caught a gleam of something sharp that appeared to be a blade of sorts. A black blade.

"Don't tell me," Soul sucked in a breath as if to halt the name from coming out. No way! But as said man walked into the light Soul's fears came into it also, as Spirit walked to Maka's still form, and began to laugh in an unnaturally dark tone.

"That's what you get, Maka," he grinned as he moved his arm ever so slightly to slice her cheek, "for being a bad girl."

"Leave her alone!" Soul bellowed as he fought his restraints without success.

"...Soul?" Maka lifted her head lightly with the whisper, but not enough to see her face.

"I'm right here, Maka!" Soul called desperately, "it's gonna be fine, I'm right here!" he heard a sob catch in her throat, and a lump grew in his own.

"But you're not here!" she cried as she raised her shaking hands, "you'll never be here, never again!" her voice broke and she fell to a heap in the floor. Soul's yells of concern mixed with Spirits incessant laughter.

"What the fuck are you laughing about you son-of-a-bitch!" Soul was furious now, and he began to break through the restraints that held him.

"That's quite the interesting illusion you've created there, Maka," Spirit teased as he lifted Maka by her hair to have her face me. The look in her eyes was shock at first, but soon turned to numb misery.

"Do you miss him that badly?" he mocked in a feminine voice as he threw her back to the ground with a thud, "do you?" he kicked her violently, sending her flying into the wall, then crashing down to the floor. Soul's heart gripped as his throat as he watched her form fall down onto something apparently soft. "Then go with him to the grave!" with that Spirit laughed in pitched tones and began to topple over in hysteria.

Soul whipped his head to Spirit ready to break free of his restraints, and open a can of serious kick-ass, when a small whimper came from Maka that made him glance back to her in worry.

"...S-Soul..." her voice was very distorted, and he could hear the agony within her. Just then, Spirit's blade caught the moonlight causing an illuminating glow to fill the room, and gave him a quick glance of the horrifying seen before him.

There, in the corner of his own room, being grabbed by his absolutely distraught meister was his own corpse. His eyes grew wide until they were the size of the imposters, and his mouth went agape. There was a large slash running down its chest that reminded him of the one that marked his loyalty to her.

"Maka, that isn't me!" Soul cried as he lost the will to fight the arms grabbing at his body, "it isn't me, Maka!"

"Of course it's him," Spirit growled as he walked over to her, and pulled her away from the body with vigorous movements. He leaned in real close, and let out another burst of laughter, "it's him!"

"Stay away from him!" Maka cried as she grabbed onto Spirits collar, and lifted him off his feet just slightly as she prepared to smash his face in. Soul regained some of his will, and began to pull on the black blood once more, until he heard several snaps followed by the sound of liquid slapping liquid.

"It's your fault!" Maka sobbed in vengeance as she slammed him to the wall, "it's your fault Mama left!" again she slammed him, "your fault I can't trust people with my true feelings," again, "your fault my soul's failing me now," again, "your fault he's gone!" she shrieked as the wall finally broke and sent Spirit's limp form flying into the other room. As the dust settled scrutinous snickers followed.

"You mean your fault," Spirits eyes turned deadly as his body began to fade into a boiling puddle of black blood, "don't you dear..."

The room became silent for a moment as they both stood perfectly still.

"M-Maka?" Soul became uneasy at the way she stood so still, without so much as breathing. Soon after him calling her name, as if clockwork, she began to fall backwards as if the marionette-strings holding her had broken free.

With newfound strength, or the possible weakening of the black blood, he finally managed to break free from the blood's bond, and leapt forward to catch his falling meister as he had done so many times before.

"S-Soul..." her voice was shaky, whether from the injury to her soul, or the fact that she was seeing her presumed dead partner alive and well.

"Yeah, Maka," he struggled to keep himself together as he held her as close to him as he could manage, "It's me. It's really me."

"But..." she paused in wonder as she stared at him through pain veiled eyes.

"That was just an illusion your mind created," Soul answered, reading her thoughts like the pages of a book. Tears filled her eyes again as she reached up to grab his head.

"Oh, Soul!" she sobbed as he leaned forward to hold her up to his chest tightly, and ensure her that it was really him, and not some illusion.

"It's alright now, Maka," he cooed as he held back his own tears of relief, "it's alright..."

"B-but," she pushed away and stared at him with questioning eyes, "how did you get here? Isn't this," she glanced around as if just remembering that she wasn't in the real world at the moment before continuing, "my soul?" she finished with wonder.

"Yeah," he laughed at her bewildered expression, "it wasn't really that hard for me to get in either," he smirked with a sly tone to his voice, "probably because you were practically inviting me in," he could barely contain himself at the embarrassed flush her cheeks had taken a liking to.

"I-I did?" she questioned, as her face grew hotter.

"Yeah," he figured he'd milk this as much as he could seeing how absolutely adorable her face was right then, "you even referred to me as 'your Soul'," he couldn't contain the snicker that grew in his throat at her jaw flapping with no words able to break free from them.

"D-did not!" she bellowed as she shoved him back with slight force.

"Oh, really?" he questioned as he got dangerously close to her face, "how would you know? You were hyped up on black blood, remember?" he swung his voice on the word 'remember', and insured that her temperature raised another notch.

"I-I wouldn't say something like that," she whimpered as if he were teasing her, which in a way he was, and looked away with her arms crossed against her now, somehow, uninjured chest.

"I would," he said it before he thought about it, but somehow in the bewildered look she flashed him when she looked back he didn't have the heart to regret it. "Don't you ever," he began with a slight breaking taking hold of his voice, "do this to me again, my Maka," with that he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers softly.

Sparks exploded in his eyes, and he was delighted when she began to move her mouth next to his, seemingly lost in the moment. As the passion behind the kiss strengthened, the connection between their souls did as well until he couldn't differentiate between the two of them.

When he opened his eyes, and pulled away from her face he found himself back in Stein's home with a very red-faced Maka before him. A smirk crossed his face as an idea popped into his head.

He glanced behind him, and lifted up some sort of science book, and softly conked it against Maka's head, whispering, "Soul~chop!" under his breath with amusement.

She couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled up within her as it spilled out her mouth in a fit of giggles, "Not cool, Soul."

He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her, happy and once again herself. He decided that when they got home he was going to tell her everything; about the dream that tormented him, about the reason he wouldn't play for her, and most importantly his feelings for her would have to be explained in great detail until her entire body flushed red in embarrassment.

After all, he had learned over time that the only place affection lies was an area free of lies.

...

YEAH...

That's 'bout it.

Listen, I know there's grammar errors in here, but please don't comment on it. I simply DO NOT have enough time to edit this, and by the time I do I'll no doubt have other things on my agenda that have more relevance than fan fiction (wait-a-minute-is-that-even-possible?)

Just be thankful I wrote this last chapter at all with all the crap that's happening in my life lately. Also no whining about Spirit being a bad guy. It isn't really him, it's Maka's mind's version of him.

Lastly, no hate mail. Please, I beg you. Don't do it.

Bye, bye then~