Chapter 6

Arriving at the apartment, Soul opened the door and closed it behind them. He took his shoes off and started walking towards the couch until he realized that Maka wasn't following him. Stopping in mid stride, he looked back at her. Maka was still at the door, looking at the apartment with blank eyes, showing no emotions what so ever.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before speaking, "are you going to come and sit or are you just going to stand there?" He watched as she didn't answer him back but still blankly looking at her surroundings. The atmosphere around them was stiff and kind of hard for Soul to breathe in. Finally, for what felt like hours, but it was only minutes, Maka took her boots off by the door and started walking towards the couch.

Taking a seat at the love seat chair, Soul couldn't help but watch Maka's every move. He still couldn't believe that she was here, back with him after three months and not knowing if she was okay or not. Watching as Maka was about to sit on the three person chair, he noticed as she stopped and started walking somewhere else. Still not taking his eyes off her, he noticed that she was walking towards the record player.

Curious, he wondered why she would go towards it until he saw that she played a record. Listening to the music that Maka chose, Soul knew that the record that Maka played was a Jazz music one. Staring back up at her, he started to wonder why she played the record. Of course, he knew that he couldn't get his answer if he didn't ask her. So earning the courage, he asked, "Maka, why did you play the record song?"

Maka didn't answer him right away. She instead slowly closed her eyes and listened to the soothing song. A couple of minutes passed until she answered in a monotone voice, "I have always loved Jazz music; it's just that I didn't want to tell you nor the others about it." That made him frowned, "why?" Opening her right green color eye, she answered, "Why do you want to know? It's not like anyone cares about what music I like or not now does it?"

Feeling something guilt stricken, Soul looked away from her and down at his hands. They both didn't said a word until a couple of minutes passed, "I'm sorry." Not expecting for Soul to say anything, Maka slowly opened her eyes and stared at him. He knew that she was looking at him so he looked back up to meet eye to eye with her.

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked. He heavily sighed and put his head in his hands, "for saying that I would be glad that you would be…gone. I never wanted you to disappear. It's just that," he trailed off. "Just what? That you and everyone else didn't like me because of how unsocial I was? If it's about that, I don't really care," said Maka.

Soul quickly stood up and yelled, "No! That's not what I was going to say! I mean, yes you have avoided us a lot lately. We just thought that you probably need some space to yourself so we never approached you afterward. And no, we did like you Maka! You're out friend. We don't abandon them!" He heavily breathed and fell on knees, "it's just, why didn't you tell any of us, your friends, that something or someone is chasing you? Why Maka?"

Maka didn't move a muscle. They didn't know what she has been through, they didn't know what she had to endure for three-month, and they didn't know anything about her. And, about how she got her red-eye. Sighing, she walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. He tensed when he felt her hand. Looking up, his eyes met with green and red. That now belonged to Maka.

"Maka?"

She didn't move. All she did was just staring at him. Soul was about to say her name again until she beat him, "do you really want to know?" He tensed a bit more before relaxing. Maka nodded and gestured for him to sit back on the couch. He did as told so while watching Maka go and sit on the other couch.

The room was quiet, besides the music that the record is playing. Soul waited patiently for Maka to speak. He didn't care if he had to wait forever because now, he just wanted to be by Maka's side. It was quiet for about three minutes before Maka spoke, "it all started with the nightmare."

Quickly and focusing his full attention, he listened. Sighing, Maka put her elbow on her knees; hands folded in front of her, and chin on top of them. Closing her eyes she sighed once more before continuing.

"It all started with the nightmare. The nightmare started off with me being in darkness. Very thick darkness. I couldn't see a thing. I tried to see if there were any light, but there was none. So when I was about to take a step forward, a bright suddenly came out of nowhere and blinded me. Finally adjusting to its brightness, I saw that I was covered in blood. You and everyone else blood, that's when I usually wake up."

"Something was telling me that if I were to stay with you and the others, you all would be targeted. So I stayed away from you all."

She smirked, but Soul saw that it didn't reach her eyes, her eyes just stayed dull. "But when I started distancing myself from you and everyone, you all seem like you're having fun without me. That's when I thought, they never really cared about me. They'll just still have fun whether I was there or not."

Soul looked at the ground guiltily, "we all thought that you probably needed your space. We didn't think that you would feel that way. Heck, even I didn't. And I'm supposed to be your partner." Maka shook her head and leaned her head back, "doesn't matter. What's done is done. There's no changing the past." "But-," he was caught off when Maka quickly put her hand up, quieting him.

"What's done is done Soul. That was the past. Now is the present. Just do whatever you can in the present and don't dwell in the past," with that said, Maka got up from the couch and went towards her room. She closed the door behind her, leaving Soul to be occupied with his own mind.

"Now is the present huh? Just do whatever I can in the present and don't dwell in the past," Soul whispered to himself. That's when he figured out Maka's riddle, or he think he did. He decided that he'll do anything in the present. To get the friendship between both him and Maka back to the way it used to be.