It was still.

It was strange that everything was so still.

The flames still reached into the sky, the building still smoked with the aftereffects of falling: debris and rubble danced with smoke, making it almost impossible to see and even harder to breathe.

And yet, Maka still somehow found the air enough to scream—the sound cutting through the daze of every worker on site.

Maybe it was shock, maybe it was the lack of visibility, but no one even tried to hold her back as she scrambled towards the wreckage.

The fire was diminishing, running out of barrels to explode and wood to eat through. Patti was back at the hose, Maka assumed, because the sound of it was still loud in the background, the fire becoming dimmer and dimmer.

That didn't help with the darkness settling around them.

Maka coughed violently as she stumbled through rubble. Her leg caught on a barb and tore into her pants. She could feel blood start to pool around her ankle, but ignored it.

That's when she heard it.

"Over here!" A hoarse voice cut through the air and her heart quickened. She ran as fast as she could, almost falling when her ankle rolled over a few bricks but she caught herself, pushing forward.

"Call out!" Maka shouted, throat still tight. Her voice didn't sound right, it didn't sound like her.

"Here!" It was a young girl. Maka found her only a moment later, hands reaching through rubble. She fell to her knees, pulling away pricks and warm, charred cement.

"They're here!" Maka shouted behind her, "They're here, I need help!"

Again, not something the pigtailed girl thought she'd ever catch herself saying. But it didn't matter, there wasn't a prideful drop of blood in her body right now.

She continued digging through, the young girl, Anya, finally emerging. The girl gasped for air as Black Star, Kid and Tsubaki all appeared through the thick smoke.

"Oh shit," Black Star was next to Maka in a heartbeat, pulling away rocks and bricks much faster than she could. Kid joined him quickly, but Maka didn't stop. She couldn't look away from where they were digging. Her hands bled, cut in a few places, her lungs burned, but her eyes—she could hardly see anything through the tears.

Tsubaki had Anya, oxygen over her mouth as she spoke softly to the girl, her best 'I'm not panicked everything is fine' voice in full force. Everyone knew it was a farce.

"I've got something!" Kid shouted from a few feet away. Everyone stopped, rushing to him. It was the other girl, a dark haired teen with pigtails to rival Maka's.

"Not responding, Tsubaki! Get over here!"

She was there in a flash, respirator in hand. She put her face against the girls chest, her forefingers digging into her neck.

"There's a pulse." Tsubaki said, waiting silently. "And…"

She sat up quickly,

"Breath! She's breathing!" She beamed. Kid nodded,

"Alright, get her to the ambo—now." He turned to Black Star but the man hesitated, "Is there a problem?" Kid gritted.

"Yeah there's a fucking problem!" Maka's own tone caught her off guard. She hadn't meant to sound so angry. The two men stared at her, stunned, "Soul!" tears spilled down her cheek, "we need to find…"

"Maka. We—"

"No! The girl can wait!" She knew that wasn't true, but didn't care what she had to say. She didn't…

She didn't care?

That wasn't right. That wasn't her.

She was back to digging, fingernails mangled and bleeding.

"Albarn." Kid's voice took on a new sound. Even. Threatening.

"Then take her! Go and hurry back!" She kicked away a huge rock as Black Star hoisted the dark haired girl across his shoulders, running to the ambulance with Tsubaki at his heels. Kid helped Anya to her feet, hurrying her back as well.

That's when she heard it.

A faint beeping, a small red light struggling to shine against thick black air.

She was confused for only a second before it hit her.

It was a PASS device.

Soul had told her about it briefly, and she'd heard about it training. It was something all the firefighters used, a little censor that monitored the movement of whoever was wearing it. If they didn't move for long enough…

Maka was beside it in a flash; it was about ten feet away. Her breath was caught in her throat, but she'd only moved a few rocks before she knew.

It was him.

She inhaled sharply before yelling for the others, removing the rubble and pulling him out. His PASS's beeping almost deafening as she turned him over.

Face caked in smoke, she pushed his helmet off roughly before tearing open his jacket.

"Soul!" She shook him but he didn't respond. Eyes closed, body limp, she pulled him into her, his head on her lap.

Black Star was the first to return, panting, out of breath.

He watched as the girl started to panic almost instantly.

"He's not—he's not breathing." She said it more evenly then she should have been able to, but she was back into paramedic mode. On her knees next to him, she started chest compressions quickly.

Black Star didn't respond. He felt his expression harden.

She gave Soul a few breathes, before back to compressions.

"Come on. Come on Soul." Maka muttered, eyes trained on his face, "Come on."

She was working too long. Impossibly long.

Nothing.

No…

More breathes, back to compression. Her hands ached, arms burning.

Blood was pooling from her mangled hands from digging, but she didn't stop.

"Maka…" Black Star's hand was on her shoulder, "Stop… he's… it's…"

"No!" She roared, pushing him off, getting back to it, "No he's not!"

"Maka!" Black Star's voice was pained, "He's not—"

"Soul Eater Evans!" Maka's fist came down hard against his chest, "You will wake up right this fucking minute!" Her fist slammed down again. Again and again.

She collapsed against his chest. Hands fisting clumps of his shirt, tears streaming down her face. Her voice was small when she spoke again,

"Please…"

"I dono if…" her eyes widened at the voice, "beating me up counts as medical care."

She say bolt upright, disbelief seeping through her veins.

Soul was looking back at her, eyes half lidded, small smug dumb fucking smile on his face.

Before she could even open her mouth, she was pushed aside by a very excited blue haired fireman.

"You MOTHERFUCKER!" he shouted, lifting Soul off the ground and shaking him.

"Ow, ow!"

Maka pushed Black Star off, sending him to the ground.

"Don't shake him!" She said. Black Star didn't even seem to notice she'd pushed him away, he just crawled back over to Soul.

"You're such a badass, trying to steal my thunder, eh?" He slapped Soul on the back and Maka pulled him away from the man, planting him in her lap again. She glared at Black Star,

"I mean it!"

"Like a fuckin' PHENOIX or something!" Black Star laughed loudly.

"Or something." Soul hummed back before coughing harshly. Maka's hand was on his back, his arm draped over her leg, helping him sit up.

Black Star yelled something back to Tsubaki before running off to get her. Soul turned to the paramedic whose lap he was still snuggled into a little bit.

"Scare yah?" he grunted.

She nodded quickly, trying to avert his gaze.

"Well, now you know how it feels." His voice sounded like it hurt to speak, but his hand had found its way to her face.

She was going to tell him off.

Use all the ammunition everyone had used on her in the past. She knew just what to say, knew just what to do.

She couldn't run into danger?! Well what the fuck was he doing?!

She was gonna tear him a new one!

Instead, she just nodded again, relief clouding her expression, a big hot tear spilling down her cheek. He noticed it, moving quickly towards her.

He caught her mouth with his. She was still for a moment before leaning into him, her eyes fluttering shut as she kissed him feverishly. He pulled back to inhale sharply before wincing.

She stopped, pulling away, embarrassed,

"I—I'm sorry!" She chirped. He just laughed,

"Oh yeah?" He hummed, hand not leaving her face.

"I just…"

He held his arms out, grabbing her around the shoulders and pulling her into a tight hug.

"Take me home," he whispered into his ear.

She buried her face in his shoulder, grinning despite herself.

Because she knew what home was.

She knew it was the Fire Hall.

And it was hers too.

Finally.

A/N:

Thank you so much for reading! This was for ResBang, and I hope you liked it! Review, lemme know if you liked it!

Thanks again, if you want to see the art made for this story, check out the master post at grigoriwings. yuku. com