An Unexpected Twist

Enchanting Melodies

There's a loud crash that wakes Maka in the morning. She jolts up and she can hear screaming and fighting, accompanied by those loud crashes. Definitely something that she did NOT want to get involved with. She quickly gets ready for school. She passes by her computer and she sees the flash drive sticking out. Her breath catches in her throat and she considers smashing the thing. Instead she yanks it out and slips it into of her bag and heads to school.

Soul wasn't in 1st period yet again. Maka couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She couldn't face him. Not without feeling resentment, anger, and sadness. Yet she felt loneliness seize her. She missed Soul. She wanted to talk to him so bad. But what was the point now? Now she knew the truth and there was no way she could ever talk to Soul again.

•••••••••

Black*Star watches Maka all through 1st period. He notices the look of pain that crosses her face from time to time and he can't help but smirk. He pulls his phone out and sees that he already has a text from Arachne. He quickly answers her and then tells her about Maka. He nearly laughs out loud at her response. He puts his phone away but he can't wipe the idiotic smirk that's twisting on his lips. 'Don't worry Soul. You'll be back to normal in no time now.'

•••••••••

Why wasn't Maka answering him? Soul didn't get it. School was already out. So why? He sighs, aggravated. Today just wasn't his day. He felt worse than he had yesterday and now he was starting to get antsy. Maybe he should pay Maka a visit. Only every time he stood up, the world spun and he felt nauseous. Hopefully he would get better soon. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

•••••••••

Maka doesn't see Soul for the rest of the week. She felt two parts relieved, one part abandoned. Black*Star has been talking to her from time to time, only making her feel worse. He kept saying things that just made what she heard on the flash drive seem worse and worse. She wished she never listened to that audio file. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.

Saturday morning, an old friend of her mother's stops by. She takes Maka to the local community center where a show of classical music was being held. Maka appreciated that. She always liked classical music and it was a good distraction from her problems. They listened to the violins, the violas, the pianos. It pulls Maka back to a time when her mother was still around and she would often take Maka to events like this. She smiles slightly and continues to listen. From one of the room she hears a pianist. The melody they were playing was sad and frustrated it seemed like. It piqued Maka's interest. She gets closer and listens. She closes her eyes and the music tells her a story. Of two friends that were taken away from each other by people that detested their friendship. Of feelings neither of them were aware of that snuck up on them. Of a love so strong, it's the kind often wrote about in stories.

"Thank you Mr. Evans. That was wonderful. Next up....."

Mr. Evans. Maka's eyes fly open. Soul is getting up from the piano and walking away. Towards her. Maka freezes up. He looks up and pauses. His skin is pale and he looks sick.

"Maka?"

"Soul..."

His name just left her lips. He comes up to her.

"So...."

"Since when have you been able to play piano? That was amazing."

"Ever since I was little. My parents made me learn."

"Oh...."

Maka stops talking after that. She didn't know what to say. Pain wells up in her chest and she felt like she was about to cry.

"Maka? What's the matter?"

She turns away from him. There was a million things she wanted to say to him, but couldn't. The song he had just played had drained all the anger from her, leaving her with only sadness and pain.

"Maka?"

She shakes her head and starts to walk away. Soul grabs her arm, jarring her to a stop.

"Maka, talk to me. What's wrong?"

She pulls away from him.

"It's nothing. I'll see you later Soul."

She practically runs away from him. She felt like a coward. But it's the only thing she could do.

•••••••••

Soul watches Maka hurry away, feeling his heart drop. Why wouldn't she talk to him? It didn't make sense. As she leaves, something falls from her pocket. He picks it up. It's a flash drive.
As to why Maka would have this, Soul didn't know. He considers going after her, but he didn't think that would go over well after what had just happened. So he slips it into his pocket and heads home. He tried texting Maka about the flash drive, but she never answered him. So he sets it aside and told himself that he would give it to her Monday.

As the hours pass, he gets more and more curious as to why Maka had the flash drive. Would could be on it? He looks at it and decides that having a peek at it couldn't hurt. He picks it up and takes it to the main room where the computer is. Wes is sitting there watching tv, but Soul ignores him. He was a man on mission. He starts up the computer and goes to put the flash drive in.

"You aren't going to want to do that."

Soul pauses and turns to look at Wes.

"Excuse me?"

"That flash drive. You don't want to see what's on it."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because it had a file on it of your voice. You saying that you only hang out with Maka because you feel sorry for her and the bet with Black*Star."

Anger rises up in Soul and he approaches Wes.

"And you know this how?"

"Because it was Arachne's idea. She's convinced Black*Star that Maka has you under a 'spell' and that if he helps her split you two apart, you'll go back to normal. He gave that flash drive to Maka."

"And how do you know it's the same flash drive?"

"I have my sources little brother."

Soul rolls his eyes and puts the flash drive in anyway. It turns Wes was right.

"You said Black*Star gave this to Maka?"

Wes nods and Soul feels his gut drop. That would explain Maka's reaction today and her silence. His anger comes back and he turns the computer off. He goes back up to his room and lays down, the flash drive clenched in his hand. He had to make things right. While it's true that he had said those things, they weren't true anymore. They hadn't been true for a long while. But how was he going to convince Maka of that?