Safe from the cold (Soma)

Under the snow

Soul transformed and pulled her with him as he tried to out run the falling snow. Their legs could only move so fast but they tried with all they had before Maka's foot slipped on some ice making her fall. Soul wrapped his arms around her and tried to twist to find safety when the ground beneath them gave way. The two fell nearly two stories. He turned so he took the landing into the snow, protecting Maka from extra injuries.

"Soul." She said softly as she pushed off him. She saw him wince as he shifted to sit up with her still on top of him. The two locked eyes and paused; it was as if neither of them were breathing before Soul shifted again and looked away making their position sink in. Maka quickly climbed off but did not get very far, as she dropped to the ground holding her side again. Soul looked over and could see the snow beside her becoming stained with her blood.

"Maka." He moved closer to her. "Let me see." Gently he pulled her hand away and looked at the damage. It was definitely deep but it looked like the bullets just sliced through and never went into her. He reached down grabbing a handful of snow. "This is gonna hurt." He warned before he placed the snow against the wounds on her side, as they were worse than her arm. Maka gasped and grabbed his free arm tight. He glanced up to see her close her eyes, trying to control the pain before he pulled his arm back and he grabbed her hand. "You need to get these cleaned off. The cold will help stop the bleeding too." He explained.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I know.... it just..." She let out a slow breath.

Soul threw the blood soaked snow to the side. "There's one nasty one here that I have to get to." She nodded as he took another handful of snow and put it on the largest of the wounds making her whimper and fall forward a bit. As she came forward, her head rested on his shoulder. Instinctively he wrapped his arm around her as she grabbed the arm of his jacket and clenched it tightly. He ripped part of her trench coat and put snow in it before rolling it into a pouch and using it to wipe of the wounds. Maka cried out softly as her grip on him tightened even more. "I'm sorry Maka." He said softly.

"It's.... it's okay." She gasped out as she tried to stop herself from crying. "It's not your fault."

"No it was those damn kid's fault." He grumbled as he tried to hurry up and finish. "If they had listened, or even stayed the hell away in the first place you wouldn't be hurt like this." He ripped another part of the coat and made a make shift bandage to cover the wounds on her side before taking another small piece and tying it around her arm wounds. The two sat in silence, as she just held on tight.

Maka's grip started to loosen. "It's not really their fault. They didn't understand the situation. They're just kids, and they want to show they can take care of themselves."

"But they proved they couldn't when you jumped in front of that blast." He told her as he felt her shake her head. "Look, don't worry about it right now. Just relax; I'm going to see if I can get us out of here." He felt her body relax and he laid her down. She had been fighting with consciousness since he cleaned her wounds. The blood loss added to the stress and the pain.... she lost her battle to stay awake. Soul gently laid her down before he turned to finding a way out. Above them was feet upon feet of snow and it looked like they had gotten lucky and fell into a pocket under the frozen ground. He glanced at Maka as she shivered. He was going to have to find a way out and soon or they would be in big trouble. With a sigh, he begin trying to figure out what to do to survive until they could get out. First was a fire. He looked around not finding anything. Walking around the pocket, he found some wood that must have fallen in with them from the house Simone had been using. He dug around collecting all he could find before he used a rock and his transformed hand to start a small fire for at least some warmth.

He sat down next to Maka as he tried to devise a plan. Another ten minutes passed before Maka slurred. "So cold." She said as her teeth began to chatter. She sat up slowly as her side began to hurt with quick movements. "I guess I passed out. My side hurts so bad." She looked at Soul confused as he moved closer. He pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around her. "Soul... you're going to freeze."

"I'll be fine. I'm always hot anyway." He said as an excuse. They were stuck for, god only knew how long, he was going to do everything in his powers to keep her alive until they got out or help arrived. "Come here." He said as she shivered again. She edged closer wondering what he wanted before he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. "I don't think we can dig ourselves out, so we're going to have to keep warm until help gets here."

"Then at least share." She said opening his jacket to wrap around both of them. It would not go around both of them so Soul gently pulled her into his lap and wrapped it around him and held it closed in front of the startled Maka.

"Relax; I'm not going to do anything." He said with a smirk but she turned and glared at him before settling back onto his chest. She had not realized how comfortable he could be until now. As she thought about it her mind drifted to the two of them at home, cuddling in bed and she shivered at the thought. "The fire is small but it will give off some heat. It should get a little warmer soon." Maka just nodded, and kept her face straight to hide the blush that crept across her cheeks.

"I guess we just have to wait for Elettra and Reiner to get help." Maka whispered as she leaned her head back against him and closed her eyes.

"If they get help. You told them to go back and wait for us remember."

"Yeah, but I'm sure they saw the avalanche. If we're not back after a few hours I'm sure they'll call someone." She said. Maka felt him tighten his hold around her, pulling her closer as they fell into a comfortable silence.