"Solomon, you really are nothing but trouble, aren't you?" The phrase resonated inside his head anytime something went wrong. He remembers it clear as day, even as details from his childhood home slowly fade away from memory.
He remembers the ghost of her mother standing there on the other side of the bed that one time he made Maka cry. The pain on his torso had been nothing to how he felt seeing tears on those green eyes.
"Such a nice girl, she deserves so much more than the troubles you bring her"
He knows the words aren't trapped in his past, however. He hears them, from time to time, in one way or another. Whenever he lets himself smile a bit too wide, where he walks a bit too fast or when he occupies a bit too much room.
The words came back to the front in some run-down hospital in the middle of nowhere. They had won, but they were either rusty or careless and Maka ended up hurt.
He knows, on a level, that's how it works, he is the weapon, and Maka is the meister. He knows that every injury he's taken she sees as a failure. That didn't mean he could forget the slow drip of blood as he carried her into the ER.
He remembers the looks, and in hindsight, he can tell that it looks bad. And he understands, a bit, why the nurse put a hand on his chest as they took her away and said. "You've done enough"
"I know his kind, nothing but trouble… did you see that poor girl?"
He shrinks on the chair and waits. And waits.
She is angry when she comes back, he can tell. And it's not just the bandages and stitches. And by the time she reaches him, there's some shuffling behind the counter on the corner of his eye.
"We are leaving," She says, grabbing his hand.
He doesn't have time to protest, and he knows better by now. He did tell her once, that he would follow her to the ends of the world, and she never forgot.
So he follows, her long legs not making up completely for the height difference, and he finds himself slowly catching up.
And as they walk, seemingly going nowhere, as he can almost see the little clouds of temper over her blonde hair, the words "nothing but trouble" resonate again, in a slightly different tone.
He remembers the taste of her lips for the first time, only to be interrupted by cheering, whistling and a mention of a lost bet.
He remembers fights that started for nothing and ended with her frame pressed against his own as she refused to apologize but also didn't demand one from him.
The little grins, the small jabs, both verbal and at his ribs.
"They thought you hurt me." She says, both exasperated and a bit offended, probably partly on my behalf, partly on behalf of her pride.
"I kinda figured." He answers, and smiles a bit, letting his shoulders slump, not in defeat, but in relaxation. "That shows how little they know."
"Yeah, I know, you'd never…"
"Not what I meant." He says, and looks down and to the side, red on green, as he grins. "If they knew you, they'd know you're the one that's trouble."
"Soul!" The shove is followed by a small wince from her, and he can't tell which of them breaks into laughter first. So to make up for it, he offers her his arm.
Even if slowing his pace to keep up with hers is… troublesome. He wouldn't have it any other way.