Chapter One

"BZZZURP! BZZZURP!"

Another Monday morning had dawned upon me. Sticking my bottom up in the air in an awkward attempt to stretch out from under my bed sheets, my emerald green eyes landed upon the screaming alarm clock.

"EIGHT THIRTY ALREADY! SOUL, GET OUT OF BED!"I screamed, quickly waltzing over to my closet to throw on the regular miniskirt and sweater. I grabbed a brush off of my nightstand and ran it through my hair, tying two pigtails before making my way out of my bedroom and into the hallway.

I heard a quiet grunt and the click of a door opening before feeling a pair of eyes on my back. I swirled around from making a piece of toast on the kitchen counter to face Soul. And when I say face, I mean it. He was a mere two inches away from my nose. I blushed madly before stuttering-

"W-We are going to be late for class!"

"More like breaking our backs over picking up rubble." He spat.

I simply sighed before shoving the jellied toast in Soul's toothy mouth. His eyes widened at the sudden action, causing him to almost choke.

"That was so uncool, Maka."

His crimson stare seemed to shoot lasers through my own eyes. I sighed before running over to our beautiful "Genkan"... or so I would like to think. It was really just a crappy place where Soul and I threw our shoes after a long and tiring day. They weren't assembled as neatly as I would have liked them to be.

My feet entered my boots, and soon I coaxed Soul to get dressed in his usual orange shirt and jacket. We were running on nine o' clock. Soon, with my arms wrapped around Soul's waist, I watched our tiny apartment disappear in the distance as we sped away on his bike.

The sunlight danced on my skin and the air smelled of summer. Even though it was September already, the news said that today's temperature was a staggering 94 degrees Fahrenheit! The weather sure was acting up lately...

So, it had been only four months since the Kishin was defeated. Death City took a nice portion of damage. Many people were homeless. Luckily, our apartment wasn't hit hard. We only went to Shibusen to clean up debris these days. It saddened me, because as some people may know, I can't breathe without books and education. Soul was also bummed, simply because he hated to work and would rather play sleeping beauty in class.

As we arrived at Shibusen's staircase, Soul dropped me off and went to park the motorcycle. I trotted up the semi- demolished stairs.

Boy, was Kid having a blast. Nothing was symmetrical anymore. All he did was collapse on the floor and waste time complaining about how worthless he was for letting this all happen.

As I walked through the school halls , a strange feeling washed over me. It was as if snakes were crawling under my skin. The sensation almost sickened me, and I turned on my heel to see what went on behind my back.

An eerie silence just filled the air.

I quickened my pace, scanning the arrows that pointed me in various directions of the school. Today Soul and I were going to clean up the auditorium. I made a sharp turn left, flying to it's doors.

Please be in there, Soul, please! I felt panic rise within me.

What is happening? Why can't I control this F E A R...?

As soon as I pushed open the auditorium doors, my feet felt like bricks.

"Oi, Maka! You okay? Even I got here before you." Soul waved to me from the other side of the room. My eyelids fluttered as I tried to make sense of the situation.

Did I just have a panic attack? No no no, I can control terror, right? RIGHT?

I soon felt a pair of hands on either of my shoulders, and my figure was rocking back and forth.

"Maka? Say something! Are you okay?" Turns out Soul was shaking me. And I was sitting on the floor. As I returned to Earth from my mind, I simply nodded, eyes looking down.

Soul bent down to meet my gaze. "You gotta come and help us, you know."

"I, uh, erm, YES!" I shouted, making the white-haired boy jump away.

He looked at me for just a moment more before shrugging it off and jogging off to Tsubaki and Black Star.

Wait, there were two more people!

A boy with dark brown hair and pale skin was talking to Tsubaki, and Black Star looked like he was pouting. Now a girl with platinum blonde locks of long, luscious hair looked over at me. Her wide yellow eyes trailed to the floor as we awkwardly realized we were staring at each other. As I approached the working group, the mysterious boy looked at me. Turns out he had purple-gray eyes.

How interesting... I thought.

"Maka, I want you to meet Alec and Olivia!" Tsubaki said.

She pointed to the male first, then the female. I smiled, reaching over to shake the boy's hand. He cautiously took it, but soon after we were all grinning. Excecpt...well except Olivia. When I went to shake her hand, she simply nodded and put her fingers around the shaft of her shovel.

My lower lip stuck out in a slight pout, and I turned around to begin raking all of the crap scattered on the floor into piles.

Just at that moment, a deafening rumble soared through the air. Everyone immediately dropped their tools and cupped their hands over their ears.

What was going on?

Then, a large piece of the ceiling came tumbling down.. . .

Right where I was standing.