EDIT 3/28/15: I SPLIT IT INTO THREE PARTS BECAUSE I THINK THE LENGTH KIND OF SCARED PEOPLE. IT IS STILL THE SAME STORY AS IT WAS BEFORE, JUST IN THREE CHAPTERS.

I HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE. This is kind of a conspiracy theory, kind of AU, I don't really know. Also, I'm putting an author's note in a separate chapter. I can't put it here because spoilers, and I can't put it at the end or it'll ruin the mood. So check out the last chapter for some explanations and stuff.

Thank you to: Ucshi and my other friend who doesn't have an account here, for helping me to develop this theory and supporting this story even though it probably scared the crap out of them.

I DO NOT OWN Soul Eater. But if I did...*evil laughter*

ALSO: I by no means mean to offend anyone with this, this is purely for the sake of my sadistic messed up mind and the fact that I can't keep all my randomness to myself. If you have a concern or a way to improve this story, pleasecomment or PM me about it! I want this to be the best it can be.

ALSO OMG THE FORESHADOWING AND SYMBOLISM, so watch out for that.

And this is interesting: This is 13 pages on the program that I wrote it on. So...keeps with the theme. Yeah. Okay I'll stop talking now if anyone's even still reading this.

Thunder sounded as the rusty old car pulled up in front of the Nevada Mental Health Institution, a building made of gray stone that, in spite of all of the rain that had collected on it, remained dull and monotone. The roof was blue slate, and the rain that ran down it in rivulets and splashed into the gutter made a deafening sound. From the dried creepers winding their way around the iron bars on the windows to the moss and lichen that had collected on every outer surface of the hospital, there was absolutely nothing remotely attractive about the place. There was a large courtyard in front of the building, but it was dry and full of crisp, long-dead plants.

Behind the main building was a scattered series of smaller buildings, categorized by what kind of patients were being held in them or what alternative purpose they served. It did, in it's own remarkably twisted way, resemble a city. Asura supposed that that was how it had received its morbid nickname.

With that unsettling thought, the dark-haired man slithered nervously from his position in the driver's seat of the car, clipboard clutched to his side. He shivered, not from cold but from his unlikely circumstances. Not only had he, of all people, been chosen to inspect this place (it was almost like his employers were playing some kind of sick joke on him because of his own mental state), but it was raining. In Nevada. On today, of all days, the driest state in North America was receiving an ominous thunderstorm. Asura shivered again. He couldn't even remember being hired for this job, and yet he was here. Wrapping his arms around himself, the chronically nervous man stepped forward.

Upon passing through the wrought-iron gates (following a great deal of indecision and internal conflict over whether he should turn around and go home or if he was just paranoid and it was a normal mental hospital), Asura was greeted by a middle-aged woman. She was a young, attractive African American in a smart white labcoat. In spite of himself, Asura gave the woman's body a visual once-over. She wasn't bad – if she hadn't been a psychologist working in this place of horrors, Asura would have tried to summon the courage to ask her out.

"Hello, sir," the woman had a husky voice, which she used to her advantage. Asura, startled, immediately snapped his gaze up to meet hers. "My eyes are up here."

"I-Indeed they are. And what lovely blue eyes they are too, miss..."

"Nygus. Head nurse, Mira Nygus. Spare me the flattery, please. I'm here to show you in, introduce you to the boss, and show you back out when the tour is over. Follow me, please." Nygus droned on with this line, as if she had spoken it countless times. "Please note that the patients here are only the most unstable, so we ask you to keep at least an arm's length from all cells at any given time, lest anything were to...happen."

"Um...alright..." Asura felt his voice waver as he lost confidence by the second.

"Alright then. Please follow me."

And he did. Asura nervously followed Nygus through the front entrance and into the main building. They walked through a sparsely furnished white lobby, pausing so that Asura could check in with the dark-haired woman at the front desk. Unlike Nygus, she was wearing a smart gray business suit and glasses which flashed as she handed Asura some liability waivers.

Then they walked through a seemingly endless maze of twisting, turning hallways. Occasionally there would be a chair or a slightly disturbing framed picture of a skull or something next to an office, but the majority of the building was plain and white. Nygus explained that this was to create a soothing, focused environment and that the entire building was designed this way.

At last the two pulled to a halt in front of an office that, instead of a door, had a mirror. As if that wasn't strange enough, the office's occupant told Asura to just call him Death. That's what all of his friends called him, and anyone who visited his institute was a friend to be cared for. That was his motto.

Flashing Asura the occasional peace sign, Death answered every question in a roundabout fashion that Asura had begun to suspect was his style. Generally the black-clad man would half-answer a question, then change the subject. Asura wasn't sure if he was avoiding answering or was simply eccentric, but it quickly got on his nerves.

"So I'm told that the residents of this town call your institute 'Death City.' Is that because of your name?"

"Oh, I've never heard that before!" Death exclaimed. "That's interesting indeed. I assume it is, but there could be other reasons. The people in this town are so superstitious. I swear that's what drives them all mad. But that's alright as long as it gives me business!"

"Sir, as you wishing mental instability upon your patients?"

"No, no, Mister Inspector, I would never! I was simply saying that-"

After this Death continued his explanation with a stream of chatter that was probably meant to distract Asura. At a certain point the inspector lost patience and cut him off.

"I asked around the town a bit, uh...Death, and I was told that the people nearby are often disturbed in the night by screaming coming from this area."

Death sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth and spoke without exhaling: "Yeah, we...uh, we have some screamers."

"And maniacal laughter?"

"Yes, those too. But – but that's to be expected in an institution of this particular variety."

"And I'm sure you're aware that this is why I'm here to check on you? To inspect the living conditions of your patients and see if there's any way that the neighbors can be given a break from the screaming and the, uh, laughing?"

"Oh, indeed?" Death asked, cocking his head.

"Indeed," Asura replied through gritted teeth.

"Well, then I suppose you'd like a tour?"

"If that's what you would like to call it, then yes. I would. Of all of the patient's quarters, please. And also the work area."

"Oh, of course. One moment." Asura sighed, trying to keep himself composed as Death turned around and dialed a number on his old-fashioned phone. He was sure that this man would be a great annoyance to work with every day – Asura had spent all of ten minutes in his office and was already at the end of his rope.

"Oh hello, hello there, my dear," Death spoke into the mouthpiece of the phone. "I was wondering if you could come to my office? I have a man here to inspect the institute...yes...yes, as soon as you can, please. Yes, the whole place. He wants the grand tour. Yes. Even them. Yes. Thank you, dear. See you soon!" The man hung up and turned around. "She'll be here momentarily."

"Who?" Asura asked nervously. If the entire staff was like what he had experienced so far, then this was going to be a long day.

"Our darling little intern. The sweetest thing, really. She loves the patients to bits, especially the ones in the back (at this Asura wondered what was so special about the patients in the back). She even brings them food, and she'll sit and talk with them for hours. She's quite extraordinary." Death stopped blabbering as a knock sounded at the door. "Come in, come in!" he called.

The door opened slowly and a tall college-age girl entered. She was Asian, with long hair tied in a ponytail that hung to the backs of her knees. Asura wondered briefly how she did anything with hair that long to get in the way – it looked as if it should have tripped her up, but she moved quite regally. She bowed to Death and nodded politely to Asura.

"Mister Inspector, this is our intern, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa. Tsubaki, this is our inspector, mister..."
"Asura," supplied Asura.

"Asura," Death stated.

"Hello, sir," Tsubaki greeted politely. The traces of a Japanese accent still hung in her voice, and Asura found it incredibly endearing. "I look forward to being your guide for the day. I have a lot of wonderful people to introduce you to."

"Hello, Tsubaki," Asura replied. "I look forward to being introduced."

"Oh, wonderful, wonderful, you're bonding!" Death clasped his hands together and looked adoringly at the two. Aura wondered if it was a requirement to be mental yourself when you ran or were employed in a mental hospital. "You two are already getting along so well! Now be on your way – there's a lot to see before we close to visitors."

"You take visitors?" Asura asked skeptically as he scribbled down a quick note in shorthand. "I thought the dangerous people were in here."

"Only inspectors like you," Death amended quickly. "Hardly anyone ever comes in, and even fewer leave."

As Asura quickly discovered, the institution was not in fact a collection of buildings, but one large building that looped around itself in a way that mimicked several separate wards. In spite of this and the fact that everything looked exactly the same to Asura no matter where they turned, Tsubaki seemed to know her way around the place perfectly. In fact, not only did she know the building well; she greeted every worker that they passed by name (so far, Asura had only been introduced to doctors – apparently the patients were situated even deeper withing the labyrinthine building).

Asura's first encounter with a patient came about when he and Tsubaki stopped by an examination room. Nygus, the woman who had welcomed Asura into the building, was there, along with a middle-aged man who was sitting on an exam table in simple white nightclothes. He was examining the nurse very thoroughly and inappropriately while she had her back turned to rummage through a cabinet, but stopped immediately and met her gaze seriously when she turned back around.

"Alright, then," Nygus said as she approached the man and handed him first a pill and then a Dixie cup full of water. "Here's a pill for you to take, and then you can go back to your room and -" she broke off as Tsubaki rapped gently on the door frame. "Oh, hi there, Tsubaki! And our inspector, too," she added as the two entered the room. "This is -"

Again, Nygus was interrupted as her patient virtually launched himself across the room and onto Asura. When his face was an inch from the startled inspector's, he gave him a little shake by the collar of his pinstriped suit. "Have you seen my daughter?" he asked. His voice held a note of complete distress and urgency. "Have you seen her? Have you seen my baby? I know she's here. I know they have her. I'll find you, sweetie! Daddy promises!" Blown away by the sudden assault, all Asura could do was step back, stammering. This was clearly not the answer that the man had been hoping for at all, because he instantly became an emotional wreck; he slumped to the ground with his hands still firmly rooted in Asura's shirt, sobbing. "Makaaaaaaaa! I'll save you. I'll find her and save her somehow! I'll take her away from this terrible place!"

"Spirit!"

Nygus recovered from the shock of the man's breakdown faster than either Tsubaki or Asura could, and strode over to retrieve her patient. She dragged him off of Asura and glared at him until he seated himself back at the table.

"I apologize," she said. "This is Spirit. He's a little...invasive."

"Uh...yes," Asura agreed as he backed out of the room, his nervousness about the rest of the patients he would be meeting becoming almost too much to bear. After bowing to Nygus and apologizing, Tsubaki scurried after him.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "I didn't know he'd be there. He's really a very sweet guy, just...you know..."

"Nuts?"

Tsubaki instantly turned to give Asura a disapproving look. "Please don't"

"Don't what?"

"Say things like that. Everyone in here really struggles. Some have committed horrible crimes in spite of sweet and gentle dispositions. The last thing they need is to be called nuts, especially in jest." She looked straight ahead, her expression cloudy. Asura was caught off guard by her sudden change of pace; she seemed like the kind of person to be endlessly patient. He supposed that he'd just really struck a nerve.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"It's fine. I'm sorry. I just get sensitive about this stuff, you know?"

"Sure."