Chapter 1: The Little Things

A/N: This Story rated M for violence, torture, sexual situations and themes, experimentation, abusive content, and other nasty things.

As Marie walked out of the penitentiary, Spirit was standing outside smoking a cigarette. She stopped as the door swung behind her, locking automatically the minute it closed.

"Spirt?" She walked down the steps, "What are you doing here? I told you I would be fine by myself."

He exhaled up into the air and pressed out his cigarette on the metal railing of the stairs, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Marie bit her lip before looking at the ground, "I'm fine. He's dead."

"You don't sound fine," he slipped his hands into his pockets, "Did you walk here?"

"How else would I have gotten here; you know I don't own a car."

He gestured to his car, "Want me to drive you home?"

She shook her head, "I like to walk."

He raised his brows, "Maka will be awful disappointed if you don't stop by for dinner, and Soul has been practicing his piano all week just so you could hear him play."

She glared, "You didn't say anything about them."

He chuckled, "I suppose I did forget to ask if you wanted to come have dinner with us today, didn't I?"

She rolled her eye, "Azusa is right: you are a dunce."

He chuckled, "Is that a yes to dinner then?"

"Only because of your kids."

He smiled and walked her to the car before opening his car door, "The door, Milday."

She laughed before pushing him lightly as she got into the car, "Just drive, you dunce."

Kid was waiting outside the bookstore when Chrona closed up at 7:30 that night. She smiled when she came out to the door and he was right there waiting. After she locked the door, he held out his arm to her, "Are you ready to go?"

She blushed and took his arm, "Y-Yeah."

The pair walked down the street with their arms linked together.

"Are you hungry, Chrona?"

She looked up at him and smiles, "A little bit, yeah."

"What would you like to eat?"

She bit her lip, "Um…"

He chuckled and stopped, pulling them out of the traffic of the sidewalk, "How about," he smiled, "You trust me, and I'll take you somewhere really cool."

She smiled, still biting her lip and nodded, "O-Okay."

He let go of her arm and slid his hand down to take hers. She blushed once again as he pulled her gently back into traffic and down the sidewalk, "You aren't allowed to ask where we're going!" He shouted over his shoulder as he pulled her down the sidewalk. She giggled, but didn't ask any questions as she followed him.

"Marie! You came!" Maka bounded over to the doorway before smiling up at the blonde, "It's a good thing Papa remembered to ask you. I didn't think he would."

Marie cut her eyes over to her boss, who was rather conspicuously trying to look anywhere but at his coworker, "He almost didn't.'

Maka smiled, "Soul will be so glad to know you've come. He's tuned up the piano and everything."

Marie smiled, "And where is Soul?"

"He's in his room," Maka pointed.

"Would he mind if I said hello?"

Maka giggled, "I'm sure he wouldn't."

Marie smiled and slipped past the two of them towards Soul's room. Spirit smiled and pulled his daughter into a hug, "Was you're day good, Maka?"

She giggled and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Yeah, Papa, it was."

Marie knocked on Soul's door, smiling as she stood outside it.

"Maka, unless, dinner is ready, I'm not coming out."

Marie laughed, "Soul, it's Marie."

There were a few seconds before he answered, "You can come in."

She pushed open the door as he pulled his t-shirt down the rest of the way. She smiled, "Hi."

"Hey," he offered that lop-sided smile he usually wore, "I wasn't sure if you'd be coming or not."

Marie closed the door behind her, "Your father didn't ask me until I was about to head home," she glanced at the piano pushed against the far wall, "Won't you play for me, Soul?"

He pulled himself up off of his bed, "Sure," he smiled, but before going to his piano walked over to her, "Can I have a hug, though?"

She laughed and pulled him into her arms, fluffing his hair, "Of course, silly."

By the time Tsubaki made it to bed, she was exhausted. Her back hurt from working in the garden under the sun all afternoon. She lay curled on her side, the bracelet Blackstar had made for her lay on the nightstand. It didn't take her long to drift off to sleep, but as usual, she had dreams.

She was in the hall at Stein's lab, except it kept stretching forever in both directions. All of the doors were closed and the hallway was dark. Tsubaki felt like she was a deer in the headlights: frozen and unsure of where to go. A scream echoed from down the hall. Tsubaki tensed and looked towards the direction the noise had come from. It sounded like Liz.

"Liz?" Tsubaki took a tentative step in that direction, but before she knew it, she was bolting down the hall. If her friend was in danger, she needed to get to her now.

The scream echoed down the hall again, this time louder. Tsubaki knew she had to be getting close. She ran faster, each step matching the pounding beat of her heart. She saw that just ahead, one of the doors was open, and light poured from it.

That had to be it.

Tsubaki forced herself to a stop and caught hold of the doorway, swinging herself into the room, but she didn't dare step inside.

The floor was littered with their bodies—all of them.

Liz was closest to her, nearly at the entrance. She looked like she'd been crawling on her hands and knees, one hand reaching for the door. Her lifeless blue eyes were still open. Patty was laying on the operating table near the far end of the room. The dull roar of her heart monitor on flat-line sounded like static in the room. Maka was holding onto Soul, but neither of them were breathing. Blood seeped from Soul's wound through his clothes. Maka's eyes were wide, blood smeared across the pale skin of her cheek. Kid was leaned up against the wall, dark bruises in the shape of fingers around the pale hallows of his throat. Chrona lay curled on her side in the middle of the room; her wrists were slashed. Blackstar was even there, lying on his back perpendicular to the table. The white laminate tile was covered in blood; it pooled from their bodies, seeping across the floor in all directions.

Tsubaki felt sick. She was shaking so hard, it hurt—from fear or disgust she didn't know. She had to get away from here before the smell choked her out. She took a step back, but bumped into something. Her entire body went rigid.

"Tsubaki, it's so good to see you," the cold, pale hand came around her neck to crush against her windpipe, "Would you like to have some fun with me as well?"

Tears rolled down Tsubaki's cheeks. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move.

The mad doctor spun her around and pressed her back into the wall. His twisted smile cracked across his face as he leered down at her, "So, how shall we play?"

Tsubaki jerked herself awake with a scream. She immediately sat up in bed, her hands coming up to her throat as she panted for a clear breath. Masamune was at the door a moment later. He threw it open, eyes wide, "Tsubaki?! Are you okay?!"

She was still panting, tears now welling down her cheeks.

Seeing that his sister wasn't being murdered, Masamune crossed into the room and sat on the edge of the bed before resting his hand on her shoulder, "Was it the nightmares again?"

She managed a small nod before collapsing into his arms, resting her head on his shoulders, "But it was real," she panted, "They're all real."

Chrona was now standing beside Kid in a line. She didn't know what the line was for, but as told, she didn't ask any questions. Kid was still holding her hand, even though he wasn't pulling her through a crowd anymore. She liked that, but it also made her a little nervous too.

The continued through the line until they finally passed through the gate and a spread of lights and tents was before them. Chrona turned to look at Kid, raising her brows at him, "What is this?"

Kid smiled, "A Street Fair."

"Street Fair?" Chrona tipped her head to the side, "I don't understand what that is."

Kid smiled and pulled her forward gently, "Come on, I'll show you."

A/N: Hello all! So I was reading through Madness and some of the reviews it got a few days back. It made me think about the story a lot, and I realized that I really missed writing the characters in that domain. So, here we are with a sequel. The first chapter was a little lacking in the horror element, but there is definitely more to come. I really hope you'll enjoy this story. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

Love Always,

Tsukiko-Chama