The full moon shown a radiate ivory light over a murky forest of darkness. It chuckled heartily whilst a young man paused at the entrance to the wood to read a sign posted at the side of the dusty path warning her to turn back, for this wasn't called The Witch's Wood for nothing. Evil was said to lurk at every turn, beneath every leaf, and inhabited each and every creature that lived within. This sign, which was made from ancient wood and written on with blood of past travelers, did not deter Soul Evans in any way, shape, or form. He could not simply turn around and forget about this forest.

It wasn't an option.

So he pressed forth, automatically feeling as though he were being watched the second his foot made contact with the ground that was technically inside of the forest. Its darkness was thick, but thankfully it wasn't a cloudy night and he'd brought a lantern so he had plenty of light to see what lay ahead.

A gentle wind came by, sweeping along leaves with varied shades of brown, red, yellow, and orange. The hibernating trees were silent, gnarled limbs and rigid forms standing absolutely still like soldiers of the night. Delicate lights floated high up near the tops of the trees, avoiding being seen though they didn't go unnoticed as Soul continued on his way. He could only imagine how timid and scared those fairies were of him. He'd heard stories of what witches did to fairies. It wasn't anything pretty.

Most others would have insisted such creatures to not exist just like the witches, who supposedly inhabited these woods, but the people who denied such things were either unimaginative or ignorant and knew nothing aside from their precious logic.

Logic.

That was something the scholar, Ox Ford, of Soul's village seemed to treasure alongside a vast amount of knowledge. If not for him then Soul would have never met the love of his life...he'd have never met his Maka. She was so perfect. So smart. Maka was probably the only one Soul knew who could get Ox's panties in a twist and it was hilarious!

If only...

Crack!

He turned to see a wolf stand a couple yards off. It had a strange look to its eyes that almost made it seem human. Crimson eyes clashed with dark brown for a moment before the wolf turned and made a swift disappearance. Frowning, Soul moved his feet a bit faster knowing that soon his presence in this forest would be well known if he didn't move faster.

The darkness of the forest seemed to grow thicker and the air seemed to get colder the deeper in he went. Slowly, one by one, Soul noticed an assortment of evil beasts start to appear as he passed by multiple paths that would lead to a different part of the forest. He noticed one such path as he kept his pace even, walking on like he didn't have the urge to turn around and run away screaming. Ugh, snakes! He cringed at seeing a pair of black serpents coiled near a sign, which had a purple arrow pointing down one path. Not cool...so not cool...

He ignored the sign and hurried on.

Soon he came to a second path, which appeared quite pleasant with a colorful assortment of flowers on either side of the path and a bright light in the distance, promising safety to any lost traveler. If one didn't take their time to observe the scene then they'd miss the intricate webbing amongst the branches of the trees.

Soul eventually passed by a path that was quite short. He saw, a few yards down, a swamp lay in a serene sort of silence with only the chirps of crickets and cry of frogs to distract one. He noticed a houseboat sitting in the water with a deck connecting from the bank of the pond it sat in to the house's friendly green front door. Was this his stop? Sighing, Soul gave the house one last glance before he took a slip of paper from his back pocket.

Soul read over it and turned his crimson orbs back to the house and its darkened windows. It was lucky he had such reliable directions. Yes, these were very specific, very detailed, and neat so that he wouldn't get lost.

According to these directions this was the home of a witch by the name of Eruka Frog. She wasn't who he was here for so he stuffed the directions back into his pocket and kept walking without giving the place so much as a last glance.

As he moved on he started to remember a time similar to this.

!Flashback!

It had been a dreary day. He and Maka had been heading off from their village to start a journey. It was really Maka's journey. She wanted to find her mom who'd disappeared when Maka was a little kid. She'd gotten word from a reliable source who claimed to have seen Maka's mom and Soul decided it wouldn't hurt to tag along since Maka would probably go nuts without him around. He remembered how the ash blonde girl had snorted at that.

Soul knew it was he who needed her. They'd been friends for a few years now and she was what made him feel truly happy even if he didn't make her feel the same way. Maka was his entire world. He didn't think it to be possible to live without her.

Anyway, on their way to the next village over they'd gotten lost somewhere between destinations. Of course, Soul refused to ask any passing travelers for directions so they ended up getting more lost until they just ended up setting camp for the night.

"Why can't you ever ask for directions?" Maka had asked.

Her dark green hues alight by the flame of their small campfire.

"It's way uncool." he had replied. "Besides, you never know what kind of creep show you're talking to."

"You're so pessimistic, Soul. Have a little faith in others."

"Have a little faith in others..." he echoed quietly.

Soul exhaled quietly, finding himself standing in front of the path he'd been searching for. It had pretty green grass growing alongside the path along with some healthy looking trees that had yet to shed all their fall leaves. He wasn't in favor of just marching up to the lavish, pink house that was up ahead, sitting quietly atop a small hill with the ivory light of the grinning moon shining down upon it; however, Soul knew he didn't really have much of a choice if he wanted to get Maka back so he pressed forth and soon stood knocking at the front door.

It didn't take more than a minute for it to open and he be greeted by the sight of a pink-haired girl. She looked to be his age with bright green eyes.

Smiling she didn't appear the least bit surprised to see him there. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and she frowned, seeming stuck between annoyed and glad to see him. "Let me guess," she said, "a loved one has passed and someone told you I could bring them back, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Soul replied, supposing this was a more common occurrence than he had initially thought.

The witch gave a smile and nodded.

"Okay," she said all business-like, "you should first know that my fees aren't cheap."

"I don't care."

"Good. Secondly, this is...well...I don't really do anything. It's mostly you doing the work."

He nodded understandingly, wishing she'd just shut up and tell him what to do.

"And finally, you'll have to get your hands dirty so if you aren't up to it then forget about it. Most guys who come here usually wimp out when they find that out so if you aren't up for it get out of here."

"I don't care what it takes!" Soul snapped. "As long as I get her back I don't care what I have to do!"

The witch, Kim Diehl, smiled. She stepped aside and with a sweeping motion of her arm chirped, "Then come on in."

Soul done as told. He followed her down the hall and into a lavish kitchen where she opened a secret door that led them down to what appeared to be a dungeon. There were all sorts of things here, from a bubbling pink cauldron to a shelf that held jars with varying herbs inside. Grabbing a book off a nearby bookshelf Kim flipped a couple pages then started to read, "Love's gentle breath, possession of deceased, demon's blood, and a body of age."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"This is what you want. Duh. That's all you need to make this happen. The first is easy to get since all you have to do is breath into a bottle."

"Right. So toss me a bottle." Kim did so after finding one that was empty, ignoring Soul as he breathed into the bottle and closed it with a cork. He held it up with a smile. "Done." Tossing it to her Soul waited for her to speak and once she had that sat aside she turned back to her book, frowning.

"Next up, do you have any possessions of your loved one? If not then...sorry...but you'll have to go grave robbing."

Ignoring her, Soul reached into a pocket, retrieving a single red ribbon. Maka used to wear it, but...not anymore...not after...he didn't even want to remember. It was just too awful.

Too painful.

"Good, good, and you wouldn't happen to have any demon's blood on you, would you?"

"No...but...where would I find that?"

"Hmm, now that I think about it...there is one person...you could get it from."

Soul motioned for her to keep going, "Who? I can't go get it if I have no idea who I'm getting it from."

"Another witch," she explained, "about one or two hours' travel from here will have it. The only trouble will be taking it from her. You see, the demon in her possession-"

"I don't care how big and bad this thing is," Soul interjected, quite rudely in Kim's opinion, "just tell me how to kill it and I'll kill it."

~Time Skip~

"You're absolutely worthless!"

Smash!

"I curse the day I let your bastard father touch me!"

Poof!

"You can't do anything right and when you do manage to not screw things up you still fail me in one way or another, you disobedient wretch!"

Crash!

There was a momentary silence. Heavy breathing was all that echoed in the stillness of the air, but that soon passed and a slender figure moved across the dimly lit room. Candles flickered brilliantly as gloomy shadows stretched all around the room.

"Look at me." a calm voice commanded, as the speaker towered over a shaking body which had been taking the verbal abuse for the past hour and was expecting more to come.

"Don't you dare disobey me! Look at me!"

Tremulous hues of dark gray turned up, shaking as they were forced to meet the venomous yellow glare of the one who'd been on a tirade. The girl whom the gray eyes belonged was used to such mistreatment. It was her own fault...some how...some way...it was always her fault. Sometimes it was because she wasn't smart enough, at other times it was because she'd been born wrong, then it was sometimes because she made mistakes, and there were a billion other reasons. And if anyone could tell her the faults she had then who better than the one who made and owned her?

"You're lucky I'm in a forgiving mood, Crona." Her mistress said with a cruel smirk. A short-lived sigh of relief escaped tense lungs as she allowed her gaze to drift down. "Now, get out." There was a flick of a wrist as she motioned towards the door, ignoring how the girl jolted and stared at her with wide eyes at those cold words.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean, get out of my home. I have no use for you anymore so I want you to leave and never come back. You're quite lucky I'm not going to kill you."

"But you have to! If you don't then someone else will!"

It's true. Her mother, her mistress, had told her so many times before in the past. She was the product of an evil relationship and the pureblood humans beyond these woods would be sure that she paid the ultimate price for her existence. And if they didn't get to her then surely another witch or worse, a warlock, or maybe even a weak/aspiring demon, would find her and try to claim her soul as theirs.

Crona had no chance of living without her mistress to protect her. She had once thought she could...because she had found someone during one of her missions...she'd thought it was love...until her bubble had been burst and her mistress, Lady Medusa, had brought her back to reality.

Nobody could love her.

She was a demon's child. She was damned and so was anyone else who tried to show her any sort of kindness. It was just a fact of life Crona had learned to deal with. And now she was being thrown out, abandoned by the one who her entire life revolved around serving. How was she supposed to survive without the protection of her mistress? What would she do without Lady Medusa? Sure she could take care of herself, but how long before someone figured out her weakness and used it to kill her?

Then what would become of her soul?

Crona knew...whoever gained possession of her soul would probably do what her father would do and devour it without hesitation. Why would anyone do such a ghastly thing? Simple. They did it to empower themself. They'd go on to get stronger and become a demon whilst her body was left for whatever animals or insects that wanted to feed on it...unless whoever took her soul had another use for it.

Such thoughts made her shiver, but she knew such things were likely. Her mother had told her so. And she was seldom ever wrong.

"Then you'd better learn how to adapt, otherwise you won't last long."

"No...I-I can't...please...please just kill me!"

There was an amused arch of an eyebrow followed by a cruel chortle. Merciless eyes locked on the weary gray hues of the frightened pink-haired girl who was more or less begging now. There'd be no mercy killing, though. Instead she was forced to her feet via magic and sent across the room where she collided against a wall with a pained cry. Shaking, she pulled herself up to her hands and knees, expression blank while a thin line of black droplets fell continuously to the floor for a few short moments before stopping. Groaning quietly, Crona refrained from screaming when she was forced to her feet, Medusa jerking her head up by her choppy pink strands.

"You're so pathetic," Medusa sneered, "practically human! If you wish to die then simply leave and wait for someone to find you. Why, I know some witches who could make use of every last piece of you from every strand of hair to that miserable soul of yours."

And that was when the front door burst open with a loud BOOM! There was a gust of wind that got in and blew out a majority of the candles, cloaking them in semi-darkness. Both witch and girl turned to stare at the boy who had just forced his way in. His hair was wild and snowy, ruby eyes that shone a predatory glint as he stared at the fair-haired witch who released her hold on the pinkette to focus on the boy, snapping her fingers she watched passively as some candles relit to brighten the room. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what is it that you want?"

"My name...is Wes Evans...and you have something I want."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Yeah. I was told you had some demon blood to spare and I want it."

"My," Medusa muttered, "that didn't take long."

Whimpering, Crona sat with her back against the wall. She was so scared that her teeth begun to quietly chatter. Either this boy was a hunter and just wanted her dead...or he was something else and was out for her soul. Either way...she was scared...and had no idea of what to do...she was snapped back to her senses only when her mistress spoke up, ending the brief silence that had surrounded them.

"I see. Well, as it turns out I do have some fresh demon blood. If you don't mind me asking, then what do you want it for?"

He didn't respond, glaring at her coldly.

"Oh, I understand now! You're one of those fools who try to bring a departed love one back! I bet you've recruited help from that greedy girl, Kim Diehl! Tell me, did she mention that you need a physical replacement and that the soul you'll be bringing back has to still be grounded to this world?"

"I don't know what you're saying, witch, and I don't care I just want that demon blood!"

"I'm saying that whoever it is you want to bring back must have unfinished business here or else they'd have moved on. In which case, you'll just be wasting your time here. And as for that physical replacement...you'd need to have a fresh corpse on hand to place said soul in, otherwise you won't be able to complete this ritual. Something tells me you have neither so you'd best be on your way. Or you can come in and take the blood you need. I don't care what you do, but whatever you choose there will be consequences."

"Will you shut the hell up?! Just tell me where this fucking demon is so I can go kill it and get the blood!"

"You know less than I thought." the woman sighed, glaring down to the quaking girl at her feet. She pulled Crona to her feet by the collar of her black robe, keeping a firm hold on her, even as her viper-like gaze turned back to the boy. "It's quite a walk from here to there." Ignoring the look of impatience that came over the white-haired teen's features she pressed a nail against Crona's cheek, also ignoring how she whimpered and quietly begged her to not do what she was about to. Her pleas went unanswered as the nail slid over pale flesh causing black beads to well up and drip down Crona's cheek like a tear, but then the wound healed and the bleeding stopped. Less than five minutes later it had dried and was easily wiped away by the fair-haired witch.

"You see," she explained, "Crona has a very special design. Her blood, which you seek, hardens after a couple minutes of exposure to the air then crumbles away into nothing. Her blood also heals her wounds, meaning any attempts you make to harm her will be in vain. To be honest, my nail shouldn't have even been able to break her skin, but I know how to nullify it so she doesn't get any ideas about acting against me, not that it matters anymore. I had recently decided to let her go."

The boy bristled at hearing this. He looked slightly appalled, shocked to hear this. Ruby eyes settled on Crona who was trembling quite violently now that he knew who his target was.

"However, I now realize that she could help Dihel if I let her go, so I think I'll grant her a final wish."

Crona barely realized what was happening when she was suddenly shoved forwards, stumbling she soon found herself skewered by a vector arrow, her mother's main weapon and magic theme. It hurt like hell! The arrow pierced through her abdomen with ease and held her just above the ground, long enough that she could see a puddle of black starting to rapidly form.

Her breathing became shallow, slower. She was then thrown by the arrow, sending a spray of black as she collided into someone.

She saw the blurred figure of that boy for a few moments.

Why did he seem so horrified? Didn't he realize that this was for the best? This was what he wanted anyway. Or maybe he realized that without her there was no way he could get and keep fresh blood long enough to bring his loved one back to life. Crona wasn't sure what happened next...everything was blurring... then it was too much...and she went under a wave of darkness.

She resurfaced briefly, just long enough to see the boy...Wes Evans...beaten and bloody, holding onto the blade of a sword...her sword...and...and it was...running through her mother's chest. He pulled it back and stabbed her again and again until he lost his grip on the weapon and stumbled a safe distance back.

The world was blurred and muted, but Crona watched in horror as her mother's mutilated body crumpled to the ground and dissolved away, leaving her purple soul floating in midair.

Shuddering, the pinkette could still feel blood seeping from her body...could still feel the pain of being run through...she gave up her hold on the world to slip back into that comforting darkness where nobody or nothing could ever hurt her.

~Time Skip~

Dark green eyes opened to stare at a blurred world. It took a few minutes, but everything eventually came into focus. "Uh...Soul?" the name left her lips quietly, as she stared at the boy who sat at her side. Looking around Maka found that they were outside, having camped out...somewhere...she couldn't remember where they were. All she remembered was having breakfast yesterday...mmm, blueberry pancakes...those sounded good about now.

Sitting up Maka held her stomach, groaning in pain at the sudden queasiness coupled with an unpleasant head rush.

Ugh...did we drink last night? Maka wondered, as she got up only to stumble and totter, feeling really weird.

Taking a few deep breaths, she quickly realized what the problem was with a puzzled frown. Apparently, she'd had an overnight growth spurt...actually, she quickly realized that her height wasn't the only thing that was weird. Her skin was now paler than it had been the previous day and she was also wearing a completely different set of clothes that consisted of a black sundress that stopped mid-knee and shoes that had white cuffs.

Blushing she immediately felt furious at her sleeping companion for changing her clothes while she slept, unless they went shopping and she just didn't remember. However, she was seriously doubting that was the case.

Looking around she found that she and Soul were camping out atop a grassy hill that overlooked a lake as well as the surrounding woods. Maka didn't really think much of their location as she made her way down the hill as carefully as possible. Once at the bottom she surveyed her surroundings to make sure she wasn't being watched by anyone...or anything. She then moved over to the bank of the lake where she bent down and got some water, splashing it in her face. The cool water helped her head clear up some; however, upon wiping the water away from her face and from her eyes she noticed something that made her freeze up.

She wasn't herself...like literally...she was staring at the reflection of some other girl.

This girl stared back at Maka with the same wide-eyed, shocked expression she had to be wearing, but this girl looked nothing at all like Maka! Instead of ash blonde hair she had a messy mop of pink strands that needed to be brushed because of her bedhead. Her skin was paler than Maka's had been and her body was...well...not as subtly curved as Maka's had been. She had pale dark circles beneath her eyes as well, appearing to not having gotten a good night's rest in quite a long while. The only things that seemed familiar were the dark green eyes she sported and 'flat chest' people liked to tease her about.

"My name...is...Maka Albarn."

A hand slapped over her mouth. Her voice had even changed! It was softer, quieter. Swallowing Maka felt as though she hadn't spoken for over a year. Naturally, in this situation she was stunned, so stunned that she was unable to move.

"Maka!" Soul called from the top of the hill. Maka supposed he'd discovered she'd woke up and was now concerned as to why she was just sitting by a pond staring at the water like some stupid knucklehead. He stumbled and tumbled his way down, pulling her back with ease though he was clearly concerned. "Maka...are you...I mean, I didn't want you to see...Maka...are you okay?"

"O...kay? I...I don't know...I...what..." shaking her head she got her words together, pushing him away, "Soul, what's going on?"

"It's...a long story."

"I'm listening."

"Nah, you don't wanna hear-"

"Soul! I swear I'll strangle you if you don't tell me what happened! I mean, if our roles were reversed I'd be nice enough to tell you how one day you were all normal, and then suddenly woke up in another guy's body! I wouldn't leave you in the dark! I'd-"

"Okay, okay! Calm down, Maka! Sheesh. Well, first off it hasn't been just...you know...as short a time as you think. Kim told me you'd suffer memory loss and that you'd have a ton of questions-"

"Wait," Maka snapped, "hold on! Who's Kim?"

"Right. Let's just say she helped me out-"

"Soul! Tell me. Everything. Now!"

"Fine," Soul relented, ill at ease, "but...just...keep calm, okay? This is gonna be a pretty freaky story." He watched Maka wearily as she nodded and promised to stay calm no matter how morbidly weird his story got.

"All right...well, Maka...I guess the first thing you should know is that..." taking a deep breath he let the truth pour out in a torrent, "you were dead for over five months and I was really upset about it because it was my fault for not protecting you so I went to The Witch's Wood to get help from Kim Dihel, a healing witch. I heard that she could bring people back from the dead, which was a total lie...sort of...I had to do all of the work, you see, and she wanted a ton of money afterward, but...look, Maka, the point is that I succeeded! I managed to bring you back and I promise that from here on out I'll have your back, no matter what!"

"O-okay...that's...wow...that is a pretty weird story. A lot to absorb, at any rate, but...I guess...I have no choice but to believe you." There was a breief pause then she asked the question he'd feared she would, "How'd you do it?"

"Um...it was no big deal. I just had to breath into a bottle, have one of your possessions, get some blood, and a body for your soul to live in then say a few words and presto! Here you are."

"Oh. That does sound kinda simple."

"Anyway," he cleared his throat before continuing, "long story short you're back and that's all that matters to me."

"Aww, that's sweet." Maka murmured, truly touched by those words. She gave a nervous giggle, smiling timidly as she tried to not fall into a hysterical fit. "In a morbid sort of way, I mean."

Chuckling Soul smiled sheepishly, somewhat uneasy, though happy she was taking this news so well. He'd expected her to be pissed at him for bringing her back...or just freaked out...either seemed like a normal reaction, but she kept calm as she promised she would. Internally, he imagined she was screaming and freaking out. Oh well. That couldn't be helped. All that mattered was that she was back and they could continue their journey; moreover, Soul was gonna make sure that Maka didn't have to go through this sort of thing ever again. He'd sooner die than watch her life drain away for a second time.

There was a short silence as Maka let it all sink in.

She was in the body of a girl...a dead girl...it was creepy to know that she was alive because this girl died, providing Soul with a body to use. In a way...Maka sort of felt like an intruder, but at the same time...she was just happy to be alive. There was no memory of an afterlife or anything. It just seemed that she had breakfast the previous day then went to sleep for a day.

Five months.

She'd been dead for five months. How long had this girl been dead? Apparently not long since there were no signs of decomposition.

Staring down at the shimmering blue water Maka took in her reflection, feeling quite sick.

Swallowing a thick wad of spit she forced any negativity from her tone, composing herself using a short chain of quiet inhales and exhales. Once she felt ready to speak she turned her gaze from the water and to Soul who was looking ready to run, to get away from this subject...or maybe he just wanted to get away from her...she wasn't herself, after all.

"So..." Maka started, "who was she?"

"Huh?"

"This girl. The one whose body you used. Who was she? I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but I'd like to know who you've turned me into."

"You haven't been turned into anyone, Maka. You're you and that's all I want you to be-"

"Save it, Soul, and answer my question."

"I...can't say who she was...I really didn't know her." he confessed, shrugging his shoulders. "I kinda just...I don't know...panicked? Yeah, that sounds about right. I panicked and used her body because I was afraid that if I didn't then the ritual wouldn't work and I'd have to be forced to do something drastic. Although, I would imagine she wasn't that great of a person. She lived with a witch."

"Oh. I see."

That was troubling to hear. Not that Maka would let show. She just thanked Soul for what he did and then accompanied him back uphill where they'd talk about it some more before moving on to a nearby town. That's where Soul promised they'd buy Maka some new clothes since Kim Dihel had just supplied them with the sundress and shoes.

Meanwhile, in a realm where a lazy sun baked a sandy land and seashells peppered the ground there was only one inhabitant to be seen for miles on end. They lay in the sand staring up at the vast blue sky, gripping the sand as though their life depended on it. Shaking they sat up to look around, reliving numerous horrific scenes while taking in the dreary surroundings. Standing they teetered slightly, catching themself in time, as they looked around in fear.

"Hello?" The small child called, hoping to receive an answer from someone.

Anyone.

The only reply was a gentle breeze as it swept by. "Where am I?" they whimpered with their tiny hands balling into fists at their side and their body wilted sadly, defeated as their dark gray eyes turned up to the sky and a single question left their parched lips, "Have I been replaced?"

This is a oneshot idea I had. Sorry if it's got an unsatisfying end or confused you. I couldn't help myself from writing it down! Sometimes it helps me to write oneshots in between chapters of my longer stories. I like how this turned out and would appreciate it fi you left me a nice review. Even if you don't I thank you for reading!

~Sincerely, Fairylust~