Courage Dwells In A Sound Soul {chapter one} "Soul, morph. We have a job to do." Maka Albarn spoke sternly to her weapon Soul Eater. They had changed, all of them. Maka was no longer a flat chested bookworm, no, after that day she'd learned that being nice and positive accomplished nothing. She had become something dark, and it constantly nagged at Soul. Was the madness slowly seeping into her mind? He couldn't tell, she didn't talk to him about her problems anymore, she bottled them up until she got a chance to kill something and let all of her pint up emotions fuel her fighting. She had become reckless, and Soul had a feeling it would be her demise. Soul had tried to stay the same, and he held the past close to his heart. The fond memories before the world turned black with insanity, he would guide and protect his Meister. No matter how far she ran off, he would always pull her back. Because he was her buki, her partner, her old friend... He would stay with her even if the madness did consume her. And nothing would shake that promise. And even though her friends had changed, even they thought she was slipping, slipping into the madness that surrounded them. Tsubaki tried to remain the calm, parental figure in their group, but even she had grown a tough outer shell that Black Star was finding hard to penetrate. She was always the voice of reason, especially to her Meister. He still claimed the he would transcend God, but he was slowly loosing faith, he was slowly loosing himself, something he swore to himself that would never happen. He had become a force to be feared by his enemies, and sometimes his friends. His anger had escalated over the years, he wasn't the same proud and arrogant kid he used to be. Now he knew when to shut up and when to suit up. Even the Shinigami had changed, he had gotten over his symmetrical obsession, and he was hell bent on exacting his revenge on the Kishin. Revenge was his new aesthetic, and he would deliver his revenge precisely, and exactly. He was still the calmest, and smartest of their group, even though he had the most anger. That Kishin had taken his father away from him, and he would not forget it and give in, no. He was going to take Asura down to hell with him if he died, and he assumed he would given the circumstances. Liz and Patty did they're best to lighten Kid's mood in the beginning, but Liz had realized by now that the only way to get her old Meister back, was to kill Asura. They all had they're reasons. For wanting revenge, and they had been planning there vengeance for eight long years. Crona fought because his friends did, an because he figured it was wrong of the kishin to behave the way it did. He had been a strong fighter in the beginning, and still was, but he felt the madness slowly creeping back into his mind making his skin crawl. The waters on the distant beach were fading away, and the self questioning was beginning to resurface. Ragnorok had actually been keeping Crona sane, though the years the two had become somewhat of friends. It scared Crona to see how much his friends had changed, he was the only one that hadn't let anger and determination corrupt his point of view and that scared him... It was only them fighting off the madness, going after Asura. The teachers and other students were in charge of protecting Death City and it's inhabitants, since Lord Death no longer could.