I'm so sorry it took me so long to upload this chapter, guys! I've been really busy with school, but it's almost time for graduation, so I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands when that's over with.

A big thank to my friends Kid and Crona, both of whom have been very supportive throughout the writing process. And I would also like to thank Sebastian for helping me with the writing and editing process. I love all of you guys to death! 3

Without further ado, I bring you chapter 2! (Hehe... That rhymes :D)

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater...


Chapter 2

~*~ Transformation ~*~

Maka's POV

Soul and I wouldn't talk to each other for most of the day. It almost seemed eerily quiet on the way back to our apartment after school, even though the motorcycle's engine made a deafening roar.

I tightened my grip on Soul's waist as we rounded the corner. It wouldn't be long now until we were back at home; the apartment was only a few more blocks away. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander, hoping that the remainder of the ride would be over soon so I could lock myself in my room.

But not even five seconds passed before my Soul Perception kicked in, and I felt the presence of an unfamiliar person. Maybe it's just a tourist… It's nothing out of the ordinary for Death City. Even though I kept telling myself this, I could sense this particular soul was getting closer to us, even though we had likely passed it a few minutes before. I could tell that this person wasn't using a vehicle, because if they were, I wouldn't be able to sense their soul as well; most vehicles causes some static around a soul so it's not as easy to sense.

"Soul?" I opened my eyes to look at him. Even though I couldn't see his face clearly, I could tell he was trying to ignore me.

"Soul. Stop the bike."

He turned his head so he could look at me before turning back to see the road in front of him. "What for? We're almost at the apartment, so just hang on a minute."

"Pull over the damn bike, Soul!" I yelled. He seemed to understand and slowed down enough for me to jump off. He stopped completely a few feet away from where my feet landed on the pavement. I turned my back to him and looked down the road where we had just come from.

Soul put the kickstand down on the motorcycle and ran to my side. "Maka? What is it?" His face was right next to mine, but I ignored the temptation to look at him and concentrated on the soul that was constantly making its way toward us. I still couldn't see it clearly because there was some kind of mask covering it, but I managed to catch glimpses of it; the soul reeked of bloodlust and hunger.

Soul put his hand on my shoulder, trying to get my attention. "Oi, Maka! What's wrong? Is someone out there?" When I didn't respond, he moved so that he was in front of me, turning his right arm into a scythe blade from the elbow-down. Whatever the case, my partner looked like he was ready to fight to the death.

The sun was almost set, and the darkness was getting ready to cover the city. As the last light of day faded, I saw a dark figure coming into view from behind one of the buildings about a hundred yards away. There was no mistaking it; this person was the same one who had been following us. His soul became clearer to me, but something was weird about it. It was almost as if the soul didn't have a definite shape. Every few seconds it changed its shape, but the violence this person was still obvious, even Soul could tell the other guy wanted to fight.

The white-haired boy in front of me held out his left hand. "C'mon, Maka. Let's beat this guy and get home. He looks like the same guy that just made Lord Death's list," he said.

I took my gaze off the stranger to look into Soul's crimson eyes. In them, I saw complete trust and the bond that allowed us to resonate our souls. I nodded and grabbed his hand. A light surrounded the boy as he changed into his weapon form: a black-and-red scythe with a silver handle. Spinning the boy-turned-scythe a few times in my hands to warm up, I prepared myself for battle.

"You ready, Soul?" I asked, holding him steady in my hands after a few seconds.

His reflection appeared in the blade. "I'm always ready, Maka." He gave me his sharp-toothed grin and his image disappeared, leaving the black-and-red blade reflecting the light that came from the moon.

I took a look at my opponent, who was walking toward me, and tried to think of how I would defeat him. He appeared to be about Soul's height with an average muscle tone, but experience shows that you should never underestimate your opponent's abilities. For all I knew, he could have extraordinary strength or could even use magic.

The boy stopped when he was about ten yards away, just close enough so I could see him smile. His soul seemed to shake with excitement, anticipating more power from another victim – me. I could feel fear building up, deep in my soul. I shook my head, willing myself to fight against my fear, but it refused to vanish from my thoughts. My heart started racing, and I could feel adrenaline making its way through my body.

I tightened my grip around the scythe in my hands and ran toward the kishin. His smile faded as I got closer to him, and when I was about to swing the blade through his torso, he jumped and disappeared into the darkness above me.

Skidding to a stop, I looked down the alleyways and the tops of the buildings, trying to find where my target had disappeared to. My efforts were futile; the sun had completely set and there was little light that I could use to see. I took a deep breath and tried using my Soul Perception ability to find him, but it was like his soul had disappeared as well.

I lowered the weapon in my hands and tried to relax a little. The kishin probably got scared and ran away, knowing that he was going to die, but that was what bothered me. Normally, they never run away. They're always so focused on getting their next meal that they seem to never think about running.

Soul's image appeared in the blade of the scythe. "Maka, don't let your guard down. He could still be waiting for his chance to attack."

I shook my head. "I don't think so… I can't sense his soul's wavelength anywhere. Even if he was using Soul Protect, I should still be able to pick up something."

My partner sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyway, we have to get home. Blair's waiting for us, and you know how she gets when we don't get back in time to feed her."

I smiled at the thought of the purple cat practically crying over her empty food bowl. "Ok, let's go Soul." He turned back to his human form and turned toward where he had left the motorcycle. I started to follow, but before I could take the first step, I felt a sharp pain in my left arm and it went numb within seconds.

"Soul!" I yelled. He turned around and looked at me just as I felt the sting of another needle hit my left leg. It had the same effect as the first, and I fell to the ground from a lack of balance. I must have hit my head on the pavement, because I felt my vision getting blurry.

"Maka!" My partner ran to my side and knelt down to put me in a sitting position. "Maka, tell me what I should do!"

I lifted my good hand and gently placed it on Soul's cheek. "You'll have to trust me, ok? I've been practicing since we beat Asura… I don't know how well it'll work, but this could be our only hope of getting out of here." His eyes reflected the confusion and fear I knew he felt deep in his soul, but he nodded. I smiled. "Good. Now, give me your hand."

Soul's POV

Soul put his hand in Maka's, and her green eyes looked into his red ones. "I really hope this works," she sighed and closed her eyes. He tightened his grip on the girl's hand as a light surrounded her.

"Maka… What…?" Soul's heart started to race at the sight of his meister, the one who was supposed to use him as her weapon, turned into a weapon herself. When the light faded, he was holding a scythe, much like himself, but this one was different. The handle was a dark gray with some black markings toward the blade, but that wasn't what had Soul staring at it. The blade was black on the top half and silver on the bottom, reminding him of the night sky.

Maka's image appeared in the blade. "Come on, Soul! We can talk about this later, but right now, we've gotta get moving!" Soul nodded and stood up. The weapon he held, at first glance, should have weighed about a hundred pounds, but for some reason it felt as if it weighed next to nothing. Maybe this was what Maka first thought when they started out as partners; she had talked about how light he had really been when they were on missions, despite his appearance in weapon form.

Soul looked around him. "Just so you know, I have no idea how to act as a meister. I don't think we can win this thing."

He heard Maka laugh. "I'm new at this, too, Soul. I don't even know how well Soul Resonance would work like this."

Something clicked in the boy's mind. "Let's try that! Maybe if we resonate, we could have a chance!"

Maka was silent, but spoke up after a minute. "Damn it! Why didn't I think of that? Soul, you're a genius!" Soul smiled. "Now, just send your wavelength to me. I'll add my own wavelength to it and send it back. Hopefully, we'll be able to manage Witch Hunter."

The white-haired boy nodded. His hands tightened around the scythe's handle as he concentrated on sending his soul's wavelength into the weapon. After a few seconds, he felt a wavelength coming back to him through his hands. This was a familiar feeling, very similar to how their Soul Resonance felt when he was in weapon form. He kept the cycle going, sending the wavelength to Maka again so she could amplify it and send it right back to him. With each completed cycle, a light grew brighter and brighter from within the scythe blade. When the wavelength's strength reached its maximum potential, the blade completely changed shape so that it looked like a glowing crescent moon.

The light that emitted from the blade lit the area enough so Soul could see into the shadows. Still, it wasn't enough light for Soul to see much clearly. He could feel his heart continue to beat quickly, not from the shock of finding out his meister was also a weapon, but from the fear that came with not knowing where the enemy was hiding.

"Soul, calm down. Your wavelength is getting out of control."

"But, Maka… I don't know where…"

He could hear her sigh. "Don't worry about it. Just try to get your wavelength stable again and I'll try to use my Soul Perception to find out where he is."

Soul nodded and closed his eyes. Their resonance rate was still pretty stable and he concentrated on keeping it that way. There was no way they would be able to make it out of the situation if they weren't at their full potential. After a minute of tense silence, Soul was calm enough to sense the souls of the people around him through Maka. She sighed.

"There are so many people around here, but none of them are the one we're looking for. But there is something strange…"

Soul picked up his head and looked at the scythe blade. "What is it?"

He could tell Maka was reluctant to say what was bothering her, but she spoke up anyway. "There are two souls around here that look exactly the same… Soul, this is…"

"Maka? Tell me. It's ok, you know? We'll make sure we get the right one."

Before Maka could tell him, Soul could see someone walking down the street. He held the scythe the way Maka always did when she was getting ready to go into battle. This was the same boy they were targeting, he was sure. There was no one else walking around the city at this time of night.

Maka's POV

All of this felt like a strange dream to me. I would have never imagined being used as a weapon, much less by Soul as a meister. He shifted me in his hands so that the blade was pointed toward the person in front of us, much the same way I do, and started running toward him. The closer Soul got to him, the more I began to understand what was bothering me; the boy had the features of someone she was close to. His wild white hair was the first thing that was clearly visible, then the crimson eyes. His soul had a definite shape now, and I recognized it right away.

Soul…?

The sight of the boy in front of us made me lose my concentration on keeping hold of the resonance rate my partner and I had established, and I could feel my power decreasing rapidly as Witch Hunter disappeared.

"Maka, what's wrong!" Soul yelled as he swung the blade in a futile attempt to finish off the enemy. The Soul look-alike ducked and brought his fist up to punch my partner in the stomach, making him begin to loosen his grip on me. The next thing I knew, I was knocked out of Soul's hands and landed on the ground a good ten feet away.

I focused on reverting back to my human form, just as I had practiced on my own, and almost immediately felt the street pavement under me. I tested to see if my arm and leg were working again by wiggling my fingers and toes, relieved to find out I wasn't numb anymore, though I wasn't sure how.

Looking up toward the direction I was thrown from, I saw something I could have never imagined – there were two Souls, both exactly alike. I couldn't tell which one was which anymore; they were staring at each other, both with one arm changed to the form of a scythe blade. There was a flicker in one of their souls, one that gave off a strong lust for blood, and I knew right away that he was not my partner.

The imposter lunged toward Soul, swinging his weapon-arm around in an attempt to slice through Soul. Soul ducked just before the blade had a chance to touch him and swung up with his own blade. From the angle I was at, I could only see the fake Soul's back, but I knew he was hit by my partner's attack because blood started dripping to the street under them. My partner had a smile of victory on his face and I felt my heart flutter a little at the sight of it.

But his smile faded as the fake turned his arm back to normal and pulled a dagger out of his jacket sleeve. Time seemed to slow down for me as Soul backed up in fear from this turn of events. I got back to my feet as quickly as I could and ran toward the adversaries. My feet seemed to move faster when I saw Soul trip and land on his back. Even on the ground, he was trying to back away, always being careful to keep his eyes on his attacker. Out of exhaustion or completely paralyzing fear (I'll never be able to tell which), Soul stopped when he reached the edge of the sidewalk.

I reached my partner just as the enemy raised his dagger, holding it in a position that meant he wasn't going to stab, but slice. I threw myself over Soul, protecting him from what I knew would be terrible pain. The corners of my lips pulled up to form a tender smile toward my partner; he looked at me with a pained look as the kishin laughed and brought his blade down on my back.


Dun-dun-duuuunnnn! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I thought this would be a good place to put the story on pause. I have started writing the outline for chapter 3, and I should finish that part soon. Then all I have to do is write the story in paragraphs and upload it :) Hopefully this won't take me another 3 months to do.

I appreciate all of the reviews you guys send me, and I read through each and every one of them. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, please feel free to send them to me~