Author's Note: Don't own Soul Eater! ... but I do make shameless plugs for the songs that I like in my chapter titles! Ask me how many times I've listened to Love Lockdown as inspiration for this chapter. So relevant! If you're looking for some tunage to accompany your read, may I suggest DJ Earworm's 'Reckoner Lockdown' which includes a sweet mashup with a Radiohead song. Either way, enjoy! 8) Thanks again for the follows & reviews!


Soul held his breath, nodding slowly at Tsubaki and Maka, whose fists were both clenched in concentration.

"On the count of three?" Maka asked, flexing her fingers slowly. Despite his anxiety, Soul grinned; he was endlessly amused by this unconscious little twitch she did when she wanted him to change into scythe form. Of course, it also got him thinking about the possibility of her gripping other things, which he really shouldn't be thinking about before–

"Here we go," said Tsubaki, and Soul gritted his teeth and transformed before his preoccupations made themselves known through his nasal passages.

"Hybrid resonance!" the girls shouted, Soul chiming in late, and with visibly less vigor. He felt the pull of resonance tugging at him, and tried valiantly not to dig in his heels as their wavelengths merged and beckoned to his, bluish light lining his eyes as placid flames while the resonance threatened to build.

He took a deep breath and started to let go, inch by inch, double-checking his emotions every second, reciting thoughts like "this is simple," and "this is nothing" and particularly "don't blow it, asshole" as a mantra.

But then, despite his best intentions, their wavelengths connected and he couldn't handle it. He felt Maka's presence like a train wreck. Their resonances were too close, too strong, too perfect, and suddenly he had a face full of linoleum once more. He heard Maka's strangled sigh of frustration.

As usual, he looked up at Tsubaki, searching for a sign, looking for any dawning realization in her eyes, but he saw nothing. The now-familiar rush of relief that swept over him was immediate. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, trying to help him steady his gasping breaths.

"It would be easier if you could hear each other, I know," she said, trying to console him.

Yes, that was the one fan-fucking-tastic side effect of hybrid resonance that they'd discovered this morning. Sometimes he really resented being Stein's perpetual guinea pig.

It was a strange paradox; although resonance felt stronger than ever, their communication had been inexplicably cut off. Stein had formulated some half-hearted hypotheses about resonance and proximity and a bunch of other shit that Soul hadn't really listened to. Either way, only Tsubaki could hear him now. He felt like he should be relieved about this, but he couldn't bring himself to feel any sort of respite. Though this took Maka out of the direct line of fire, he still had the task of keeping everything under wraps while under the influence of a stronger, sexier resonance level.

If he let something slip, he knew Tsubaki would spill the beans in a second. He was doomed.

This was quickly becoming Soul's least favorite type of resonance, including the time he'd been on the wrong end of Kid, Liz and Patty's resonance during their first meeting. Well, maybe it was still better than scream resonance. Every time Ragnarok and Crona pulled that shit, Soul had a headache for a week. He paused and glanced around the room. Where was Crona, anyway?

"Maybe it's time to try with a different hybrid," Stein mused, taking the smallest of drags from his cigarette. "It seems like Soul and Tsubaki's wavelengths might not be as compatible as we'd hoped."

Soul glanced up apologetically at Tsubaki from his tile mausoleum, and she smiled down at him, clearly unoffended, as Maka came over and kneeled next to them, helping pull Soul to his feet.

"It might make sense to try it with someone who you both know equally well," Stein said slowly. "Someone who you… maybe… grew up with, for example. Someone who's seen you fight, knows your wavelengths… someone who might help you surpass this little roadblock." Stein's lips twitched slightly.

Soul went still as everyone's eyes flashed to the clear subject of Stein's monologue.

Oh no. God, seriously, anyone but–

"What?! No way in hell am I gonna be anyone's hybrid bitch! I'm way too big a star for that," yelled an indignant blue head of hair from the back of the room. "Do I look like Soul and Maka's resonance lapdog? If anything, it should be Soul that hybrids for me and Tsubaki!"

Soul rolled his eyes, but breathed an internal sigh of relief. The idea of Black*Star hearing anything hidden in his brain was a rather horrifying prospect that Soul was all too eager to avoid.

"It's cool, we'll try with Tsubaki again," Soul said in a rush, realizing just how preferable it was to have the infinitely more tight-lipped chain scythe as a resonance partner. "Ninth time's the charm, maybe?"

"But it's not working with Tsubaki, Soul," Maka said, looking hopefully at Black*Star. "We should at least give it a try. He does know us pretty well."

Yeah, that's the problem, Soul thought, busying himself with making scuff marks on the floor with his shoe instead of looking at his meister. Black*Star saved him the trouble of answering.

"Not gonna happen, Maka. Tell Soul to grow a pair and actually resonate. It's not my problem."

"Watch yourself, Black*Star," Soul growled, demon eyes snapping up from the ground. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"All I know is that it's you that ends up crying like a fuckin' pansy on the floor every time, so it must be your fault that it's not work–"

"Enough."

Everyone stopped and stared at Stein; Black*Star even had the decency to look a little sheepish. Maka just looked pissed; she was staring daggers at Soul and Black*Star, which only served to darken Soul's scowl. I'm doing this for your own good, you know, he muttered in his mind, glaring back at her in plain defiance.

Stein surveyed the class unblinkingly for a moment, his normally neutral expression taking on a hint of condescension.

"Let me make something painfully clear to you," Stein said lazily, though Soul could hear the hidden threat in his voice. "Has anyone noticed who's not with us today?"

Everyone started to glance around, taking mental roll, but Soul already knew. Dread filled the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong.

"Crona. Crona's missing," said Maka slowly, just when Soul was about to speak. He glanced back over at her. All of the anger had vanished from her face. He knew she'd already figured out that this was bad.

"Yes," Stein said, his mouth forming a thin line. "And we don't know much about it. But I'm not telling you anything we do know until the three of you can make hybrid resonance happen."

Soul could feel the entire room's eyes latch onto him. They knew that Black*Star had been right, that he was the weak link in the chain. Damn him, Stein was making them all pay for Soul's weakness. What an effective tactic, Soul thought, bitterly impressed. He had no choice now. He scowled again, seething at the whole situation – making best friends with the floor all morning, Black*Star acting like a world-class asshole, Stein making him feel like shit, all so that Maka wouldn't–

Maka. Their eyes met, hers starting to gloss over from a mélange of quiet determination and worry for her friend, and Soul felt his heart constrict. He sighed defeatedly. He couldn't refuse her when she was like this… well, he couldn't refuse her ever, but especially not now, when she looked so serious and vulnerable. It was probably a weapon instinct – No it isn't, don't kid yourself, his subconscious retorted – but either way, he knew he was strong enough to make resonance work and keep Black*Star in the dark. He had to be.

"Okay, weaklings, let's do this," Black*Star said, hopping down from his perch at the back of the class and sauntering down to meet them. "And Soul. How about you actually try this time?"

Soul grimaced again, but he bit back a comment and settled for rolling his eyes instead. He shoved his hands in his pockets. Black*Star stood next to him, arms behind his head in his usual display of superiority. Tsubaki squeezed Maka's shoulder and backed up to give the three of them room. With one last look at Maka, Soul transformed, feeling the current of resolve humming between them, even without resonance.

Here goes nothing, he thought. He would do this, for Maka and Crona and even goddamn Stein, whose opinion of him actually mattered for some damn reason. Black*Star grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"Hybrid resonance!" they yelled, and Soul shoved down his barrier, hoping for the best.

He felt his control splinter and break, overwhelmed with the potency of Black*Star's wavelength. Rather than the cloying, prodding presence that Tsubaki's had been, Black*Star's resonance overtook Soul like a tidal wave, demanding his attention. He had no choice but to let himself be dragged forward, the strength of the ninja's wavelength forcing him into compulsion.

It was like being grabbed by the collar and thrown headfirst into a black hole; spots started to form at the corners of his eyes, the familiar blue flames that licked at his consciousness taking on a stronger, more urgent hue than he'd ever seen before. He couldn't feel Maka's wavelength at all, only Black*Star's, pulling him, commanding him, exercising its duress. By the way Maka's knuckles had turned white against him, he imagined she was also bearing the rude shock of Black*Star's resonance. Her jaw set, teeth clenched together.

Soul felt like he was teetering on the edge of something, and just after he came to this realization, he felt the world pitch forward. What was happening? He lost his sense of self completely. He couldn't see, couldn't hear; he hung suspended in midair, helpless and weightless.

Everything stopped. This wasn't like the room in his mind; it was too empty, too listless. Hell, there wasn't even a room at all. He couldn't feel anyone's resonance, or anyone's presence. Even the demon was conspicuously absent. He was utterly alone. What had Black*Star done? He wondered how long this unfortunate, vacant limbo could possibly last.

And then he heard it; a resounding click, like the sound of the second hand on a grandfather clock, falling into place and echoing into the silence.

He hadn't been ready for it. Maka's wavelength slammed into him, sending his mind into a frenzy. For a moment, he felt a pinch of insanity in the back of his mind that he couldn't quite place; then, it vanished and all he could feel was her. Her resonance filled every crack in his armor, shooting through his body with a sweet rush of electric pain. He knew she could feel him now, sensing the intensified hum of the current that passed between them as it spiraled and strengthened, two ribbons wrapping together and pulling taut, igniting in blue flame.

His every awareness of her was heightened. Every shade of green reflected in her eyes, from lightest jade to the darker flecks of forest green that burned with the intensity of resonance, complemented flushed cheeks that matched the color of her lips, the bottom of which she was worrying with her teeth. God, she looked perfect; he'd turn down all of the gold in Shinigami's vault just to be the one to bite that lip–

Fuck. Soul stopped cold, wrenching himself out of resonance so desperately that he fell out of his scythe form, knocking Maka down with him. He prepared for another chance meeting with the classroom floor as everything else revolved around him in slow motion. As he grappled with his balance, pulling himself behind Maka to take the brunt of the fall, his eyes sought out Black*Star's, hoping against all hope that he'd missed it, that he hadn't heard...

The wicked amusement in the ninja's eyes was inescapable. They stared at each other, Black*Star's smug comprehension against Soul's utter horror, and then Soul hit the floor, back smacking against the tile with enough force to draw a strangled "oof" out of both of him and Maka.

He looked up at her; she seemed unharmed, aside from being a little shaken by the strength of their resonance. She didn't seem to suspect anything.

The same certainly wasn't true of their hybrid partner, whose eyes were glinting like Christmas had come early and his first present had been a package full of the biggest, juiciest news to hit Shibusen in years. Damage control was a necessity. Soul jumped up and seized Black*Star by the shoulders, propelling him out of the room.

"If you'll just give us a minute," Soul growled, slamming the door shut just in time to mask the ninja's snicker.