She had lived longer than she thought that she would. It really wasn't much of a comfort though. Every second was agony for the blonde haired death scythe, and she found herself wishing that they would finally kill her, just to put her out of her misery.

But for some reason they were keeping her alive.

The tubes that connected her to the machine made sure of it, pumping nutrition straight into her bloodstream so that even though she felt like she was starving, she was getting what she needed. Twice a day they came in and forced her to drink some foul smelling liquid that made the woman want to vomit and caused her to dry heave for nearly an hour.

At least, she assumed it was an hour. It's not like the cell they had her in had a clock or anything. One thing she was sure of though was that Stein would give a lot to get his hands on whatever it was that they were forcing down her throat.

'Maybe he can take it from my stomach after I'm dead.' Marie thought, hanging her head.

It was what was keeping her from transforming, either fully or partially, she was certain of it. That and the constant pain. She was suspended by her wrists from a position about seven feet up, dangling. She couldn't feel her hands anymore, the only sensation that she had was the occasional twinge of pain when the metal rubbed against the open wound, so she was careful not to move too much.

Not moving wasn't an option very often though. Women would come through the door at all hours, each with a singular purpose in mind. The first few had tried to be polite. She noted that they all looked distressingly similar to her in build and height. They had asked her simple questions, offered to let her down if she answered.

Marie hadn't been fooled. Joe may have left her, but he did teach her one thing- how to know when someone was lying to her. A captor would never offer anything that was worth answering their questions, not even your life. Shibusen alumni led dangerous lives, and they all knew the risks. Normally one could expect rescue, but Marie had specifically refused that.

The visits became violent quickly. Shouted questions demanding answers as the death scythe screamed when whatever weapon they happened to have slammed into her, leaving her battered, bruised and bloody. Her leg was obviously broken. When that injury had happened she gave up hope.

Even if Stein came after her, which she had warned him not to ('If he even found the note…' she thought morosely), she wouldn't be able to walk to get out with them, and she had seen the number of people that came through the door into her cell.

There were too many for even Stein to fight through.

The door cracked open and Marie didn't even bother to look up, feigning sleep. It wasn't hard, the pain in her arms was now a numbness and she was becoming inured to the pain from her other injuries. Exhaustion covered her like a cloak.

Something grabbed her broken leg roughly and she screamed, her head jerking back as whoever it was this time dug their fingers into the open wound. Marie could feel the bone itself moving as the person wriggled their fingers deeper and deeper into the gaping hole. Tears streamed down her right cheek as she heard a crunch, the bone obviously breaking even more, and her head slammed into the wall she was anchored to as another scream erupted from her. The torture to her leg suddenly stopped and Marie trembled, panting, in the chains before opening her eyes slowly, hoping that the empty orb of her left eye socket would at least rattle whoever was standing in front of her.

Her gold eye took a second to focus on the man standing in front of her, a sadistic grin painted across features so familiar yet at the same time wrong, and when it did, her eye opened wide, a gasp tearing from her throat.

"So, it's an effective disguise," the man sneered out, digging his fingers back into Marie's wound. She threw her head back and screamed again, agony running from her toes to her chest. He waited until she had collapsed against the wall again sobbing before he continued. "Now then, you're going to answer some questions for me unless you want to permanently lose that leg."

"Fuck you." Marie said, spitting down at him before he resumed grinding her leg underneath his hand. Blood ran down her leg as she screamed; his laughter mixed with her screams in a horrendous cacophony of sound.

"My first question is this: As Franken Stein's partner, you know his personality. Would he be enjoying this?" The man's face was twisted into a mockery of a grin, a sadistic look plastered into his wild eyes.

Marie stubbornly remained quiet until she felt the man's fingers dig into the wound again and twist, a scream ripping from her throat.

"Come now, you know the answer, just tell me." The not-Stein's voice was calm even with the sadistic grin contorting his features. "I hope he would, because believe me, I do."

Tears fell down Marie's face, her leg a mass of agony. With her eyes closed again she shook her head. In a voice thick with pain and desperation she said, "Just kill me. I won't be used against Shibusen."

Maniacal laughter rang through the room and something sharp stabbed into Marie's stomach. The woman's eyes flew open and she focused on the blood flowing down her abdomen, the man's leering face, and the scalpel that was buried to the hilt in her stomach. She wasn't even aware she was screaming as he twisted it.

"Have it your way."


"What makes you think that she'll be there, Stein?" Spirit asked as they loaded into the car that Spirit had paid for out of his own pocket.

"A hunch, Senpai. Something I had thought was a hallucination brought on by the Madness." Stein leaned his head back against the headrest of the passenger seat.

Spirit put the car in drive and they pulled out onto the mostly deserted road. They drove in silence for a while before Stein finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"What if she's already dead?" The scientist's voice was broken and heavy with emotion. Spirit did him the courtesy of not looking over at him, though his hand reached out without his conscious thought to gently squeeze Stein's knee.

"Marie's a fighter. She won't give them what they want and they won't kill a death scythe that easy." His hand slipped back to the steering wheel and Stein sighed.

"I hope that you're right, Senpai. I don't want to think that I could have saved her, if only I had bothered doing as she asked and checked my lab coats when she hung them." Stein stared out the window, Spirit keeping his eyes straight ahead.

"Why did she ask you to do that?"

Stein's voice was slightly closer and Spirit turned his head to look at the man briefly. Stein's head was resting against the headrest and he was facing front now, his eyes closed and his glasses in his hands. "She asked because if I left anything in them she would take it out when she washed them and put it back in when they were cleaned. I was supposed to make sure that everything was where it belonged, in case we were to go on a mission; that way there was no chance of a mix up. I cut my hand once when I didn't realize that she had flipped my scalpel to the opposite pocket."

"Why didn't you check?" Spirit asked, turning on the turn signal to change lanes, accelerating.

"Because she knew me well enough that I hadn't had to fix the positioning of anything in a long time." Stein's voice was dry and emotionless. "I should have checked."

Spirit's hand rested briefly on Stein's leg. "She's fine, Stein. We'll go and get her, find out who took her and why, and it will be fine."

"I hope that you're right, Senpai." Spirit removed his hand as Stein turned his head back to look out the window. "I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't."

"Dissect the people responsible." Spirit said, trying to lighten the mood.

Stein's voice chilled Spirit's blood. "I would enjoy that, and I would make sure you could eat their souls. They would be totally destroyed." Spirit just swallowed and Stein chuckled mirthlessly.


The car pulled up in front of the old building that Stein had directed them to just after sundown. The two men slipped out of the car and Spirit left it unlocked, in case they had to flee quickly. He pocketed the keys and in a thought was in his weapon form, Stein balancing him easily.

"How many do you sense, Stein?" Spirit's voice floated up.

"Not more than we can handle." To Stein's eyes there were a myriad number of floating souls in the building, but he couldn't find the one that mattered the most to him. Marie's. A silent step sent the scientist and the weapon sprinting towards the door just as someone came to the side; they were almost caught.

Stein was beside the man in a second, his wavelength slamming into the man and knocking him to the ground. Another hit was all it took to destroy the man, and a mottled red soul floated up. A second later that was gone as well, absorbed by Spirit.

"You'll eat well today, Senpai." Stein said, slipping into the building.

"Let's hope they don't ruin my girlish figure," the death scythe joked, trying to lighten the mood. Stein just smirked, and Spirit shuddered at the look in the other man's eyes.


They killed four more guards before they encountered the first woman. She was dressed in the same clothing that Marie was known for wearing; her blonde hair parted exactly the same, an eye patch covering her left eye. She gave them a smile as they approached, even though Stein was rushing at her with a scythe. One blow fell through her and the woman's soul was left in front of them, a mottled red prekishin egg.

"What the hell is going on here?" Spirit asked.

"I don't know, but we have to find Marie, the real Marie, quickly." Stein said, heading in the direction the woman had been. They encountered six others on the way, each one just as quickly dispatched as the others.

"You don't think they took her and were planning on replacing her and infiltrating Shibusen?" Spirit's voice echoed up.

"That much seems obvious, Spirit. She said they were after me though, in the note. I wonder if that-" A high pitched laugh interrupted Stein as he came around the corner.

He was face to face with a version of himself. The person in front of him was shorter and lacked the screw through his head, though there were a fresh row of stitches across his face. As Stein brought Spirit into a ready position the man slipped the bloody lab coat he was wearing off and laughed again, holding up a scalpel covered in bright red blood.

"Stein, that's fresh!"

"Senpai, I can see that!" Stein darted forward and slashed downward as the man casually stepped back, avoiding the sudden attack.

"You came when she warned you not to! Well it's too late! She's dead!" The man's voice was high pitched and singsongy, interlaced with hysterical giggles.

Spirit felt Stein freeze, and the man took advantage of the hesitation to dart forward, drawing a deep gash along Stein's right forearm. The pain seemed to bring the scientist back to himself. He lunged at the man, bringing Spirit down hard.

He caught the man's arm and severed it. The imitation stood looking at it for a minute before laughing and falling to the ground. "It's too late, it's too late!"

Stein dropped Spirit, striding to the man and grabbing him by the front of his stitched shirt. He forced the imitation to look at him. "Where. Is. She."

The imitation just looked over his shoulder towards the only room in that hallway. Stein's fist came back and he slammed it into the man's face. He repeated the process and Spirit had to grab his arm to stop him from beating the man into a bloody pulp. Stein turned to Spirit and the death scythe could see the agony etched into the man's face.

Dragging Stein to his feet, the two moved to the room, and pushed the door open. Stein already knew.

Marie hung from a set of shackles, her head tilted towards the ground. Her chest wasn't moving, and blood was sluggishly dripping from the gaping wound in her stomach and from the wound in her leg. Stein moved to her side, his hand shaking as he reached out. It took Spirit a second to realize what was going on as Stein sunk to his knees, his arms cradled to his chest.

Stein was holding Marie's soul.

The realization struck Spirit like a ton of bricks. They had been too late. Fifteen minutes, at the most, and they could have saved her. The time it had taken them to shower. If he had left Chupa Cabra's just a few minutes earlier.

If only.

Marie would be alive.

Tears filled the death scythe's eyes and it took him a minute to decipher the sound he was hearing. The sound was low and almost unheard, but it was obvious once he focused.

Stein was keening. There were no tears on his face, but his head was bowed and he kept her soul cradled against his chest as a low keening wail issued from him.

Spirit rested his hand on Stein's shoulder and joined the sound with his own, tears enough for the both of them falling to the blood soaked floor of the cell.


A/N: *keens*

I don't own Soul Eater.