Maka peeked open an eye to find herself in a lighter room. The gloomy light from the sky poked in through the several windows that aligned the white walls.
A white piano sat to the side, pure and untouched of any damage. Aside from aligned paintings around the room, the piano was the only object available. It made the room strangely enchanting. Maka felt so peaceful and calm. Except for the fact that she needed to find the owner of the voice.
With a breath, Maka took slow steps toward the piano. She occasionally let her gaze fall to her sides, desperately searching for a sign of life aside from herself.
"Your fear shines bright darling." The voice made the comment so innocent. Still, Maka found it familiar.
"Fear? I'm not scared. I'm sure you're just some psycho who likes to prank people on Halloween."
"Do you not know who you are talking to?"
Maka crossed her arms. "How can I when you refuse to show yourself?"
He chuckled again and Maka found comfort by leaning against the piano. She wouldn't admit her fear but if he was a ghost, she knew he would be able to tell.
"One two three. One two three." A chord was played on the keyboard after the voice spoke, causing Maka to jump a foot away from it.
"Show yourself..." She let out in a desperate whisper.
"Haven't you noticed? I'm right in front of you..." Another chord played.
Maka widened her eyes. No one was there, but the piano keys kept moving with the pace of the rhythm. She knit her eyebrows and stared reluctantly.
"I feel balance is over, the balance is gone." The voice sang and then broke into a small laughter.
"Balance?" Maka questioned to herself. At this point, she knew it was him.
"Why yes of course. The beautiful balance is no longer alive. It has been severed down by years of neglect." At last, a silhouette appeared at the piano, dressed in a black suit. Maka knew the familiar hair and subtle facial features... Or did she?
He stood from the now black piano as the room suddenly darkened. Maka had to blink her eyes out as it had all felt like an illusion. When her vision was back on him, she found that the boy she once knew was long gone.
"It's something you wouldn't understand after all. No one treasures true beauty anymore."
Maka just stared back at the black lines that trailed down across his lips. His hair was scraggy which was completely unlike him. Though it was nothing compared to the soulless eyes which had lost their golden luster. They were dull, lifeless even.
She finally took her gaze away and replied back to the deceiver. "And what makes you think you do? You sit around scaring people shitless on Halloween!"
He released another dark chuckle. "I told you I was foul, did I not?"
"Yeah, you are. What kind of idiot leaves without keeping his promise?!"
He didn't answer, and though Maka refused to direct her eyes at him, she saw the tension that built up in his shoulders from the corner of her eyes.
"Promise? I believe in no such thing." He finally answered.
"No wonder why you're such a wreck."
He chuckled. "You haven't seen a thing about me darling."
The comment lit the angry fire inside of Maka. She thought of a series of replies to yell back at him for being an idiot. But she decided to keep it simple and casually crossed her arms. "Symmetry."
"What?"
Maka replied with a smug grin on her face. If this really was the boy she once knew, there was only one way to get to his heart. "Symmetry."
"Stop saying that. Y-You're not allowed to say that." The boy put a hand to his head in distress.
Maka felt her fire spark as she had finally caught him in her trap. "You told me once, don't you remember? Your dream of reshaping the world in the perfect symmetrical balance that it's supposed to be in. It's your duty." Maka stood taller in order to face him.
"So what happened to you Kid?"
Kid released a pair of breaths and trailed backwards and away from Maka. She didn't know who he was at this moment, or what for that matter. But it seemed as if he was fighting himself.
"S-Stop. There... There is no such thing as symmetry anymore. The balance is gone... Forever."
Maka walked closer. "Why? Who told you that?"
"I don't need to be told when I can see it for myself. Now stay away!"
Maka caught him up against the wall. The boy was heaving, obviously in distress. Maka made a risky choice of placing a hand onto his cheek. He felt human, nonetheless. Maka dropped her sense of bravery and instead looked into him with concern.
"What happened to you?"
"Who-Who are you?"
Maka listened as his voice secretly begged for help. "It's Maka. The girl you used to talk to at the library Kid. Don't you remember?"
He slowly brought wildly curious eyes to face her figure. "Maka...?"
"Yes. It's me."
Kid made many awkward attempts to bring his hands to meet her face, but neither of them succeeded. He only tensed when he felt his hands embraced by her own. It wasn't normal.
"M-Maka." He faltered as he regained past memories which he had erased. His breath was caught in his chest, and panic quickly arose.
"Kid?" Maka felt him tremble. Those eyes were his, but they were washed over with fear. "What happened to you?"
'
"Maka!" Soul ravaged through the broken furniture.
He and the gang searched vigorously for their lost friend. The problem was that the dreaded mansion was completely insane.
"Soul we've looked everywhere. Maybe we should go upstairs."
Soul huffed out breaths of desperation. The fear of anything happening to them or Maka made him feel weak.
"Tsubaki's right dude. Let's check somewhere else."
Soul walked up the stairs and turned his gaze in all directions. The stairs broke off to both left and right.
"Split up?" Black*Star suggested.
"Are you crazy?! That's how the bad guy picks us off, one by one!" Soul angered. "We stick together. Now let's go left."
The gang followed him upstairs. Soul expected them to creek, but hearing low growls in place of normal wood creaking was something he wasn't aware that wood could do.
Nothing but fear consumed his mind. The thought that Maka wasn't in the manor in the first place pressed onto him. He supposed that the scream they heard was just a hallucination. If it was, Soul had brought his friends to their own deaths. But then again, maybe Maka was here. Finding her was just as agonizing as just being in the mansion to begin with.
"It's too quiet in here." Tsubaki whispered.
"Didn't your story say something about screams and all hell breaking loose?" Black*Star said with boredom in his tone.
Soul halted just at the base of the stairs. He didn't let his eyes meet his friends and instead glared down at their shoes. "It did. Tsubaki's right, it is too quiet in here. I'm afraid to know why."
Soul continued up the stairs. He looked down the hallway to his right. In retrospect, the house was much more tranquil here than on the main floor. Soul had no idea what to expect. It was way too quiet.
Black*Star passed him and trailed down the hallway.
"Hey slow down. We don't know what we're getting ourselves into." Soul placed a hand on Black*Star's shoulder.
"Soul are you scared or something? You do know if a ghost does show up, I can just kick its ass right?"
Soul frowned. "You can't kick somethin' that's dead. We're here to find Maka, before anything finds us."
"Uh you guys," Tsubaki spoke up.
Soul only faced her to see her point viciously up ahead. He and Black*Star slowly turned their heads down the hall.
There was a girl. A little blonde girl. She just stood there and glared back at them.
"Hey Soul?" Black*Star whispered.
"Y-Yeah?"
"Do human rules count for ghosts?"
"What do you mean?" Soul whispered back in confusion.
"I mean, can I kick her ass even if she's a little a girl?"
Soul kept his eyes fixed on the little girl as she just stood in the dim hallway without a single flinch. "Yeah I think you can… you know, if she doesn't get us first."
"Yeah…"
The two only stood there until the girl took a step forward and caused Tsubaki to shriek.
"Run!"
The three of them ran toward the other hallway and made a risky choice of locking themselves in a room.