Maka was curled up, knees to chest and hands cupping her warm breath, sharing a blanket with Soul. His arm was wrapped around her out of necessity rather than affection; it must have been below freezing at that point, she reasoned. The pair was huddled together on the front steps of the church, shivering against each other.

"Good thing we brought a blanket," Soul chuckled weakly.

"Unfortunate that we didn't bring more." Maka's teeth were chattering, and she considered herself fairly tolerant to harsh weather. "It's way colder than I remember it being last time I was out this late." In all honesty, the last time she had been out this late was with Crona, the last escape attempt. It was hours past curfew for the general population. Against Maka's better judgement, she and Soul had paused briefly at the church to rest.

Soul was silent, lost in thought. "The last time I was here was right after you tried to escape with Crona."

Maka flinched at the blunt statement.

"I'd been looking for you for hours, and here you were, just sitting. Traumatized, almost. I was so pissed when I found out you'd been trying to leave."

"Yet here you are," Maka replied, "trying to escape yourself."

"Yeah."

A few moments of silence passed as Maka watched the snow fall, translucent in the weak, oily light of the street lamps. She turned her face away from the large flakes and pressed her frozen nose into Soul's shoulder. His jacket scratched her damp cheeks.

"It's my fault," she muttered into his jacket. "I'm the reason Crona died here. I was the one who convinced them to run away with me, I was the one who told them to run for the church." She shivered and sniffed.

"Shut up," Soul replied bitterly. "It was Crona's decision to manifest like that when the hunters confronted them."

A jolt of...irritation? coursed through Maka's chest. She pulled away from her friend's warm body. "But I put them in danger! They were cornered!"

"They were in danger anyway. They were pretty obviously not human, Maka. They would have been caught even if they hadn't tried to escape!"

"How could you be like that?" Maka's whisper had risen to a quiet yell - too quiet for anyone but Soul to hear, but loud enough that she was obviously upset.

"Like what?" Soul didn't succumb to Maka's anger. "It wasn't your fault. You two were probably stealthy enough together that you could have gotten away with it if Crona's bitch mom hadn't called the cops the second they went missing. I can't believe her, trying to act like a good parent. Can't believe nobody ever found out she was a witch, either."

"They should have burned her," Maka growled. Soul had successfully directed her anger off of himself for the moment. But she still wasn't done beating up on herself.

"Soul, I feel awful every day." Maka was looking away, unable to meet her friend's eyes. "One of my best friends died because I was too careless."

"It's not your fault, Maka," Soul repeated again.

"But I'm guilty! I'm so, so guilty, Soul." She turned back into his shoulder and sobbed. He held her gently and pressed his lips into her hair, shushing her as she laid bare her soul for him. " I could have prevented it, could have done something, it could have been me, Crona didn't deserve it!"

Soul let her cry until her sobs trailed off.

She pulled away and wiped her eyes, smiled like it didn't happen. "We should get going. We still have to cross the open space on the far side of town."

Soul nodded and began packing up. Maka shivered and whined as he pulled the blanked off of her. "God, it's cold."

Soul stood and then offered Maka his hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her frozen legs straight. She danced on her toes for a few moments, trying to warm up, until Soul told her to take the lead. The remainder of their walk cut through several more city neighborhoods and would eventually lead out into an open field, scanned by searchlights. People had tried to escape before, of course, hence the number of hunters and the stringent security measures in place. Somewhere along Main Street the wind picked up, hurling gusts of snow into the air and stinging Maka's face.

"This is the worst," Soul groaned, loudly so he could be heard over the howling wind, as a clump of snow blown from the roof of a shop clocked him the the side of the head. "There's snow in my jacket now!"

"Don't be such a baby, this was your idea." Maka's attention was only half on her friend as they wove between buildings, attempting not to be seen. They were leaving tracks in the snow at this point, and Maka knew it wouldn't be long before somebody started to follow them. "We're almost to the open space."

In reality, "almost" was a shorter amount of time than Maka had anticipated. It was only a minute or so before the two could see the end of the street. They rushed up and pressed themselves against the wall of the last building before the open space, tethering themselves to the last bit of safety before they threw themselves into the void. The transition from city to nothing was dramatic and immediate, the last row buildings giving way to a flat, dark area. The searchlights were up and running, rays of light illuminating airborne snow and bright discs scrolling over the snow-blanketed ground. The snow cover sent an uneasy shiver through Maka's body as she realized that there was no way to see any obstacles that may be in their path.

"That's...further than I remembered it being," Soul stated matter-of-factly.

"It's probably about a hundred yards," Maka estimated. "And we're gonna have to sprint it."

"Are you kidding?" Soul turned to her incredulously and Maka shook her head.

"We'll be too easy to see out there. Our only chance is to keep with the rhythm that the lights scan the field in. We have to time our run so that we make it across all in the dark."

"So just. You say go, and we sprint."

"Yep. And if we do get caught in the light, curl up on the ground. This would be easier if there wasn't as much snow on the ground. We'll stand out like a sore thumb on top of that."

Soul laughed. "You're crazy. We're gonna die."

"Don't say that!" Maka snapped. "I won't let them get you." Soul blinked at her, but didn't make any remarks. "Will you be ready to go when I tell you to?"

"I guess. If I'm not, I'm pretty much screwed."

"Stop that." Maka turned her gaze to the field, watching for several minutes to get used to the rhythm of the lights, painfully aware that every moment they spent standing in the same spot put them in greater danger. Once she got the pattern down (it was difficult; they would have to start running with a light still in their path and run by as it panned away across the field) she turned back to Soul.

"You finally ready?" He asked.

"Yes," Maka replied haughtily. "I'm going to count down from three, and we're gonna go, alright?"

"Okay."

"Run as fast as you can. No. Run faster than you can."

"'Kay, jeez, drama girl. You wanna be an actress?"

"Shut up, Soul. Alright." Maka positioned herself to run. She started to count. Her words seemed to drag on for minutes each - this was it. They were so close. They could do it. Thoughts of what would happen once they got over the fence, if they got over the fence, clouded her mind. Would they freeze to death or find a place to stay? Would they even be able to climb the fence? She knew it was high. She held her breath for a moment before uttering the word, "run."

They broke out of the safety of the houses like horses breaking out of the gate, a spray of snow left in their wake as they sprinted across the field. Freezing air rushed into Maka's lungs and snow flew into her face, nearly blinding her. She could hear Soul breathing heavily close behind her. She wasn't a fast runner, and she knew it, but fear was pumping energy into her legs, allowing her to run faster, further…

She heard a gasp and suddenly Soul's breath wasn't there, warm on her neck, anymore. She skidded to a halt and turned around so fast that the fell over, scrambling through the snow and trying to find a purchase. She sprinted back over to where Soul was crouching on the ground, clutching his ankle. Maka could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she knelt down and grabbed his jacket.

"Come on!" She tried to pull him to his feet, and he slowly stood up. "Are you okay? Can you run still? We gotta go, we're gonna get caught!" Maka scanned the field and noticed a searchlight getting closer.

"I think my foot got stuck in a rabbit hole or something. My ankle feels...augh!" Soul's words were coming quickly now, panic and pain mixing in his voice.

"Can you run?"

"Do I have a choice?"

They set out again but it became quickly apparent that Soul could barely walk, let alone sprint. Maka wrapped an arm around his shoulders to support him, allowing him to lift the injured foot up into the air and hop along as quickly as possible. Every moment was agonizing as Maka thought about the searchlight, getting closer, closer, and they were so close to the fence! Light flashed in her eyes and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, of a hope, that they had been spotted. The light remained trained on them as they continued to hobble painstakingly forward and an escape siren rang through the air. It was strangely familiar, the same siren Maka had heard so many times as she lay warm in her bed at the inn, safe, with Soul sleeping in a bed nearby. A distant call to say that a weapon that Maka had never met and would never know was escaping and would be caught. That weapon was never her. That weapon was never Soul.

Maka instinctually started to run faster, Soul attempting to cover more ground with one leg to make up for it. He gasped gently as he overextended his good leg, stumbling and crashing into the drifting snow. His weight bore down on her shoulder and she cried out in surprise as she was hauled down as well. Cold seeped through her coat as she curled up on the ground. Soul was muttering to her frantically, shaking her shoulder, but she didn't move. There wasn't really a chance of escape. Eventually, Soul settled down against the ground as well, curling his body around hers. She didn't know how long they were lying there in the snow before she felt heavy gloved hands pressed against her back, under her arms, hauling her up, handling her roughly and shoving her into some kind of vehicle. Leather gloves brushed her face as the hands blindfolded her roughly. This was it. This was the end. She was going to die. Soul was going to die, when she'd promised to protect him, she'd promised -

Suddenly she was screaming and kicking, lashing out against their captors. She bit what she assumed was a hand and kicked something that felt fleshy. Somebody yelled for help and then something stuck her in the arm.