So last chapter's namesake was a little more difficult to come up with because it was only part of the title of the song: Dead End Roads and Lost Highways by Burn Halo.

The Poison

"Who are you?" Maka gushed out in-between ragged breaths. After a bit of struggling and kicking she was able to move her mouth from underneath the retched hand. She was still pushed up against the wall by her captor's rigid body, but now she was free to speak.

Of course, no one answered her, and the hand came up to replace itself over her mouth. The man's body pressed into her further, as if he was avoiding something that was too close for comfort behind him. She felt him lean forward, his warm breath brushing the side of her cheek and washing over her ear lightly. "Relax."

The overly familiar voice was hushed and raspy. No doubt that her captor was no other than her own partner, Soul. She relaxed into the wall, feeling less like a damsel in distress and more in distress. What was he trying to do to her? Give her a freakin' heart attack. It sure seemed like it.

"Stay quiet, the meister is wandering closer to us."

An eerie chuckle broke through the tense whispers like a knife. Maka peeked over Soul's shoulder, her head now able to move since he moved his hand down to her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed at the staggering figure that was slowly moving through the smoke towards them. "Hehehe, ready or not here I come!" The girl snorted in laughter as she took a sudden leap to their right. "Found YOU!" She yelled in a maddeningly thrilled voice.

"YOU DON"T FIND BLACK*STAR! BLACK*STAR FINDS YOU!" A clatter of chains and a battle cry later, Black*Star and Tsubaki were locked in battle with the meister once again. She danced around the duo; all the while laughing as if their deadly swipes and stabs were not life threatening and were only a part of a hilarious game.

The girl jumped into the air with such speed that it rivaled Tsubaki's own and flipped over the assassin twosome effortlessly. Her long hair trailed behind her like a shadow, following every movement she made. When she landed she immediately turned to face Black*Star, who still had his back to her.

Extending her arm in front of her she laughed. "It's MY turn!" She sounded like a child eager to make her move on a game board.

A flash of purple sliced through the receding smoke, making Soul cup a hand above his eyes to shield them from the blinding lit. Maka turned her head in the opposite direction, her shoulders tensing when Black*Star's agonizing scream was heard.

Maka turned to look for Black*Star, only to see the long haired girl standing alone, her hands on her hips and back straight in a confident manor. "I'm done with you two. You're boring me." She sighed in disappointment.

Maka could barely make out Black*Star and Tsubaki through the thick smoke that had re-gathered in the area do to the meister's bizarre attack. Tsubaki was now in her human form, Black*Star's head cushioned in her lap. The last blow had apparently knocked the assassin out.

The long haired meister spread one arm out, as if she was going to take flight. It started to glow a soft blue color, causing the insane meister to chuckle to herself. Soon, the glowing became so bright; Maka could just make out features on the long haired meister's face, such as a sadistic smile.

"It's a pity really; you are such a strong weapon." She mused to herself, the blue light making shadows play on her face as she tilted her head back to let out a strong, long laugh. "But everyone has to die someday, and that day for you is today!"

Tsubaki shrunk back into the building her and Black*Star had been slammed into by the force of the long haired girl's attack. She brought Black*Star to her chest and held him there tightly. Maka couldn't see if his eyes were open or not.

The meister slowly lifted the glowing arm above her head, and soon, her other arm joined it there and began to turn the same shade of blue as the other. "Brace yourself, this may HURT ALITTLE!" She roared with laughter.

Maka slipped her free hand into the Soul's, her feet shifting in a position ready to spring in action. He squeezed her hand tightly, as if to reassure her.

The meister's finger tips turned a deep blue before turning a vibrant purple. The purple spread up her arms and she took a step towards Tsubaki.

Maka didn't hesitate any longer and took a quick step forward, Soul, as if he read her mind, transformed into his scythe form. Maka spun him above her head as she sprinted towards the meister who was threatening to end her best friends' lives. Grunting when she felt Soul start to slip from her grip she spun him off to the side and stilled him so he was poised in an offensive position, ready and balanced to take off the destructive girls head.

Soul seemed a lot heavier than usual.

Maka leapt forward, a loud grown of effort accompanying her entrance into the battle. With all the strength she could muster up in mid air she swung Soul at the long haired meister.

Eyes wide with surprise…and maybe a little glee, the meister jumped back, avoiding the difficult attack with ease. Her hands where now interlocked in front of her and pointed at Maka, still glowing the haunting purple color as before, "A WILD CARD PLAYER!" She said in lewd happiness. "IT'S SO NICE OF YOU TO JOIN US, AND JUST WHEN I WAS GETTING BORED!"

Maka pivoted on her feet and put all her body weight into swinging Soul towards the other meister's neck once more. Scowling further, she couldn't help the snarl that ripped from her throat when the meister jumped away and landed a couple feet to her right without a single scratch from Soul's blade.

"WATCH OUT!" Tsubaki's voice shocked Maka into almost letting Soul out of her grip, she scrambled a little to get a better hold of her partner, who flashed in the blade of the scythe, giving her a skeptical, if not worried look.

Looking at Tsubaki—who sat a little less than four feet away from her—she looked to the sky, now seeing what had her best friend so worried. The clouds were swirling around each other just like before.

The long haired meister's cackling brought Maka's attention back to the ground. She gripped Soul hard and charged towards the meister as fast as she could. Her arms screamed for rest. Usually she could hold Soul over her head in this form for quite a long time, but right now, it felt as if she'd been fighting for hours on end instead of a couple minutes.

A loud crack of thunder alerted Maka of the electricity descending from the sky directly towards the long haired meister. As she neared the other girl, she noticed that the lightning had indeed struck the girl, but instead of knocking her out, like expected, it seemed to rejuvenate the other girl.

Maka veered to the right in an attempt to throw the meister off, she needed to take a look at her soul. Something was very off about the girl, an eerie, almost tainted air gathered around her, and Maka felt as if she had to get to the bottom of the phenomenon.

Knowing that the other meister would fire something at her like she'd fired at Black*Star. She stayed moving. Darting to the right, the darting back to the left. Soul was heating up in her grip, as time passed by. It grew so uncomfortable, that by the third switch in direction, she had to shift his weight into the other hand.

Gritting her teeth, Maka refocused on the other girl. She had some sort of Soul Protect around her, because as much as she tried to break through the normal protective exterior that guarded the soul from untrained eyes, she just couldn't break it down. It was like she was running into a frail wall—cracking it, but unable to put enough force in to actually do any damage to it.

Abruptly, and seemingly out of no where, the girl shrieked. It wasn't a pained, one, more of a powerful, battle cry. A warning call to anyone in the area that something huge and destructive was about to happen, and they couldn't escape even if they wanted to.

And with the cry shattered the remains of the barrier that shielded the girl's soul from view, a large pulse riveted thought the stagnate air, blowing Maka back a couple steps.

The girl's soul was large, not as big as Professor's Steins or Kidd's but big. It was tinted an unnatural brown color on most of its surface, although there was a little bit of lavender at the very tip of the soul's head. Sad eyes and a solemn frown spread across the soul's exterior as if it was constantly sad and consistently mistreated.

The meister took a sturdy step forward, her body radiating wave after wave of power in every direction.

Maka stumbled on her own feet and came to a skidding stop in order to remain standing. The meister grinned widely at her, not wasting her opening as she let out a bark of laughter and shot a sizzling beam of lightning from her hands.

Maka quickly jumped and spun Soul around in her hands so his handle faced the ground. Once she was no longer over the purple lightning she jammed the end into the ground and propelled herself towards the meister, foot out stretched in front of her in hopes of getting a physical hit in.

Just as Maka was about to collide with the other girl, she jumped into the air, long hair flaunting in Maka's face as if taunting her. Too slow It outwardly mocked as it fluttered after it's owner.

Maka ended up landing a couple feet short of the other girl. Her ankle gave out with the awkward landing and sent her crashing to the ground on her butt. Soul skidded with a loud, obnoxious clinking noise to the opposite direction, where Tsubaki stood next to the still unconscious Black*Star.

"WHAT THE HELL MAKA!" Soul hollered from his spot on the ground, a worried edge to his voice that wasn't normally there.

Maka watched in fear as the meister aimed directly at her. She didn't register Soul's words. She didn't even take in her whereabouts. It was just her and the crazy meister out for blood, aiming her arms—alight with rippling lightning—right in her direction.

She had to do something, and that something had to happen quickly.

"What's wrong?" The meister laughed, the sadistic smile reaching her ears. "Trouble in paradise?" Even if she whispered the last part under her breath, it rang clear in Maka's ears, the girls mocking tone repeating over and over again like a broken record.

"I mean what's wrong with you!" Soul continued on, his reflection flashing in the light of the blade. Red eyes darted from one girl to the other, until focusing on the one on the ground. "GET UP!"

The meister shot at Maka, quick as a striking snake. She flicked her wrist, giving Maka the equivalent of a couple seconds to respond.

Rolling to the side, Maka gasped as the bolt drilled into her shoulder. Fierce pain instantly nuzzled into her muscles, and her spine straightened instantly, making her body arch up as a wounded wail emitted into the cloudy, rainy sky.

She crashed back onto the broken road, breathing heavily. Lifting her head up as much as she could, she saw the meister trudging forward, a serious air to her steps as she grew nearer.

With a loud groan, Maka sat up, her hand instantly going to the gaping wound in her right shoulder. If it was any bigger, her hand would have disappeared inside it.

The meister was a couple steps away from her when her senses kicked into to overdrive. The urge to live, to fight for what she believed in took over the pain of the wound sporting over her shoulder momentarily. She scrambled backwards towards Soul, the ragged rocks not even fazing her anymore. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Her shoulder throbbed; her whole arm tingled from the left over electricity that coursed through her system.

"You should have seen that coming Maka!" Soul's voice was more vexed than before. When Soul got worried, he got angry. It was just how he dealt with it, and Maka learnt to deal with the derogatory words.

Another tendril of lightning was shot at her; bring her back to the now and happening. What was wrong with her today? She didn't usually muse when she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was like she was delirious.

She blamed it on the lack of sleep.

Narrowly dodging it, she flattening herself to the ground and held her breath in anticipation at it traveled over her beaten up form, just barely moving above her. She swore that that shot had been close enough to burn off her eye brows.

She wobbled her way to her feet, one arm nursing her shoulder as she leant her weight onto on the foot that wasn't throbbing.

With her horrible luck, she probably broke her ankle.

The other meister smiled and ran straight for her at a break neck speed. Maka staggered backwards a couple steps and braced herself for the painful stab that was sure to come once the other girl caught up to her. Then, her heel came in contact with something hard, ungluing her eyes from the meister's quickly approaching form she saw a rather large piece of asphalt.

In a last ditch effort to throw the meister off she picked it up and hurled it at her as hard as she could. She gritted her teeth against that horrible pain that ripped through her shoulder.

Of course the long haired girl catches it and throws it aside without even pausing.

Suddenly, a hand gripped hers, making her gasp in shock. Her head snapped to Soul's alarmed gaze, which was trained on the meister, who was closing in on the two at a fast pace.

Wordlessly Soul transformed. Maka couldn't even wait for him to stop glowing before she had to block the onslaught of attacks. She sliced in front of her, her shoulder throbbing increasing at the harsh movement.

The meister side stepped it, and before Maka could parry her next attack she aimed her fading purple arms at Maka's side.

"MAKA! WATCH OUT!" Soul and Tsubaki chorused in distress, seeing the same opening the other girl had.

Panicking, Maka drove her uninjured arm into the other girl's chest, it was done with an awkward twist, but uprooted the meister's set feet, causing her to take a couple steadying steps backwards.

"What are you doing out there?" Soul hissed. "A two year old can do better than this!"

"What in the hell did you eat today!" Maka yelled, frustrated tears threatening to overspill.

Bewildered, Soul's reflection appeared in the blade once more, eyeing her warily. "Now is not the time to talk about food. Have you lost your MIND?"

"You're heavy, and it's hard to—"

Maka was cut off as the other girl kicked her forearm, sending Soul flying to the side and landing hard on the ground.

"IT'S LIKE YOU'RE NOT EVEN TRYING!"

Maka froze, her eyes growing wide. Her whole body locked up at his words. Not trying, that's ridiculous! For someone who claims to know me so well he can be awfully stupid.

She turned to face the other meister, only to find empty space and more smoke. She snapped her head from side to side, trying to follow the sound of her laughter. She was moving too quickly, it sounded like she was everywhere, yet nowhere at once.

"Let's play hide and seek!" Maka heard the other girl giggle to her left, "I'm IT!" She laughed from directly behind her.

Maka didn't have enough time to react. The meister had come up behind her and pushed her forward by the small of her back. She staggered forward, and just managed to stay on her feet and turn to face the crazy meister.

A piercing scream filled the tense air, and it took her a couple seconds to realize it was her own voice that sounded so shrill. A tearing pain ripped through her stomach and sent tendrils of electricity throughout her system. Shaking uncountable, she collapsed onto the ground face down. Blood spilt onto the pavement, dripping loudly.

It was the only sound she could hear, the sound of her own blood dripping to the ground. She couldn't hear the meister's laughing, Soul's scolding or Tsubaki's shrieks. She didn't even realize the meister was closing in on her until she saw the toes of the person's shoes.

Maka stirred and placed her hands on either side of her shoulders and pushed her self into a kneeling position. Her head spun, the long haired girl's figure doubling and fading in and out. Her hand crept down to her stomach and cupped her wound. The warm, sticky feeling of blood caked her fingers, and soon, her hand had been covered in blood. The wound was too big to put pressure on herself, it would engulf her whole hand.

Wincing in pain, she forced her head up to meet the meister's eyes for the first time.

She would have been pretty if it wasn't for the mad smile taking up the greater portion of her face and the wild look in her bright green eyes. Her long red curls were mused and singed and her clothes ripped. Although, there was no blood on her what so ever, not even a single cut marred her pale skin.

She looked at her with a calculating gaze and placed a hand on her head, clenching it around the top of her skull. "I've been looking for you." She grunted in a tense voice, the smile still plastered to her face.

Maka paused in her movements. She'd been trying to stand up, but it proved futile. "hmm?" She bit out.

"You have to go now!" The girl's green eyes started to glow purple, and soon, the clouds, once again, started to swirl around each other. The wind picked up, blowing her hair in all different directions and ruffling her clothes.

The meister was no longer laughing, and had a serious expression on compared to the playful, sadistic one she was wearing for the majority of the fight. Her eyes were closed in concentration, her arms stretched to the sky. "Ut orbis terrarum of preteritus , addo is puella , tribuo deus suus votum of duos res validus quod volatilis." She spoke in a small voice, almost humble.

Maka lurched for Soul, ignoring the ripping feeling filling up her stomach, one hand wrapped around the handle of her scythe. She pulled him closer to her and gripped him with her other hand. Everything seemed muted, like no one was yelling at her to run. Like Soul wasn't pleading with her to stop and get away.

Her hand started to burn, and soon, smoke started to travel into the air from where her hands met the metal of his shaft. Wincing she brought him to her chest and just managed to stand up on wavering feet. She reeled forward, her hands screaming with the urge to let go of Soul. He was burning her, and weighing her down. He was so much heavier than she remembered.

She pulled her arms over her head, nearly falling backwards with his weight. The movement aggravated her stomach and she muffled the agonized scream that wanted to show the world how much pain she was in.

Just as she was about to swing the blade at the meister with the glowing eyes, all the sound came rushing back to her. It was like an explosion in her ears. All her pain went from a thought in the back of her mind to reality, her hands let Soul slip out of her grasp and her legs gave out from under her. She fell onto her back, her eyes locking on the huge bolt of purple lightning that was heading straight for her.

She's never felt this frail before as her vision faded into a narrow line. She couldn't see anything on either side of her, so, she was forced to watch the purple lightning come closer to her. Her breaths were shallow and her body shook with wary tension. She wanted to get up, or roll to the side, but, she found she didn't have the will, nor drive, to move.

She'd pushed herself to a new limit.

Her eyes drifted closed as she accepted her fate. She couldn't move, her muscles were way too fried. She let herself fall into a black dreamless rest, the last thing she heard was Soul's heartbreaking screams, as he tried to get her to move out of the way.

Forcing one eye open she had enough time to gasp just as the bolt collided with her prone body. A scorching pain seeming ripped her body into two before she didn't feel anything, didn't see anything at all.

Her world went completely blank as she fell into the nothing that was laid out before here.

Is she dead? Well, I don't know. What do you think?