About halfway home I noticed he was following me. I stopped with my back to hm and asked, "Is there a reason why you're following me…Soul?" I turned to look at him. He had his hands in his pockets and his expression was somewhat serious. "I want to talk." I laughed humorlessly. "There's nothing to talk about. If Stein put you up to this then it's a wasted effort. I have nothing I want to share with you." Even I could tell he wasn't going to give up. "Drop the act, Chloe. Stein told me what happened to your old partner, but I want to hear it from you."

I almost clenched my fists but refrained from doing so. "Why do you want me to repeat what he told you? I'm trying my hardest to get rid of that awful memory." He hadn't made a move to come any closer to me and still held his position. I got the feeling that he knew I needed my space and he was treating me like a scared animal. If he made a move too quickly or got too close I would bolt. It was probably true as to how I felt. "Sometimes you need to learn to face the past so you can move forward. I'll tell you what happened to my old partner if you tell me what happened to yours."

I stared at him with an indifferent expression. "Why do I want to know what happened to your old partner? You know about mine even if the details aren't all there. I don't need to know about yours." He rolled his eyes. "Is there somewhere else we can talk? I don't feel like standing around all night. I sighed; he wasn't going to let this go so I might as well just play along. "My apartment isn't very far; we can go there." I turned on my heel and started walking in the direction I had been before I noticed Soul. I didn't look to see if he was following me or not. It would be better if he wasn't.

I walked into my small apartment and threw open the door to my room so I could throw my bag onto my bed. When I turned around Soul was sitting on the couch. I sat in the recliner to the right of the couch and we were silent for a few minutes. "My old partner's name was Maka. She was the smartest kid in our whole class. We had been sent by Lord Death to kill a Kishin egg that was close to become a full on Kishin. We had gotten cocky when we'd thought we'd killed it. I had transformed and hadn't realized until it was too late that it was still alive. It got her and I managed to kill it without her. When Stein had shown up it was too late. Even he couldn't help her."

I was shocked by the sudden explanation. I hadn't expected him to tell his story first. He waited in silence. I didn't say anything for a long while and had to turn on the lamp next to me. "His name was Kain. He had been my best friend since childhood and we had always dreamed of joining the DWMA where we lived. We had sworn to each other that we would both get in and then be partners. That's exactly what we did.

"We collected souls to turn him into a death scythe and we were so close to that goal we could feel it in out bones." I looked past Soul and out the window, my eyes becoming glazed as the memory rushed to me, clear as day. "We had finally gotten 99 souls and had been scouting an area where a witch had been spotted multiple times. It was a wooded area with many trees; it gave us an advantage because we were best in areas with high perches. We waited silently for hours for her to pass her usual route. We had the element of surprise on our side and managed to deal her a good blow to the shoulder. She couldn't move her arm.

"Not once did we get over confident while fighting. We managed to only receive minimal damage while attacking and defending. She was a good match for us but it took her a while to figure out our attack pattern. By then we had dealt her so much damage it was amazing she could still send spells flying at us. We were hiding in the branches of a tree close to her and a spell hit me from behind. I fell from the tree and let go of his handle. He fell out of my reach and she was sending a beam of white light straight at me. I didn't have enough time to move out of the way and Kain threw himself in front of me.

I felt tears stinging the back of my eyes but I held them back. One still managed to escape down my cheek and I rubbed it away quickly. "All the sound seemed to evaporate. Even the witch was stunned by how he had gotten to me so fast. One word broke the silence. 'Run.' He exploded in a burst of ash. I was frozen for only half a second then I bolted. I wasn't going to let his sacrifice to save me go to waste." My hand seemed to act on its own and clasped the locket at my throat that hung from the chain Kain had given me. It had the ashes I had grabbed on reflex in it.

"What about the rumors? How did they start?" I shook my head as my throat grew thick and I couldn't speak. I kept the tears back like I had a million times before at night. I had never actually said the whole story out loud so this made it even harder to keep my emotions in control. Soul stayed quiet as I got myself under control again. I let go of the locket and took a deep breath. "I'm afraid to get close to another person in case such a thing happens again. It would tear me apart even worse than I already am. My friends would abandon me again and I would be alone again."

OOC: Read and Review please! I'm going to start asking for reviews for new chapters so get your game on. :)