Blackstar stared at his paralyzed partner. What was going on, he had no idea, but neither did anyone else. He sat by her side waiting patiently, just like when she had fought with the enchanted sword. But this was different. Unexpectedly, a rival of Blackstars walked in, with that adorable little witch.
"I see… Another one…"
! "Mifune… what do you mean by that?"
"I'm surprised you haven't heard. Weapon humans have been collapsing into the same state as Tsubaki. It's not affecting everyone… just… weapons."
Blackstar didn't reply. He could only think, but he didn't know what it could possibly mean. Tsubaki was usually the one who thinks of this stuff… So Blackstar tried to think like Tsubaki. Maybe this was connected to Makas incident somehow. But… what was there to connect? He had been knocked out for a good portion of the fight… and he couldn't think of anything.
"You okay…?"
"Why'd you come here Mifune?"
"I've been here. Little Angela has been helping around trying to cheer up people. She wants to cheer you up too."
"…Me?"
"Blackstar, will she be okay?"
"…" Blackstar thought hard about this for a few moments, but then completely changed his mood for the sake of the little girl, something he didn't do for people often.
"Of course she will! She's my weapon! My weapon is the strongest; it won't take some little sickness like this to kill her, no way! She's Tsubaki! She won't die! Don't you worry!"
Blackstar smiled. Copying him Angela smiled greatly as well, which caused Blackstar to lose his smile. She was just trying… but she was making things worse. Blackstar had always wondered if Tsubaki looked that cute when she was little. They have the same helpful cute personality, one that everyone adored. B Seeing Angela just made him feel guilty somehow… Mifune could sense she wasn't helping, and decided to take her to a different room. He closed the door, figuring he just wanted to be alone for awhile.
Blackstar sat in silence, patiently waiting for her to awake…
"So what do you think?"
Stein pondered around the machine quite curiously.
"I'm more of a biologist, not a mechanic. Let me ask Marie… or Sid."
"But this isn't a normal machine."
"I'm listening…"
"The man plunged that thing into Soul, and he transformed. The machine forced Souls wavelength to match his own, so that he could use soul as a weapon."
! Now this was certainly different…
"Mari!" Mari calmly walked through the door, shuffling along, trying not to spill two cups of tea.
"Here kid, I made this. I used our most symmetrical cup I could find."
"But there's nothing on it."
"Exactly."
"Mari… you're a weapon. Put out your soul wavelength, see if the machine reacts."
Mari palmed the large looking watch, a strange watch indeed, she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and tried. After a few moments she was forced back to the wall from a sudden pulse.
"What!"
"Well…?"
"Well…? WELL? THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY? I was just thrown to the back of the wall, DO I LOOK OKAY!"
"That was nothing compared to what you've been through."
"No… it was different…" Kid and stein listened intently, taking every detail in.
"At first… it was pulling me in… but it soon turned to pain, like my soul was being ripped apart… I-I don't want to touch that thing again…"
"Kid said it was used by the man who attacked them the other night… he attached it to Soul, and it forced him to match soul wavelengths, so that the man could use Soul."
"… Then why don't you just ask Soul about it?"
"He already told me. He doesn't know… He said it was like being possessed somehow. But he did say this; it felt like his soul was being torn apart. I'm not sure, but that was most likely what you felt."
"It's still active…"
"They never tried to destroy it. Father wanted this looked into."
"It's not a weapon of Eibon or some powerful witch?"
"No, he wanted to see if we could find anything out about its creator… I'm not sure how, but there should be some sort of sign…"
"Its magic is still active; we should be able to type it. Mari, what did you feel? Anything like a witch's power? What about madness?"
"I could feel a witch, maybe at some point in time… there's not much of her magic left around it. Could it be something of Arachne?"
"Arachne is gone."
"Perhaps a hidden experiment? After all they were studying Eibons machines, they had the morality thingy didn't they?"
"You mean the Morality Manipulator?"
"The thing they used on Kim and Jacqueline?"
"Y-yeah… That thingy. Wouldn't it be possible that there were more hidden experiments we just didn't uncover?"
"It's quite possible. But with Arachnophobia gone, they would have ceased."
"Then perhaps some loyal followers still carrying out Arachnes orders?"
Stein and Kid looked at each other. She had made a point; it was possible this was one of Arachnes experiments. But… there wasn't any proof. Although, it was a start.
Soul stared into the room. Maka sat quietly on the couch, asleep with a book in her hand. A usual Tuesday afternoon. And yet still even in her sleep he could see her cringe in pain every few moments, but then be completely fine. He could only wonder what she was dreaming about, whether if it had anything to do with that man, or with her headaches, he didn't know. He needed to talk to her, but he had been hesitant on the way home. After what had happened with Tsubaki, they both just needed a break for awhile. Soul quietly walked over to her side, and sat on the coffee table, next to her books sprawled out among the leftover rice spilled. She blamed him for that too, when he accidently knocked it over, but neither of them had bothered to clean it up. Yes, it was a usual Tuesday afternoon. Despite her bratty behavior, Soul secretly loved to watch her sleep. She looked so peaceful, like everything was working out for once. A perfect day; Her dad wouldn't be constantly embarrassing her or flirting with another woman… she would have received a letter from her mom and not just a postcard… she would be told by stein how strong they were getting, or how their soul resonance was getting stronger, then she would come home and eat some cupcakes. That was how he pictured Make's perfect day… oh, and he forgot to mention a field trip to the library. But that was how he looked to her. Usually she had on that smile that seemed to cover up all her struggles, did other people cover up their pain like that too? She seems so happy, how can she just put that all behind her? Soul still had problems putting behind his past conflicts with Wes and The Evans family… So if she could move on, why couldn't he? Maka moved onto her side, facing him now. This made him question what he looked like when he was asleep. Did he look as calm as her? Or did he constantly move around? He had woken up on the floor before, but he was never sure if he moved in his sleep. He wondered if she ever watched him sleep, and suddenly realized he was being a total creeper.
(Not cool, not cool soul).
Nonetheless, he continued to stare at her. (I'm a guy.) He figured. (Boys have these kinds of weird ideas, right? It's not like I'm doing anything…) her face was right in front of his, and she was asleep. She wasn't waking up anytime soon, right? Yeah. She was almost healed now… His thoughts immediately trailed back to that night in the middle of the fire. Was that… that… kiss… a last-minute-before-I-die move? Or did she really feel that way? He had kissed her again in the hospital… that embarrassing picture taken by Liz… but he had done that on his own, and didn't even think about how she had felt about it. It's not like he got Maka- slam-chopped after, she didn't reject it either, so how did she feel about it? He knew she trusted him more than anyone, and that was all she really needed. Until she found soul, the only people were her mother and father… she doesn't trust her father, and how can you trust a mother who isn't there for you? He thought back to their conversation; He had told her He wasn't leaving any time soon, and that was true. She could trust him. And isn't that what a relationship is really about? Trust? He thought to himself a few moments, and decided he would go check on Blackstar and Tsubaki. After all, Blackstar cared about Tsubaki, right? Were these feelings normal to have for your weapon partner?
