XxHollowSoulxX: I always liked cliff hangers XD

Yuki no on'na no musume: I'm not sure I follow you...?


There was silence. Maka knew she was dead. Soul, her partner, had killed her, because she wasn't there to save him from the madness. She had failed him. "Hey Maka! Get up! I can't hold him forever idiot!"

Her eyes snapped open as the familiar, obnoxious voice reached her. Blackstar had Soul in a full nelson and was trying his best to control him. Soul was snarling, trying to throw him off. "Maka, see if you can resonate with him! Your anti-demon wavelength might bring him back!" She turned to her left and saw Kid pulling himself up. She sat there dazed, then she nodded and began to concentrate. Her breathing slowed, and the world around her dimmed.

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in the black room. It looked normal, except Soul wasn't there. The record in the corner kept playing the same segment of music over and over. And there was a door in front of her. She stepped foreward catiously. The door creaked open. She stood in front of it, an ominous feeling passed through her. Like the feeling you get when you enter an empty room, but feel a hundred eyes watching you.

She shouldn't be here.

She stepped down through the doorway. After a few steps, it slammed shut behind her. She looked around. After the door had closed, she had found herself in a hallway. Walking forward, she began to look at the walls. There were pictures on them. All different sizes and frames. But they all had one thing in common, Soul was somewhere in them. After a while she paused in front of a large picture. Soul was standing next to, what looked like, an older version of himself. On a gold plate that was attached to the frame, it said, 'Soul and Wes Evans.' 'Wes Evans?' Maka thought to herself, 'Who is he?'

She never noticed the footsteps approaching her, nor the shadow that moved along the walls. Then, as if answering her thought, it said, "Wes Evans, is Soul's brother." Maka whipped around, ready to fight, but the demon raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't come here to fight you, I need your help." Maka eyed him catiously, "What makes you think i'd help you?" The demon chuckled, as if he'd already won, "Because if you don't, Soul will die." Maka's eyes widened, "You're lying!" The demon sighed, "No i'm not. What reason would I have to lie to you? I need you to help me find Soul." Maka smirked, "He got away from you huh? Good." The demon folded his arms, obviously irritated, "Yes. He did escape." Then he added with a grin, "Mostly."

Outside, Kid and Blackstar were seeing to the others injuries. Soul had calmed down when Maka had begun to resonate with him and was lying down while Maka sat beside him. "What do you think is going on in there?" Blackstar asked. Kid looked at them for a moment, then replied, "I don't know...But all we can do, is hope that Maka can save him." Blackstar laughed and said, "C'mon Kid! This is Maka we're talking about! If anyone can save Soul, it's her."

Inside, Maka warily asked, "Whaddya mean 'mostly'?" The demon grinned, "The madness had taken over most of his Soul in that initial attack, however, a small part of him retained his sanity. I will never understand how." Maka narrowed her eyes again, "So you want to find him so you can consume the rest of him?" The demon laughed, "You know me too well Maka Albarn! But no, I don't need you to find him per-say. I need you to find the key to this." He held up a small box. All along the edges it said 'Soul Eater' and 'Do not open'. Maka looked at it, admired its make and the detail on it. After a while she asked, "What's inside it?" The demon seemed honestly suprised, "You mean you can't tell? I thought you'd be smart enough to guess what the contents of that box are." Maka eyed the box again and looked through the keyhole. All at once a blood red eye flashed in front of hers. She gasped and dropped the box.

The demon raised an eyebrow, "Is that really how you should be treating the rest of your partner's soul?" Maka kept on staring. Soul was inside that thing?! The demon extended his hands, "Yes. Soul is inside. And we need to find the key if either of us want to accomplish anything." Maka picked the box back up, "How will I know where to look?" Inside her head she heard a voice, 'Memories...' She looked at the demon, but he gave no indication that he had spoken. Then, there it was again, 'Memory is the key...' She looked at the box again and murmured, "Memory is the key?"

She looked around the halls. The picture next to the one of Soul and his brother, looked more recent. "Memory is the key." She began to run down the hallway.

She kept running. The pictures flashing by as she tore past them. However, one made her stop. She eyed the picture. It was Soul, alone, playing the piano. The title of it was, 'Symphony of Despair.' She began to walk past it, when the next one made her stop again, in this one, Soul was playing the piano, still, but Maka was standing behind him. The position of her body made it apparent that she was dancing.

The title of it was, 'Acceptance.' She moved on to the next one, she looked at it for a long time. She was stunned. It was a picture of Maka and Soul shaking hands. When she had asked him to be her partner. The title was, 'My Meister.' But that wasn't what caught her eye. Underneath it, in smaller letters, were the words, 'I'll always love you.'

A tear made its way slowly down her cheek. All the memories of her and Soul began to flood her mind. A light began to glow in her hand. When she looked down at it, she was holding a small blue key. "Memory is the key." She dried her eyes and smiled, "You idiot..."