"You took those stairs like nothing... that's pretty impressive, Roxy!" Patti exclaimed after we climbed the stairs towards the DWMA Academy, Kid and Liz following behind. The sun was just beginning to rise over the school, drool still dripping from its permanent smile. We were here late, since Kid was throwing fits all morning about his hair and clothes, seeing as he slept in them.

"Patti's right... what have you been doing in New York to be so fit? Even after attending this school for so long, I still have to catch my breath after that work out!" Liz breathed out, still panting. She was slouched over, her hands on her knees.

"New York has only gotten worse since you guys left. More than once I had the choice to keep running and survive another day or stop and dig my own grave. So running a couple of miles is nothing, let alone a few flights of stairs." I looked at them, and Liz winked at me, confirming that my reasoning was solid.

"Has it gotten worse? Ever since I met Liz and Patti, I'd been keeping close tabs on New York, and the number of Kishin Eggs has only been going down. We haven't had to send anyone there on a mission in months." Kid stated, a blank look dressing his features. Liz looked panicked, and Patti sweat-dropped, but I didn't miss a beat in my answer.

"It's not the Kishin Eggs that are the problem. Not every criminal and killer eat the souls of their victims. The Mafia has been growing, and they've been getting smarter. But the school doesn't monitor them, or care about the harm they're causing, until souls have been eaten. But even then, the school should notice the drop in the population, right?" While it was a rhetorical question, Kid still nodded his head. I took this cue as a welcome gesture to continue.

"Well, they're getting smarter with their murders. They're targeting the nobodies, the homeless, the people who don't have anyone to miss them; so they're never reported as missing, so the population numbers haven't taken a hit. On paper, at least." I crossed my arms, pursing my lips in an angry matter.

"It's situations like these that really piss my life off. The police are to moronic to notice, and while a few people have tried to bring it to their attention, the police simply don't care. And the DWMA are only focused on Kishin Eggs, as they're supposed to leave these matters to the police, but the police aren't doing anything! Either way, it's a hopeless situation, and it doesn't matter now. I've left that hellhole behind me, and someday I'll go back and fix things. Should we get to class? We've already missed like half of our classes." Kid, Liz and Patti were all surprised; Kid, because something so horrendous wasn't being fixed, and Liz and Patti because I was so passionate and confident in my made up story.

Kid was about to respond when his father called him on a handheld mirror. Kid pulled it out, a worried look on face. His face usually never reached him by this way; it was only meant for emergencies.

"Yes Father?"

"Kid, you, Liz and Patti are to report to my office at once. We have a problem, and Liz and Patti are crucial to the outcome. See you in a minute." He hung up, leaving Kid more worried than he was before. Liz and Patti looked at me, all three of us knowing exactly what was going on. We'd gone over our story before Kid came upstairs, so we could only hope that there wasn't any news we hadn't heard of yet.

"Well, you heard him. Let's go. Roxy, lunch is probably about to start, and I'm sure you can find the Cafeteria. We'll probably meet up with you later." He was already walking away, Liz and Patti right behind him.

-Line Break-

While they were walking to Lord Death's office, I hid in one of the many hallways that traced the classrooms of the DWMA. None of the classes were held in this hallway anymore, so I figured this place was as good as any, and if I WAS caught, I could just feign being lost within the maze of walls. Liz called me on her walk, and without making a scene, placed her phone in her back pocket. This way I could hear word-for-word what was going without actually being in the room. It was Patti's idea; that girl really was a low-key genius.

I listened as they walked in, Lord Death greeting them.

"Good, you guys are finally here. We have some news that you guys will find disturbing, and I was hoping Liz, Patti and Tsubaki could shed some like on it."

"Go ahead, father. They'd be happy to help, whatever it is." Kid said, and while his voice was calm, there was an almost undetectable tremble to it.

"Maka is missing. She left her Soul's home yesterday afternoon, with the girls here, and hasn't been seen since. Her sister was there, and said some horrible things to Maka about their mother. According to Soul, she had her bags with her and said she was moving out. He didn't know anything about this previous to yesterday. After she left with the girls, he tried to call, but he never got a hold of her. So girls... where is Maka?" There was a notable silence, and then Patti spoke up.

"We drove Maka to the school, where she said she was going to meet Spirit. We heard her call him, saying to meet her there at 5. We dropped her off around...what was it Liz, 4:45? After we dropped her off, we went home. We haven't seen her since. Spirit, was she not there when you got there?" Patti asked. This was so irritating, not being able to see their faces.

"No! I never even got a call! WHAT IF SHE WAS KIDNAPPED OH LORD NO MY POOR BABY ALL ALNOE OUT THERE! I SWEAR ON LORD DEATH'S NAME THAT I WILL FIND THE BASTARD WHO DID THIS AND KILL HIM AND-"

"Reaper...CHOP!" From the following grunt and silence, I can only assume that Lord Death knocked my father out.

"Liz, Tsubaki, is what Patti said true?" He asked.

"Yup."

"Yes, Sir."

"Since she lied about calling Spirit, she must have never intended to meet Spirit. So she obviously ran away on her own accord." Everyone was speechless, until Kid broke the silence.

"I don't believe Maka would just abandon her duties here at the academy. And even if she did, she must have had a good reason. So the only question we should be asking now is," he paused for emphasis, his worried voice tense. "where on Earth would she go?"