Well, well, well… Lookie here, we've reached chapter 9! Sooooo happy. I recently finished writing chapter 18 and had one of those 'this is gonna be awesome and take up at least 6 pages!' but it only lasted to 5. I was in a corner for a while. Spoiler for this chapter, some of takes place with Maka and Soul, so in case I didn't put in the summary that this takes place 3 years after the Kishin (because I haven't checked to see if it does), lemme say it now: THIS TAKES PLACE 3 YEARS AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE KISHIN! This has been a public service from your neighborhood Kitty. NOW TO THE STORY!

Arriving in Allamer; Attack of the Soulless?

"Sooo," Senna remarked as she looked through the binoculars from her perch in the trees, "this is Allamer."

"Yes." Mifune said from the branch beside her.

"It looks pretty abandoned." From their spot in the forest they could see an abandoned junk yard covered slightly with snow, "So where do we need to go from here."

"There's a castle beyond those buildings over there." He pointed to a three apartment buildings near the other edge of the woods.

"Great." She said as she pulled the hood of her black jacket back over her head, the purple furred inside warming her ears, "Shall we jump back down?"

He nodded, "I hope Black*Star or Angela hasn't drawn attention to our location." He turned around and Senna hopped on his back.

"Yeah we're screwed if you think that." Mifune just sighed as they jumped to the forest floor.

"How's it look?" Kid asked.

"Pretty much a ghost town." Senna answered.

Liz covered her ears, "AH! Don't say ghosts!"

Patty hugged her, "Don't worry sis, YOU CAN HANDLE ANYTHING!"

Kid sighed, "Riiight."

"Anyway we should start out. I'd like to get to the castle before night."

"YAY ROADTRIP!" Angela said as Mifune picked her up and put her on his shoulders.

He led them out of the forest. Tsubaki tapped his shoulder, "Forgive me for asking, but how do you know about this witch?"

"When I working under Arachnophobia, they sent me and the blood sucker out to find witches who would be of use to her. The witch that controls this area, Kamilla, had a particular talent that Arachne wanted to get her hands on."

"And what kind of talent would that be?" Dante asked, "Is it going to cause us problems?"

"We'll find that out sooner or later." Mifune answered, keeping his eyes on the abandoned cars in the lot. Everyone heard a clanging and turned towards the area where it happened, 'Damn.' Mifune thought, 'I didn't think she'd catch onto us this quick.' He drew his sword and put Angela down, "Stay behind me." He told her. The clanging was inside of a broken down bus with the windows blacked out. Mifune didn't wanna take chances, "We need to run. NOW!" He grabbed Angela and they took off running, with the kids following behind.

Lemmy tripped and fell. Ed turned around to pick her up but she was already gone, "LEMMY!" He looked under the car near the place she fell, "LEMMY! WHERE ARE YOU?" He started to take off running but Mifune grabbed him by the collar of his brown suede jacket,

"Stop. We'll find her later."

"WE NEED TO FIND HER NOW!" Ed struggled against Mifune's grip.

"She'll be fine. She's been taken to the castle. We're heading there now." He tightened his grip, "I promise." Ed nodded and he let go.

"PATTY!" Everyone who was watching the scene between Ed and Mifune now turned to see Tsubaki standing, shaking, wide eyed with her hands over her mouth and Senna kneeling on the ground, trembling, her fists in her hair, "Wha… What were those things?" She whispered. She ripped the clipped out of her hair as she jumped up and threw it on the ground, "WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY?" She yelled as she turned to Mifune.

Tsubaki stumbled to the side slightly, "Their eyes..." She took her hands away, "They had no eyes. They had no eyes." She kept repeating, "Th-They were gone. None."

Black*Star walked up, "What did you guys see?"

"AND WHERE'S PATTY?" Liz yelled.

Tsubaki kept staring at where Patty had once been, too terrified to form words. Senna was still trembling as she ran her hands through now loose hair and leaned against a car, talking to herself. Mifune walked over to Black*Star and faced everyone, "They probably saw one of the Soulless."

"Mot jus' 'ne…" Senna Belle whispered through her hand.

"What?" Kid asked as he stepped closer to her.

Tsubaki shook her head, "THERE WASN'T JUST ONE!" She cried and covered her eyes. Black*Star wrapped an arm around her.

Ed walked up, "What are the Soulless?"

Mifune sighed, "They're people who work for the witch Kamilla. People whose soul she's sacrificed. Anyone who trespasses here they take to the castle. They only strike when someone's alone. That's why they took Lemmy when she fell behind, and Patty when they thought no one was looking."

Senna Belle sat back on the ground, her arms wrapped around her legs with her head down, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you to freak out."

Dante scoffed, "You call this," He gestured to Tsubaki and Senna, "not freaking out? This is the definition of freaking out!"

Liz grabbed Mifune, "They took my sister!"

"And if we don't get to that castle by nightfall they'll take us too!" Mifune yelled and Angela covered her ears, "That's why we need to keep moving. We can help them when we get there."

Liz let him go and stepped back, stifling a cry, "O-Okay."

Mifune nodded, "Then let's go before any more of those things show up." He turned and waited for everyone to follow.

Black*Star tugged on Tsubaki, "C'mon Tsubaki." She shook her head, "Like he said, as long we stick together they won't attack us."

"B-B-But… Black*Star…" She said not moving.

He jabbed a thumb into his blue puffer jacket, "When you've got the almighty Black*Star on your side nothing can hurt you!" She nodded slightly and followed shakily behind him.

Kid put his hands on Senna Belle's shoulders, "Come on Sen, can you stand?" She nodded and he helped her up.

She held onto his arms, "Be glad you didn't see them Kid." She smiled warily, "The asymmetry would've killed you."

Dante was the last to start walking. He stopped and picked up Senna's clip sticking in the pocket of his dark green bomber, "I'm starting to wish I'd stayed home like Soul and Maka…"

MAKA AND SOUL'S APARTMENT

Soul had been waiting on Maka hand and foot all day and she had finally fallen asleep. As he sat there and watched her sleep Edward's words kept ringing in his ears, 'Just get it off your chest, you'll feel much better.' She wasn't exactly the same girl hehad picked to be his partner three years ago.Sitting down next to her, he put his hand to her head to see if she had a fever and she stirred a little at his touch, then as he moved his hand down her hand grasped onto his and she tightened her grip on it.

"Maka." He whispered still sitting there staring at her hand grasped around his and he felt a strange feeling from her touch, "This is fucking crazy." He then lifted her hand off his and stood up and walked to the window, 'What the hell are these feelings I'm having? Was Edward right? Do I actually like her? I have to find out.'

"Soul?" Maka said looking around.

"Over here."

She turned to see him standing by the window, "What are you doing?" She sat up and breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't hit her foot on anything.

"Just checking out the sites. " He said walking over and sitting on the couch next to her.

"Could you help me to my room? I'd like to stretch out some." She smiled and stretched her arms in the air, "This couch is a little uncomfortable."

"Sure thing." He stood up and turned around to get her crutches for her. She tried to stand on her own but being as wobbly as she was she begun to fall forward. Soul turned in time to catch her in his arms and their faces were inches apart so close he could feel her breath on his lips as she exhaled.

'This is so uncool!' He thought as he straightened her up by wrapping his arms around her tighter, "I got you." He said but their faces were still inches apart. As she looked into his eyes they softened and she noticed the slight smile that curved the side of his mouth as he leaned forward and his lips met hers. She was a little shocked at first but then she relaxed in his arms and kissed him back. After a few seconds he leaned back and looked in her eyes.

"Soul? What was-" he cut her off by softly whispering, "That was so cool." Then he bent down and scooped her into his arms and carried her to her room. She rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her through the door and sat her on her bed.

She slowly gazed up at him as he stood there putting his hands in his pants pockets, "Soul, why did you kiss me?"

He turned and looked at her and the side of his mouth curved up into a smile, "Sometimes Maka, you just talk too much."

She got upset that he wasn't answering her question, "No Soul I want to know."

He leaned down closer to her face and looked into her eyes, "I had to find out."

She was a little confused now, "Find out what?" He really didn't know if he wanted to tell her or not but he knew he had to get it off his chest as Edward said.

"Find out if I had feelings for you Maka."

"And did you?" She leaned closer to his face, "I mean find out of course."

He smiled again, "Yes I did."

She wanted to know what his answer was now "Well can you enlighten me Soul." He leaned in and kissed her again this time more passionate than the first and as he leaned back she could have sworn she felt like she was floating. She opened her eyes to see him exiting the room but before going out the door he turned and whispered, "I do have feelings for you Maka." Then he shut the door to leave her to her thoughts.

KAT'S KRADLE (DUNGEONS)

"Crap…" Elliot groaned. Spending the night on a hay covered floor wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, "I hate undercover missions." He noticed Blood in the corner, sleeping like a baby. A wave of irritation washed over him. He stood up, reared his foot back and slammed it forward into Blood's shin, "WAKE UP!"

Blood yelped awake, "WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED?"

"You… were… SLEEPIIIING!" He kicked him again, "YOU ASSHOLE!" He kicked him, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" kick, "I COULD BE IN MY OWN BED!" Kick, "WITH DREAMS OF A COPPER HAIRED GODDESS!" Kick, "BUT NO!" Kick, "SOMEONE HAD TO 'BE A MAN' AND ACCEPT THIS MISSION!" Kick, "DIE!" He sat cross legged on the ground.

"Ahhh, someone forget their medication?"

"I repeat: DIE!" Elliot turned his head to face away from Blood.

The cell door swung open and the guards threw in two prisoners. Lemmy was on the ground with Patty sitting on her. Patty laughed and clapped her hands, "I remember being in this position last week!"

Lemmy pushed her off, "Somehow I believe that." She remarked as she rubbed her head. She turned and saw Elliot and Blood, "Well I'll be damned. I've landed in hell!" she flopped on the ground.

Elliot narrowed his eyes at her, "Nice seeing you again also…"

Blood smiled, "What brings you lovely ladies to our humble inhabitance?"

"Kidnapped by eyeless creatures…" Lemmy groaned.

"You should've seen the look on Tsubaki and Senny's faces!" Patty laughed.

Elliot's hand connected with his face and groaned as he started talking to himself, "Stuck in a room with 2 and half morons, being one of the only people knowing a horrible tragedy is going to happen. Great."

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Never mind. Look, something bad is gonna happen and we need to get out of here and tell Lord Death."

"Why? What's happening?" Lemmy asked. Patty was too busy making a hay castle in the corner.

"We can't explain for sure," Blood explained, "but we need to get outta her before we're killed."

"An escape plan?" Lemmy grinned, "My kinda territory."

ALLAMER (TOWN)

They got out of the junk yard an hour ago. They were now walking through a row of apartment buildings, "Are you sure we're going the right way?" Ed asked for the 35th time agitated, looking around in the abandoned streets.

"Yes!" Angela pouted and crossed her arms, "Mifune knows where he's going you big dummy!"

Edward reached out to grab, "You little-"

Kid grabbed him, "Calm down. We need to be on guard." He looked at Senna who'd snapped back to reality, "How're you holding up?"

She nodded, "Let's just say I'll want a vacation after this."

"I'm sure we can work something out." He then frowned and looked around, "Not to alarm anyone, but I think we lost another person."

Everyone looked around, "Dammit." Senna growled, "Those bastards took my Meister." She clenched her gloved hands, "FUCK!" She punched the wall of the nearest building.

Liz grabbed Senna's shoulders from the back, "It's gonna be alright Sen. We'll get everyone back."

"How incompetent am I," She said through gritted teeth, "that I can't keep an eye on that dumbass?!"

Tsubaki grabbed her hand, "We need to keep moving, okay?" She tugged on her, "C'mon we'll be out of here in no time." Senna stepped back from the wall hesitantly, and Tsubaki smiled, "There you go." They started walking towards Mifune, Ed and Kid. Tsubaki and Liz didn't let her go.

They noticed Mifune was looking around hesitantly and Angela held onto him tighter. Ed stepped forward, "What's wrong?!" He asked concerned.

Mifune drew his sword, "The dark." The sun was setting. Darkness was creeping in. And it would take them with it.