Insidious again coughed, blood spattering against the crushed stone atop Baba Yaga Castle. It was enough that one of his arms had been crushed, but now he was impaled with one of his own sword, having freed the other from his chest cavity and his dagger stabbed into his shoulder! He couldn't even move! The rapier had pierced all the way through his haemorrhaging form and stabbed into the rock behind him. All he could do was sit and watch.

Insidious craned his neck towards the others, a mighty effort in itself. What happened? Kid was lying unconscious with his twin pistols beside him, Black Star and Tsubaki lay in the rubble, barely a whisper escaping from either of them, and Soul and Maka were staring angrily at the smiling Kishen. Before Soul turned into a scythe in Maka's hand, Insidious only had one thought.

'Sophia. Where is Sopia?'

"Sophia!" Insidious screamed, shuddering hands trying to grasp the handle of the broadsword. It was no use. The bones in his left arm had been turned to powder, and his other was shaking too much to do anything, leaving the glowing broadsword clattering on the ground.

Bits of rubble rolled down as Sophia emerged from a pile of rock, battered, bruised and broken. It was over. All their cards had been played, their strategies torn into shreds and thrown to dogs. Sophia saw the state everyone was in, but when her eyes landed on the breathing corpse that was Insidious, her heart sank to new depths.

"Insidious!" she screamed. Gritting her teeth against her injuries, she hauled herself up and ran for Insidious. A pale cream white bandage snaked along the ground, gripping her by the ankle and hauling her up into the air.

"Where are you going?" the Kishen asked, voice filled with boredom. Another of the pale bandages whipped forwards and wrapped around her throat, tightening and strangling her while others beat at her face.

"T-teleport!" shouted Insidious. The ground reached up around Sophia and dragged her downwards, spitting her out where Insidious had placed the first teleport rune. The Kishen looked to Insidious with mild annoyance and picked Sophia up again by the throat with a bandage, held her in front of Insidious' face and then flung her up into the air, where she crashed into the rubble a few metres beside him.

"Pathetic. This is the best you can do?" It asked, its voice filled with contempt.

"Let's go, Soul Resonance!" Maka and Soul shouted, Soul's scythe form turning back to Genie Hunter. Maka ran for the Kishen, but it grabbed her with another of the bandages and flung her across the arena.

"You're so weak!" it shouted. "My final opponent, and you're nothing more than a pathetic little girl. Your friends were all so much stronger than you, and look how they ended up."

Maka stood back up, running back to the Kishen. Insidious knew he needed to do something! Lifting his trembling hand, he yanked the silver dagger out of his shoulder with a yell of pain.

"Two down… One to go…" he said, dropping the dagger and struggling with the black rapier as Maka and Soul fought the Kishen. As he pulled it free, he saw Soul grow to an even bigger size, glowing brighter as the giant rainbow blade bit deep into the Kishen's shoulder, slicing it down to the ribs. Insidious tore his eyes away from the spectacle. His vision was growing weaker by the second. He carved a rune in his chest and activated it.

"Heal."

The pain returned anew as his bones realigned, flesh knitted itself back together and his blood flowed in reverse from the ground, back into his bloodstream. His vision cleared and he saw the Kishen regurgitate that spike thing of his. As the red beam shot from his mouth, Insidious saw a human form Soul leap in front of Maka. Insidious couldn't let that happen. Grabbing the broadsword, he leapt up and dived in the way, sword ready to block the beam.

For a while, he was able to hold off the red beam of energy, the crimson light sparking against the blade. A crack apperared on the blade. The metal blade of the broadsword snapped in two, a hole burning itself through his chest and piercing all the way through him as a brown cloud of dust filled the air around them. When it cleared, Insidious was still standing, a gaping hole in the middle of his chest, the snapped broadsword clutched in his iron hand. It was too powerful for him alone to block, and it went straight through his body and hit Soul as well!

"A nice gesture, but how futile it was." The Kishen snorted.

Insidious was vaguely aware of Maka and Sophia's screams mingled together as he and Soul fell to the ground.

"They all sacrificed themselves for you. But in the end, is that truly a kindness? They've only moved the responsibility onto your shoulders. Gave you the fear of failure."

"Shut the hell up." Maka said, charging in again.

"But that isn't all, is it? There's the fear of death. The fear of loneliness, and also, the fear of pain. A primitive fear alright, but effective nonetheless against someone like you. A weak little human." He mocked as he batted her away in mid speech and pummelled Maka into the ground with his bandages.

"You're right." Maka said, her muscles trembling with effort as she stood. "I am a weak human. But this is nothing like the pain I've felt before!"

"Then let's see how much pain you can stand." The Kishen grinned, regurgitating its spike. "You can dodge this, but if you do your friends will die."

He didn't have a chance to do anything however as Sophia looped the spiked chain around his neck and pulled. "Now Maka! Do it now!"

"Insolence!" the Kishen shouted, backhanding Sophia into another pile of rubble before turning and firing at Maka, who stood her ground against the deadly beam. She tipped backwards into the shallow crater caused by the explosion.

"That should do it." The Kishen snorted. Insidious was gritting his teeth, trying to see what was going on! His eyes widened as he saw the Kishen grin and walk towards him, picking him up by his hatted head. "Another tasty Witch' soul? Don't mind if I do."

Insidious gritted his teeth as the Kishen's mouth neared, thin rivers of drool escaping from the corners of its mouth. The sounds of blades unsheathing rang through the air as suddenly Maka was on her feet again! "Back on your feet again, huh? That won't last long."

Several of the creamy white bandages snapped towards her, but they were cut to ribbons as soon as they neared her!

"What the…"

Maka was eerily silent. Insidious couldn't see her face. He thought he might have just been imagining things, but he swore he saw the glint of a blade just a second ago.

"What magic is this? What did you do?!" the Kishen demanded, throwing Insidious aside and attacking with more of the bandages. They disappeared again as Maka ran in, fists trailing behind her. As she neared closer two triangles of light burst from her back. The Kishen grinned as it suddenly understood. "I see, so that's what you've done."

The blades on Maka's back stabbed into the red shield the Kishen projected from its hand. The spike came out of the Kishen's mouth as red balls of light burst through the shield and exploded.

"What the… Maka's a weapon?" Insidious coughed, watching the battle unfold.

Maka and the Kishen continued to fight, more and more large scythe blades erupting from Maka's body. Insidious caught a glimpse of Maka's eyes. They were empty and starring, like she wasn't even there.

"Oh now I see." The Kishen mused. "Come here, girl!"

Maka leapt into the air, but a loud explosion of dust filled the air and the Kishen grabbed onto her neck and slammed her into the ground.

"Now I've got you."

A forest of scythe blades sprung up around Maka's prone form and blood trickled down from the Kishen's neck. The Kishen continued grinning, seemingly unfazed.

"I'm not afraid of pain, but what about you?" it said, grabbing onto her arm and squeezing hard. "Time to wake up."

Maka's loud and pained screams filled the air as the blades around her shattered.

"Fighting while your mind's asleep. That's not fair. That suffocating feeling you have now? That's fear. You can let go now. Let go and let the Madness carry away all your fear and pain. There's nothing more you can do here. Your big move failed, your friends are defeated, there's no point in continuing now. Everything you've done was for nothing. There's nothing you can do to defeat me. You have nothing left."

"Damn it." coughed Insidious, struggling to sit up against the rubble. "Maka! Don't listen to that bastard!"

"I'll be alright." Maka whispered.

"What? What did you say?" the Kishen asked.

Maka gripped onto the Kishen's arm holding her throat. "Didn't you hear me? I said it's going to be alright."

The Kishen threw her back. "No it won't! Nothing's alright!"

As the Kishen continued its mindless babbling, Insidious could see the others slowly emerge from the rubble.

"I thought that move was my only hope. They were wrong. That isn't my greatest power, not at all!"

"What are you saying?" the Kishen asked quietly. "You little fool."

"Maka's not the fool you jackass." Black Star said, pushing himself into a more comfortable position. "Don't you get it yet?"

"Maka's strength isn't some special ability." Kid said, his voice muffled from the floor. "It's more. Much more."

"Something that can beat fear. Bravery." Soul added.

Insidious couldn't think of anything to add. He couldn't heal his wounds again. His last heal had taken too much out of him, and now he had a gaping hole in his chest. It had missed his heart, but he was only barely alive.

"That's all bravery? I don't understand you people! You put all your faith in one girl's bravery?! Stop it, don't look at me like that! What's happening, who the hell are you?!" the Kishen babbled.

"Academy student Maka Albarn, One Star Scythe Meister."

"That's not what I meant! You're just standing there so calmly! What are you?!" it shouted again, banging its foot down on the ground.

"I'm just me. Nothing more and nothing less."

The Kishen continued its rant, and Insidious notice Sophia crawling towards him. She put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes.

"Don't die. Please… Don't die." She said quietly, desperately trying to hold back an ocean of tears.

The Kishen raged and regurgitated his weapon again, letting it grow to a huge size before Maka said something Insidious didn't understand.

"What?" the Kishen asked. "What is that?"

"A postcard. With a message. But that doesn't matter. It's none of your business."

"How can you talk to me like that?! You insolent… Whatever you're doing, stop!"

"No I won't! I've come too far for that! If I gave up, how could I face the people who stood by me and supported me for so long? They lent me their courage. Now I'm going to use my own! I'm not going to let you hurt my friends anymore!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"Bravery is my armour, and this is my weapon!" she said, holding up her fist.

"You think that pitiful little fist can hurt me?! You should have given this fight up a long time ago! I don't understand anything that's going on…" The weapon dropped from the Kishen's mouth as it realised what it had just said. "I don't get it. Why do you have so much faith in her? She's nothing more than a human! What is bravery?!"

The Kishen paused for a few seconds before screaming, though Insidious couldn't tell what about.

"I'm coming for you!" shouted Maka, charging at the Kishen.

"Go away!" it shouted desperately, smashing at the ground. "What's the point in destroying me?! There will be a new Kishen, an heir to my Madness!"

"I don't care!" shouted Maka, reaching backwards and forcing her fist through the Kishen's face. "I will defeat you!"

The Kishen flew backwards before laughing again. "You didn't even scratch me! You fool! There'snowayaweaktalentlesslittlehumanlikeyoucould beatmeyoudidn'tstandachance! Huh?"

The Kishen started to glow with a bright blue light before exploding, turning the whole world to light and dissipating the barrier! When Insidious' eyes returned to normal, he rolled onto his back where he could see hundreds of blue orbs flying off into the cloudless blue sky.

"She did it…" Insidious said, letting himself a smile. The pain was numbing now. He didn't have much time left.

"The sky's all pretty now!" Patty said, eyes filled with awe.

"Hell yeah! We defeated the Kishen, and bad weather!" Black Star laughed.

As the Meisters celebrated, Sophia noticed Insidious on the ground.

"Over here! Insidious needs help!" shouted Sophia. In a matter of seconds, the others were crouched in a circle around him.

"Don't you dare die Insidious, you still need to do my homework!" Black Star shouted.

"Soul, help me with Insidious." Maka said, gripping onto Insidious' legs.

"Don't bother." Insidious said, waving them away. "I'm not about to walk away from this… I think my time has finally come."

The others looked at him, both Patty and Liz crying. Patty slightly more so than Liz. Insidious lifted his broken broadsword into the air above him. "Do you know what this sword is? It's my family's sword. Every generation in my family wielded this sword at one point in their lives. It was said to bring great power, but they'd die after the battle. I guess the prophecy was right. And now that everyone in my family's dead, the sword's broken. Now it's just a useless hunk of metal… Just promise me that after I die… Take the sword back to my mother's grave."

"Prophecy, shmophecy. We're not gonna let you die here Insidious! You can count on that!" Black Star shouted.

Maybe Black Star was right. Maybe they could save him. Insidious decided should just close his eyes and nap for a while. Yeah… He needed to sleep…

"Goodbye. And thank you."

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Atop the hill overlooking Death City, the three Meisters, their weapons and Sophia buried Insidious' soul next to his mother's reconstructed grave. It was not often that a Witch would get this kind of special treatment, but Insidious was no ordinary Witch. He was their friend. The eight of them wordlessly watched as Insidious' soul descended into the ground before Kid planted a cross similar to the ones found in the Death Room into the hole.

As the Meisters and weapons left, the only one remaining was Sophia. She could only stare at the cross, Insidious' weapons and hat placed in front of it along with a bouquet of snowy white flowers. There she stood for hours, not even moving. When night fell and the moon rose, she uttered a single sentence. Three words that all those who knew Insidious were all thinking.

"He deserved better."

A/N

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READ AND A HUGE THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO REVIEWED!

Thanks for reading my first Soul Eater fanfic! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I was originally going to have a happy ending, but it eventually turned into a contrived mess of a thing so I decided SCREW IT, THE PEOPLE MUST CRY FOR I HAVE DECREED IT! And it was either this or to have Soul eat Insidious, which I don't think is any better than the contrived happy ending.

I'm hoping to make another Soul Eater fanfic after I finish my Bleach fanfic, World of Wight, which you should totally read and review after you do the same for this one and all my other stuff. In fact, I may be doing a lot more fanfics for other anime. I love Bleach, but I think I've reached my ideas limit with it.

Bye for now, and keep being awesome!

-The Snazzy Hat