Maka had already been in horror-movie-like scenarios before, but this one made the hairs in her nape stand while she walked alongside Dante with their weapons at hand in the abandoned building they were at. Dante, however, was whistling a tune while he spun Cerberus' nunchaku form around. The pair stopped in the end of the hall, where the building separated in two. Used to the ancient routine, Maka gripped her scythe more tightly while she took the left path, and Dante kept whistling while he put Cerberus away and took the right path. She didn't know why, but she felt more confident with Dante by her side; now that he was gone, Maka's hands started to tremble a little.

"Maka, calm down," said the scythe in her hands. "This guy ain't as scary as Asura was, and he's supposed to be only a half-pint!"

"I know, Soul," replied the pigtailed girl. "But I can't see this bastard anywhere, even with my Soul Perception…"

"So? We've dealt with worse, even before you awakened your Soul Perception!"

"Y-you're right; I can't let this wuss intimidate me!"

"That's the spirit!"

Now feeling more confident, Maka walked with a steadier pace and inspected every area of the building in search for the Kishin Egg they were looking for. The target was apparently too strong for any normal Weapon/Meister team to take on, so Kid and Spirit decided to send a Death Scythe team… and Dante's. However, the opponent they were facing was supposedly not strong enough to be considered a full-fledged Kishin yet. The place was uncomfortably dark, but it still had enough flickering lights every few meters for Maka and Dante to know where they were headed. A sound of a power generator rumbled every now and then in the building, keeping the pigtailed Meister on high alert at every moment. She wasn't exactly scared, but the fact that she AND Dante were needed was… disturbing.

Suddenly, the rancid smell of something Maka immediately recognized as putrefaction filled her nostrils and made her cover her mouth in surprise. Soul commented that they should find the source of the smell, since it might be a lead on their objective's whereabouts. Maka quickened her pace to find the source and, after about three minutes, she found the source of the smell and gasped when she saw it. It was a human corpse, though its limbs were wrapped around it like bondage, and the bones were shattered and splinters protruded the skin in different areas, leaving bloody stains wherever the dead person had clothes on. The sandy-haired Meister couldn't bear to keep looking at the mangled corpse anymore, and she quickly turned around while retching. Soul turned back into his human form to help his partner walk away from the scene, but he tripped over something else. When he looked at what impeded his movement, his foot had been grabbed by another decrepit corpse and was being dragged to the room. Soul started shouting and kicking at the hand that held him, but to no avail. Maka wasn't helping either; she was paralyzed in fear because she was looking at something approaching. Whatever it was, its silhouette was moving slowly towards her and she found herself unable to move away from it. She finally could see what the thing was when a light just over it exploded and let his face and features be seen for about an instant. He wore a green and red shirt and brown loose trousers that made his silhouette look bigger than he really was under the light, and a brown fedora that didn't help cover that hideous face of his, which had its skin burnt off, and his rotting teeth could be seen through another hole where his cheeks were supposed to be; his blue eyes were glazed with yellowish cataracts and the putrid smell intensified tenfold with each step the team's target took.

Maka could feel tears flowing down her cheeks, but her body still wouldn't budge an inch as the monster reduced the distance between himself and her. Soul's screams were heard at the other side of the room, as if his body was being pierced with a corpse's nails. The monster approached the girl and moved her chin up with his gloved hand's blades, smiling evilly as he did so…

In the meantime, Dante was still whistling as he checked every room in his side of the building. He remained unfazed as the random background noises increased in volume; he was getting closer to the sources. Rebellion, who was strapped firmly to the red-coated man's back, commented, "Is it just me, or the power generator in this dump has some serious issues?"

Nevan was the first to answer. "I can fix it if you want," she said.

Artemis spoke up next and replied, "You'd need to find the power generators and reboot them completely. For that, I wouldn't recommend you go alone…"

"Oh! Oh! I volunteer to go with Miss Nevan!" said Agni excitedly.

"I wanna go too!" concurred Rudra happily. "This place is creepy as hell!"

"Though we've been in hell and it was quite creepy, brother," replied Agni with a shudder.

"Well, yeah, but you know what I m—"

"Ah, shaddup and let's go…" interrupted Beowulf as he transformed back into his human form and extended his hands towards Dante, who immediately handed over Agni, Rudra, and Nevan to the eye-patch wearing man. Beowulf then ignited Agni's blade and, using it as a torch, walked away.

Rebellion muttered, "And there go our primary sources of light…"

"Yeah… didn't think of that…" replied Dante when he noticed that his surroundings were indeed darker than they thought. He started walking again after saying, "Well, whatever. Let's keep walking."

'This is it…' Maka was thinking as she felt her energy being drained by her target. She never expected to go out like this, though. She'd braved through even Asura's Madness of Fear, but this guy was… something else. Her mission was supposed to be to eliminate all Kishin Eggs before they could become full-fledged demons, but if this guy wasn't still at max power, then may Death have mercy on this guy's victims when he reaches it…

Finally, Maka was completely surrounded by darkness.

"Hey, get your claws off her," said a voice that interrupted Maka's pre-mortem reverie. The beast that was staring into her eyes diverted his gaze to look at something that was right next to him, and Maka could feel some of her energy returning to her as the lights went back on. She moved her eyes to see who had said that, and she saw Dante aiming his shotgun straight at the man's face. Dante's smirk widened as he said, "I won't tell you a third time; get your filthy fucking claws off my partner, Freddy."

"Sheesh, Dante, why the language?" asked Artemis while the white-haired hunter fired his weapon at the monster, who moved at an incredible speed to dodge the blast.

"He was killing her, in case you didn't notice," answered the red-clad man while firing a second, third, and fourth time at their target. "Prepare a Kablooey dart."

"Done; fire when ready," replied the silver gun. Dante, however, didn't immediately shoot. He kept unloading Revenant upon the monster, which was starting to move slower due to its decreasing stamina. As soon as he saw his opportunity, Dante immediately took out Artemis and fired the orange dart, which latched onto the opponent's left leg. The hunter then moved his hands to the holsters on his back to pull out his faster set of handguns before remembering…

"Goddammit, the girls aren't here!" Dante quickly pulled Revenant out and said, "Go help the kids; we might actually need some help on this one."

The shotgun transformed back into its human form and ran to where Maka lay, half-conscious and groaning slightly. He knelt beside her and patted her cheek a few times until she could finally open her eyes and focus on her surroundings.

"What happened…?" said the pigtailed Meister when she saw a flash of Dante battling the monster. "Where's Soul…?"

"I'm right here…" groaned her partner's voice, and Maka and Revenant turned to see Soul with his spiky white hair all messed up, and a few cuts and scrapes all across his legs and lower torso. His left arm had transformed into his scythe form's blade, and he didn't look exactly pleased to have gone under the experience of being attacked by whatever it was that attacked him. He tried to smile confidently at the green-eyed girl, but his wounds weren't as light as they seemed, and the white-haired boy only pulled out a grimace.

Dante looked back at his shotgun and smirked, knowing that the kids would recover. He turned his attention at his opponent, who at that very moment lunged to attack him. Dante dodged and pulled one of Artemis' triggers, detonating the orange dart that was trapped in his leg; he immediately pulled out Rebellion and started slashing at the group's target rapidly, heavily damaging the monster. He thrust his claymore into the monster and quickly pulled out Cerberus, with which the hunter started hitting the Kishin Egg that was now wailing in pain. Dante looked back and saw Maka holding her scythe tightly and concentrating, and he decided to cancel his combo by making his nunchaku freeze the target solid and moving aside.

"SOUL RESONANCE!" shouted Maka and Soul in unison as the scythe's blade started glowing with a bright white light. "This is the end: Warlock Hunter!" Soul transformed from a blinding white scythe to an ax that immediately sliced vertically down the monster's spine. "Your soul is ours!" As soon as the pigtailed Meister said that, the white line that was left on the target's body from the attack started shining intensely and the monster's body exploded, leaving behind a red soul and the bastard's dirty fedora.

Soul transformed back into his human form and stepped over to the Kishin Egg that floated feebly in the middle of the hallway and grabbed it. The rest of Dante's weapons had also transformed back to their standard forms, and they were smirking at the albino boy who was holding their target. Soul suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable and looked around. Maka was glaring at him with her arms crossed, as if telling him not to take that soul. Soul sighed and raised his arm, holding the red orb up high.

"Anyone want it?" he asked.

"Nah, you can take it, Soul," replied Rebellion with a smirk while he cleaned his glasses.

"You did finish the job, after all," added Artemis, who was imitating Rebellion.

"Yeah, but I already took plenty with the little bastards he sent after me," commented Soul with a shrug. He looked at the blue three-headed Husky and extended the soul to it. "Want it, mutt?"

One of Cerberus' heads started panting happily, while another growled lowly and the third looked at Dante, who chuckled and translated for Soul and Maka. "The pooch doesn't really like being called anything other than Cerberus—" All three of Cerberus' heads barked angrily at Dante. "I know," he told them before turning back to Soul. "Still, he does want it."

"Cool," said Soul before he threw the red orb at the dog, who happily jumped and started munching it down with its three heads. Soul laughed at the dog's behavior and said, "Guess I'm not the only soul eater, huh?"

"Did we miss something?" suddenly called out a boy's voice.

"Oh, no…" muttered Maka.

"Apparently so, brother," replied another's voice. "I knew we should've stayed with Dante!"

"You volunteered to go with Miss Nevan, Rudra!" replied Agni, irritated. The remainder of Dante's weapons turned around the corner and saw the rest of the group staring at them. Agni shrugged and looked at his brother before saying, "Look at that, Rudra; now everyone's staring at us!"

"Hey, that's not my fault!" replied the blue-haired scimitar, annoyed. "You're the one with the loud voice here, Agni!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Shaddup!"

"YOU shaddup!"

Before the boys could start quarrelling again, Artemis appeared behind them and smacked them into each other, knocking them both unconscious. Revenant sighed and picked the boys up and carried them. Maka and Soul chuckled a little before the Meister suddenly lost her balance, making her lean on her partner. Dante noticed the little incident.

"You okay, kiddo?" asked the older white-haired man to the pigtailed girl.

Maka, who was being supported by Soul, groaned a little before replying. "Y-yeah… That bastard was trying to suck my soul out…"

"He WHAT?!" asked Soul, whose red eyes widened immediately. He started shaking his partner back and forth and put his hear against her chest, as if he was trying to hear her soul rattling in her slim body. Maka grew an extra vein in her temple—something that usually happened whenever she got pissed—and pulled a book from out of nowhere before smashing its spine into her weapon's skull. "Well, it failed on sucking that bit off her…" muttered Soul while he was rubbing his throbbing head.

"Wait, I thought you guys had that Soul Perception thingy?" asked Artemis, who saw the event and was now scratching her head in confusion while she and the rest of the group started walking out of the building.

"Only Meisters have Soul Perception, Artemis," answered Maka. "Some weapons can acquire the ability, but only through a Soul Resonance, and only during the Resonance. This idiot, however…" The green-eyed girl looked at her partner, who glared back at her with his hands covering his head.

"Hey, I may not see souls, but I can make your Perception range extend with our Resonance, remember?" said the red-eyed weapon. "And no need to call me an idiot!"

"Why call a rock by any other name?" snapped Maka with a sour tone, and Artemis chuckled lowly.

Tsubaki wasn't sure about whether to throw her partner out the window, or his phone. Black Star was still talking to either of Dante's guns through the phone, something he'd been doing since three in the afternoon, when the trio had separated. Ebony had written her phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to the blue-haired boy with a wink that was simultaneous to Ivory's. Tsubaki had arrived to her apartment after talking with Liz and Patty, and she found her Meister rummaging under the futon's cushions until he pulled out his phone, which he seldom used except for talking to his partner, or his close friends. The raven-haired girl didn't know how, but the weapon sisters quickly found their way into Black Star's contact list, which wasn't exactly something that pleased her.

Tsubaki sighed for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, and Black Star looked around until he found her. He smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up, oblivious to the fact that that sign wasn't exactly appropriate for that situation. The indigo-eyed girl forced a smile at her partner, but she wasn't feeling too well after all, and Black Star noticed. He quickly dismissed himself from the call and hung up the phone before walking towards her.

"You okay, Tsubaki?" asked the hotheaded young man.

"Y-yeah," lied the Demon Arm, forcing another smile.

The blue-haired boy raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms while saying, "C'mon, Tsubaki, d'you really think I don't know you well enough to know when you're not okay?" The busty girl's cheeks reddened a bit, and the assassin continued. "Tell me, what's wrong? If someone's bothering you, I'll beat the crap outta them!" He punched his open palm and cracked his knuckles with a smirk.

"B-Black Star… what do you like about those girls?" Tsubaki asked, sounding a little more serious.

"What? Whaddaya mean?" asked the assassin, confused.

"Ebony and Ivory!" said the weapon girl while holding her arm. "D-do you l-like them…?"

"Of course I like them," replied Black Star with a smile, "they're my friends!"

"O-oh…" Tsubaki felt slightly more relieved, and her chest started pounding a little faster. There were, however, a few questions that remained in her brain. "Do you—I mean, are you interested in either of them… you know… um…"

"I'll pretend I know what you mean and say no," replied Black Star with his eyebrow raised and a slightly amused expression.

"If you'd let me finish, I'd've probably told you what I meant," commented the raven-haired girl with a little giggle that dissipated quickly. "Black Star… A-are you planning on leaving me to become their partner…?"

"Why the hell would I do that?" asked the green-eyed boy as he crossed his arms. "They're already with that moron Dante, and they often talk about him. It's kind of annoying, you know…"

"R-really…?" the Demon Arm's indigo eyes lit up when she heard that, and she looked at Black Star.

"What, you thought I was gonna leave you just because they're my new friends?" asked the assassin, now slightly worried. When the girl in front of him looked down silently, he walked towards her and pulled her close to him, embracing her and patting her head. Tsubaki, who stood two or three inches shorter than her partner after the latter finally hit his growth spurt, blushed madly and looked up at the boy. "I'd never leave you for new friends, Tsu-chan," he reassured her while hugging her. "You're my soul mate, remember?"

'Oh. My. God,' thought Tsubaki to herself while her heart started pounding in her chest, which felt like it was about to explode. 'Did he just say we're… S-S-SOUL MATES?!'

"Well, since it seems you were bored all this time," continued Black Star after a few seconds of silence, "how about we watch that series I told you about? That way you'll be as awesome as me 'cause we watch the same stuff!"

"U-uh, sure," stammered the weapon girl, who was still stunned.

"Awesome! I'll put Netflix on, then! YAHOO!"

Sorry it took us so damn long to write this one, people! DX Hell week happened and College hit its difficulty spike and neither Klaus nor I could do anything about this chapter until like last week...

still, we're ready and waiting for our next round of exams but not without this chapter to cheer you readers up~~! :3

So! Maka and Dante's teams had a lotta terrible and terrific terror fun~! XDD and Tsubaki's living in a dream right now, apparently~ teehee~~ what will happen next? Do you think a battle might erupt for Black Star's heart~? Or maybe a foursome~~? XDDDD

Stay tuned for the next chapter~~~! :DDDD

~Humbert

As some of you may have noticed, the rating has been raised to Mature. Obviously we wouldn't raise it from Teen for idiotic reasons like language (what kinda teen hasn't said at least one "shit" in their life?), so you might have an idea of what might happen later in the series! Enjoy.

-Klaus