Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.

Chapter 10: Elevator

Crona gazed at the land below them through a window at the backseat of one of Shibusen's helicopters. She was sitting next to Liz who was between her and Patty. Kid was seating next to the driver, Yumi Azusa, a Death Scythe. Crona haven't been in a helicopter before so she was really fascinated by it. She was still nervous though; nervous that Eruka and Free might do something terrible to Kid once they meet.

"Are you three all right back there?" Azusa said.

"Yes, ma'am," replied Crona, Liz and Patty.

"Crona," Kid said as he glanced back at Crona with half-lidded eyes and stern voice, making her flinch.

"Y-yes?" said Crona.

He relaxed on his seat and closed his eyes. "I hope it is okay with you that you might get into a fight with your former comrades."

Crona slightly frowned, knowing that Kid still keeps in mind that she was affiliated with Eruka and Free before. But the truth is, she still was. And the truth made her feel the same guilt she always felt. She dipped her head a bit and lowered her eyes. "It's okay," she said. It came out really quiet.

"Thank you for the ride, Azusa-sensei," Kid said. He was now standing on the ground with the Thompson Sisters and Cron behind him while Azusa was still on the driver seat of the Helicopter. The door was open. Azusa closed it right after she said, "You're welcome. Now, remember what I told you." Kid nodded. The helicopter's propeller started to turn.

Azusa looked down at them as the helicopter elevated from the ground. The wind it made blew off Kid and his friends' hair but they stood firm as they watched the helicopter go away. They needed not to wait until it was out of their sight. Kid turned around and was soon followed by his partners and by the Makenshi. He was the only one who knew where they'll be going to. He was wearing his shinigami cloak, without the mask though. They were at the outskirts of a city and trees surrounded them.

"You girls heard what Azusa-san said, right?" Kid said as he continued to walk quietly ahead of them. Patty and Liz glanced at each other. They both shrugged. Kid gave them a disappointed look making them sweat drop. "Sorry, Kid, Patty and I were too busy talking to each other," Liz hesitantly said as she held the back of her head. "We didn't get to listen to your conversation."

Kid fully turned around to face them now. "Well, you should have listened. It's really important because it had something to with our mission now." Liz and Patty looked at the old-looking building behind Kid while Kid looked at Crona. "How about you, Crona-san?" he asked.

"I-I listened," Crona said.

"Great! Now can you please tell Liz and Patty what you heard?"

"Oh, o-okay." She kept holding her upper left arm and she faced Liz.

Liz held the pinkette's shoulder which made her eyes widen. "Crona-chan, you don't have to do it." She smiled then glanced at Kid. "Kid, let's get this over with so we can go home already," she said. "I got still got some split ends to cut."

"Why, yes. We should." He turned around and continued walking towards the old building. "I can't wait to even out that hair of yours."

Liz' hair bristled as she heard what Kid said. "H-Hey, wait! I never agreed to that!" She stopped holding Crona and ran after Kid. Patty and Crona just giggled. They walked together and followed the two.

"Crona-chan, you should get your hair cut by Kid too," Patty said.

"I-I'm not sure how I'll be able to deal with that. And b-besides… I won't look any prettier if that happens."

"Of course you will!"

"Y-you really think so?"

Patty nodded with a smile which made the pinkette smile back.

Kid studied the glassed entrance door. He could see that it was murky inside.

"Kid, are you sure this is the building?" said Liz skeptically as she glanced up at the building with her hands on her hips.

"How could I not be sure? This looks exactly how Azusa-san described it. This is why I told you that you should have listened."

Liz gave the young shinigami a bored look. "Fine, whatever," she said.

Kid grasped the door, faced down, closed his eyes and activated his soul perception. The girls waited patiently. Kid opened his eyes and said, "They're here." He pushed open the door and it surprised them that it wasn't locked. As they entered the building, they kept gazing around. "How many stories are there again?" asked Liz.

Kid scowled. He didn't want to say the word. "Seven," he reluctantly said.

"Oh." Liz sighed as she closed her eyes. "This is going to take a while."

"Eruka and Free, what are you guys up too?" Crona thought nervously as she followed her friends.

"Father said witch frog Eruka and Free, the immortal man, had taken innocent souls of customers and salespersons here," Kid said. He walked over to the elevator.

"Kid-kun, do you sense their souls?" asked Crona.

"Yes," replied Kid. His eyes narrowed. "And they're on the third floor."

"I wonder what they're doing," Patty said.

"Who knows? They're probably waiting for us? Be careful, girls. This is a witch and an immortal entity that we'll be dealing with."

"Yeah, yeah," said Liz.

Kid clicked the button for the elevator to come down to the first floor. "Hmm," he uttered. The door for the elevator opened. "I guess they didn't bother breaking this elevator. If we use this, we'll get to them faster. Nevertheless, we should use the stairs." He turned around to walk towards the stairs. Liz held his shoulder, making him stop from walking.

"Hold it right there, Kid. Didn't I just tell you that the sooner we finish this the better? Using the stairs will take long and it's tiring."

"Liz, whether you like it or not, we'll have to use the stairs. Elevators aren't always safe. They could stop for some reasons you know then you'll be locked up inside."

The naïve pinkette haven't been in an elevator too before so when she heard what Kid said, her eye widened. "Th-that's terrible!" she said, sounding more nervous than she already was.

"It sure is, now, let's go," he said as he shoved away Liz' hand from his shoulder. "Time waits for no one."

Liz was too tired to argue already so she reluctantly followed Kid with her sister and Crona. "This place really looks abandoned," Patty commented as they were walking on the stairs already. It was so quiet. The only noise was the noise produced by their shoes hitting the stairs. As they got closer to the third floor, Crona's anxiety grew. Kid glanced back at Crona but he kept walking. He saw that she look troubled and he started thinking why as he watched his steps. Suddenly, he didn't sense Eruka and Free's soul anymore which made him look up and utter, "ugh."

"What's wrong?" said Liz, giving Kid a quizzical look. They all stopped from walking,

"Their souls… I don't sense them anymore."

"They're probably gone already, Kid."

"That's impossible. All windows and doors are closed here except the entrance door. Only the person who works in the operating room knows how to unlock them all using a computer. We could have heard breaking of glass if they tried escaping."

"Maybe they went to the operating room."

"Yeah and maybe they know how to unlock the doors and windows," said Patty while Crona kept quiet.

"That might be right but we still have to make sure what's going on." He continued walking. He opened the door and saw a large room full of house appliances. He still couldn't sense their souls. "Is it just me or isn't my soul perception working?" he asked himself. The room was slightly dark. It was late afternoon already after all. "I'm sure I sensed their souls a while ago," Kid said. They started looking around.

"We believe you, Kid but it looks like we'e too late late already."

"They might be using soul protect. And worse, they might be waiting for us to get ready for battle."

"Kid, it's getting dark already," Liz said as she hugged herself. "Can't we do this faster?" she said.

"Patty, transform now and Liz, wield her."

"What?" Liz said, confused on why only Patty and why she should wield her when Kid is already there. Patty just acquiesced. "Hai!" she said as she threw her hands in the air and transform into her weapon form, a gun. Liz held her. Ragnarok came out of Crona and became a sword.

"That's weird… I sense them now," Kid said coldly. He and Crona stood behind each other. Crona glanced back at Kid with worried eyes and held his hand. Liz stood a little bit far away from them. Crona held Ragnarok with her left hand and stretched out her arm at her leftside. "Ready?" she asked Kid.

"Yeah," Kid replied calmly.

"What are these two planning?" Liz asked herself as she glanced back at Kid and Crona, holding her sister in weapon form with both of her hands. She heard a small bang from somewhere. He quickly turned to the direction where she heard and pulled the trigger, making Kid and Crona flinch. Liz slowly walked over to her target while Kid and Crona just stood still behind each other, glancing around, speechless. They could hear each others' breath. Liz saw what she hit and her face suddenly turned dark. She covered her mouth, turned around and started vomitting.

Patty changed back into human form and watched the dead rat on the floor. She giggled. "Big sis killed a poor rat! Big sis killed a poor rat!" Patty chanted as she flopped down on the floor and started laughing. Kid and Crona just sweatdropped at the sight of the sisters. "I thought rats shouldn't be inside a department store," Kid said, still sweatdropping. "I thought Patty likes animals," said Crona as she arched an eyebrow, still sweatdropping too. "Hey, Patty, she's your sister, you're supposed to help her, not laugh at her!" Kid said as he pointed at Patty.

"So you're finally here," said Free as he and Eruka stepped out of the darkness. All of them went back to serious mode. Patty changed back to weapon form and was once again held by her sister. Kid quickly face Free and glared at him. He was holding a huge light brown sack on top of his shoulder. Crona was standing next to Kid. She gripped Ragnarok tight. Eruka glanced at Crona and smiled slightly as she looked away. This made Crona wonder what that meant.

"We've been here for a long time now," Kid said to Free sternly. "Shouldn't we be the ones saying, 'you're finally here'?"

"We wanted to see blondie hit that rat we got," Free said then he grinned.

Liz glared at Free and grunted. "You're going to pay for that!" she said.

Free put down the sack. Kid and his friends watched closely and prepared themselves from any unexpected attacks. Kid glared down at the sack. Free opened it and what they saw astonished them. It was a sack full of human souls. Kid became speechless. Confusion was written all over his face. What's this? Are these the souls of the people who were here when they invaded this place? Why are they giving it back? He thought as a bulbous sweat ran down on his forehead.

"Reaper boy, we only did it for fun. We don't need these souls."

"Fun or not, you're still going to pay for what you did!"

Crona held Kid's shoulder. "Kid, let's just take the souls. I don't think they want a fight."

Kid's cold eyes turn soft as he glanced at the pinkette. He knew Crona might understand Free and Eruka more since they were a team before. He had the feeling that Crona's right. He nodded. Then he faced Free and Eruka again as Crona slipped her hand away from Kid.

Kid's solemn look on his face returned. "You can leave now," he said.

Free smirked while Eruka smiled. "Come on, Eruka," Free said as he started to walk away. Eruka glanced at him then faced Kid and Crona again. She bowed. "Thank you," she said then ran after Free.

"Kid, don't you find anything suspicious?" Liz whispered to Kid as they all watched Eruka and Free disappear. Kid dug his hands in his pockets and closed his eyes. "I do. But don't worry. We'll be fine now." He turned around and walked towards the elevator.

"Ah, finally, we're going home," Liz said. She and Patty were holding the sack full of souls. They followed Kid and Crona. Kid clicked on the elevator's button and patiently waited. "It turns out to be an easy mission."

The elevator's door opened. Kid and Crona stepped in together. "Sis, shouldn't we clean up the dead rat?" Patty said as she glanced at the dead rat. Liz turned around to face her sister. "Come on, Patty. Let's just leave it there." When she turned aroud again to face the elevator, the door closed. "Hey, what's going on?" she exclaimed. Patty was just clueless as she she glanced at the closed elevator door with wide eyes.

The elevator door closed. Both Kid and Crona gasped. "What the heck?" Kid said. He clicked on the button that would open the door but it didn't work. He and Crona tried to open the door with their hands pushing it to the side. Of course, it didn't work. Crona felt her heart sank as the elevator moved. It was going upwards. She and Kid stood beside the wall as they looked at the fluorescent light above. "Wait a minute, why is this going upwards? I clicked the button for first floor!" he said. Crona started to feel nervous again. The elevator suddenly stopped and it shook. It was as if there was an earthquake. Kid and Crona fell to the floor and scrathced their aching heads. Crona's head hit the floor causing her to feel dizzy. The fluorescent light started flickering. "Wh-what's happening?" Crona thought before she fainted.

(To be continued.)

A/N: I was supposed to write an action scence for Eruka & Free vs. Kid and Crona with their weapons but… I'm not good at that, really, and since it's Sunday, I can't really think of violence. That dead rat was kinda morbid though. Sorry for that. Next chapter might be the last chapter.