Maka leaned back in the chair, finally able to rest after informing Lord Death of the situation.
"Thank you for telling me this," He had said calling in Sid and giving instructions to lead a group to the spot. They left soon after.
"Feeling any better Maka?" The reaper asked. Maka shook her head.
"I'm more worried about Soul and Crona, have you heard anything about them?" She asked, she could feel her body shaking.
"No, I'm sorry. No news could be good news. If something had happened to them Spirit or Stein would have come to me immediately. Right now, I need you to rest, when you're up to it I have a job for you." Maka merely nodded.
"Is it possible that I could see them first, I just need to know that they're-"
"Lord Death, I have-Maka, what happened?" Spirit asked entering the room and rushing over to his daughter.
"I'm fine." Maka insisted.
"Are you sure, you look-"
"I said I'm fine." She replied angrily. Spirit sighed but turned from her.
"What is it Spirit?" Lord Death was clearly more concerned.
"We-two more students have died, the sickness seems to be changing, the symptoms are-"
"It wasn't S-"
"No Maka Soul's still here and Crona too."Spirit added quickly much to Maka's relief.
"So Stein hasn't figured it out yet, if this keeps up-"
"There's more," Spirit said interrupting the reaper. "Stein thought if he did some more tests it might give him some answers and might give him a way to treat this, it's taking a bit longer to get started but it could work. One of the students volunteered to let Stein do the necessary tests and so far they are the most advanced case. If we get the results we need, they could possibly be saved."
"I see, and where is Stein now, why hasn't he come to me with this information, who is this student?"
"He had to check on a couple things and then he's going into surgery with one of the weapons. Without it, the student doesn't have much time, he's bleeding internally, losing a lot of blood."
"Whatever this illness is, it can't be allowed to go on. The weapons can't take much more, brave as they are. I'm fairly sure the Meisters are in the same boat in a way." Lord Death sighed.
"There's not much that can be done right now, We have to come up with something this is getting us nowhere and by the time-"
"Lord Death!" Sid shouted running toward the group, the reaper turned quickly.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Kid and Akane, they- we need Stein immediately."
"What's wrong with Kid, where is he?" Lord Death panicked attempting to see past the zombie and into the hall.
"I'll go see if he's started yet." Spirit offered rushing from the room. Lord Death followed close behind and was met by a scene that made his heart drop. Kid was lying on the floor covered in crimson and unresponsive to the frantic calls from the Thompson sisters.
"Wake up Kid, please?" Patty cried, both girls were shaking. Akane lay just steps away from the young reaper.
Lord Death knelt beside his son.
"Kid." he whispered reaching out an over sized hand to stroke his son's dark hair.
"What happened?" Liz and Patty slowly shook their heads.
"It was so fast, we were forced out of our weapon form by some kind of... I don't know, then the shadow...and Kid was in front of us and- He'll be fine won't he?"Liz carefully touched Kid's hand.
"He- we wouldn't be here now if-I'm so sorry." the girls broke into deep sobs at the thought of what had happened.
"This isn't your fault, and Kid's a reaper, we can take a lot more than you think. He's going to be fine. Don't worry." Lord Death found himself wishing he could follow that advice.
Come on Kid, stay with us. It would break my heart to lose you. Please Son, come back to us now. I-I love you very much. He hoped that somehow the young reaper would hear his thoughts and do as he asked.
"Alright Soul, let's try to get this under control, I need you to work with me on this. As soon as Spirit gets back we'll get you into surgery." Stein said to the sleeping boy on the bed. "Just stay here a little longer."
Soul had paled considerably in a matter of hours, his breathing was shallow and it was clear to Stein that the boy was dying. Stein turned his attention briefly to Crona who was now sitting up in bed weeping softly.
"Crona, what's the matter?" He asked.
"I-I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with this, my friends are dying and Ragnarok is d-"
"No he's not, if he had died, you would've too, you share the same body, he's probably just too weak to do much of anything. I know it's not much of a comfort and I'm sorry you have to see this. I can put him in another room if-"
"N-No, I don't want him to be alone no one should be. After everything he's done, I just can't-"
"We have a problem outside the death room," Spirit interrupted suddenly.
"I can't handle anymore problems right now, just look at him, he can't wait." Stein motioned to Soul
"Damn it, Maka's here, he can't do that now. What are you going to do, he'll need-"
"I don;t know yet but I need to stop it now, what's the problem with the death room?"
"Kid and Akane, they're hurt pretty bad." Stein sighed.
"We can't handle all this, I thought it was bad when it was just the sickness. We don't have a choice, go find Marie, she'll give you an address, try not to be gone long." Stein instructed, beginning to move Soul's bed. "Send someone down to watch over Crona while you're gone."
"I'll be fine, really, Soul and the others need you more right now." Crona dried his eyes o his sleeve.
"Papa, what's going on?" Maka's voice called as she limped into the room, holding onto whatever she could to keep herself on her feet, which were still shaking and causing her a great deal of pain.
"M-Maka, what are you doing down here, you should be-" The Meister gasped as she caught sight of her friends. Crona wrapped his arms around his stomach.
"Maka, are you okay?" Crona asked with deep concern.
"I'm fine. I-" She stared at Soul, moving closer until she reached his bed.
"Soul." she whispered reaching out to touch his hand, ignoring her own pain. "Soul, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do to help you, I failed." She felt the tears running down her cheeks as she rested her head on his chest.
"Y-you didn't," Soul whispered back opening his eyes to look at her. "Just one more thing I need from you right now."
"What's that?"
"Look at me Maka." He said, waiting for to lift her head. Maka did as she was asked, her green eyes met Soul's piercing red eyes.
"You have to be strong for both of us right now, you haven't failed, I've always been proud to be your partner. No matter what happens, you can't save everyone Maka, as much as I know you want to, but you've saved me more times than you know."
"I don't want to lose you." She sobbed.
"I'm sorry Maka but we have to take him, we need to stop the bleeding, he's not-" Maka's heart dropped. She tried to shake it off.
"Right, Soul, I-I just don't want to say-"
"Don't. I'll see you soon, okay?" Maka smiled sadly.
"Yeah." She said, lowering her head to whisper once more in his ear before watching him being taken out of sight.
"Maka-" Spirit began to comfort
"He's so weak, Soul's never like that, I could tell he- Is there something else I can do?"
"Get moving Spirit!" Stein shouted.
"are you going to be okay?" Maka nodded and watched her father leave the room.
"Please don't cry Maka, He'll be okay."
"Yeah, he will. I just-"
"Do you need a hug?" Crona offered, Maka nodded and sat down on Crona's bed, leaning into him, He wrapped his arms around her, He knew what she had whispered to Soul and his heart broke for her. Crona loved Maka and her happiness was important to him. He hated seeing her cry.
"It's alright, I'm not Soul, but I can still be here to help you while he's sick. I know it's not the same."
"Thanks Crona. It means a lot to me."
"Damn it!" Stein shouted causing Maka and Crona to jump.
"What's wrong?" Maka called back in a shaking voice." Stein drew in a breath in a effort to sound calm.
"Maka, I can't promise it's going to make a difference or if it'll even happen but I need to ask you to do something for Soul." Stein called out.
"Whatever he needs, I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."
"We'll get to it in a few minutes, when Spirit comes back, I need you to give me a hand. You maybe the only one that can."