A/N: I was out of town for 1 and a half day so I wasn't able to make chapter 10 earlier.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater

Chapter 10: Sadomasochism

Dusk came. Raven hopped out of the shuttle bus and opened his black umbrella since it was raining. He started to walk on the sidewalk. He was already in the city of Isfahan, Iran where he first met the daughter of the couple he killed a long time ago. Licorice had been guiding the way.

People kept looking at Raven and he didn't know why. He just ignored them. He kept in mind his mission, his mission to save someone from committing suicide. He wasn't sure where to go, or where this suicidal girl will be, but Licorice gave him a clue.

-Flashback-

In the airplane that was on the way to Isfahan City, Raven was sitting beside Licorice who just kept looking at the window.

Licorice kept watching the window next to her. "Hey, Raven, I wonder…" she started.

Raven raised an eyebrow and said, "What?"

"Why are airplane windows so small?"

Raven rested his left elbow on the arm of the chair and rested his head on his palm. He looked lazily at Licorice. "I thought you're already old enough to know the reason."

Licorice turned to Raven and glared at him. "Well, what do you expect from a girl who died on her first birthday, who came back to life and grew up in a teddy bear?" she said in a little voice so no one, except Raven, can hear her. She placed her index finger on her cheek and looked up. "Now that I mention it, I forgot how I was able to live just by staying in that bear."

Raven just stared at her.An arrow of pity shot throughhis heart. Then he looked away. "The size and shape of the windows can weaken the fuselage structure," he said, as an answer to her question. "By decreasing the surface area of the window, aircraft designers decrease the possibility of rupturing a window and losing cabin pressure."

"I see," Licorice said as she nodded in understanding. She continued to watch the window. There were a few moments of silence.

"So where is she going to do it?" Raven asked all of the sudden to Licorice. And by 'it' he meant suicide. He was referring to Scarlet.

Licorice didn't face Raven. She just looked at her hand that was on the right arm of the chair without facing down. "I think it will be somewhere near the water."

Raven glared at her. "You think? I thought you should be sure since you can…"

Licorice covered his mouth and shushed him. "Don't be careless, Raven," she whispered to him. She couldn't let other people in the plane hear Raven saying that she somehow has the ability to see the future.

Raven moved her hand away from his mouth. "Fine," he said and folded his arms. "So somewhere near the water, huh. Why don't you just tell me exactlywhere she is?"

"I'll just show you the way once we get there."

Raven sighed. He didn't really want to go along with this 'mission' but he had to since he still wanted to live, considering the fact that Licorice holds his fate now. He still wanted to see Kazune, if ever possible that he was still alive, even though he tried to convince himself that he already passed away without being sure. Satisfied by Licorice' answer; he looked up at the ceiling then closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep.

-Back to present-

The rain stopped. Raven turned to the right to an alley where Licorice can transform into her human form. He closed his umbrella placed it with his backpack on the ground. He knelt down, took the bear out of his bag and threw it behind him. Purple light came out of the bear and it transformed into Licorice. She landed on the ground, stood firm, caught the bear, hugged it and smiled at Raven.

Raven's face twitched at the sight of Licorice. "What's with the entrance?" he asked her lazily.

Licorice just laughed hesitantly. "It just feels good to be a human again."

Raven turned back to pick up his things. "It's been only a few hours and you already missed being a human?"

Licorice folded her arms and closed her eyes. She was still holding the bear. "Well, of course." She opened her eyes, faced down and smiled. "I never thought becoming a human again would feel so good. I used to think it's better to be inside a bear… that way, I wouldn't feel the same pain I felt when I got killed."

Raven paused. What Licorice said reminded him of himself when he was young, when he almost got killed by the vampire who was after him when he ran away from their house where these was an ambush. But that vampire only got to bite him on his neck that turned Raven into a half-blooded vampire instead of killing him. Raven was lucky to escape.

The memory flashed into his mind for a few seconds. He shook his head and raised his left palm to his left side, at the same level of his shoulder. "Give me the bear," he told Licorice. She tossed him the bear and he caught it in his hand. He placed it back into his red back pack. He wore his bag, picked up his black umbrella and stood up.

"I can't believe you still remember how it felt like when you died," said Raven.

Licorice closed her eyes and held the back of her head with her right hand. "I find it unbelievable too."

"Come on, we don't have all day."

"Why do you always say that?"

"I only said it twice to you."

Licorice sweat dropped. "I guess that's right."

"Please bring this." Raven gave her the umbrella.

"Why?" she said as she held the umbrella. "Are you allergic to umbrellas or something?"

"No. I'm not used to bringing one so it's kind of uncomfortable."

"Oh, okay then."

They started to walk out of the alley.

Scarlet looked up at the sky that had blue, orange and yellow colors with a few clouds. The laughing sun was about to set already. She had been sitting alone on the stairs at the one side of Khaju Bridge, the finest bridge in Isfahan City, watching both the sky and the river. She kept hugging her legs, getting nervous at what she will do to herself.

Scarlet has red-orange hair. That's probably why her name is Scarlet. Her hazel eyes shimmered as she looked at the sparkling water. She was as pale as Raven. That day, she wasn't wearing any Iranian clothes of hers. Instead she wore a khaki cotton trench coat and Dr Martens white boots. She wasn't actually pure Iranian. She had an American blood because of her father.

"Mom and dad, I'm sorry, but I want to do it… I don't want to live anymore without you guys. I want to see you two already," she thought melancholically.

People passing by behind her kept looking at her but she doesn't notice since she doesn't face them. They wonder why she's being alone. Raven and Licorice finally arrived to the bridge. They started to look all over the place together. There were only a few people around and others didn't stay for long since it was getting dark already.

"Are you sure she's here?" asked Raven.

"Of course I am," replied Licorice, annoyed at Raven's skepticism.

They continued to look for her. Yellow lights on the bridge were already turned on. Raven ran pass a few walls. This time, he and Licorice split up to make the work easier. (Why didn't they think of that earlier?) His eyes widened when he realized he noticed a red-haired girl down the stairs near the river shore. Her hair looked redder since it was getting dim. He stepped back and stood for a moment to make sure if it was really her.

One woman came down the stairs, stood next to Scarlet, held her knees, and lowered her upper body to see Scarlet's face. "Sweetie, it's getting dark already," she said.

Raven hid behind the wall. He folded his arms, rested his back and left foot on the wall behind him. He knew eavesdropping was rude, but he need to do it anyway, even though it was hard to hear them because of the distance.

Scarlet looked up at the stranger then looked at the water again. "I know," she said, sounding apathetic. "Please leave me alone. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." She didn't want anyone to witness her killing herself.

The woman was stunned at Scarlet's behavior. Scarlet wasn't being nice nor was she being rude. She just looked emotionless. She glared at her. But she smiled and her anger faded away for a moment after thinking of a new plan. She figured out she couldn't do anything to help this girl. But she wasn't actually there to help Scarlet. No, she was there to end her hatred. But she did want to put up a façade.

She wanted to show her that she will help her. She knew Scarlet was already on the verge of losing herself, that she'd try to do something wrong to herself. She was a psychologist after all. She knows a person who's about to do a suicide when she sees one. She couldn't live to see another day, knowing that the daughter of the deceased couple she hated was still alive.

She hated Scarlet's father for fooling her, for marrying Scarlet's mother instead of her. She wanted revenge. The death of the couple wasn't enough revenge since she wasn't the one who killed them. Even so, she was thankful to the killer whose identity she didn't know. And she was unaware that he was just a few meters behind her, watching them.

"I am not going to hurt you, little girl," lied the woman. She said little even when Scartlet was fourteen years old already. "I'm here to help you."

Scarlet looked up at her once again. "Help me with what?"

"I know you, Scarlet," she said with a smile. "I know your father. We were even good friends. I was so sad when I found out he died. I know how you feel." She sat next to Scarlet.

"No." Scarlet faced down. "No, you don't. So please, go away."

"You want to see your parents, don't you?"

The question made Scarlet flinch. It's as if she stopped breathing for a few seconds. She slowly turned her face to the woman. "H-how did you know that?"

"I'm a psychologist." There was pride in her voice.

"Is that so? Do you also know what I want to do right now?"

The woman smiled again. "I have an idea about it."

"I repeat, ma'am. Please leave me alone. That way, you can help me."

The woman frowned. She now had no choice but to go with Plan B. She lost her patience already. She smirked when she realized it was so quiet around them, giving her a signal that she was alone with Scarlet. "You really are a stubborn girl like your mother," she said as she took out the handcuffs from her purse.

The sound of the handcuffs made Scarlet twitch and made her blood go high. She already had the urge to run away. She started to stand up but the woman pulled her back down and locked the handcuffs on her wrists. Scarlet was too scared to scream now, her eyes widening and some sweat was falling down her face.

The woman put masking tape on her mouth and wrapped torn clothing around her lower face. It was all happening in an instant. Scarlet kicked the woman's face and started to escape but that she just gave the woman another reason to kill her. She grabbed her ankles that made her fall to the ground.

"That does it," said Raven as he gritted his teeth in anger when he and Licorice heard the loud thud when Scarlet fell to the ground. Licorice was too mad now to talk. The two of them were in the dark, behind a wall. Licorice fixed her tight black gloves while Raven started a partial weapon transformation. His hand turned into a machine that had revolving disc-shaped razor blades.

Scarlet was facing the ground now. She winced as she tried hard to pull herself up. The woman sat next to her, gripped enough few strands of her red hair and lifted her head.

"Revenge," she whispered with an evil smile on her face.

Scarlet just looked into the woman's eyes. Pain was written all over her face. It was too much that she couldn't even think about reasons why this woman was making her suffer or even think about on how defending herself. Her body trembled as it weakened. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Don't move, dear, this will only hurt for a second," said the sadistic woman as she pointed a normal pistol on her chest, near her heart.

Scarlet closed her eyes. "I guess I won't be doing the suicide anymore," she thought and calmed herself. "Mom, dad, I'll finally see you." She smiled.

The woman raised an eyebrow, obviously confused why Scarlet was smiling now. "She seems to enjoy this," she thought. She smirked even more, considering what Scarlet was doing a motivation to her.

Licorice just stayed behind the wall, crossing her arms, mad at Raven for not letting her come with him because "it's too dangerous" and because "they haven't practiced as weapon and meister" yet.

Just about when the woman started to pull the trigger, a disc-shaped razor blade hit her wrist and cut her hand. The gun fell to the ground and the woman cried in pain. She couldn't believe her eyes, she almost fainted. She could see a lot of blood was coming out of her lower arm and she trembled even more when she saw her hand with the gun on the ground.

Licorice eye's widened at what Raven did when she took a peek. She turned around and let her back slip on the wall downwards to the ground, sighing in relief. "I'm glad he insisted that I'd stay back," she said as she closed her eyes. "I didn't know he could do something so disturbing in an instant. Raven, please save master."

Raven looked down on the woman. Scarlet was back to facing the ground after the woman let go of her hair. She was too exhausted too rise and see what's happening around her. But she knew the woman was in trouble already and that she won't be killed anymore. She felt she lost hope of seeing her parents instead of rejoicing that someone came to save her. She tried hard to look to her side to see the river. She thought it was her only hope now.

"You two are rather disgusting," said Raven as he started walking down on the stairs with a solemn expression and he faced down. His other hand was in his pocket while his other was a Ripper (his weapon form). "But it's rare to see a sadist getting along with a masochist. I should put this on my journal." The woman just glared up at him and started screaming hysterically.

"You damn four-eyed boy," the woman said. Even though she was angry, her voice was shaking in fear. She grabbed the pistol and quickly shot Raven but Raven had good reflexes like Death the Kid. He held up his right arm that transformed into a weapon and made it a shield.

The bullet hit it but didn't damage it at all. Raven slowly raised his head and smirked like a sadistic person which sent shiver down the woman's spine. Raven took off his eyes glasses. "You old hag, these glasses are only for style to me."

The woman grunted and shoot him with the gun even more but Raven just ran towards her, trying to dodge from the attacks. Licorice placed her head on her ears as she heard the gun shots.

Raven was too busy with the woman, he didn't notice Scarlet was near the river already. He took the gun away from the woman's hand and started beating her up with his other hand. The woman was too weak to fight back already. Licorice stopped hiding and saw that Raven was putting the Ripper near the woman's neck already with a crazy grin on his face.

"Madness," Licorice gasped as she watched Raven. Then she noticed her master. She thought what Raven was doing was too much already. "Raven!" she shouted at Raven and pointed at Scarlet who was drowning in the water now.

Raven looked at Licorice then glanced at the river. His eyes widened. "What the heck?" he said as he let go of the woman. She fell to the ground and didn't try to stand up anymore. Raven ran towards the river, took of his shoes and started swimming in speed. He changed back his right arm to normal. Licorice ran towards the woman to check if she was still alive and she was, barely.

"I know… I'm going… to die here… but at least tell me… who that boy is," said the woman in between coughs.

Licorice felt a strange feeling of pity coming to her as she looked down at the miserable woman. "This woman's right," she thought. "From the looks of Raven beating her up, there's no way she'll live longer now. She lowered her upper body and held her knees to come closer to the woman.

"He's the killer you have been admiring," she said as she smiled down at the woman.

The woman was dumbfounded. And then she smiled back. Slowly her eyes closed and she died. The smile on Licorice faded. She stood up straight and watched Raven.

-Flashback-

Back behind the wall, Licorice asked, "Raven, do you know that woman?"

"Yeah. She has great hatred on Scarlet's dad. And she's been admiring me for killing him with her wife." Raven smirked. "Weird, huh?"

Licorice punched Raven on the chest for the second time now. "How did you know that? You're a stalker, aren't you?"

Raven glared at her. "Researcher, not stalker," he managed to speak even when his chest still ached. "There's a difference."

-Back to present-

Licorice picked up Raven's glasses and strong wind passed her.

Raven swam deeper in the water and finally saw Scarlet's face using his night vision, his eyes went red. Scarlet's eyes slowly opened in the water and saw Raven's red eyes. Then she fainted and bigger bubbles started to come out of her mouth. Raven took her hand, held her shoulder then quickly swam up towards the surface of the water. He brought her back to the shore with Licorice.

"Master!" Licorice exclaimed as she ran towards the two. She helped Raven carry Scarlet. They let her rest on the ground. "Raven, you know what to do!"

Raven glared at Licorice. Water was still dripping from his hair, clothes, etc. "Don't even think about it."

"For Pete's sake, I'm not going to be lesbian, okay? You do it!"

"Be a lesbian for once! There's no way in hell that I'll—"

His words were cut when Licorice hit the back of his head with her palm that made his face fall to Scarlet's face. He had no choice but to do CPR now since his lips are already on hers.

Licorice just kept laughing. Then the cops arrived. Her laughter faded and Scarlet was finally half awake now and the first thing she saw was Raven's relieved face.

A/N: Scarlet Vander is my 1st original character. The word Scarlet is Persian so I decided that she live in Iran, specifically in Isfahan City because Khaju Bridge is there.

I've been playing Unreal Tournament and I like this gun called The Ripper/Razorjack (not my favorite though). That gave me the idea for Raven's weapon.

Again, I apologize for including my original characters in this story. So far, this is the longest and the hardest chapter I made. I sometimes prefer to use simple English to make the story less confusing. Hope that helps.