The white walls of the castle stained scarlet with the young thief's blood. "Tell me where she is," a low growl penetrated through her pained screams. "TELL ME!"

The brunette, Jackie, lifted her hung head with a grunt of pain. She was on the tips of her toes with her hands shackled above her to the stone-grey wall. Her captor raised a fist and once again threatened to hurt her much more if she refused to disclose the location of the runaway princess, Maka Albarn. She wheezed and hacked out a clot of blood. "No," she managed firmly.

The man scowled at her. "This is your last chance. Tell us where the princess is and we'll allow you to live. You should consider yourself lucky that we're giving you this offer."

"No way," she sneered as blood leaked from the side of her mouth.

"Then die," he stated coldly as he gave her one last hardened punch in the gut, leaving her struggling for air. With her head settled downwards and her gaze aimed at the floor, she heard the slamming of a heavy metal door, and then silence.


Maka felt more confident in her skills much more than her first weeks as a thief. With everyone else on high alert and not out in their banditry, she had much more time and training on her hands. She was thankful that she had her mother's athleticism and her father's know-how of how to handle a blade. Her aim improved; she could throw daggers at targets from a dozen feet away and land it tip-in with decent aim.

Soul often took her into the tunnels. Since she was a new recruit, she was required to carry a small parchment paper map with her while she went into the labyrinth, because if she were to ever get lost it'd take hours to find her, maybe even days. Most of them, including Soul, had memorized its layout. Soon, she'd be acquainted with it as well, she hoped.

Training became her top priority. But her assurance in herself didn't give her comfort about the guards and the dangers that loomed right outside their little camouflaged entrance. As more and more armed soldiers poured into town, according to Liz and Patty, Wes became more worried for everyone's safety. Rules became stricter; no one was allowed outside unless you had a partner or if you were in heavy disguise, which wasn't really necessary since the townspeople or the guards have never seen their faces enough to recognize them anyways. They listened to their Master Thief, nonetheless, and tried to make life have some sense of normalcy even with the suffocating feeling of law enforcement nearby. They tried to resume their noisy banter and wild drinking habits into the wee hours of night, even when others were asleep.

During that week, the runaway princess had grown accustomed to her new group of friends. Instead of being dirty greedy perverts as she had first perceived them to be, they were actually quite warm towards her. She felt like she was accepted immediately, as if they were the family she never had. Like she belonged there from the very start.

It wasn't until Liz and Patty came bursting through their lair entrance on one gloomy day did their new schedule change for the worst.

"We have urgent news from town!" Liz informed Wes, still gathering her wits.

"What is it?"He asked, catching the attention of everyone else.

"There's a big gathering in town. They say they're going to execute a thief today!" Patty broke in with desperation. "We haven't seen who it is, but we're sure it's one of us!"

Wes's brow furrowed. "They're trying to draw us out...but I can't just sit here while one of my friends die..."

"I'll go!" BlackStar chimed in and pushed through the crowd of burly men. "They'll never recognize me!"

"We can go, too," the brunette twins also agreed. "We've been out on the town for a few days and no one has seemed to notice us. We'd be the least likely to be caught."

"We need to send in as little people as possible. This way they'll be less suspecting of us. The last thing we need is for another one of us to be caught," Wes announced. "I will only allow Liz, Patty, and BlackStar to go on this mission. That is all, no one else is allowed, no exceptions."

A pang of guilt settled in Maka's stomach. "Is this...all my fault?" She wondered to herself.

"Maka, Soul. Be on higher alert than usual. My priorities are on you two, since those guards out there are searching for her. You are both strictly prohibited on seeing this execution and will wait for the three to return with their report," Wes said, approaching Maka. "Don't put the blame all on yourself, Maka," he began gently. "None of us could've predicted the desperate measures that they've taken." He peered down at her troubled gaze.

"I understand," she said sullenly. In reality, she knew Asura more than anyone else. She knew the callousness he possessed.

"When is this event occurring?" He asked Liz.

"This afternoon," she answered.

"Okay. I need you three to lie low and not try anything, got it?" He ordered.

"You mean not do anything?!" The blue-haired thief broke in incredulously. "What happened to protecting our own?!" The crowed nodded in restless agreement.

Wes sighed. "Fine then. It will be your choice: sacrifice one life, or save one at the expense of all of us. Only few of us know the multitude of how many soldiers that are out there! If they were to catch any of us, or even find traces of the hideout and manage to find us, we'd all be done for! We can't afford to stick out anymore!"

"So you're telling us to watch as our friend dies?" Patty asked somberly. He turned to her and nodded gravely.

"We have no choice."

With those words, a pair of footsteps was heard running off into the interior of the caves and went into one of the sleeping rooms. Soul separated from the crowd after Maka ran away ,and followed the blonde girl into one of the rooms and found that it was closed. He opened it tentatively, and saw her resided on the opposite side of the bed with her shoulders hunched and head hung low. "Hey, don't blame yourself for this, Maka," he said, resting next to her on the edge of the bed as her gaze was concentrated on the tips of her shoes.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was fragile. "But I can't help but think that this is all because of me. I know that it won't stop unless they get to their objective, which is to capture me. And because of it, more and more people will get hurt."

"Maka, listen. You can't pin this whole thing on yourself," he said.

"But isn't my problem, though? I caused all of this, just by being here."

"What are you thinking of doing, then? You're here for a reason. You're here for your mom, remember?" He reasoned.

"Yeah, but Mama would never go about her business casually, knowing that her friends are getting hurt! She'd do something about it!" Maka insisted.

"You'd better not be thinking of turning yourself in, Maka. I swear I'd -"

"Do what, Soul?!" She eyed him angrily.

"Protect you. 'Cause partners don't let partners die, dumbass," he finished.

Her frustration simmered down slightly. "But if we do nothing but sit here, then how are we gonna get through this?"

"We'll find a way. A thief's intuition never fails," he reassured her.

"But what if, even for one instance, it does?" She asked.

Soul shrugged. "We'd all be screwed."


The tall and lanky man strode into the small town with a permanent smug

grin plastered on his face. Behind him rode two guards on horses and a very beaten-up Jackie in between, whose hands were chained and was still painted in her own blood. She struggled to walk if it weren't for the spears prodding her back, and surrounding them was the whole town standing to the sides of the pathway. Down the road they were approaching was the town square which had a large tree planted in the center. From that tree hung a noose.

Stationed to the side of the town hall with their cape hoods draped over their faces were Liz and Patty, watching in secretive horror as their friend was dragged to the tree. BlackStar was standing a few feet behind them, hiding his rage by clenching his pale fists so hard they became white. "What are we gonna do now?" He hissed at them.

"You heard his orders, Star," Liz murmured back. "We can't do anything."

The guard behind her hauled her by her arm to the stage right under the noose that was dangling ominously from its branch. Asura stepped besides her and looked out into the crowd, raising his hand to silence them. "This young girl here has been charged with the act of thievery, and will be executed right here and now," he announced, and his words echoed emptily throughout the square. "However," he continued suddenly, "There may be a slight chance of survival. Anyone, and I repeat, anyone who wants to save this poor young lady should come up and tell us the secret location of the thieves' den nearby." He was answered by silence. "Is anyone willing to reveal it? If you do, then we will let her go. If not, then..." One of the officials yanked her and forced her head through the loop. "...she will die. It'd be a pity if we let her talents go to waste, wouldn't you think?" Again, no response, except for the boiling fury the trio were struggling to contain.

Patty gave her sister an urgent look that suggested that they somehow devise a plan to free their friend, but they remained silent. "Very well then. Let the execution commence," Asura finished. BlackStar reached into his coat pocket right as the executioner placed his hand on the lever that would drop the floorboard beneath Jackie. With deadly accuracy, the blue-haired boy threw his dagger at the man's hand. The once-silent crowd let out many gasps as the man threw back his hand in surprise, and Liz screamed, "Now!"

At once, the brunette understood what was going on. She slipped her head from the noose and shoved backwards into the executioner and knocked him off the platform. She seized the dagger that landed right on the lever, and used it to break the chains. Immediately, Asura swung around and found that she had leapt off the stage and was now making her way into the crowd. "GET HER!" He roared, and a hoard of the guards swarmed after her. Liz, BlackStar, and Patty snaked through the townspeople and caught up with her as she ran down an empty street.

"Thanks for that," she grinned at them and they all escaped into the forest with the men struggling to catch up to them.


"And that's how it happened!" Star reported with his chest puffed out proudly to the glowering Master Thief.

"You mean you deliberately disobeyed my orders?" Wes asked in a low voice. "Even after I told you to NOT do anything?" The blue-haired boy shriveled up at his Master's words.

"We're sorry, sir, but we had to," Liz admitted. After Jackie was done tightly hugging Kim, she turned to the leader.

Wes could do nothing but sigh. "Fine. As long as you've returned home safe and no one has tracked us. Welcome back, Jackie."

"I'm glad to be back," she said, limping over to him. He ordered someone to take care of her wounds, and everything in the cave returned to normal once again.

Maka found herself smile with relief. At least no one had died, she thought thankfully. Then she realized something important: Asura was now stationed in the town, not at the castle. This was her chance for revenge, for her to end everything right here and now. All she had to do was make past his guards, and into his quarters, and...

"What's are you thinking now?" the albino boy drawled, and she quickly glanced up. She could tell that he could see right through her thinking.

She bit her lip. "I don't think you're gonna like what I'm gonna say."

"Just say it then."

"I think it's time that we get our freedom back, don't you think?" She asked and he smirked. "It's time to pay Asura a small visit."


A/N: I was originally planning on killing off Jackie, but I decided to be nice. But it doesn't mean that the other characters are safe, either, so watch out! That's a warning.

~Amber