"Well it didn't look like she was kidnapped," Kid hissed into his phone. He was hunched over his desk, exhaustion sagged his shoulders down.

"WELL SHE WAS!" Spirit roared from the other end. He pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing. He set the phone down, letting the man rant about how terrible Kid was at his job. He leaned back, grabbing his coffee mug. Half full, now cold, he didn't even hesitate to drink it down entirely.

He could see his reflection in the dark glass of his office. Street lights sent glares across his still battered appearance: bandaged and bruised, the bridge of his nose braced so that he would heal straight. Some of the other cops at the station would have just let it go as it was; let it stay at a disgustingly unsymmetrical angle across their faces. He looked out, the large glass windows of his office giving him a perfect view of the empty and dark office. No one else worked from the office at four in the morning.

"Are you even listening to me?!" His phone roared from the desk. He lifted it with a sigh,

"I am. I'm just saying that your daughter stood there watching as the other two—"

"And I'M saying that you SHOT AT HER!"

There was a quiet 'click' of a door and Kid's eyes shot forward, suddenly alert.

"I'll talk to you later." Kid hushed,

"YOU'LL TALK TO ME NOW—"

He placed the phone back on the receiver loudly, eyes fixed on his front door as two bodies appeared ethereally from the shadows.

"So," he said evenly, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. He turned away from the two pointedly, trying to hide his face.

"So what the fuck is this?" The taller spoke, not leaving the shadows, but pointing at him accusatorily,

"What is what?" He sighed.

"Your face is a goddamn mess."

He felt the twinge of his eyebrow, his appearance cemented something he was struggling with anyway, let alone hearing about it from someone else.

"Ask your friends."

"I don't need to." She finally stepped out from the shadows, approaching him quickly.

"I'm sorry, Liz."

She sat on his desk lightly. Her hand reached for his face tentatively before falling to her lap. He noticed, but pretended not to.

"Sissy's mad at you," Patty sang, following behind her sister, but plopping herself down in a chair in front of the desk.

Kid just made a 'tsk' sound before looking at Liz.

"These things happen."

"They didn't when I was with you!" She spat out, almost before he could even finish his sentence.

"You know what you're doing is the most important job we have right now, don't act like a child." He was always rude when he felt guilty.

"I'm sick of this." She crossed her arms, "they hardly tell me anything anyway."

"That's not true," Patty laughed, "they told us about the Soul Perception!"

"They did?!" Kid almost shouted, standing to his feet. A swift glare from Liz made him sit back down quickly.

"Yep! And about the girl, but I dealt with it." Patty was playing with the bottom of her hair now.

"The girl? Maka Albarn?"

"Probably, I don't know, but like Patty said, she dealt with it. Pretty good too, huh?" Liz grinned at her sister who shot her the peace sign.

"And how did you do that?" Kid asked,

"She has Black Blood, I told them just to make her use the tech until she dies from it." She shrugged nonchalantly. Kid paled,

"No, that… won't do." He said quietly.

"And why not?" Liz sighed,

"Because I need Maka alive. She's a missing person that I need returned. My father asked me to do it." He looked away, not wanting to see Liz's frustration.

"Anything for daddy dearest, huh?" She mumbled, anger seeping into her words.

"Do you have anything else to report?" He pretended not to hear her,

"No SIR." Liz stood up and started walking out of the office, but Patty grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Liz, give em' our mission briefs. Don't be so dumb." She laughed when Liz shot a look her way. She produced a small USB stick and slammed it onto Kid's desk.

"Piece this shit together, try and figure out who they're after or whatever."

"I will." He said, trying to catch her gaze. It didn't work, of course.

Patty stood up, striding out of the office,

"I'll meet you in the car, sissy!" She shouted behind her, disappearing into the shadows once more.

"W-wait up!"

"Liz, hold on a second." Kid stood up, walking to the front of his desk as the older woman spun on her heels,

"What?" She said, exasperated.

"I'm sorry." he meant it and she knew it. He said it that heavy way, the way that made it feel like all the oxygen in the room was getting sucked out. She looked at his stupid, broken, bruised face and couldn't understand how Soul and Black Star could do it. She knew them. She liked them, although she hated to admit it. It was a common thing, undercover cops starting to love the life they were pretending to be living but…

There was something she loved infinitely more than the life she'd been pretending to have for years now.

She didn't stop her hand this time as it reached for Kid's face, landing softly on his cheek. He leaned into it, eyes closing.

"I hate this." She whispered as his own hand covered hers, removing it and holding it still for a moment before bringing them both to his chest, tugging her along with it.

"I know you won't believe me, but I do too." He pulled her into him, free arm strong around her. He spoke into her hair when he asked what he really didn't want to next,

"What do you know about a cop named 'Free'?"

Liz pulled out of his embrace and rolled her eyes. At least she wasn't that mad at him.

"All work and no play makes Kid a crazy idiot."

He laughed a little, but she continued.

"He's new in the system, like, a few months? I don't know I haven't looked too far into him. Why?"

"They took him with them yesterday, shouting something about him being Arachne. He never showed up again." She didn't need to ask who the 'they' were.

"Hmm." Her eyebrows furrowed, "So?"

"So why do they want him if he's Arachne? Do you think there's a chance they're working for her?" He leaned back on his desk, hand running through his hair. She laughed loudly,

"Hell no. I've told you before, they fucking hate that woman. At first I thought it might be a turf war but… it doesn't seem like that. These guys don't care about the normal stuff. They may have a distinctive MO, but nothing about why they're doing anything makes normal sense."

He shook his head, having heard most of this before.

"So why are they so focused on her organization?"

She raised her arms, a dramatic 'I don't fucking know' gesture. "They won't tell me anything and if I ask they just say that someone named 'Death' told them Patty and I aren't allowed to know yet. I'm not getting anywhere!"

"Just give it more time."

She just stared at him in silence, gaze cold.

"I should be going," she finally said. She turned to go,

"One last thing?"

She stopped, turning expectantly,

"Keep the Maka girl alive."

She huffed: clearly not what she was looking for.

"Yes sir." She muttered before striding into darkness.

.

.

.

"SOUL! Run!" It was Wes, eyes frantic, pushing him roughly through the threshold of the manor. Soul stumbled backwards, trying to get his footing, but panic and gangly teenage limbs made him stumble, fall back onto rocky ground.

"Wes!" he screamed out, watching his brother run back into his burning family home. He scrambled back towards the door but thick smoke made it almost impossible to see. One quick step through the front door, but his foot didn't meet marble like it should have; in fact, it didn't meet anything, just a long, dark vastness.

He was falling.

Flailing uselessly down into suffocating darkness, he could hear his mother screaming; hear fire crackling and rafters groan and snap.

His eyes squeezed shut, needing to make it all go away.

When they opened he was on a white medical table, strapped down. He struggled for a moment before looking down. Creeping up from underneath him, dragging herself across his body was the woman he hated more than anything in the world. Arachne.

Webbed eyes locked onto him while black silks brushed against his bare chest. She opened her mouth; sharp, white fangs glistened in brilliant, blinding white light.

Fangs dug into his shoulder, and in one quick, agonizing motion, tore down his torso.

Soul's eyes snapped open and he flew up from his bed.

Another dream.

His breathing was ragged, body drenched in sweat. He buried his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees and tried to control his racing heart. The scar on his chest almost stung, and he quickly brought his hand to it, trying to hold together something that was no longer falling apart.

There was a soft knock at the door. He looked over at it for a second, trying to decide if he should just pretend to still be asleep.

"Yeah," he almost gasped, still trying to calm down. The door opened slowly to a very sleepy looking Maka. She was in her pajamas, something he'd taken her to go buy: pink pants and a tank top, hair down around her shoulders.

"Is everything… Are you okay?" She peeped. The apartment was dark, only the light from the moon outside illuminating his room. She hadn't even turned on any lights.

"Yeah." He repeated, sitting up more now, his feet handing over the side of his bed. He was trying really hard not to seem like a panicked idiot but…

"I heard you yell is all and I just thought…" her eyes scanned him up and down, watched his silhouette as he rubbed his face quickly, his frame shaking a little.

She wordlessly padded over to him, standing in between his knees. She only hesitated for a moment before her hands were in his hair, holding his head to her stomach. He reacted instantly, arms wrapping around her middle as he let her hand stroke through his hair.

"Bad dream?" She whispered. He nodded against her, breathing in the smell of her perfume or fabric softener or whatever the hell it was. He didn't care; he just knew he needed it right now.

She didn't say anything else, just waited there until he calmed down. His breath became slow and easy, gip on her shirt loosening eventually, around the same time her exhaustion was starting to kick in. She swayed slightly, eyes closing groggily. He seemed to jolt awake for only a moment to steady her, his hands strong and firm again.

"You tired?" He mumbled into her shirt.

"Mmm," was all she replied.

He wordlessly moved her slightly, and before she really even knew what was going on she was sitting on his knee, almost in his lap. She was too tired to notice, really.

With both of them exhausted, it wasn't long before they ended up lying in his bed, his head in the crook of her neck, her legs still kind of on top of his.

They were still like that when Soul woke up in the morning. Limbs tangled up in each-others, a big heap on his bed. He rubbed his eyes with the hand that wasn't pinned under the girl beside him, rolling slightly over to glance at his phone.

He had two new messages. The first was from Liz.

We need to talk.

He swiped that away, looking at the other. This was from Kim,

Call a meeting later. Black Star told me some stuff. We need to use her.

He sighed, dropping his phone down on the bed and turning back to the girl snoozing happily beside him.

He knew they needed to use her, he knew the cost.

He shook his head, his arm draping over her before deciding to fall back asleep.

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Sorry if this is a bit short, the next ones gonna be longer, I promise.

Let me know what you thoughtttt! Thank you guys!