Maka sat, waiting for someone to open the door. Her voice was gone now; she had cried out for too long, it was only in vain. Why couldn't anyone hear her? Suddenly she was greeted by light as the door slowly opened. It was Arrie…?

"Maka… I'm so sorry; I don't know what came over me! Please forgive me, come on, let's get you out of there." Arrie's eyes were back to normal. He seemed perfectly fine, and was comforting her. What the heck happened? Should she keep this to herself? Maybe for now that would be best… It was morning now. Had she slept in there and not even realized it?

"Oh yeah, come on, Soul's awake." Maka dashed into the room, and the first thing her eyes saw was his back, the eight bloody flesh holes in his body. Tsubaki was cleaning them with a cotton swab, being extremely careful not to make it sting. His hands could be seen clenching the sheets of the bed; he was in a lot of pain. Maka only stared. The horrible sight became etched in her mind, an image that wouldn't go away, even when she tightly closed her eyes. Maka held back tears; she couldn't let Soul see her crying again… Soul winced again as Tsubaki gently touched the wounded skin, clenching his teeth. Maka left the room. She couldn't stand to see wounds bleeding and scarring over again and again, the person fighting not to scream out in pain. Even if it hadn't been Soul, she still wouldn't be able to watch. It was frightening. Maka strolled out behind the café, where a small sand water garden filled her with unexpected wonder. She hadn't seen something like this before, it was so small, but it was still prominent. The gardens at home… or what used to be home… covered half the land, entranced in a meadow of roses and color. So why when she saw this, it was still just as peaceful? Maka seated herself on the concrete at the edge of the garden. She stared as the water fountain endlessly flowed itself, the plants seeming to sway with the wind, the sand showing its brightest warmth in the sunlight. She was captured by the little sanctuary. Maka felt safe, for the first time in awhile. This little garden was simply a performer, dancing painting and graceful, melting away the world and its dangers that constantly surrounded her with fear. Her life had changed so quickly in only a few days… She missed Kami and Goroku… poor tiny Goroku. He used to follow her around the house like a puppy, copying whatever she was doing, wanting to grow and learn from his sister. Even though they weren't blood related at all, she still felt Goroku was her brother. She had grown up with him for five years… okay, well four and a half. He had just turned five, but it seemed like longer than that. Goroku was given up as an infant, and Kami had fell for him during a trip to Africa. He never even knew his parents, and now she was the one without a home. Maka's eyes began to drift, feeling the warm sunlight on her skin as the soft breeze caressed her face. She felt at peace with this little garden, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Soul couldn't take this sitting down anymore.

He'd been like this for two hours straight, and it was seriously beginning to ache. Who knew sitting for long could hurt your but so bad?

"Alright, enough!" Soul jumped from the bed. "I need a break." His face flustered in annoyance, and he slammed out the door.

"What's his problem?" Kid had only just gotten here, he had been awhile fixing his now, once again symmetrical store. He stared at the three of them hoping for some kind of answer.

"How would I know?"

"I dunno, I just got here!"

"Where were you?"

"Fixing up the place. I ran into that Kurori man on my way out, He was headed this way here too. In fact I just walked in with him. I've got a really bad headache right now though… and it's only hurting on one side which is making it worse! Quick someone punch the other side of my head!" Instantly Patti whacked him in the head. "Thanks… Patti…"

"No problem! 3"

"What!"

"What? He's not all that bad you know." Blackstar stared angrily at Kid, once again seriously creeping him out. ?

"Great…" and released one of her all well to known 'sigh's. Arrie hadn't said a word since he arrived, and leaned against the wall thinking to himself. What he was thinking, nobody knew, but his face was intense with confusive emotion. She decided just to let it go, and strolled out, looking for Kim to talk to. She was the only one besides Maka that made sense anymore… Tsubaki entered the room calm, but didn't notice Kim at first. When she finally caught her eye… Kim was staring intensely at something… she turned there, but saw no one in particular.

"Kim…?"

"Oh, hello Tsubaki… I didn't see you there. You want to know what I was looking at…"

"Umm... oh, its okay. You don't have to tell me."

"That man over there… I recognize him."

"Okay… and?"

"Wasn't that girl… related to Mr. West?"

"You mean Maka?"

"Sure…"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He's right there…"

(!) "What…?"

"The man in the black over coat. That's Mr. West." Tsubaki's face turned severe. If he discovered Maka was here…

"Keep an eye on him."

"Already on it." Tsubaki casually walked away as to not cause a scene. She rushed around the corner-.

"Blackstar!" Was knocked out on the ground.

Maka was suddenly awoken by an angry slam of the door. She had fallen asleep, but for how long? The sun was high in the sky… maybe an hour? There were definitely clouds moving in though, there would be a storm coming on, and quickly too. She looked out from underneath her cozy little table where she had sat under when staring at the garden.

"Damn it… What the hell Kurori!" Soul was starting to feel the pain now. At first it was just shock… but now that he had been away from him for awhile… it was starting to affect him. "You bastard… "And he cursed to the sky "What the hell! You treated me like your child, and now you're treating me like a criminal! You damn bastard! How many other lies have you been telling me! Damn you Kurori!" Suddenly Soul got an enormous headache.

"Now come on, I know you don't really think that way about me.

(!)

"K-Kurori!"

"I've missed you Soul. You obviously wish to come back… don't you…"

Silence…

"I thought so. You've run away, but you can't be gone for long. Kurori is your home. You gave a savage blow to Finel when he told you that… But you were fighting then. I know those were just words. You miss it, don't you?"

Soul looked away, depressed but with shame in his eyes. He couldn't bear Kurori was telling all of this to him right now… He did… he did want to go back… But how could he? After all that has happened, he couldn't just leave, could he? But his mind was telling him to go, that it would be okay. That then everything would turn back to normal and none of this would have ever happened. He stared up at Kurori. He wanted to join him again… he really did… and his body said no, but his mind said go. His legs were shifting, just shuffling slightly sliding on the gravel pavement in front of the garden. Kurori was his home… yea, home. That sounded nice… He could see it now… back in his room, back with all of his friends who were like siblings to him for life, they had all been through so much together… It was his family. He hated this running and hiding… it was pointless from the beginning, and he knew it. So why was he still doing this? There was no way he could possibly go against Kurori, he was just too powerful.

"I… want… to come back..."

Kurori smiled and embraced him.

Maka stared in horror and confusion when Mr. West hugged Soul. Why was he calling him Kurori! Was he under some sort of trance!

"Now, let's go get Maka, and we can go home."

"What? With Maka?"

"Of course."

Maka sat up terrified. What… what the hell… was going on?

"I tell you what… if you bring her to me personally; I'll let her stay with you."

"Really?"

"Anything for you Soul." Maka couldn't move now. If Soul saw her, shed be forced to come along, there was no way she could convince him that wasn't Kurori. Her father had put a chip into his head after He knocked him out. If she would have moved, they would both have been helpless. There was no way she could fight against him! Not now anyway… What could she do? If she came out, shed just be trapped in that house and life would be even worse than before! Just then, Arrie walked out with them.

"Kurori!" What! Did he have a chip too! But How!

"Arrie… Hello…"

"Arrie, Kurori wants us to come back! To go back and have it be just like the old days! And Maka can come too!"

"So he's not going to hurt you guys anymore?"

"It didn't work. So now… please, I just want you to come back. You'll even get to stay in a mansion, instead of those rooms."

"Wh-wha! No way!"

Arrie flinched for a moment. But immediately after he clicked back under the technology's control. "Really? All of us?"

"Yes, now come on; well eat a great lunch in celebration." Hearing the first sound of possible food, the two boys ran inside. Maka was frightened to move.

"So Maka…" Maka jumped when she saw her step father suddenly right next to her…

"M-Mr. West...t..."

"Don't worry. I won't do anything. That is… not yet anyway" And he smiled that smile… the same one from that night… it terrified her so much right now she didn't even realize she had stopped breathing. "I've got all of your little friends in my hands. No one's going to save you this time." Tears formed at her eyes, when all of them burst through the door as He pulled Maka out from underneath the table. "I found Maka!"

"Maka there you are…" Soul ran up to her. ? "You okay? You don't look so good…" Maka didn't know what to say. He cupped his warm hand to her cheek, his worried face trying to search her soul to see what was wrong. The world suddenly seemed to melt away as they locked eyes. His thoughts were darting back and forth, unsure how to react to this new feeling. He hadn't ever felt like this before. Slowly but softly Maka embraced her body with his, clasping him tightly. Right now, she just wanted to stay in his arms. Was that too much to ask for? For just a small time of sanctuary? His arms went to her shoulders, but instead of hugging back, he pulled her away, staring at her, blushing, confused and frustrated with him. He let go of her, and walked slowly away. "I'm… I'm sorry Maka. This isn't going to work out." Tears began to well at Maka's eyes. She began to smile… and even slightly laugh. To think… she had thought he had feelings for her. Nope. All this time, she had just been a fool. This was the worst… day… EVER. TT^TT

As soon as Tsubaki saw the man, she froze shocked and confused. But Blackstar and Kid simply walked up to him and started talking. They both came to a realization: he had all four boys under his control, even Patti and Liz couldn't see him. The only way they were going to get out of this, was to do it themselves. Maka ran to Tsubaki.

"They… they're under his control… I don't know what to do…" she cried under her breath. "They all think he's Kurori…"

"But how?"

"He inserted a piece of technology into them somehow, that's how he's controlling them, I don't even know if its control, it seems more like a trance than anything."

"I see… but why didn't he attack me?"

"Because you've… you've become his target now too… that has to be why he put all of them like this… he wouldn't have needed Blackstar otherwise."

"Yeah, but what about Kid?"

"Kid knows my father, and so do the Thompson girls. They'd take him out right away."

"Y-you mean…" They both stared at Mr. West as the boys friendly talked with him.

"We're trapped again…" So much for a break.