Two weeks and we were all back on a plane heading to Death City. Two weeks and Ramla had avoided all contact with us and even ran off into the savannah without a word. Stein-sensei seemed in a foul mood as he sat at the back of the plane with Maka's father. They both sat in silence staring at the floor. Maka was asleep in Soul's lap while Liz played with Patty's hair across from them. Helena sat by herself in the front row while Tsubaki and Black*star sat right behind her.

There was no words to describe the heavy silence that hung over us. Miss Fallon and Clarabelle were both unconcerned as we left their lab. Dengu and Alexandre spoke only once to Spirit-sensei and Stein-sensei before leaving us at the airport. "Hey Kiddo?"

"Yes Liz?" I say absentmindedly.

"What do we do now?" she looked hesisant.

"We go home and get on with our lives I guess," I respond. "Let's just hope we can do that much. It has been a strange couple of months hasn't it?"

"Mhm," Patty agrees halfheartedly. Helena shifted in her seat to look out her window as we make our decent back into Death City and back to our lives.

"This is getting us nowhere Ramie," the little witch huffed. Instead of responding I continued to climb up the mountain. "I mean she isn't going to be here anymore. We need to find another minion of hers and Read their mind. Are you even listening to me?" she squawks.

"No not really," I intone. "Look at that," I say before she could respond. I flip up onto a ledge and sit down. "A place to rest, now will you shut it?" I pull my pack around into my lap and opened it. I throw a water bottle at the little witch and open my own as I watch the sun rise in the distance.

"What now?"

"I need to find where the drug was being manufactured and put an end to those senseless deaths," I say. "After that we deal with the bitch and…him."

"Okay," the little witch says. Her face in pinched in concentration causing her to look more her age. "Did you get anything from that lion about the manufactures location?"

"No," I sigh. "He was too far down the totem pole to be involved in that. We have to go hunting."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Use your magic of course," I smile at her. "I know you have your own minions out there acting as informants. Have them looking for a processing plant that wasn't there before."

"Alright, it might take a few days though," she warns.

"What's a few days…?" I mumble. I stand up and stretch my arms above my head before slinging my backpack across my back again. "Let's go."

"This is serious Stein!" Spirit-sempai yells at me. I slowly turn the crank in my head as I stare at Marie. She is shifting from one foot to another uncomfortably as Lord Death stands there stoically. "It has been three days since we got back from that hot hell and people are still dying! I thought we allowed Ramla to stay in Africa because she was supposed to stop this!"

"Spirit-kun," Lord Death finally said. "I don't think we can allow Ramla to do anything. Could you have forced her to come back?" he tilts his head at Spirit-sempai. "I didn't think so, she offered this to us. She could have just as easily told us all to buzz off!" he makes a ridiculous motion with his hand to emphasize his point.

"It's also only been three days Spirit-sempai," I intone bored. "Give her at least a week this is a big operation for one person."

"And yet you left her there alone?" Mira questions. Her words dug a little deeper than I let on as I blew out a drag.

"You want to go help her. Be my guest," I say too sharply. "She didn't want us there."

"Stein-kun," Marie walks up to me at this point. Her touch is calming, but it wasn't enough.

"We just left her again," Sid says. It wasn't a question and it wasn't an accusation, just a sad realization. The weight of the air grew too heavy for me, I just walked out.

"Son of a bitch!" I screech as I kill another useless lion. "Where is she?!" I have combed through cities, towns, villages, and open plains with no results. Kaluwa's minions were everywhere trying to stop me, but I just cut them all down. They were all useless for information and not worth keeping. I jumped back onto my Soul Bike and tore off back towards HQ.

When the elevator doors slide open I was greeted by a silent hallway. Alexandre and Dengu must have been out on a mission I thought as I walked down the hall. I open my door and move to flop down on the bed. "Damn…" I grumble. The sun filters in gently through the blinds and warms my sore muscles. It was too easy for me to slip into a deep sleep.

I wake up in total darkness confused and sore. "Zoya?" I call out. "Zoya! Zoya!" I scream her name into the dark. There was nothing but my own harsh breathing as I tried to sit up. I was chained down against something cold and I could hardly breathe. "H-help me!" I whimper. "Momma!" I struggle against my chains. "Momma!"

"Stop screamin'!" came a harsh male voice. I didn't recognize it and it scared me more. I struggled against my restraints, but to no avail. "No use girl," the voice barks. "They are magic."

"M-magic?" my voice breaks. Before the voice can say anything a blood curling scream pierced the air. The pain and anguish in the sound turned my stomach.

"You're next girl," the voice laughs as the room is suddenly flooded with light. Everything is shinny and metallic causing me to squint. The voice belongs to a very tall man with many scares adorning his body—a warrior. A small woman walks into the room behind him, she is staring at me with a childlike glee. Her eyes were too much like a mountain cat I once ran into on a hunt. They were wide and bright green framed by her massive amount of hair that was pulled high on her head.

"Shall we start?" her voice was even childish with a touch of sadistic.

"N-no! No!" I start to scream as they both approach me. "Let me go! Momma! Zoya! Help me! Please!" I beg to the gods. Nothing.

No help comes.

Nothing…

I am alone…

Am I going to die?

I woke up with a start to find myself tangled in the sheets. A sheen of sweat coats my whole body causing me to shiver. I twist out of the covers and fall onto the floor. It was dark out and I could hear voices drifting about outside my door. I manage to stand up, as much as I wanted a shower there was work to be done. I knew where the manufacture was hiding.

"Alexandre-kun!" Shinigami-sama screams joyously at me. "How's it goin'?" Dengu was sulking in the corner of the office with his back to me.

"Ramla got the drop of Dengu other than that everything here is stable."

"Mhm?" he questions with a head tilt.

"We didn't know Ramla was back in HQ when we got here," I sigh. "She came careening out of her room like a bat out of hell and Dengu almost died of fright. Now he is sulking," I point at him.

"Where was she going in such a hurry?" Shinigami-sama asks completely ignoring my sulking partner.

"Don't know," I reply. "She doesn't exactly tell us what she is doing or where she is going."

"I see," he says. "Well, have a good night!" and he ends the call before I can say anything. I stare at the mirror in confusion before I decide to just drop it.

"Do you understand anything that is happening Dengu?" I ask.

"No," he says gruffly before standing up. "She'll let us know if she needs us."

"Yeah," I respond not convinced at all. 'We said that last time, too.'

I'm driving as fast as I can out in the emptiness towards a place I never thought I would have to go back to. 'That bitch,' I growl in my head as I push the bike faster. It took me the whole night and the better part of a day to almost reach the place. I unleashed my Soul Protect, but stomped my soul down so as to not attract unwanted attention. I park the bike next to a dead tree a few hundred feet from the building.

From the outside it looks the same, dusty and deserted. "Bionic Eye," I whisper as the thin covering dissipates and I focus my Soul Perception on the building and the immediate area. There are more than a dozen tainted souls loitering about the place inside and out. I pull my soul tightly around me in my cloak and bow. "Quick Step," I murmur as I lean forward for the spur of magically enhanced speed. I take out the three guards on the east side of the building before I scale the building. Four more guards down as I ease open the access door and slip inside.

I walk quickly and quietly down the stairs until I reach the top floor of the building. The guards moved in a rotating manner so I waited for the gap before slipping inside and down the hall. I used the stairs to reach the next level down, a guard was watching this door so I shot him in the throat before he could raise the alarm. I glide around his soul and sprint down the stairs, I open the door and break the neck of the next guard before she could even turn around. The sickening feeling that tried to crawl its way up my throat gave me pause. I looked out around the corner to see a scene from my nightmares.

Long metal tables were surrounded by people in lab coats poking and prodding at test tubes and beakers. Lions and Lionesses surround them as bodyguards, but they were lazy. Laying down or outright sleeping on the job. The humans seemed calm and unaffected by the beasts. "I got the next batch!" some man hollers to the others. He walks through a door at the side of the room.

"Great we need to ship it out immediately," one of the lionesses say.

"Yes ma'am!" the man bows before walking back through the door he came in.

"I don't think so," I growl as my soul flares up. "My week is up!" I shout as pandemonium breaks out and people are running everywhere. I take out minion after minion until there is nothing left but the people. One man comes at me with broken glass and I shoot him through the head. His soul was tainted anyways. "Don't move. Don't do anything stupid and I probably won't kill you," I command. I pull out a green arrow and point it at the ground, "Bind!" When I fire it the green energy latches onto the target and forces them to their knees. I fire my Binding Arrows until all the people are down.

"Soul Perception," I say as I check to make sure I did not miss a single soul. When I am satisfied that there is no one else I use Soul Stitching to drag the people behind me, they complain the whole time. "Inferno," I seethe as I pull out a red arrow and point it at the building, I did not pull the people far enough away. I didn't really care. The building goes up in purple smoke and it slowly turns black as the Sutherland authorities arrive. I write a quick note with a pad and pen I stole out of the building and tacked it to one of the people before heading back to my bike.

Without looking back I ride off into the setting sun back to HQ. Weariness and fatigue was starting to catch up to me as I pushed the bike as much as I could. I force myself to stay awake and upright until I made it back.

The next day when I stumble into the office Dengu is sitting in there working on something. We do not acknowledge each other as I call Shinigami-sama. "Heyo! Hiyo! How's it going?" came his chipper voice.

"It's done," I say flatly. Without another word I walk out and down the hall to my room to pass out.

We were all sitting in the library studying for the test next week in Stein-sensei's class. Holly and Namoki were both trying to read, but Black*star kept making noise, Soul was listening to Maka read to him, Liz and Patty sat next to me while Tsubaki and Kid worked on some project they were assigned to do together. Something about cooperation with other people or something like that. I was taking notes from the text, but my mind couldn't focus. Last week when I confronted Spirit-sensei about Ramla and the drug problem he said that she finished that mission a few days prior.

'Maybe she really is better off without a partner…' I think dejected. Liz looks at me funny before patting my head.

"You okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, just tired is all."

"Any sore spots still?" she seemed worried.

"Oh, no! I'm all healed up," I smile at her. Holly looks over at us with a disbelieving look on her face. When I told her and Namoki what happened in Africa they weren't very happy with me for leaving them behind. How could they understand though? They both had partners and are doing really well. I still can't move passed Ramla and that one fight we won together to allow someone else to partner with me. I give her a small wave before looking back at my notes. This was just too depressing.

"I trusted you!" the voices screamed.

"Ramla how could you?" the voices cried out.

"R-Ram…la save m-me…" the voices plead.

"Ramie," his voice said calmly.

I awoke with a frightful start to find myself tangled in my bed back at HQ. The moon was high indicating the late hour as I rolled out of bed and moved towards the bathroom. I strip down to nothing and turn on the shower. As I wait for the water to heat up I look at myself in the mirror. The bags under my eyes tell me how much sleep I didn't get, the hollow look is unbecoming, and the unruly state of my hair is maddening.

I step under the warm stream of water and turn my face up into it. The cold sweat slides off my skin and leaves a warm trail over my skin. I wash my body slowly taking care of all the new scars I've picked up over the last couple months. Once I feel like I've washed away every nightmare induced chill I turn the water off. I step out of the shower and dry off the mirror. "Might as well take care of this," I mumble as I start to braid my hair.

Two hours later I walk out of the bathroom and throw on a pair of underwear and a long shirt. I wove golden beads into my hair and they twinkled as I walked to the balcony. I threw open the doors without caring if they banged against the wall as I walked out into the night air. The moon has sunk down lower and the stars were brighter as I looked up at them. Even this late at night the city was still busy. People walked by either wrapped up in the arms of friends and lovers or stumbling drunk. Everyone was going home.

'Home…' I let my mind drift back, back, back into a past that I should leave be.

"Come on Maka!" Black*star bellows as he jumps over the pre-kishin's head. He and Tsubaki have improved by miles since our adventure in Africa.

"Black*star!" I growl as I jump from the roof and split another enemy in half. By this point I was fed up with his arrogance. "Let Helena handle those!" it has been two months since Africa and in that time Helena only picked up a partner in the last two weeks. He was a newcomer like herself. His name is Jacob McCoy and he is nice…I guess.

"Yahoo!" the arrogant ass screams as he sliced through another pre-kishin. Kid was off trying to save the victims from this latest serial killer.

"Come on Blck*star!" Jacob ground out. "Give us a chance!" he swiped Helena through the air with ease. At least their resonance wasn't falling apart like the mission last week. He managed to connect with a pre-kishin, but not enough to take it down.

"Jacob watch out!" I cry as I zigzag my way over to him. He holds up well as the thing brings its dirty, mangled hand down over his head. "No!" I scream as his footing is lost and Helena slips from his hand to land uselessly out of his reach. Another pre-kishin stops me before I can get to him. I tear through it, but not quick enough.

"H-Helena…?" Jacob's hoarse voice wavers. Helena had changed back into her human form and took the brunt of the fatal attack to her right shoulder. Blood was pouring down her arm as she transformed her other hand into her blade. She cut through the monster with a swiftness I didn't know she possessed before falling to the ground.

"Helena!" I scream as I rush over to them.

"Helga!" Black*star hollers as he finished off the last three enemies. "McCoy what are you doing?!"

"Maka? Black*star?" Kid came running up to us with Liz and Patty in tow. "What happened?"

"Oh, my god Helena!" Liz screeched as she knelt down next to the girl. I was already wrapping my coat as tightly as I could around the wound. "We gotta get her to Stein! Like now!" Liz picked Helena up and thrusted her into Kid's hands. "Take her! You're the fastest of us all," Liz pleaded.

"Get home safe," he said wearily as he jumped on his board and flew off to the upper part of Death City. We all watched until they were nothing but specks in the night.

"Stein-sensei!" I yell as I burst through the doors to his lab. He was sitting at his desk typing on his computer.

"Hmm?" he turns around to look at me. "Oh, what happened?" he asked nonchalantly. He blew out smoke as he stood up and walked over to us. By this point my whole outfit was soaked in Helena's blood.

"She got hurt on our mission. Pre-kishin tore through her shoulder is what it looks like," I say clinically. There was no point in involving emotions into the situation; Stein pokes at Helena's shoulder for a moment before waving me into another room.

"Put her on the table," he states as he moves towards a sink and washes his hands. "And if you could, Kid, remove her shirt." I did as I was told and tried my hardest to not look at her while I remove it. "Move into the other room Kid," Stein gently shoved me out of the way and back towards the door. When I walked back out into the main part of his lab I saw Marie-sensei walking in.

"Oh! Hi Kid-kun, what are you doing here?" she asks brightly. Two large grocery bags occupied each of her hands, so I shut the door for her. "Well thank you very much!"

"Here, sensei let me help you," I grab one of the bags and rest it against my side. "Which way is the kitchen again?"

"This way," she points to the door opposite from where Helena was. "Where is Franken, Kid?"

"Patching up Helena," I say quietly. "She got hurt on our mission tonight."

"Oh dear," our usually bright sensei frowned deeply. "How is her partner…oh what's his name again?"

"Jacob," I answer, "he is fine. She took a hit meant for him."

"Oh dear," she mutters again. "Sounds like she took a play right out of Soul-kun's book. How long has she been under?"

"Only ten minutes," I say as we walk into the kitchen. I flip on the light to find a tastefully simple kitchen. "This is lovely," I comment.

"Thank you," Marie-sensei chirps. "I did it all myself!" We set the bags down and without much else to do I help her unpack. In the silence of the kitchen the ticking of the clock seemed intrusive. "I'll make dinner."

'Dinner…?' I look at the clock to see that it was only six o'clock. 'How is it only six?' "Um m-my friends they um…" I trail off.

"I know," Marie-sensei said sadly. "I'll make enough for everyone."

"Throwing a temper tantrum won't help," the little witch intones as I throw another plate against the wall. Instead of responding in a dignified manner I screech at her and stomp my foot. The beading in my hair jingles and sounds like tiny bells—there were grating on my frayed nerves. "Miss Fallon won't be happy you broke her dishes…again," she adds with a bite. I throw a knife at her, but one of her pets catches it and sets in on the counter. "Use your words," she says in a mocking tone.

"I. Am. Going. To kill. That…bitch!" I scream the last word in between pants for air. "Why, why, why, why, why—can't I find her?!"

"Cloaking spell?" the little witch offers. "Maybe she died on her own," she said drily.

"Shove off Clarabelle." I hiss in distain.

"You have to slow down Ramie. You're going to run yourself into the ground…again," this time she said it sadly. "We just have to keep checking holy places it seems like the most likely thing she would do."

"I know that already," I say as I slump down onto the floor. I lay back and let my heated skin be cooled by the tile. "I just can't…I can't let him go again." The little witch didn't even respond as she got up and started piecing the dishes back together again.

Months. It had been months since the last time I saw Ramla. Finals had come and gone, Maka, Kid, and Black*star earned their second star, and my shoulder healed fine. Jacob McCoy gave up on being my partner, but to be fair he wanted to move back into the N.O.T classes and live a normal life. So, once again I find myself without a mister. Everyday I've worked harder and pushed myself farther in hopes of becoming a weapon who doesn't need a meister. However, it appears that it is a fools dream.

Stein-sensei has told us about some of Ramla's powers and abilities. Yes, she is a weapon and a mister. Yes, she can summon her weapon without altering her body. No, I will not teach you that dangerous technique. "Bah," I scoff as another clay pigeon is thrown at me. I slice through all of them without hesitation.

"Helena-chan!" Tsubaki calls to me from the other end of the field. "Come on, we are going to go get dinner!" she smiled brightly at me. I smiled and waved back before finishing up my training round with the clay birds. Holly and Namoki were standing with everyone else while their miesters talked with Maka. I turned off the machine and jogged over to join them as we exited the building for the semester.

"Want to ride with us?" Kid asks as he opens the door to his new Soul Vehicle.

"No, it's okay. I think I'm g-going to go home f-first and change," I reply. My stutter has been less noticeable since our time in Africa. 'Strange sort of silver lining,' I think bitterly before walking the opposite direction.

When I finally pushed open the door to the apartment Candi practically jumped on me. "How was ya day?" she beamed.

"Fine," I reply stiffly.

"Come into the kitchen! We got a surprise for ya!" she basically drags me behind her until we reach the kitchen. "Ta-da! Surprise!" several people, including Sissy and Sierra, were standing about with party hats on.

"Surprise!" everyone screamed and cheered.

"W-what?" I ask flabbergasted. "What's this f-for?"

"For making it through ya first semester at the DWMA!" Candi beams. A guy named Uncle placed a hat on my head before blowing into one of those colorful noise makers. "We know it's been a tough time for ya," she said quietly in my ear. "We just wanted to make sure ya were okay is all. Plus ya deserve a party," she smiled broadly at me.

"Let's eat cake!" Sierra, the perpetual child, screams. Sissy calms her down and takes the knife from her before cutting it herself. I texted Maka to tell her what happened and that I wouldn't make it to dinner. We ended up partying until early the next day.

I push the bike as hard as it can go without blowing up. 'Something is wrong,' my mind thrashes with the possibilities. The savannah is an unforgiving place especially during the summer months. 'Something is very wrong!' my mind seethes. The birds weren't singing, no animals were around it was deathly silent. As I come into view of the lab my heart stops. "No…" I breathe out as I travel the last hundred feet to the building.

The smoke choked the sunshine from the sky. The whole building has gone up in bright, angry flames. I jumped off the bike and hit the ground running, staying low and away from the smoke. My magic was rudimentary at best compared to this spell, but I knew this magic. I knew how it worked and flowed so snuffing out the flames did not take more than half a thought. "Boss Lady!" I screamed as I ran into the building. "Little witch?!" I ran through all of the rooms putting out smaller flames along the way. "Miss Fallon! Clarabelle?!" I tried to remember to breathe.

The air was stale and choking on it hurt my lungs. I ran out the side door and stopped dead in my tracks. "Miss Fallon," I wail in despair. There hanging from the only tree on the property was Miss Fallon. Her vibrate red hair was not limp and dull in the sparse sunlight, bloodless lips still open in a silent scream. The anger was still raging in her eyes as they stared at nothing. I choked on my sob as I fell to my knees. I allow myself a moment of grief as my mentor and savior swung in the stifling breeze.

When I stood up again I looked to the west. There was a faint trace of magic still floating in the air that way, so I followed it. I walked for about a mile before I came upon a small lake that was never there before. When I looked down into the waters my haggard expression stared back. I knew this magic, too. It was a communication spell that is left behind for only a specific person to hear. So, I walk out into the middle of the lake and dive down.

"Hello Ramie," her childish voice floats through the water. "I can't believe that you destroyed so many of my things," she pouts. "Allow me to return the favor," an image rushes around in the water. The shimmering liquid reveals Clarabelle strung up in a cell, the image changes to Miss Fallon's untimely end, and last there was a picture of him. He was standing perfectly still but her claws were wrapped around his neck. "I'll see you at Death's door Ramie," she giggled.

I swam back to the surface and walked out of the lake. I didn't even bother to watch it disappear in the hazy heat as I walked back to the lab. Numb. That was all I could feel as I cut down Miss Fallon and gave her a proper burial. It was all I could do to get back on the bike as the sun was setting and head back to HQ without falling off. That unyielding grief struck so deep that even my bones moaned from the impact. I made it back though, somehow, and I parked the bike without a thought. I rode the elevator without thinking and I walked into the conference room without a sound.

"Ramla?" Alexandre was up and around the table in a heartbeat. "What happened to you? We haven't seen you in almost two months," he said.

"Call Shinigami-sama," I say through willpower alone. He looked like he was going to say something, but shook his head instead and walked to the giant mirror. He dialed the number as I continued to stand in stony silence. Dengu walked in at that point and Shinigmai-sama picked up. I barely heard his too cheerful greeting as I turned to look at him. "Shinigami-sama," I say weakly.

"Ramla?" he gave me a quizzical look.

"She's in Death City," my mouth went dry. "And I don't know what to do anymore," I say as my soul fractures all over again.