Blood ran down his side in a steady trickle as he let them shackle his arms to the wall. He stood impassively as they forced his mouth opened and poured a foul tasting liquid down his throat, holding his nose and forcing him to swallow, cuts on his face and arms. He refused to speak when the witch stood in front of him, his gaze locked on the beaten and bound person behind her, his own injuries forgotten.

The witch smiled sadly at him, one cold hand reaching out to stroke his cheek. He ignored the touch. With a flick of her wrist she dismissed the people behind her and Stein craned his head to watch the person disappear through the doorway.

The liquid obviously impaired his Soul Perception. Desperation lanced through him as he tried vainly to sense the retreating soul, his neck bending awkwardly.

She grabbed his chin, savagely twisting his head and forcing the man to stare at her. "Now then," her Japanese accented voice hissed out, "I have much I must discuss with you, Franken Stein."

He stood quietly, even when her spell washed over him, taking the breath from his lungs and the warmth from his body. Her voice rose in a screech and he was silent as she demanded answers. Her hand drew back and she slapped him, his head snapping to the side as tears poured down the witch's face.

He spoke only after her unveiled threat.

"Answer me, Franken Stein, or I will kill that one."

Pounding woke Soul from his position on the couch and he blearily rubbed his eyes. The young death scythe stumbled to his feet and made it to the front door, opening it to find Spirit standing there. The older man was holding a something balled up in his hands and had a manic look in his eyes.

"Where's Maka?" Spirit said quickly.

"In bed," Soul said.

"Maka!" Spirit called out and stepped into the apartment, ignoring Soul's presence.

Soul stepped in front of him, his arm held out to block Spirit's path, a dangerous edge to the teen's voice. "Listen old man, get out. She's sleeping like you should be instead of getting drunk and whoring around."

"Back off you damn octopus head! I'm not drunk, and Maka's in danger!"

Soul just rolled his eyes, but stepped aside as Spirit shoved past him. Spirit darted down the hall, throwing open his daughter's door as he shouted her name again.

The window was open; the room empty and cold.

Maka Albarn blinked against the bag that covered her head, her eyelashes brushing against the fabric. Her hands were bound tightly to her sides, a gag in her mouth even though her head was covered by the bag.

She hadn't had time to yell for Soul, and she wondered how long it would take him to realize that she was missing.

She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, her ankles bound together. There were voices near her, mostly feminine, and she strained to make out what they were saying; the words were too muffled for her to completely understand.

The voices sounded familiar, but she convinced herself that it was just a trick of having a bag over her head and the distance between her and them distorting it.

So when the bag was tugged off her head and she found herself staring into Marie's face she was at a loss for words.

Stein hung limply against the wall, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. They had shown him Spirit three times since he had been brought here, each time after another dose of whatever that liquid was that they were pouring down his throat.

Each time Spirit had looked worse, and the most recent time the death scythe had had to be carried in, his head bowed to the ground. Stein wasn't even sure that the man was conscious at that point. When they had pressed a blade against Spirit's throat though Stein hadn't been willing to take any chances.

He had answered their questions about himself. It was strange trying to explain his own thought processes.

Then they had taken Spirit and left, the scientist vainly trying to use his Soul Perception just to make certain that Spirit was still alive.

Now he hung, nearly unconscious with blood running from the wound in his side still. His clinical mind knew that blood loss would kill him if something wasn't done- the puncture wound was deep. He had tried, and failed, to bind the wound with his wavelength; it was nearly impossible without the aid of a weapon even on the best of days.

A gentle touch on his chest caused him to crack his eyes open, ready for whatever torments they had in store now.

He never expected to open his eyes to Marie's face. He hesitated for just a moment, his eyes running across her features, surprise etched on his face as he almost believed that he had died without realizing it.

And then he saw the incongruities. The woman in front of him wasn't Marie. He was still a prisoner, and they had given up using Spirit to try to break him. Apparently they had failed at defeating all the mimesis the first time he and Spirit had been taken.

His head jerked up suddenly, something clicking and he looked past the woman at the open door.

If the woman who was standing placidly in front of him was a fake, was the man they had been showing him one as well?

"What do you mean; Maka-chan's been taking prisoner?" Shinigami-sama asked as Soul paced in front of him.

"Her old man came pounding on the door to the apartment, saying that the professor was gone and Maka was in danger. We checked her room and she was gone. No one's seen her. Her dad said he was going after the pair of them and sent me here to report in," Soul all but growled out.

"Spirit-kun has gone on his own?" Soul couldn't tell if there was concern or surprise in Shinigami-sama's voice.

"Yeah, he said you needed to be informed but that there was no time to waste. Something wrong?"

"Oh dear, I'm afraid so. I've lost one death scythe to this group already and they've managed to take two of my meisters. With Spirit-kun going on his own, we may lose all three."

Soul bristled. "I'll go."

"No."

"But you just said-"

"I know what I said, but with the kishin looming closer I can't afford to not have a death scythe here at Shibusen. We'll deal with this, Soul-kun, but I need you to stay close."

Soul gritted his teeth but gave a small bow before leaving the room.

"I love you." Stein looked down at the woman that was smiling up at him, something in his chest twisting slightly as the almost identical voice continued, "I always have, you know."

"We've never met." Stein's voice was ragged as he watched her for her response. She was almost a perfect copy of Marie. Her voice was so similar, her features almost right.

Her hand was still resting against his chest, but it slipped a bit to press against the wound on his side and the smile slipped from her face, concern creasing her brow. "We've lived together for over a year now, Franken. Of course we've met."

"You're not Marie."

She smiled at him again. "Who else would I be? Now then, I'm going to get you down from there before anyone else comes. Where's your lab coat?"

Stein just stared for a moment, Witch Auril's words ringing through his mind.

"One of the mimesis must have… gotten too far in character."

As the woman released him and he hit his knees, pain etching through every bit of his body, he realized that he could use this to his advantage. He could escape, with her help.

Her hand was still pressed against the wound on his side as he looked up at her, the woman repeating the question of where his lab coat was. There was true concern in the one eye that wasn't hidden behind an eye patch.

The shade of gold was just slightly off.

"I don't know… Marie," he said carefully and she smiled.

"Can you stay here for a minute then? I think I know where they keep their supplies."

He just nodded mutely, the fingers of his right hand rubbing his left wrist briefly before he pressed his left hand against the wound in his side. She gave him a last look before she slipped out of the room and was gone.

The door was still wide open, and he was unchained for the first time since he had been taken.

It was still dark when Spirit arrived at the building they had found Marie in. He snuck past the first set of guards, walking into the building without anyone noticing.

'What type of idiots would come back to the same base of operations after it was found?' Spirit wondered silently to himself, shaking his head. He slipped in, moving through hallways and dispatching any guards that he found along the way.

The deeper into the building he got, the more worried he got. He had yet to stumble across the cells that they had been keeping Marie in the first time. He hadn't found anyone other than the "snow-men" as guards either.

'What if it was a trap?' he wondered suddenly, coming to a stop.

A sudden noise caused him to wedge himself in a corner, watching warily down the hall. His hands tightened into fists as he saw a fractured representation of Marie leading someone down the hall with a bag over their head.

The twin pigtails escaping from the bottom of the bag told him exactly who it was. He forced himself to wait, trying to keep his breathing quiet as he watched the mimesis lead Maka away from him and around a corner.

Spirit darted forward, counting his heartbeats to try to give the woman enough time to go on without alerting her of his presence, and came around the corner to find himself standing there. He hesitated only for a moment, and then drove his scythe transformed arm through the other's chest, a look of determination on his face.

Maka and the other mimesis were gone when he came around the corner, the man behind him already forming a puddle as Spirit raced on, desperate to find his daughter and Stein.

Stein staggered, his arm draped across the not-Marie's shoulders. She kept whispering hushed words of encouragement; telling him that they were close to the exit, that everything would be alright.

It was unnerving how much she resembled the actual Marie and Stein realized that given the right circumstances, Witch Auril's plan may have worked.

The pair was making good time moving through the complex, though Stein wasn't certain if the mimesis was any better with directions than Marie had been. Regardless, being out of the cell was worth it. The supplies that she had brought back had been enough for Stein to hastily stitch the wound in his side closed and clean the others he had received when they took him.

They came around the corner and face to face with another mimesis.

"What's going on?" she asked in a voice that was a touch too high, a touch crueler than Marie's ever had been.

The woman that had been walking with him stopped and stared. "What are you?!"

The other one's face contorted. "Witch, he's mine!"

Stein barely staggered out of the way as the second woman collided with the one that had been helping him. He hit the wall and leaned against it, watching as the two fought, wondering which one would win. He began to make his way down the hall, leaving the fighting women behind him when he heard the definitive sound of a hammer transformed arm smashing something fleshy.

He didn't look back.

A moment later he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to meet the slightly off gold eye of what he assumed was the one that was helping him escape. She slipped his arm back over her shoulder, but stumbled when she stood and he could clearly see the broken bone that was jutting from her leg. He hesitated, but she stepped forward, pain marring her features as she dragged him along with her.

They both fell a moment later, her leg giving out under their combined weight. He landed on her, but quickly moved, trying to stand on his own. She staggered again to her feet, one hand pressed against the wound as they both heard the sound of someone coming around the corner.

She moved towards Stein, her arm transforming into a hammer that was colored slightly wrong, slightly larger than it should be. From where Stein sat it was obviously a defensive stance.

To the death scythe that came around the corner however, it wasn't.

With a scream Spirit launched himself at the woman.

A/N: First off… thank you all for the support. I can't tell you how much it meant to get that much. Bad news: they rescheduled my appointment, which means another month before I can get to have my damn consultation for the surgery. /sigh

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter :) I don't own Soul Eater.