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-I'm here to enkindle courage.

Secrets in the Dark

They fled like rats in the night.

They ran from the being that destroyed their only hope for the future.

Liz and Patty were badly injured, but stopping at a hospital could have them all killed if they decided to come after them. They stopped at a grocery quickly to get gauze to wrap their wounds and cover their purple bruises. But without proper material, their soul wavelengths were weakening. Soul asked them if they could hold their weapon forms for a day while they traveled back to safety. They reluctantly agreed.

Soul knew the pain of having to stay in weapon form when injured, but it would stop them from bleeding out and succumbing to their wounds while they couldn't get them help. They got on an express plane for weapons and meisters in danger that made travel time cut in half from what it would be. They were no longer worried about being seen. They needed to get back to Death City so they could be saved and heal.

Black*Star was surprise attacked by Arachne's monster spider minions when he reached the dome outside and was barely able to fend them off. He was hit by their fangs and a poison took to his blood. He had felt his movements become slower and slower as the poison took hold of him. But he ran on, determined to get to a mirror to send a message to Lord Death. He made it in time to relay the majority of it before he froze up and fell unconscious. Tsubaki transformed and frantically asked Lord Death for help. HE assured her that the spider's bite wasn't fatal; it would only freeze the body of its target. Black*Star would be unable to move for around 2 hours. However, due to Black*Star's 'I'm a fucking god, nothing can keep me down!', he sprung back to life within forty minutes. Even though he's an idiot. He's a touch son of a bitch.

Lord Death didn't say anything after he heard the news of Kid's betrayal. He was quiet behind his mask, which was always expressionless. Spirit, who had been crying because of Maka being hurt, disappeared from view after he heard what Black*Star had said. Lord Death just solemnly nodded and turned his back on them. He said he first aid would be waiting for their arrival. He explained he would send scouts out to assess the situation. The army was going to be gathered and they would attack before Arachne and the Kishin could move their base.

Soul held the twin guns tight to his body and tried to ease their comfort on the flight. He had to stay strong for the others. He felt like a coward though. Running from them like we're vermin fleeing an exterminator. He scowled at himself. I can't be thinking like this right now.

Black*Star was busy trying to get Tsubaki to stop crying silently to herself. I've never seen her like this before. The betrayal of Kid must hurt like if he was dead. She won't even tell Black*Star to shut the hell up. But I guess he is being quieter than normal and no one else had asked him to settle down.

Liz and Patty were quiet. He couldn't tell if they were trying to keep their physical pain in or trying to keep their emotional pain of being severed from their meister from killing their hearts.

Maka had yet to cry. Or to get angry. Or to show any emotion. She just stared blankly ahead, eyes void of thought. It was he boyfriend… and the way he talked to her. Saying she meant nothing to him… I can't imagine how broken she feels right now. I don't even know how to comfort her. What do I say? "Sorry you boyfriend became a traitor?" What the fuck do I do?

Soul sat beside her on the flight trying to figure out a way to get her to do something. Anything, really. He'd even let her do a Maka-chop on him a hundred times if she was willing to show emotion. He had expected her to at least cry. Maybe a tiny one when she thought he wasn't looking, but her eyes were like a dry river bed; no trace of water in sight. Or he thought she would get angry. Being called tiny tits threw her into a fit, but being called a whore? Why hasn't she freaked out about that? She had… she did… ugh. How could she just let him use her like that?! Soul began to feel anger, but knowing his keen partner might begin to feel it, he quickly forced it disperse. I'll just beat the shit out of Kid when I see him next.

He knew he had to do something. He had to bring her back to the living world; back to him. He just didn't know how to do it with words. So he just let the silence fill the air between the two. It engulfed them and made their minds think on the tragedy that had occurred. Soul could feel his partner's connection, even if she had severed most of it. She may look like she wants to be alone but maybe she doesn't want to totally be alone. Maybe I can't help her with words, but maybe I can help another way.

He stretched his consciousness out to her and tried to join wavelengths. He allowed himself to be pulled into the black room where his demons hide. But there was no time to address his own; he had to talk some sense into his meister. He had to fix her. He dragged her consciousness in, forcibly. She tried to deny it, her soul screaming at him the whole way.

"Leave me alone, Soul!" She tried to pry her arm free from his grasp, to allow herself to go back into her own conscious, but his grip was of iron.

"I'm not going to let you shut yourself up all alone, Maka. I can't let you be stupid." He growled at her, voice low and husky. Eventually, she gave up trying to fight his pull on her conscious. She allowed herself to be pulled from her mind and into his as they resonated souls.

She opened her 'eyes' to find herself standing in the black room within Soul's mind. He was wearing his black pin-striped suit and red shirt. His white hair shone in the darkly lite room and his eyes were a light in the dark. In this room, she allowed herself to think he was handsome. Anyone would. He was the only thing she could depend on, maybe that was why she found his so utterly attractive right now.

He sat waiting for her on the couch facing her. She sighed in defeat and shuffled toward him slowly, knowing it made no sense to try to run now. She heard the fabric of her dress rustle as she walked toward him and sat down on the couch. She kept her eyes on the ground, not looking at him. They sat in silence for a while before Soul spoke.

"Maka…" He trailed off, not quite sure how to talk to her. If I wanted to talk, I could have done so on the plane. I brought her here not to speak. Why am I talking? Soul closed his eyes and felt their connection. He reached out to touch her soul but she kept backing away from him. He opened his eyes.

"Maka let me help you, dammit it. I'm not going to let you leave until you let me." He mumbled to her, hoping she would actually let him do it with little persuasion. He closed his eyes again and tried to touch her soul. This time, she backed a little but hesitantly stopped retreating from him. She allowed his soul to touch hers and wrap her in his own warm embrace. She felt the calming waves encirclement her and warm her back to life. She felt good and happy, wrapped in his wavelength. She felt protected and need. She didn't feel dirtied by Kid anymore.

She opened her 'eyes' to find herself hugging him in the black room. Tears freely fell from her eyes and landed on his suit but he didn't seem to mind. It's a fake one anyway; it's just in our mind. She hugged him harder as she let the tears she had been holding back flow freely. He said I didn't mean anything to him. That I was a plaything. That I was just a whore. I thought he loved me. I thought I loved him. Why did he do this? I don't understand. I don't understand anything anymore.

He slowly rubbed her back with his right hand and buried his left hand in her hair. Even here her hair smells like vanilla. Unbelievable. He continued to send reassuring and calming waves to her but they weren't completely getting through. She sobbed until she felt completely empty. But she kept her death grip on him. She wanted to stay like this forever. To hide from the world until the end of eternity with him did not seem like a bad choice. Eventually, her soul accepted his waves entirely and she felt herself calm down.

She pulled away from him and smiled. He reached up to wipe away the tears still left on her face. And took her chin between his fingers.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Soul." She felt relief flood through her and laughed. "I was being stupid. He doesn't define who I am. Thanks for being here. I have no idea what I would do without you." She mumbled into his shoulder as he stroked her hair. At least I have you, Soul. I've always had you. And you'll always have me too.

"Anytime, Maka." One day, I'll make you forget all about this. I'll make you happy again, Maka. I swear I will protect you from him. Always.

She smiled as she withdrew from her share of the soul resonance. "I'm going to go now. Kay? I have a novel to read." He nodded and she disappeared from his sight. He slouched back into the couch and let out a shaky breath. Only then did his demon appear.

"Well, Soul. That was quite touching. How very un-cool of you." He sneered from the record player as he put some jazz on.

"I will only ever be un-cool, for her." Soul put his hands behind his head and smiled. "Only for her."

The demon started cackling. "But you know you're going to lose her to him, right? Eventually, she will be bought out by him if you don't become stronger, Soul. She will leave you." He cackled again. "But I can make you stronger, Soul. Just give yourself to me and I can make you strong. You won't be able to protect her in your current form, kid."

Soul rolled his eyes at his demon. "Dude, you aren't going to scare me into using black blood. Seriously. You might as well give up on that dude. It's really un-cool."

"I'm not talking about black blood, Soul. I'm talking about something already inside you that I can show you how to get it."

Soul glanced at the demon. "Yeah and why would you do that? From the goodness of your heart? Please. You're just wasting my time." Soul got up to walk through the door he came, back to the airplane and back to Maka.

" But it is out of the kindness of my heart. Because you will die without my help, Soul. Asura or Arachne or Kid will finish you off in that sad and pathetic state. You could barely block Kid's playful blows without crying out. You will die if he becomes serious with you. And if that happens, I die too. It's all about self-preservation. And this will make you more powerful than anything alive. It is after all, in your blood, your real blood. It's been in your family for generations. Yours was the first after all. I'm surprised Lord Death didn't tell you. He must have been too shocked to see you. There hasn't been a weapon in the family for hundreds of years. You can become powerful, Soul. You have it in you already."

Soul's head snapped toward the demon and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

Lord Death stood in his chambers with the death scythes. Since the location of the kishin had been found, everyone was to gather. All of the death scythes and their old partners were to arrive at the academy in the morning. These men and woman had been shaped by battle and would turn the tide when the following battle would take place. Still, Lord Death was deeply disturbed by the betrayal of his son and was becoming increasingly less confident on the strength of the academy. Kid… how could you? No. He wouldn't allow himself to be overcome by human emotions. He was a shinigami, the ruler of the world, not a human. Kid had the capability to murder Maka and Soul in one swipe. I've seen him with duel blades… he is much better with them than even his guns. There is no way he could have battled that long. And he was never one to 'play' with opponents. Either that changed when he betrayed us, or…. And besides, Kid should have been able to deal with them and then easily chased after Black*Star on his skateboard. I would know, I was the one who made it to be the fastest means of transportation on earth. Even if Black*Star is fast, he has no hold on Kid when Kid is seriously fighting.

All of this leads me to the assumption that Kid was not seriously fighting them; he wanted them to escape.

Does that mean a trap is waiting for them in the underground sanctuary? Or does that mean something else. Son, you are crafty and clever. Much more than I ever was. I was always brute strength and force. You are something that was born in shadow though. Maybe it was from being around her when you were growing up. It was so long ago, you were still in the beginning stages of the shinigami cycle, I doubt you can even fully remember. Even though you appear to be 17 or 18 now, your age is many hundreds of years more than that. You have lived many human life cycles already and twin blades were your first weapons. You should not have failed so easily. Not that I'm complaining. Maka and Black*Star will be the best weapon meisters that have passed through these halls.

Lord Death sighed. This is getting complicated. He was starting to go in circles. None of this makes sense. In all scenarios, Kid should have won. Period. If he didn't, it was because he chose to lose. But why?

"Lord Death, I came as you requested." Stein entered the room and bowed to Lord Death.

"Yes. You were with Kid as he was recovering from the attack from Arachne, yes?"

"Yes, sir." Stein lite a smoke and took a puff.

"Was there anything strange about Kid when he came back?"

"That is also what I thought, Lord Death. After hearing about Kid's betrayal, I went through all the notes I took. I neither remember nor wrote anything down that made Kid seem different. It must have happened when they were at the capital. So why would he lie to Maka about waiting for Arachne's signal? It doesn't add up sir. You son is clever, but his story is hardly convincing. Even his partners were completely thrown off guard."

"Yes, Liz and Patty said that when Arachne asked him to join, he froze for a moment. Just a moment. And then accepted. They said it was as if he had agreed to go for dinner with her, not to join her to destroy the world."

"And when Liz spoke out against him, he just back handed her like it was nothing. She was sent flying into a pillar. If Kid had used his full strength, he could have killed her. If he was going to betray them, what not kill her? I don't understand. Kid must have some sort of plan in his mind. Maybe it was to send fear into our hearts. We are extremely fortunate that he hasn't awoken as a full shinigami yet. If he had, he would be able to destroy the Kishin, Arachne and us with ease. Your son, if I can be frank..-"Lord Death nodded. "..is exceptionally more powerful than you are, my lord. As a full shinigami, he would have the power to defeat the entire world within seconds. Right now, he stands a fair chance at doing that if he tries to. So it leads me wondering why he hasn't done so already. You son has struck fear, even in to me, sir. These are dark times." Stein finished his smoke and lit another. "The madness is also getting worse. I think Kid, on some level, had been fighting against it in this place without knowing it. His pure soul had driven it from the areas where he had been. But since he is gone, madness is creeping into our city like the plague. Even the rats feel it. I'm not sure how long I will be able to last before falling to my darker ambitions. We must act and we soon."

"The army will set out within the month. We just need everyone to get there at the same time, so they aren't surrounded. We'll need many ships to do that. We have a big task ahead of us. But we will be ready. Hopefully the students will be healed in time to join us. They may be able to change Kid back."

"With the help of myself and others, they should be physically recovered in time. Though mentally…" Stein trailed off and made to leave. "I will see you tomorrow, goodnight Lord Death."

Lord Death could hear the faint footsteps of Stein as he looked around the walls of his room. The light was fading from the blue skies and the clouds have become black. The madness is here. I wish I still had the soul to keep it away. Lord Death sighed again.

This has gotten quite complicated.

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