Ch 21

"The last few weeks I have had Stein looking into the Medusa's possible whereabouts. We have successfully narrowed it down to one region in Central Mexico." Shinigami addressed a small group in the Death Room. So far the rescue team consisted of Soul, Kidd, Liz, Patti, and Stein. The other members of Spartoi were on another mission for the time being. Black*Star and Tsubaki had also been summoned but were fashionably late as always. Assuming that they would catch up when they arrived and since even if Black*Star were present he wouldn't be paying attention anyway Shinigami-Sama had begun the briefing.

The team had not assembled quickly enough for Soul. He had gone straight to the Death Room from the alley where Maka had been taken and arrived a little after midnight. The rest of the group, however, had not gathered until at least 8 the following morning, leaving Soul to pace the Death Room like a caged animal until the others finally arrived.

"Now that they have Maka, they will have a more difficult time hiding as Soul Protect can't be used on her. However we will have a more difficult time tracking them without Maka's advanced Soul Perception technique. Luckily we have another person with an Soul Perception ability…"

Soul was silent as Shinigami-Sama spoke. He hadn't said much since he had first called the death god and hadn't said two words to anyone else in the rescue party. There wasn't anything really unusual about this but without Maka by his side he seemed much more intimidating and solitary. He tried to pay attention to Shinigami-Sama but his mind kept drifting back to the dark alley, guilt stinging his gut each time it did. He couldn't help but replay the night over and over in an effort to find what he could have done differently that would have prevented all this. As a weapon, it was his duty to protect his meister and his failure was bitter. The look in Maka's eyes as she called for him would haunt him for the rest of his life.

A loud crash followed by a familiar shout brought Soul back from his memories. Shinigami-Sama looked towards his guillotine hallway, the rest of the group following his lead to confirm what they already knew.

Soul didn't need to look to know. He just rolled his eyes as his blue-haired friend marched in with his loyal weapon and girlfriend not far behind. His blue eyes scanned the room and fell on Soul standing apart from the group. He strode up to Soul and clapped him hard on the back.

Soul frowned and glared fire at his friend. Normally Soul was patient with his friend's antics but right now he was in no mood to deal with him. Oblivious, Black*Star clapped him on the back again with a calloused hand.

"Don't worry buddy, we'll get her back." Black*Star said in a quiet voice. Soul stared at the ninja as he walked to join the rest of the team by Shinigami-Sama. *Black*Star really has matured a lot over the last few years* Soul thought. He watched his friends with a steady ruby gaze as Shinigami-Sama called the meeting back to order. He couldn't help the small smirk that began to curl the side of his mouth. He was lucky to have such good friends and together he was certain they would get Maka back.

/

Soul Growled with frustration to himself as he and the rest of the party continued forward through the thick Mexican jungle. They had been here for a week; A miserable week of following "I'm pretty sure I feel them this way" directions and "Can we please try to walk in a symmetrical manner". It was absolutely infuriating but he didn't feel like he had all that much choice. If there had been ANY other way to find Maka he would have done it last week. Anything that didn't involve following this symmetry-loony into the bowels of no where and resulted in a safe Maka sounded good to him.

Each night he would gaze up into the stars trying to think of another, faster way but he kept coming up blank. In the diamond scattered blanket above he would she her face smiling warmly down at him as he tried to think. It pulled painfully at his heart but it was that soft smile that gave him the strength to go on. Each morning he would surrender to following the young death god and every evening he would regret it for one reason or another. After one particularly difficult day, Soul laid fuming in his sleeping bag and glaring into the night sky. *Damn it! We don't have time for this! The longer we take the less chance we have of getting her back alive*.

"You're never going to get her back, you know." The silky, evil voice rose in his head distracting him from his visions of his celestial Maka.

"For you're sake you'd better hope we do." He snarled back at the parasite in his head. "If I lose her, we are history too, do you understand?" Soul waited for a response. There was a long pause before he got one.

"You could always give in to the madness and forget your misery." The Imp answered halfheartedly.

Soul ignored the Imp. Sleepiness was starting to fog his thoughts. Maka's face swam in his vision as he began to fall, bright green eyes haunting him in the dark.

After what felt like a few minutes Kidd was shaking him awake. Soul's crimson eyes opened slowly taking in the early dawn light and his ears took in the loud chatter of tropical birds making him wonder how he had slept through the noise. Kidd's face was hard and serious Soul observed as consciousness finally took hold completely.

"We need to get going Soul. We're close. I can clearly sense Maka and they are moving her."

/

The fog in Maka's head began to lift slightly after an unknown amount of time. It had been like this for what seemed like an eternity. Eruka would inject her with the horrible painful poison and she would enter a world of mist. With time the clouds would thin and she would become vaguely aware of her surroundings. After a while Maka would regain consciousness completely, Medusa would order another dose and it would start again from there.

She was starting to feel dangerously weak. The first time she had come to, her mind had still been sharp but now each time the poison wore off she would still feel like her mind was clouded. The only positive to this was Maka got a little more time with coherent thought between each dose as it was less and less obvious that the drug had worn off. This time she was just barley able to deduce that she was tied up like an animal and being carried through what seemed like a thick forest. Her soul perception was heightened and alert to the point of almost being painful. That might explain why she was weaker each time she came too. It took a lot of energy and strength to use her ability this way. Every now and then one of Medusa's group would ask her where to go and she was only just aware of a arm pointing in one direction or another. She caught sight of her arm as it passed before her glazed eyes. It didn't look like hers; at least she hoped it wasn't hers. It was nothing more than withered skin and bone.

Obviously her well-being didn't mean jack shit to Medusa as long as she could point the way to the Kishin; not that Maka really cared. Her broken heart throbbed dully in her chest and sapped her very will to live. Honestly she wasn't even sure if they were heading towards the Kishin or not. She was following what felt like his wavelength but the clown she and Soul had fought last year had an identical wavelength to Asura so there was no guarantee of anything. Maka didn't give a shit either way. She just wanted to get this over with so Medusa would kill her already.

Her ability was turned up so high she could feel everything for miles. Medusa's group, a few natives, a vague trail that felt like Asura, and…

The clouds parted a little more in Maka's mind as she felt it. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat. She tried to smother her sudden hope immediately so Medusa wouldn't catch on to the fact that she was waking up and that she had just made a wonderful discovery. There was another group of souls just on the edge of her perception; a group she knew very well and in the center she could feel the unmistakable wavelength of her beloved partner. Soul was alive and he was coming for her! * "I don't know what Medusa was telling you but don't believe her too much." * The memory of Soul's words of wisdom came to the front of her relieved mind. *I'm an idiot. If Soul knew I believed her lies again I'd never hear the end of it*. To her horror, she heard his name escape her lips. Surly she had done it now. Just when she had found hope she had involuntarily ruined it. She waited for someone to notice but no one seemed to. Then one of the men spoke.

"She's calling for her partner."

"Again? She's been doing that off and on for a while. Just ignore it."

Maka felt herself relax. If she could just reach out to Kidd and Soul before Medusa knew what was up she may be able to get out of this yet.