I watched Pandora step onstage and hear the crowd erupt. She walked on so confidently and smiling at her fans. Same with the rest of the band with the exception of shy Lorelei. They got to start the song and they started strong, but when we all least expected it, Pandora's voice broke and her voice gave away.

I stood there, shocked out of my wits, as she tried to sing but her voice just wouldn't have it. She sounded raspy and hoarse. The announcer stopped the show as she kept coughing and trying. They were taken out of the battle, allowing Wondrous Nightmare to the next round without them playing at all.

Before Pandora was escorted off the stage she choked out "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." And walked off the stage looking like she'd just lost a friend. When she stepped offstage and grabbed her arm and she just looked back at my with sad eyes. There wasn't a need for words. I pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back as if saying "it'll all be okay"

I looked back to the stage at the worried look on the rest of the girls faces. I whispered into Lorelei's ear before she went along with the rest of them and asked her to look after Pandora. I went to find Soul shortly after.

I walked down the hall that wrapped around a door to outside I had to go out to get to the door to Soul's side. I slowly opened the door to the stage and crept to the hallways with the dressing rooms. I quickly found the one with "SOUL EATER" on the sign and opened to door to find him shirtless and I quickly closed the door.

Sure, in the darkness, it was easy to not concentrate on his bare chest, but in broad daylight and regular lighting it was rather hard to focus on anything but that. He came back out, with a shirt this time, and smiled and pulled me into a big hug.

"You did amazing, Maka" He said gently into my ear. I melted further into his arms and said thank you in return. I heard Bloody Tears and Flame&Blaze get introduced and start the song Miss Murder by AFI. I felt Soul tense when we heard Bloody Tears win. I hugged him tighter.

"Good Luck, but I know you don't need it." I smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss. He looked so nervous….

~Soul POV~

I took a deep breath as I walked away from Maka. I let the breath out and picked up my bass, and held it for a moment. I carefully ran my fingers along the neck my thumb gliding across the strings. I've had this bass since I started playing it. I smiled, held it at the neck, and met up with the guys and we huddled in a circle.

"Ok, guys. This is it. Round 1 in the fight to the finish. I don't want to dress up as Captain America. So, we're gonna win this." I stood up straight "For Maka"

"For Liz" Kid blushed and said delicately.

"For Tsubaki" Black*Star smirked, not showing any embarrassment.

"For Lorelei…." Crona looked away from everyone.

We all stared at each other for a second, smiled, and thrusted our hands in the air together. We all stepped on stage when called and I slipped on my bass using the strap I hooked on moments before we were called. I heard the crowd cheer loudly as we smiled and stepped into the spotlight.

I saw The Art step on also, sneering at us. I rolled my eyes and looked over to the announcer.

"ALRIGHTY FOLKS WE'RE GONNA JUST GET IT STARTED." We flipped the coin and got tails, meaning we get first. "UP FIRST IS SOUL FIRE! THEY WILL BE PLAYING THE SONG" the crowd stomped their feet as if it were a drum roll "THERE AND BACK AGAIN BY DAUGHTRY!"

YES! BASS SOLO IN THE BEGINNING. YEEEEES. I smiled and nodded when he asked if we knew the song. (Soul Fire= BOLD, The Art= ITALICS AND UNDERLINE) we began almost immediately. BlackStar took the countdown as I started my Bass solo.

Take, take your time.
Smell the roses, but steal the vines.
Don't wait for the hands of time
To second guess and change your mind.

I took a deep breath

And shine.
Here's your moment to shine.
Shine.

The switch happened and the art came in slightly late, but only barely noticeable.

Lay down, my friend.
Close your eyes, breathe in,
And I'll take you there and back again.
No more questions why.
I'm not so surprised
Why you have
Been there and back again.

His voice was absolutely horrid. He mumbled and didn't know the meaning of "Enunciate" I continued the song, but not before a quick eye roll.

Replace, replace that line
That spoke to you
And showed no signs to be alive.
So are you livin' or dead?
You have made a choice to hear your voice
Or hold on to what they said.
Now, shine.
Here's your moment to shine.
Shine.

We clearly got the better deal on this. We got the verses but they got the chorus. We also got the beginning solo. Losers.

Lay down, my friend.
Close your eyes, breathe in,
And I'll take you there and back again.
No more questions why.
I'm not so surprised
Why you have
Been there and back again.

They had unfortunately gotten the other solo, but they didn't seem to into it.

Back again, back again.
Back again, back again.

Lay down, my friend.
Close your eyes, breathe in,
And I'll take you there and back again.
No more questions why.
I'm not so surprised
Why you have
Been there and back again.

The crowd seem so into them for some unknown reason, but they didn't seem too impressed with us…

I sighed as they finished the song

Lay down, my friend.
Close your eyes, breathe in,
And I will take you there and back again.
No more questions why.
I'm not so surprised
Why you have
Been there and back again.

BlackStar, Kid, and Crona had stepped up next to me and gave me reassuring smiles. They had also obviously noticed the crowd's lack of interest. I weakly smiled back at them, we all knew we'd be dressing up like the Avengers.

I took a deep breath and waited for the announcement.

"Put your hands together for…." The announcer pointed over to The Art "THE ART!" I heard the crowd cheer and clap excitedly and my shoulders slumped. I put my arms on the shoulders of BlackStar and Kid who also had their arms up around each other's shoulders.

"And now, let's hear it for SOUL FIRE!"

Then the crowd went absolutely ape shit. The announcer immediately smiled and yelled "THE WINNER IS SOUL FIRE!" and me and the guys started jumping around screaming and we actually hugged each other, happy as ever. Everything felt so great.

I glanced around to look backstage, to see if Maka was there and when I looked, I saw Maka pressed up against a wall, kissing Z, not showing any sign of restraint.

What the actual fuck.

I stood there staring for a while as my girlfriend and the guy who beat the shit out of me were just kissing. In front of me.

I felt my lip quiver as the excitement around me seemed to fade away and I sucked in a breath and calmly as possible walked offstage, hearing the guys yelling behind me, but I kept walking, then when I got to the lobby of the hotel I started walking faster into the elevator. When the elevator dropped me off at our floor, I started running, and I grabbed my room key and opened the door. I picked up Maka's stuff calmly and walked over to Tsubaki's room and opened her door (we all had a room key for each other's rooms) and put Maka's stuff down where BlackStar's was, picked up BlackStar's stuff and brought it back to our room.

I sighed and changed into my blue striped pajamas, probably buttoning the buttons on my shirt wrong and curled up in the big bed and started quietly crying.