OH MAN! I thought I uploaded this way earlier! OHhhhh big mistake, now it doesn't feel right. Oh well, last chapter is coming up soon. I'm still in the process of writing it.

"MAKA!" Soul yelled into the snowstorm, but it was too late.

"How could it have gotten her? She could've let me transform and we would've had a fighting chance!

Soul let go of the coat and let it fly into the storm. He gasped and started running back. His mind was racing. How? Where? Maybe she just tripped!

"She has twenty four hours to live." Soul kept reminding himself. "She has twenty four hours to live."

He didn't realize that he was running in circles, out in the middle of a blizzard. Where are the buildings? Where is Crona? Where is MAKA?

"MAKA!" He yelled again, until he couldn't use his voice without it going out. "Ma—" He fell onto the snowy ground. He could feel solid dirt beneath him, he rubbed it with his bare hands. It was definitely solid ground. That meant he was still on the cloth factories'

perimeter. Where were the buildings?

Soul did not at all feel biting cold anymore, but instead, felt warm and dizzy. He was a lone weapon without his miester. He wondered what Maka was feeling right now. Was she feeling pain? Or was she already dead?

"Maka." He gasped again, writing in agony.

"Soul?" A soft voice replied. It was barely audible through the storm. The snow whistled all around him, but had just enough energy to look up. There, standing above him was Crona's lanky figure.

"I couldn't stop him in time." Crona looked down at Soul. "He grabbed Maka. He killed her."

It was a hell- unimaginable to only Soul at that moment. No one else could feel the sharp pain lurching at his heart. Not only was his miester gone, but the one he loved. He, amazingly stood up from the ground.

"Your lying." He whispered.

The wind started blowing from the opposite direction, bringing Crona's bangs to fly above his own eyes.

"Your lying YOU BASTARD!" Soul's denial was now more than rage. He gripped Crona's neck and refused to let go. Crona, wildly grabbed at his throat and begin to make a gurgling noise. Ragnarok began to panic, because he couldn't breathe either.

One moment, Soul was strangling Crona and the next moment, Ragnarok slid forward and plunged himself into Soul's abdomen.

"Fool." He screeched.

"Sou-" Crona gripped Soul's coat and picked him up. He had large bruises around his own neck, but neglected to tend them. Instead, he held Soul in his arms, weakly, and began to wobble north. "We need to get you to Professor Stein and the others."

"We need to find Professor Stein and the others? They're alive? I thought they were dead?" Soul was mumbling with his eyes closed. He seemed half alive. I thought Crona said they were dead before.

"Did you not hear it? There was a big explosion." Crona continued to stumble through the blizzard. "The entire big building collapsed. That was just a little while ago."

"Crona, you better be lying." Was all Soul could say before passing out.

"Crona, move Tsubaki closer to the fire, and put another sheet of that warm cloth over her, or next time she stops breathing it will be permanent.

"Yessir!" Soul could tell the obidient voice was Crona's.

"I want you to go out and look for Liz and Patty, again. They'll freeze soon, but hopefully they're not too exposed to the cold air." The voice was tough to make out at first, but Soul soon found out it was Professor Stein. He's alive.

"Where do I look next?" Crona asked, looking around. The fire crackled.

"I want you too look over where you found Kid. Most likely they would've fallen somewhere close to their miester. Remember, don't stay out there for longer than thirty minutes. Come back by then."

There was rustling, and a footsteps, and then Soul could not tell if Crona was around anymore. He opened a tired eyelid. Soul saw he was in a make-shift shelter build out of two metal doors, the side of a concrete wall, and a few hangars. Strips of cloth covered the inside and a fire pit was in the center.

"What were those witches thinking?" Stein gazed out the opening into the white, howling, storm.

"Professor?"

"So your alive, Soul. I personally, thought you were about dead."

"THAT'S WONDERFUL!" Soul sat up and barked at Stein.

"Looks like I was dead wrong, but since you have so much energy, please help me with Kid and Tsubaki."

Soul turned his head to see his two friends lying as close to the fire as possible. Their condition was horrible. Kid's eyes were rolled up into the back of his head, and his face was covered in blood. His whole body was ridged and cold. Soul flinched, but when he saw Tsubaki he halfway fainted again, but quickly recovered.

Tsubaki was in a worse shape than Kid, and was so swollen that it hardly looked like her anymore. In fact, she looked like someone Soul had never met before. It might even have been an insult to say she looked like Myuki.

"Where's Black*Star?" Soul looked around.

"He, Liz and Patty are still missing. I sent Crona out twenty minutes ago to go search for them. Until then they are all assumed dead. It seemed like less than twenty minutes ago!

"ISN'T THERE SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO'S NOT ASSUMED DEAD?"

"Soul, calm down." Stein leaned forward, with his hands on his lap. "Your talking about Maka, aren't you?"

Soul fell to his knees and wiped away some blood from the cloth around his stomach. In truth, it really hurt, but he did not notice it at the moment.

"Where- is- She." His face was serious and even seemed to bother Stein.

"I will not tell you she is assumed dead. Because I don't think she is." Stein answered, looking into the fire. "But she will be soon, it's around noon."

"What about Crona? Crona told me-"

"I do not know what Crona saw, but I'm sure Crona's vision was blurred by the storm. I think that he was half delusional at the time."

"So, She's ALIVE?" Soul got to his feet, and bumped his head on the door above him. Stein almost smiled.

"All we can do it hope. Once Crona comes back, I'm going to get back to where I can reach a window. I'm contacting Lord Death and having him send out a complete lock down of the city. Search parties, dogs, all miesters and weapons in the area."

"What if he left the city?" Soul was halfway out of breath. He wiped away sweat from his forehead and brow. It was freezing outside and so was his body. He was in a cold sweat.

"All the murders have been in the city. Why would he stop now?"

"You said yourself he's got a mind of his own so why should we depend on him staying in the city!" Soul rasped. I need to get out of here too.

"If he was already outside the city—" Stein paused. "What could we do?" Kid begin to breath roughly and awoke in a scream. He begin to scream his weapon's names.

"Kid. Kid." Stein kicked him in the head to the extent where Kid flopped back to the ground. "It's okay, there's a search party outside." Kid got to his feet rubbing his scalp, his eyes seemed to search around the room, but just as he stood fully up, he banged his head on the door and fell down again. Kid laid on the floor, he looked up at the ceiling.

"Where am I?" He asked, without much tone to his voice.

"A shelter." Stein answered.

"And Where is Liz and Patty?"

Soul smiled in a way. He still couldn't help but thinking of Maka. A miester and a weapon's bond was so strong. Kid was halfway dead and yet he immediately asked about his weapons. MAKA!

"STEIN!" Soul reached for the opening to get out. "I need to get out of here! Maka's in real danger without her weapon. She's as helpless as a little girl."

"Wait for Crona to get back, then I want you two to do what I was going to do."

"Hmm?" Kid propped his head up.

"Not you Kid, you need to stay." Stein pressed Kid's head down with his foot. "Soul. You and Crona need to go find Maka. This is your last chance. Contact Lord Death and do whatever it takes to find him. He'll probably be where you'd least expect him to be."

"Come on Crona!" Soul nodded, and looked eagerly out the opening. A few minutes later, to what seemed like an eternity to Soul, Crona entered. He was probably the worst looking, besides Tsubaki, with dark black bruises on his neck.I did that, to the person who saved my life, and tried to save Maka's.

"Soul. I. Er." Crona stopped and stared. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Crona. Maka's life is on the line at this very moment." Soul got up. "I'm sorry for hurting you. It wasn't cool of me at all."

"I forgive you." Crona said weakly. "I was mad too."

"Then you two should stop taking so long and get going. I know you'll do fine." Professor Stein's eyes were weary, but they showed truth.

"Right." Soul jumped out the opening, he was still a little weak, but he felt better knowing there was a chance to save his meister's life. If she is still alive.

"Where?" Crona asked as they departed from the shelter, running into the night. The snow howled around them, and shook both of them violently. Soul turned to face Crona.

"First, to notify Lord Death of our conditions. Then, to find Maka."