FOILED

4 months after Asura

"With Rudy's knowledge of the enemy, and my knowledge of our EAT students, we've come up with a plan to take on the newly revived kishin."

"Hm? The kishin? A plan?" Lord Death cocked his head to the side, his mask expressionless. Rudra was vaguely unnerved by not only the fact that he was dodging the subject, but he hadn't balked at the idea immediatly. He seemed to be genuinely considering the idea.

Lord Death was in a real pinch here; their enemy had conspired with a student to take other students to battle an entire organization. This organization happened to be headed by Mosquito, Giriko, and Justin Law - all who were rather formidable foes. Then there was the pressing matter of the kishin, Soul, and his weapon, Agni. He was still able to transform himself, he was able to amplify her powers, and she controlled all things fire.

"If you look at these maps of the area, Rudy said that their base would be somewhere around this magma chamber - presumably to make use of Agni's powers. If we were to send in two teams, I know we could come back victorious."

Tsubaki handed him a folded paper, which he quickly discovered was a map with multiple markings. It was color coded, all to scale.

"If Ox, Kim, Kilik, and Crona go down there first, Kid and Black*Star can leave shortly after, to divert attention. Since Ox, Kim, and Kilik are able to group resonate, they would be best suited to take on Mosquito and Giriko. Crona will be able to keep Soul and Agni occupied, as Ragnarok is the only other weapon made with black blood. Black*Star, Rudy, and I will meet up with them to finish Soul, while the earlier team proceeds to sweep the area."

He read each name, and the corresponding spot that they would engage their targets. But they weren't accounting for Justin Law, or even the grunts of the organization. They needed more people - but there were few to spare. Rudra explained that while Stein and Marie would be excellent back up, Stein was weak against a trio of madness-making machines, and Marie could only do so much for him.

The meister would have to remain here, as a fail safe. Lord Death couldn't leave his city - the kishin blood that ran through Soul remembered that the reaper had a means to travel, and he had run as far away as possible. Spirit was occupied with Maka falling into disrepair. Azusa had returned to her division. One of his strongest weapons had betrayed him; Justin Law's only match would be Stein and Spirit, or Lord Death himself.

Another thing occurred to him - if Rudra came in contact with Soul, wouldn't she turn on her friends because of the madness? The pull of her meister, her true meister, was mentioned in the legends; she could only fight it for so long before her mind was shrouded in madness.

"We don't seem to have a lot of options here," he drawled, his large hands stroking a chin that wasn't there. He was trying to think of some other way - one that didn't involve sending children to fight the battle he seemed to keep leaving unfinished.

"Ya, okay, send word to the meisters and their weapons. We'll ship them out in two weeks; a day between departures. Sound good?" Tsubaki seemed to think about it, Rudra watching her intently. It seemed as though she had settled back in, despite her initial betrayal. The weapon nodded, accepting the terms - even if Agni was with Soul and they were surrounded by magma, she wasn't strong enough yet to disturb the Earth's core. Lord Death made a strange noise, like he wanted to say something. Tsubaki and Rudra brought their attention back to him, waiting patiently for the rest of his directions.

"But the thing is, Rudra, you can't go."

(two weeks later)

Crona felt apprehensive - maybe that wasn't a strong enough word for what they were feeling. They were supposed to fight Soul and Agni by themselves? Soul had become almost as close to them as Maka was, or Rudra had been. Not to mention, Agni was so strong and they couldn't imagine trying to fight her. Fighting girls was still kind of strange.

Jackie snapped in front of Crona's face, making them blink before focusing back on the present. Their boat -which Crona was very, very displeased about- was starting to slow down and float towards the dock. After securing it, they were quick to get off under the cover of night. It was humid - as if air had taken on the thickness of a cream soup. Ox already had a nosebleed from it, and there were two pieces of toilet paper shoved up his nose. Harvar was trailing close behind, keeping a wary eye out for an ambush.

Kilik was herding his Pots through a thick underbrush, when Kim tripped and fell face-first. Surprisingly, she didn't eat dirt - Ragnarok had managed to grab her hand, only to drop her inches from the ground. She shot the weapon a nasty look, but it was only returned with a loud, wet raspberry.

She harrumphed and stood up, with Kilik's help -which Ox was quietly stewing over- and headed for Jackie's side. Crona frowned, directing their displeasure at Ragnarok. The trek to the center of the island was slow due to the density of the flora, and the moonless night. Tensions began to run higher the longer they travelled - Ragnarok would hold branches for people, only to release them at an opportune time and hit someone in the face. Or perhaps when Ox discovered a leech on his inner thigh and proceeded to cry while Fire had to burn it off.

They were all sweating by now - Crona was uncomfortable in their black attire, and the added weight of Ragnarok hitting their head wasn't helping much. They were starting to get lost in the rhythmic beating of their weapon, when Jackie cried out suddenly. Their attention was on her - she had fallen and was clutching at her knee. She had tried going over a fallen log, but a vine caught her leg and made her land oddly.

"I think it's twisted," she muttered in irritation; Kim was trying to tend to her, while the others gathered around her. She wouldn't be moving anytime soon.

Ragnarok felt under-appreciated right about now - no one else heard Giriko's chainsaw blade start, but they were the first one to react. They managed to block it before transforming into Crona's hand - Giriko returned to plant his foot in their stomach, making them skid away on the ground. They landed near Jackie and Kim; Ox and Kilik were standing in front of them now, their weapons held defensively.

"Crona, you gotta get outta here."

"Yeah, you're the only one who can fight the kishin; let us handle this guy. Ox, you too; get Jackie and Kim outta here, somewhere safe." The other meister whipped his head to face his friend; Kilik gave him a thumbs up before catching Giriko's next attack. He jumped into the darkness of the woods, and a few moments later, they felt the ground shake. Ox stood still for a while, Harvar propped against his shoulder. He turned to Kim, opening his mouth to say something, when he pointed his weapon at the darkness and shot a bolt of lightning.

A large group of Arachnophobia agents scattered into the trees. He chuckled lowly as Kim got up and they stood back to back. Jackie may have been injured, but as long as they didn't encounter Agni, she couldn't be damaged anymore in weapon form.

She was in her meister's hand and sooty smoke began to rise from her maw. Kim poised her for an attack before turning to Crona and smiling.

"Go, get Soul back." They could only make out the bright flashes of their attacks in the dark, and knew they were useless here. They wanted to stay - wanted to help their friends. The people who had accepted them were now telling them to leave them to handle things. They smiled in spite of themselves.

They had to go save their friend.