Kid cursed himself under his breath as he chased after the slowly disappearing soul. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be… Was she bitten? Is that why her soul was slowly, but surely, fading?... No, he had sensed others there as well, and the dead don't have souls; not ones he could sense anyway. It was only when he paused for a brief moment upon finding an unconscious body did he realize he was being followed. "Staz, go back to the cave; take care of the sisters and Robin. I can handle this on my own, thank you for your concern." By the end of his sentence, Kid had already began to run blindly in the direction he believed the souls were headed, paying the unconscious body no mind. If what he believed had happened to Maka truly had happened, he hoped the rotters bestowed the most painful death possible upon the man on the ground. He smiled bitterly to himself, imagining the small girl taking on men much larger than herself. He had to admit, she did pretty good for three on one. He frowned when he continued to hear footsteps behind him. "I said go back, Staz." Kid pressed, willing himself to move faster. He was beginning to lose them, they already had a head start, and it seemed they were entering Rotter territory.

"I'm not letting you go alone. That's final." He said, though his breath was huffy, he kept up his pace just behind Kid. "This is not a world where you can go out alone anymore; I don't care if you are a shinigami. I've got your back. Besides, I believe your girls, along with the little spit-fire, could handle things while we're gone."

Kid smiled, grateful he had back up. "Alright then. You better keep up."

The two ran for what seemed like hours before Kid finally started to slow down. They were nearing the town he had gotten bit. "Huh…" Staz breathed after he caught his breath. "Who knew this was around here. Doesn't look like they faired any better than Death City…" He commented, bitterness intertwined in his voice. "You sure you sense her here? It looks deserted."

Kid closed his eyes at Staz's words, trying to search for the blonde meister's soul. Out of sheer luck, her felt it flicker somewhere within the depths of the city, but it soon faded; though Kid was pretty certain it was just his perception failing on him, and not that she had been… Kid's knees threatened to give out under him if he were to finish that statement. "Yes, I'm certain." Kid replied, washing the disturbing thoughts from his brain. "Be careful. This is the same town Maka and I where in when I got bit." He explained, "We only stayed on the edge of town. As a matter of fact, that's the grocery store we had visited." He pointed over to the vaguely familiar store, bad memories of it chilling him to the bone. It was true, the town seemed utterly huge, maybe even the size of Death City itself, but he and Maka went no further than the store on its outskirts. Was it possible Maka's kidnappers dwelled somewhere within the seemingly desolate city?

Kid trudged on, Staz following behind him, but they were now at a much slower pace than before. One misstep on a discarded soda can or other rubbish laying about was sure to alert dormant rotters inside the buildings; they were already pushing it without masking their scent. As Kid was deep in thought, a rough hand held him still, but luckily he had enough sense to not holler out. He turned, brows furrowed, to see Staz with a finger to his lips, then pointing it straight ahead, his face ghostly pale.

The reaper followed his companion's line of sight to see a small yet suspicious looking rope, taunt, and very, very low to the ground; a trip wire, Kid concluded very easily. So there were other there, and it seemed they didn't particularly like company. Upon closer inspection, Kid realized why the color had drain from Staz's face. Following the trip wire, he was just able to make out a small fence rigged up to a pulley system and an uncountable number of dormant rotters vacantly toying with the gate's chain-linked metal. In long story short, if they hadn't seen the trip wire (which admittedly was hard to see in the dark) they would have set free dozens of rotters within feet of themselves. What made matters worse was the fact that even if they didn't trip the wire, the beasts were sure to see them as the walked past, and the fence didn't seem to be all that sturdy. Kid looked up and around the buildings. It seemed their only alternative was to travel by rooftop; though they would have to be extremely careful, these rooftops seemed even less stable than those back in Death City. The young death god reached behind and pulled the brunette up next to him by the collar of his shirt, close enough so he could hear his breathy whisper. "There's a simple solution. We travel by roof top." Kid let his golden eyes gaze across the rooftops framed by the night sky. The sun would be rising soon, he noted; the moon's eyes were beginning to droop. "We cannot panic, but we have to be careful. The tiles don't look steady and I wouldn't put it past anyone to not set traps like this one above ground as well."

Staz nodded, though Kid could simply tell by his quivering soul he was frightened. In all honesty, the more Kid read between the lines, the more it frightened himself; not only for his well being, but Maka's as well. These sick bastards were using Rotters as a trap. Meaning they had somehow rounded them all together, no doubt with some sort of bait… Kid shook his head and swore, his overactive imagination would be what got himself killed. With great caution, the two climbed up an old fire escape as quietly as rickety stairs would allow and, fortunately, they managed to go undetected.

Just as expected, the roofs were a complete patchwork; though if it was for security reasons or not was unknown. Kid cursed under his breath. He could no longer feel Maka's soul and this roof was only slowing them down… Hold on, Maka. He thought bitterly. I'm coming, I promise.

After spending a good half hour on getting around various traps and naturally made un-sturdy city, the two somehow managed to make it to a small camp. Even though Kid couldn't pinpoint Maka's soul in particular, he could still pick up one or two souls around that area. How wrong he had been.

Kid and Staz now crouched undetected on a rooftop over looking what seemed to be an absolute community. Dozens upon dozens of people crowded the streets, partying, drinking and laughing; that wasn't including the crowded houses and what used to be convenient stores. If Kid had to guess, there were easily a hundred men, if not more. Kid felt his blood boil. Was Maka really mixed in with this mess? No telling what they would do to her…

"Kid!" The reaper was brought back to reality as something grabbed for his hand. Instinctively, he pulled it away only to realize it was Staz. "You're gonna slice your fingers off!" He continued to hiss, low enough not to disturb anyone on the ground below. With a cocked eyebrow, Kid looked at his hand to see bright red liquid draining from the lengths of his fingers, a knife still held loosely in his grasp; only then did he feel the stinging cut beneath the blood. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked over to meet the brunette's sympathetic eyes. "She's alright, I promise you. They haven't even had her for that long. We'll save her." Kid nodded and turned his attention back to the clearing, wiping his bloodied hand carelessly on his pants and preparing a strategy for finding Maka. Though he would've liked nothing more than to ransack the place, guns blazing, and kill every filthy excuse for a human being insight, he knew he would be over run, especially since he only had blades and not Liz and Patty. Damn! If I had thought this through I would've brought the sisters… They may not work against rotters, but they'd certainly work against these filthy swines… He sighed as he looked up to the moon once more. If they were expecting to get anything done under the cover of nightfall, they needed to act quickly. Kid's thoughts were interrupted by movement in the darkness ahead of him; it seemed there was someone else just ahead of Staz and himself on the opposite rooftops but they were obviously not a part of this community. Squinting his eyes, Kid could just barely make out two figures hiding in the shadows; though he didn't seem to see him, Kid could definitely see them. His breath caught in his throat.

The brilliant shocks of blue and white hair were completely unmistakable.

This chapter was written and thoroughly inspired by the song Fragile by Nine Inch Nails

I do apologize for the short chapter.

I want to remind you guys about the contest, the first place winner gets to create a reoccurring character (meaning it won't just show up once and be gone forever) for my next Soul Eater/ Harry Potter crossover fic . Second place winner get to create a character that will appear in my next KiMa oneshot. So far I've only receive one amazing entry, but I hope to see more! Remember, contest closes a day after the last chapter of Beyond Help is posted.

Replies~!

Mikaela- Isn't it though? I know how it's going to end yet I feel the suspense gnawing at me as well! It's just so much fun to write! I've got a few things up my sleeve; Fluffiness, anger, jealousy, love, maybe even tragedy? Who knows?

Checkered Brooke- Oh yes, Kidd is about ready to kick some serious ass, I could completely see him going absolutely berserk at this point. Yes, Tsubaki being captured along with Maka helps me out quite a bit with where this whole thing is going.

Carifoo2001- Ok…I'm… sorry? Not really sure how to respond when people comment like this. Anyways, yes, it was Tsubaki.

Awesomex- Maybe this last sentence gave you the same reaction? :)

Shell-kun- Alright, cool! Hope this chapter was just as good!

SecretFantacs- Oh, he will. They messed with his Maka. You can definitely expect some serious shinigami kicking ass in the near future.

Deaththekids sis- I hope this was soon enough D:

PenSketch- Ooooh, that would've been a good one! Sounds like something I would do XD But I don't feel like being that mean to you guys.