It's been far too long guys, I know. I've been putting all my extra time and effort into finishing my Beelzebub skateboard replica and haven't really had a chance to write. Now that I'm done (besides getting red wheels…), maybe I can update sooner? I also had to re-write this chapter a few times… So yeah.


"Ok, Maka. Stay here I'll be-"

"Was that… Blackstar I heard yelling?" Maka murmured as she squirmed slightly in Kid's arms, her mind slowly drifting back to full consciousness. After re-clothing, she practically fainted; Kid could only guess that between the time she was taken to now she had received a concussion. The scythe meister wiggled in his grip again, trying to get comfortable. Though carrying her bridal style like this was the most efficient way, moving at the speed Kid was going caused his arm and hand to brush up against a collection of bruises on the back of the small girl's knees. And shoulders. And, well, everywhere; every inch of her body seemed to ache and protest. They really must've done a number on her while she was passed out (1).

Slowing down and finally stopping, Kid let his eyes meet Maka's for the first time since she had been kidnapped; but he quickly looked away. He didn't deserve to see such beauty. Sure he was the one who saved her, but he was the reason why she had gotten captured in the first place. He looked around the clearing and used his soul perception. It was fairly clear, but he felt no souls in the immediate vicinity; meaning there weren't rotters or other men to possibly harm Maka. He gently set her down in a small concealed area between a large tree trunk and a bush. Kid glanced at her, though avoiding her eyes, and began to pace frantically, fisting his hair. Seeming to come to a conclusion he stopped and looked dead ahead. "Maka, listen to me. I don't have time to explain, I have to go back for the others. You have to understand how important it is that you stay here. I'll be gone… Eight minutes. Promise."

"Where are y-you… going…?" Maka's voice was getting softer as she slipped back out of consciousness. That couldn't be good. But at least she was safe for the living moment; he almost winced as he recalled the scene he had witnessed just before taking Maka out of the camp.

Just as he had rounded a corner, he almost watched Blackstar get beheaded from a behind attacker; luckily, the reaper had yelled out a warning just in time for the ninja to skewer the man through the gut. But if Kid hadn't been there…

His friends needed him now more than ever. It's what Maka would want. He told himself. How would Maka react if she heard her weapon partner had been alive all this time, but was killed during the rescue mission because Kid didn't return to help them. Once again, he looked over at the blonde just as her eyes barely slid shut. He couldn't help it; crouching down to her level, he gently planted a small kiss on her forehead before whispering "I'll be back soon. Promise."


"Yahoooo~!" Blackstar sang, though his insides knotted as he slaughtered yet another human. Not a kishin. Not a witch, but a human. Of course he absolutely loathed every last one of these filthy scumbags, there was just something about killing a man that seemed to twist his soul in uncomfortable ways.

"Blackstar, switch!" Soul screeched over the yelling men crowding him.

Raising his hands to blindly catch the weapon being thrown at him, Blackstar smiled as he felt the familiar chain in his palms. It was good to have his weapon partner back. As soon as the chain scythe was in his grasp, the blue haired boy tossed his samurai sword, in its sheath, over to Soul who caught it and flashed his signature shark-like grin. They then shared a look with Staz; though he was some distance away, he looked ready to give these guys hell.

Someone was already coming at Soul before he was able to unsheathe his weapon, so he simply took it by the hilt, holding it like one would a baseball bat, and swung as hard as he could, knocking the man out cold as well as sending the sheath clattering to the ground across the clearing. One man after another began to close in on the two. Though Soul was inexperienced when it came to wielding a sword, he was still very effective; seeing as very, very few men seemed to go within blades distance of Soul, and the ones who did were too drunk to even dodge a hit. For this, he was grateful. The white haired scythe wasn't a killer, not to humans anyways. But these are different circumstances… He tried to remind himself. Another drunk bastard had stumbled in Souls range and showed no sign of moving. He tightened his grip on the hilt. They hurt Maka! Gritting his teeth, he speared the man on the blade and used his foot to kick the body off the end, all the while trying to ignore the fact that he had just murdered someone. Soul backed up back to back with Blackstar and turned to grin at the blue haired assassin.

They were surrounded.

By this time, just about everyone in the community was well aware of their unexpected intruders and was either crowding around the four teens or at the doors of makeshift bars, cheering and screaming profanities. The fight was easily a hundred to four. The white haired boy couldn't help but smirk when he noticed all the kidnapped women, now completely forgotten by the men, were filing out of the cabins with light, quick steps and disappearing into the woods.

"You ready for this?" Soul muttered darkly, earning a snort from the young ninja.

"Of course I'm ready." He almost laughed, "What kind of god would I be if I couldn't kill a few humans…" His voice trialed of and Soul was able to conclude even the great Blackstar was a little wary about their upcoming mission. "Tsubaki," He spoke, kicking back a man who had stumbled, drunkenly, in front of the boy. "Are you sure you're ok to do this?" His weapon's bare profile appeared in the glare of the blade and gave a dark smirk with a nod. Blackstar grinned widely in return. "Lets do this, then."

At his word, both boys pushed off from one another's backs and launched themselves into full on battle. Quicker then he had expected, two men, seemingly sober, began stabbing at Soul immediately. Fortunately he had been able to dodge them, only earning a few cuts through his jacket and shallower ones yet on his cheeks. After dodging a few punches, he was able to easily land a blow from his sword down on one of the guy's shoulders, causing him to stumble back, clutching his bloody wound. He smirked his sharky grin before rounding on the other guy, who had apparently found a buddy, and their brawl soon turned into a flurry of punches and a poorly swung samurai sword. No matter how much he wanted to think he had come accustom to the weapon, he was still far from being a pro.

Blackstar gripped a chain scythe in both hands, figuring a weapon in both hands was better than a single ninja sword. He didn't hesitate digging the shiny blades deep within the stomachs of two dangerous looking men. These bastards… They're gonna pay for what they did to Tsubaki and Maka… I'll teach them to mess with friends of a god! With another ferocious growl, Blackstar shed the scythes of the now deceased bodies and threw all his weight into stabbing another advancing body in the gut. He paused for a moment when he felt his weapon's soul quiver. These men took you from us! Do you know what they could've done to you…? They didn't did they-?

They're still human souls, Blackstar. Tsubaki's calm voice swam in his mind. They aren't kishin. Of course they are terrible human beings, they are still just that. They aren't on the list.

A sharp pang to the shoulder brought Blackstar back from his internal conversation with Tsubaki. He quickly grabbed the hand that wielded the knife in his shoulder and yanked it hard, sending a rather skinny man to the ground. Rather than stabbing him with Tsubaki, he let his foot hit him square in the forehead, knocking him unconscious. Thank you, Blackstar. Mere seconds after, he was thrown into yet another scrimmage against three other men, each a head taller than Blackstar himself.

Staz, armed with two decent sized machetes, hacked at everyone he came in contact with, trying to push away any moral conscience he had. He slashed at yet another man's throat, all the while a small voice telling him to run. You have no real reason to be fighting these guys. They took their friends; not yours. Just run. Leave. Surely you'll get off scot-free. You won't need to look after anyone but yourself… Staz's body was on auto-pilot, dodging blades and fists with ease, all the while landing his own blows. If he wasn't having internal conflict, he would be thanking his brother for forcing him into taking those advanced martial arts classes. No. Staz grit his teeth, pushing away all thoughts of abandonment from his mind. These people helped me, have befriended me, have even taken me in as one of their own. What kind of scum would I be just to leave them like that in the middle of battle? He snapped out of his thoughts just in time to see a man sneaking up on Blackstar. "Look out!" He growled, kicking away a man in front of him and reaching the other man just before his blade dug into the ninja's shoulder.

Blackstar looked up at him with a grateful smirk. "Tryin' to steal my spotlight, are you?" He joked. Staz simply gave him a reassuring smirk.

Soul grunted as he threw yet another lifeless body off his back. This one had tried to sneak up on him but instead received a belly full of sharpened blade. Though he hadn't received any threatening wounds, the fight was wearing on him. He wasn't sure he could take much more, they just kept coming. "Let out the biters!" A slurred voice yelled above the rest, earning sever grunts and cheers of people in the masses. Their cheers soon grew into loud chants and demands. "Biters, biters!" Everyone stopped fighting and simply cheered. Soul, Blackstar and Staz shared uneasy looks as their grips tightened around their weapons.

"Fall back!" A single voice screamed, though it's owner was unidentified. Several grumbles interrupted the chanting, but only slightly; angry voices were still demanding for the dead to be released, whatever that meant. The angry chants continued, but soon the anger was directed back on the four teens, punches and blades coming much more rapidly and all at once. A single pistol fired and a guy to Blackstar's left fell over, dead. Everything went silent. "I said fall back, dammit!" The voice yelled again, but this time, Soul could see a largely built man with a shock of spiky orange-red hair and a sinister grin plastered on his tanned skin. Several of the men furrowed their brow, but did as they were told and slowly slunk back to the bars.

"Hey! Waitta second!" Blackstar yelled, throwing his hands in the air, dropping Tsubaki were she transformed into her human self. He began to run after them, but Tsubaki caught his wrists.

"Blackstar, no." Soul said, dusting dirt off his jacket, looking over at his best friend. "We've got Maka and Tsubaki. I have no reason to keep fighting. Let's go."

Blackstar grit his teeth and followed reluctantly, all the while keeping an eye on the men who slunk back into their drunken way of life. He whipped his head around as they neared the tree line, hearing something headed for them, and fast. As if on queue, Tsubaki's scythe form was in his hands and he saw Soul and Staz getting into an offensive stances. Fortunately, all this effort was for nothing, and they all let out a breath of relief as they saw it was Kid who had been rushing towards them through the foliage.


Soul was able to brief Kid on what had happened after he went to look for Maka, which wasn't really much other than fighting, but the reaper seemed just as perplexed at one small detail.

"Let out the biters?" Kid repeated, making a face.

"Yeah, and they all seemed to know what he meant." The white haired boy replied, strategically dodging a low hanging branch with as little noise as possible. "So it couldn't've been just the alcohol talking. They all seemed riled up about something…"

"Yeah, whatever it is, I don't like the sound of it…" Kid trailed off. He knew he should be worried about the entire night's events, but his mind continued to wander of to the injured blonde he had stowed away somewhere in the woods. At least maybe with the gang back together she can make a full recovery… If she was still there… If nothing had come to harm her in his absence… His pace quickened significantly as they neared where Maka was. He had to know the girl was ok; he needed her to be ok. "Maka?" Kid called, coming to the place where he last saw the girl.

"K-Kid?" He heard a voice croak as a few bushes rustled and finally revealed the petite girl leaning heavily on a tree trunk. Kid smiled and let out a sigh in relief; at least she was standing now. "Maka, you're ok-"

"Maka?"

"Soul… Soul!" The girl gasped, holding a hand up to her mouth, then ran over to the white haired scythe. He gave his famous pointed teeth smile, and embraced the girl in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her a few times. "Soul… I thought you were gone…" She muttered, clinging to her weapon, face buried deep in his dirty jacket.

"I thought you were to…" He sighed, resting his cheek against her ear.

Kid stood back, a smile on his face as he watched the reunion of weapon and meister; he could even see tears forming in the white haired scythe's crimson eyes. He honestly felt as if he had been kicked in the gut, but seeing the smile on the small blonde's face made it all worth while, and then some; though as the hug grew longer and longer, Kid could slowly feel that smile on his face ebb away.


(1) No, she did not get raped while she was unconscious; they just beat the living shit out of her while she was down. Real manly, huh?

Yet again, I am terribly sorry for this taking so long. I'm so sorry to disappoint you all…

Replies~!

Checkered Brook- Ok, good, so I'm not the only one! I mean, with a character like Maka who is just so innocent (in that particular aspect) Something like this is MAJOR. As Crona would say, Maka just wouldn't know how to handle it; making miss independent needing someone to rescue her, like it or not. And ooh, good predictions! I always love reading these cause they're just so interesting, they help you know what the reader is expecting so you can go in a different direction to add a twist :)

Shell-kun- Yes, I am a big fan of blood and gore myself! ( From one blood and gore fan to another, if you haven't heard of it; I highly suggest the comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, it is VERY VERY gory in a cartoonish way, but it's really good either way) Oh and tell your friend I said thank you!

Giraffe Overlord- Orly? I'm funny? Sweet! And yes, much romantic tension sure to come, now that Soul is back… I gots some plans up my sleeves for this one. And ooooh… I remember middle school… *gives the Excalibur face* yeah… Not the best of times for me XD

PenSketch- I know… *sigh* We just keep telling him and telling him, but Nooo, he does it anyways… Oh well! It made for a good chapter XD

SecretFantacs- Absolutely, and he didn't even really use his powers, that was pure rage… Imagine that rage with his powers O.e Now that's a sight to be afraid of…

Hawkllama- Hell yeah! Kidd kicks major ass :D

Mikaela- Yeah, the mood did sort of call for it. I mean, really looking at it, I don't see how he could be any less angry. He's just finding out he loves this girl, and then she goes and gets kidnapped and he walks in on her almost getting raped? Hell no, someone is going to be mince meat XD

ShyBandGirl- Yeah, it is really cute if you think about it. In a gory, bloody kind of way; but still cute all the same!

PyschopathicXangel- Yeah, he does seem more mature, doesn't he? I guess the apocalypse sort of forces you to grow up, like it or not. Makes you deal with things you wouldn't normally have to deal with. And I'm right there with you! I think Kidd needs to help a girl out! XD

Juvieyumi2500- Yeah, that was kind of funny, I needed a bit of comedic relief for writing that dark chapter and the awkward one before it… And also I believe it is very possible for there to be some sort of a love triangle… Stay tuned ;)