With a shuddering gasp, James' chest stopped moving.

Azusa stood in shock at what had just happened. Lord Death held Spirit in weapon form still, watching the dragon's retreating back. With a casual flick of (what would be) his wrist, the shinigami released Spirit. The death scythe hit the ground on his feet, and enfolded his wife in a huge hug, crushing her to his chest.

Azusa shook from trying to hold the tears in. Lord Death's oversized hand rested on their shoulders for a second and both death scythes suddenly remembered where they were. Azusa pulled away from Spirit, adjusting her glasses, stalling. Lord Death was silent.

"Do we… do we still get to continue being her parents?" Spirit spoke into the silence, Azusa looking questioningly at the shinigami.

"Well, I don't see why not!" The reaper said brightly, bouncing back a few feet. "I'm glad that's all settled now. You did a great job, Spirit-kun!"

"Thank you, Lord Death." Azusa said, bowing.

"Of course! If you two have any other problems, just let me know!" He bounced back to look in the mirror as the two death scythes left the room.

Azusa and Spirit arrived home a little later to find Sylvia's key sitting in plain view. Azusa strode over to it and picked it up, looking at Spirit. For the second time he wrapped his arms around his wife and held her. This time, though, she sobbed into her chest.

They both knew what this meant. Sylvia was gone.

"We'll find her, Azusa. I promise you. No one on earth can hide from you, right Committee?" He felt her sobs trail off with the joke. "I promise. Sylvia is our daughter, even if it is just on paper. She's an Albarn now; we'll find her."

Azusa nodded and pulled away from him, adjusting her glasses and hair briefly. He watched as his wife centered herself, and then as her pupils went wide, her gaze distant. Slipping an arm underneath her legs he picked her up, careful carrying her into their room, Azusa's lips moving occasionally as she memorized where she had searched.

Spirit laid her down on the bed and went to leave. Azusa's hand grabbed his, pulling him down towards her, her concentration never breaking. A smile crossed his face as Spirit curled up beside her.

Stein carried their unconscious daughter through the streets of Death City quickly, Marie trotting at his elbow, constantly moving the hair out of Elsa's face or just smoothing it. Stein ignored the actions, knowing that Marie was simply trying to calm herself.

They found the blood drops outside the door of the lab and Stein knew. Looking into the lab he could sense, just barely, a soul inside it. He handed Elsa to Marie quietly, and was the first one to enter.

"Marie, take Elsa to her room, would you please? I have some notes I need to look over that I believe will be relevant to what just happened." He lied easily, moving deeper into the lab without waiting on her answer.

He entered his lab slowly, noting the increase of blood in the area, the tang of copper in the air. He carefully shut the door behind him and locked it.

"Marie doesn't need to see this, and letting Elsa see what she's done could snap her again." He said quietly, moving towards the source of the soul that was fading quickly.

He found James propped against the wall. The boy's hands were clutching the massive wound in his abdomen, his head tilted back with a trickle of blood running down his lips and chin. There was a large pool of blood around him.

What worried Stein was the fact that James wasn't breathing. Moving quickly to the boy's side Stein's fears were well founded. The blood from his wound was sluggish; it was obvious that James' heart was just barely still beating.

Knocking echoed through the lab. "Franken?" Marie's voice called out.

Stein froze briefly, and then he answered. "Yes?"

"Why is the door locked?" Marie's voice was obviously confused. Stein picked up James carefully and laid the boy on the operating table before answering.

"Marie, call Azusa and Spirit. Have them get here now."

"Franken?"

"James is dying." Silence answered him, followed by the click of heels as Marie dashed off.

Stein turned his attention to the boy, hoping that he would be able to save him.

He is the most skilled meister to ever graduate from the DWMA; A renowned doctor who doesn't have an equal. He knows the human body better than most people know their phone number. He is the (in)famous Doctor Franken Stein.

And even he looked down in horror at the chop job Elsa had done on James' abdomen and the internal organs housed within. He could hear Azusa screaming through the door. He couldn't go to unlock it, James' life hung by a fine thread; a single moment could be the difference between the boy's life and death.

A crash signaled the end of the door. Stein didn't allow the noise to distract him; instead he continued the operation that he hoped would save James' life. He didn't know how long it had been since James had stopped breathing, so he hoped it was a short enough period before he got James hooked up to the breathing machine that there wouldn't be any brain damage.

A small part wondered if there was if the damage would affect James' ability to transform. Stein fought his curiosity with everything he had, focusing on trying to repair the damage that Elsa had caused.

Azusa's scream tore through the lab. Spirit pulled his wife away from their son, burying her head against his chest so that she couldn't see him. Azusa sobbed into his shirt as Spirit stood and watched what Stein was doing to James. After a few moments Azusa had calmed slightly, but she started weeping again when she craned her head back to look at James.

Marie stood motionless, her hand covering her mouth, tears in her uncovered eye. She blinked, the tears spilling down, and reached out to grab Azusa's hand, pulling her out of her husband's grasp. Spirit let go reluctantly, and Marie drug Azusa out of the lab.

Spirit stood, forcing himself to watch as Stein made small incisions in his son's chest and stomach, widening the cut that was in James' abdomen, stitches slowly covering the inside of his son.

"Spirit, is he your blood type?" Stein asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Roll your sleeves up. He needs blood, desperately. His blood pressure is low, and he may die if he doesn't have a transfusion soon." Stein said without looking up.

Before he had even finished talking Spirit's suit jacket was off and he was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

"When?"

"Get a chair from the kitchen so you can sit beside him, or drag one of the tables over and lay on it. Lying is probably the best option in this situation."

Spirit just nodded, carefully moving a table to the side that Stein wasn't working on and laid down on it, clenching his hand into a fist. He waited like that for another long minute before Stein stood and started the process of the transfusion.

Spirit winced as he felt the needle slide into his vein, shuddering from the cold feeling of the blood not making it to his hand.

"He needs as much as you're willing to give, Senpai." Stein said quietly, patching a new bleeder, all too aware that the blood on his hands now was probably Spirit's.

"I'll give it all if I have to, you understand Stein?" Spirit said forcefully.

"I do, Senpai."

Stein worked in silence for a few long minutes. Spirit broke the silence, his voice tired. "Just couldn't wait to get an Albarn back under the blade, eh, Stein?"

"But of course." Stein replied absently. "Perhaps there's something physically different in his DNA that I could find since he is the offspring of two death scythes."

There was a long stretch of silence.

"My arm'sssss nnnumbb…" Spirit slurred suddenly.

Stein cursed. He had forgotten about Spirit's previous injuries. He stood, quickly ending the transfusion. "Just lay still, Spirit. Don't move at all." The death scythe gave a slight nod, his eyes slipping closed.

A little over an hour later Stein was stitching James back up. The boy was breathing shallowly on his own; if he survived the next few hours his odds were good. Spirit lay on the table asleep beside James.

Stein stood, stripping off his bloodied lab coat and shirt and washed his hands before leaving the lab to retrieve some clean clothing. He walked up the stairs and changed, managing to avoid Azusa and Marie for a second where they were in the kitchen and stopped to check on Elsa.

He opened her door and found her sitting on her bed, a blank look on her face.

"Elsa?" He called out quietly. The girl didn't react to his presence. He crossed to her and reached out, touching her shoulder. "Elsa." He said more forcefully.

Her eyes focused for a moment, a tear slipping down her face before they glazed over again. Stein understood. Her conscious mind was trying to remember what had happened while she was lost in the madness, and her unconscious mind was fighting it tooth and nail. He could only hope for her sake that she never remembered.

As he left Elsa's voice called out to him. It was small, broken, and immensely sad. "Please tell him I'm sorry… so sorry…" Her voice trailed up into giggles as Stein shut the door, the girl having already forgotten what she had said.

Sylvia lay in bed, wondering if Azusa and Spirit were looking for her or if they were happy to be rid of her after what she had done to them in the Death Room. The girl sighed and she heard Nicole roll over.

"Seriously, Syl-chan. Stop freaking out over it. It's not odd for partners to live together once they start at the DWMA. You would've moved out soon; James-san probably would too." The girl stifled a yawn. "I'm sure that everything is completely fine."

Sylvia nodded, yawning. Finally she let herself drift off to sleep.

"And that hatchling, is precisely why I came back to remove you from this cesspool of humanity." Sylvia looked up and saw Larza standing a few feet away. "They see you as nothing more than a rarity, something to be possessed. They try to corrupt you, a dragon! Did you not feel the anger stir in you when that human child attempted to strike down another immortal?!"

An image of Elsa burying the scalpel in Kiru's back flashed through Sylvia's mind, even though she herself hadn't seen the attack that injured him.

"Mabaa-san sees you as her own grandchild. The witches accept you as one of their own. Why would you persist in tying yourself to these… insects? You are a dragon! Leave Death City, join the witches. No harm will come to the ones that you have forced yourself to be friends with then. I cannot swear that will be true if you insist on remaining here, hatchling."

An image of a dark robed man appeared in Sylvia's mind, followed by one of Elsa and James lying dead on the ground.

"The witches themselves will protect your friends if you leave now and join them. I urge you to before the war comes. It has been centuries in the making. If you do not wish to join the witches, just leave the city. I cannot come to you, hatchling. A dragon honors their word. Return to our domain. Know freedom."

Sylvia sat upright in her sleep, her body trembling and her soul surging before she woke completely.

A/N: I don't own Soul Eater or any of the OCs in this other than Elsa and James.

Also- opinions in the review on this topic please: I am considering breaking Elsa into two stories, seeing how long this one has gotten. I would appreciate your feelings on it, loyal readers.

Thanks for the reviews, PMs, and words of encouragement! :3 Love you all!