A Winter Solstice

by azro.zee

Inheriting Mama's way of life had always been about dedicating her life to alchemy, in the form of a silver pocket watch. It wasn't supposed to include fighting immortal beings, and especially not in the form of an awkward Ishvalan boy. [Fullmetal Alchemist AU, Part 1 of Solstitium series]

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 : Big Cities Are Full of Surprises

---

"Save him first."

"But, Wezen—"

"I don't care, save him first."

---

"Maka! Maka, wait!"

Maka jerked to a stop when Soul caught her arm. "What, Soul?!"

They were just five meters away from his new bike. How could he keep dawdling at a time like this? They had no time to waste!

"You can't—we can't just fly to East City! I mean—this is weird!"

Well, yeah, but that was precisely why they had to go to make sure!

"I know what you're thinking, Maka, but think about it first!" he pressed. "You just sensed her once, it could have been a mistake!"

Maka sneered, unintentional sarcasm seeping into her tone. "I think I can be trusted to recognize my own Mama's soul, you know, being her daughter and all!"

Soul winced, releasing his grip and balling his hands on his sides. "Maka, your mother has been dead for over ten years."

"Oh, like I need the extra reminder," she scoffed.

His brow furrowed, lips thinned in a rather dismal way, making her regret her words a little too late. Ah, why did she always speak without thinking when her blood rushed into her brain?

It wasn't only her who lost Mama.

"Soul, I…"

"I understand your feelings, Maka," he interrupted, dismissing her attempt to apologize. "But what will you do once you're in East City? Flip over every house and shout her name from the top of every building?" It was her turn to wince. "We already tried resonating again and again."

"She is there, Soul! I can feel it!" she insisted, ignoring the truth: they hadn't sensed Mama again after tirelessly resonating for hours.

She didn't know if her sudden overenthusiasm was because she was dying to see her Mama again or if she wanted to demand explanations from her own mouth. Maka threw her gaze away from him, biting back her angry sobs.

"Maka…" Soul whispered, unable to keep the desperation out of his voice despite himself. "You took me to her grave the first time I came here."

Yeah, she knew that, but there was a corner in her mind that was always wishing for Mama to be alive. It was a grieving child's defense mechanism after losing a beloved parent. She kept thinking that it wasn't really Mama whom they had buried, a thought that was strengthened by the fact that they had brought Mama's remains in a tightly nailed coffin. She had never actually looked at her face.

The last time she had really seen Mama was when the woman slammed the door on Papa's face, two years before her death.

Frankly, after her meeting with Soul, everything in Maka's life had started to go laughably bizarre to the point that she couldn't find the energy to be surprised anymore. After fighting literal immortals, the idea of her Mama being secretly alive wasn't that much of an impossibility. Might as well throw in her Papa being a living Philosopher's Stone and be done with it.

"I never saw her body," she finally murmured. "She was brought home in that tightly nailed coffin. They said her body was too…disfigured to display."

Maka sensed Soul's surprise vibrating in his soul. If she'd had the time and patience to pay attention, maybe she would've noticed that his soul wasn't as calm and collected as usual; the artificial part was giggling silently.

"Then we could—uh… Fuck, I'm starting to think that it's possible!" He flailed his hand uncertainly, ended up running it through his hair, lost for words. "But still, we can't just go to East City! How do you think the civilians would react if they see a little girl flailing a huge ass scythe and running about the city shouting a dead woman's name? Not to mention the military! We're not going to announce my being a human weapon to the Führer, right?"

Maka exhaled, scowling at the Ishvalan boy. How could he still casually think about stuff like that? She hated to admit that he had started to be her own voice of reason.

"Let's just—let's just call the Reaper Colonel or something… He's in East City, right?"

She failed to maintain her scowl. "You can call him Kid, Soul."

He grumbled, gesturing for her to get into the house.

---

The dungeon was entirely silent as always, save from the ragged breathing of a certain one-armed former alkahestrist.

Oh, seeing the former best State Alchemist in this pitiful state never failed to brighten Pride's mood on a bad day.

"Guess what news I got today, Mrs. Albarn," Pride purred. "Your daughter and your former pet just found out about you."

Pride smiled with satisfaction at the pure horror that flashed over Kamiko's face. The woman quickly smoothed her expression back into one of prideful nonchalance. Really, sometimes it was infuriating to think about how alike they were.

If there were living embodiments of the deadly sins within humans, this wench would certainly get the Pride's crown.

"Her timing is just too perfect. I think I'll have her be the one to activate the whole circle. Then I'll take the weapon boy and dissect him to make more," Pride chuckled. "Ah… Sometimes I wonder if God had blessed my entire plan."

"My daughter won't lose to the likes of you."

"That's rich, Mrs. Former Grigori," Pride replied with a sweet voice. "When you, her master, are stuck here at my mercy."

The woman scoffed. "At your mercy? Are your ages finally starting to speak?" Her chuckles sent a searing bolt of fury arcing through Pride's bones. "Let me remind you that it was me who chose to lose my own Gate and ruined your plan. It was the result of my own plan."

Pride's brow twitched. She stepped onto the wench's face, forcing her to kiss the filthy dungeon floor. "That is not going to change the fact that you're now a mere tool for me, a plaything I could throw away whenever I want."

"And why haven't you?" came a taunt from under Pride's heels. "It's because you still need me."

"Not for long." She kicked the wench's face, then turned to the door. It wouldn't do to have this shameless human ticking her ire any further. She was born to be the highest. Noble. The ultimate creature. And she would sit on the highest throne, one even Father couldn't reach.

"Poor thing, Homunculus Pride," the vile woman drawled in an infuriatingly calm voice. "Even if you get the gift of alchemy, it won't change your nature. You would never surpass humans."

Pride stopped, nothing betraying her anger except the slight tremble of her fists. If she didn't need the wench as a human sacrifice, she would have killed her by now.

"Even if you evolve yourself into the ultimate creature alchemy could produce, you are still a homunculus. A creature made by humans."

There was a splat as the wench smacked into the wall, decorating it with her blood. A black vector arrow slithered back into Pride's shadow and made it darker, emphasizing the cold fury emanating from her glare.

Pride suppressed a hiss at the mocking gleam in the other woman's eyes. How could a creature that weak and disgusting could stir her blood? How dare she. How dare!

Even if there was no wrath left in her blood, she could still feel fury, especially if someone dared to step on her dignity.

The wench appeared to sense her anger, smirking condescendingly with her bloody lips.

Pride's shadow slammed her again. Even if the woman was an important human sacrifice, nobody said that she had to be in her best state.

---

Maka approached her Papa tentatively.

"Papa…"

"Yes, angel?"

Papa was happily chopping tomatoes for tonight's dinner. An interesting phenomenon, for those who didn't know. One wouldn't expect Amestris's Major General to wear an apron over his military uniform in the kitchen and cook pasta for his 20-year-old daughter, after all.

Her Papa suddenly got home and announced that he would cook a great dinner for his daughter that evening. It was a little unusual, but Maka let him anyway. It was something her stupid Papa would do. He also kicked Soul away to the Barrett's workshop, bellowing that he wanted a dinner date with his little angel. Yuck.

But actually, this would be a perfect chance.

"I… sensed Mama."

Papa spun his whole body towards her, raising a brow. "What did you just say, darling?"

"I said I sensed Mama's soul. Somewhere underground in East City."

He stopped midway from reaching a spatula. "Maka… Mama is—"

"I know!"

Maka clenched and unclenched her fists, contemplating on telling everything to her Papa or not. If she wanted to get his help, she needed him to know, to understand. This wasn't just a matter of mere curiosity. This was a matter of finding Mama, to find out the whole truth from the first hand. This was a matter of proving that Mama's choices were right. For Mama's sake.

For her own sake.

"Soul is—was—created by Mama." Maka's pitch was higher than usual, struggling to form the words. "Mama… infiltrated a black project, a project where they turned Ishvalan children into living weapons. She changed their alchemy formula into alkahestry, and arranged for the sole survivor of the project—for Soul—to eventually meet me. Wielding Soul makes my perception widen greatly, and when we first tried it out, I sensed Mama," Maka nearly begged for him to understand. "Papa, Mama is alive, and I think she wants me to find her!"

After a long silence, her Papa let out a strained breath. "Mama didn't send you to him for something like that..."

What?

"Papa…?"

Wait a minute… What?

Now when she remembered, her Papa was not that surprised when she first told him about Soul.

It was not just her Mama, but Papa too?!

"You…" Maka slit her eyes, the sharp blade of betrayal stabbing her chest again. "You know about this!"

Her Papa just flinched with that apologetic look on his face.

"YOU KNOW WHAT MAMA DID AND YOU LET HER!"

"Maka, I—"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Maka's anger doubled when something else occurred to her. Her shouts stopped as she gritted her teeth, voice dropping, "Is this why you never wanted me to be an alchemist? You were afraid that I would find everything out eventually?"

"Darling, I just don't want you to walk the same path as Mama… She was so hurt and tortured by it but was in too deep to get out…"

"So you do know."

Papa opened his mouth again, but failed to give any excuse, "Mama… Mama had her own choice, Maka."

"Oh, shut it!" she snarled, swatting her Papa's extended hand and storming out of the kitchen. "Soul! We're going to East City!"

"Maka!" Papa caught her wrist, his eyes flashing with an authoritative spark. "I forbid you to go."

"I just want to search for my Mama!"

His grab on her wrist tightened. "Mama is gone. We buried her."

---

Why? Why did it have to be like this?

Spirit tightened his grab on his daughter's wrist.

"Mama is gone. We buried her."

He wanted nothing more than to spend a peaceful evening with his daughter, to shower her with love and affection before he had to go.

Before he led a suicide mission to avenge her mother.

Apart from the ridiculous thing his daughter just said, Spirit was even more baffled to hear her destination; East City was the target of his operation. He absolutely would not let his daughter go to a hellish place full of chimeras and who knew what else lurking about the city's underground tunnels.

No. It was already difficult to think about three hundred and twenty thousand citizens in the city. He didn't need her to be there.

And for good measure, he had to kill every hope that bloomed inside his heart.

Kamiko was dead. He didn't need the distraction.

"I SENSED HER!" Maka shouted, yanking herself out of his grasp. "I KNOW I SENSED HER!"

"MAKA ALBARN!" His daughter flinched. He almost never raised his voice at her. "You are to stay inside this house until I give you further notice!"

Maka's eyes widened. It was not a father's words to his daughter. It was a Major General's command to his subordinate. And Spirit loathed himself for using that.

Still baffled, Maka actually yielded to him when he yanked the apron off and herded her into her own room. Her stunned silence added extra guilt with every step he took. She would hate him forever for this. But that was okay.

"Papa? What—"

Maka's aggression was back once she noticed what he had pulled out of his uniform. She was strong for her age and stature, but Spirit Albarn didn't become a Major General out of pure luck. His strength was not something to be taken lightly.

Metals clinked as the handcuff locked itself to her daughter's wrist. A second of her horrified shock was enough for him to lock the other one.

"Stay in your room. Frank and Marie will be here in the morning to keep an eye on you."

They were specially made handcuffs; the ones they used on alchemists. Their material combinations were unique enough to not be transmuted easily. The length wouldn't allow their palms to touch, and the special substance would nullify any electrical reactions between electrons, cancelling any transmutation process. It was a useful thing, sure. He just never thought that he would use it on his own daughter.

"Stay still."

His daughter refused to say anything, still glaring at him with that burning hatred. He had always seen her as a spitting image of Kamiko, but seeing her like this was making him think that maybe she had taken after him too. Her green eyes—his eyes—were filled with rage and loathing, and Spirit wondered if that was how his eyes looked like when he saw himself in these past ten years.

He gently pushed her into her room, trying and failing to give her one last smile before locking the door.

"I HATE YOU!" Her hurtful shout reached his eyes. Damn. This was not what he imagined her last words to him would be.

Rapid footsteps approached him, bringing with them the Ishvalan kid. He shouted Maka's name before he even halted, "Maka! Maka, what—"

The boy finally slid to a stop before him, out of breath and confused. But his eyes widened with bewilderment as his eyes fell onto the keys in Spirit's hand.

"You locked up your own daughter?!"

Spirit's ire shifted into a tired acceptance. The boy really did care for his daughter, and Maka cared for him, no matter how much Spirit tried to deny it.

"Stay with her." He stared right into the boy's eyes. Ah, he felt old. "Don't let her go to East City."

He left the stunned boy and strode into the living room. He had a phone call to make, to ensure that a certain Colonel and his entire team were forbidden to step out of their office and approach Gallows Hill for the next 48 hours.

---

"Maka, can't you just transmute the lock open?"

Soul hovered in front of Maka's door. It was unfortunate that they never gave him lock-picking lessons in all those years. Ah, must be because they were afraid their pets would get away, as if the children couldn't just kick the entire cell door off their hinges. But, anyway.

"I can't! He cuffed my hands!"

"He what?!" Soul exclaimed, worriedly planting his ear onto Maka's door.

"I'M GONNA KILL THAT OLD MAN!" Her yell made him yelp and nearly knock himself out on the nearest wall. Okay, he had sort of asked it by planting his ear but boy, couldn't she be a little considerate? She surely shared that trait with her obnoxious brother.

"Yeah, good luck with that," he glowered, sticking a finger into his ringing ears. A muted grumble was heard from behind the locked door. "What happened, Maka?"

Something serious had to have happened for Spirit Albarn to lock his dearest daughter up and cuff her. Soul had just met the man a total of three times, but it was enough for him to know that he was the ultimate doting father. He made Mrs. Kamiko look like a typical cold and cruel fairytale stepmother in Maka's old picture books (it wasn't him who read that, of course, it was Patty).

"I told him," her muffled murmur came into his ears. "About Mama, I mean… and he didn't believe me…"

Ah.

"And he… he knew, Soul… He knew that Mama infiltrated that project. He knew what Mama had gone through and he… He never told me!" her angry yell ended in a strained voice.

Soul didn't know what to reply. Even after finally meeting the man, Maka's father was still a wonder to him. Soul was perceptive, sure, but Spirit Albarn was a hard man to read. He wore a mask, that was for certain. And his actions were not what they seemed.

It was strange for him to actually lock his daughter up just because she said his dead wife was not quite dead.

If Soul had to be honest, he kind of took Spirit's side. It was just… terrifying to imagine Maka fighting those damn homunculi again. They really got lucky last time, because their enemies retreated instead of finishing them off. He was eternally grateful that it was him who received the worst damages.

Grumbling, he cursed Kilik for not being here when shit happened.

"No worries, anyway! Papa'll go back tomorrow and I'll be free to persuade Professor Stein and Miss Marie to release me!" Maka's voice said.

Soul huffed. This would be a long-ass night.

---

Black Star scrunched his face in confusion at the two soldiers who were standing guard in front of his sister's mansion.

He had just left the town for a bit, making an automail spare-part delivery. Just a little over an hour ago, he was still listening to Soul's grumble about being kicked out of the house by Old Man Spirit.

What the chicken egg-rolls had happened?!

But anyway, he had promised Kilik he would guard the Albarn house when he was away to do his Morton Missions. He thought it'd be okay to do a little delivery because Old Man Spirit was home (he was very busy, okay, it was the end of the year and orders were piling up, even his Dad was out of town for weeks answering customer calls), but apparently he'd been wrong. Of course his dumb sister would get into a trouble within an hour. What'd he expect?

And his parents said he was the troublemaker.

Dumping the box of scrap metal in his hands, he strolled through the house out to the backyard. Using his incredible skill, he jumped over the high wall of the Albarn mansion, successfully slipping into the house through the back window.

Even though it was reasonable, in reality, it was not quite the best decision for Black Star to use the back route. He was completely oblivious of shadow snakes slithering around the two officers up front and injecting venom into them without sound, nor could he witness the shadow creatures consuming the two soldiers' lifeless bodies.

---

Frank stared at his long-time friend with incredulity. The entire town of Patch was still deep in their slumber, of course; it was six in the morning, mid-winter. It was still too cold and early for this shit.

"You locked her up?" Frank questioned, tone devoid of any emotion whatsoever. When Spirit did nothing but grumble to his couch, he deadpanned, "Seriously, have you ever seen your own daughter? Forbidding her is equivalent to giving her an official mission signed by the Führer to do just the thing with promised bonus cash if she can finish her business in record time."

Spirit grumbled some more into his couch. The Major General was really lucky Marie was still in bed, or he would have to lead his mission with two black eyes and possible cracked ribs.

"And you want me to keep an eye on her?" Frank flicked his cigarette into the ashtray. He'd never once succeeded in understanding what was going through the other man's head. Well, it was a long time since he had actually cared about all the bullshit Spirit did. "She should be very trigger happy by now. At least my visit won't be boring."

Frank let his mind wander into what Kristopher said the other day, about what he found out and deduced, and about what Maka had dug out of Baschool. He had actually planned to visit his little pupil, and this would be a perfect chance to go. He wanted to confirm his own suspicions and theories anyway.

The findings and remains Kristopher had were definitely pointing to the same person Spirit targeted, who was probably the same person who had shadowed the State Alchemist department for years as well. Or hundreds of years, if Frank's own mad theory matched Maka's depictions of 'immortals'.

"…And then she said she sensed her Mama," Spirit's voice broke his musings. "I mean, it's impossible!"

Frank made no reaction towards the topic. He fully believed Maka, to be honest, and he himself had his own 'doubts' about Kamiko's death. It wasn't that surprising if she really was alive. Sadly, reality was cruel. No one listened to a mad scientist.

"How's Blair?"

Spirit raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Who?"

"Your daughter's cat."

The Major General growled, "Wha—how does Maka's cat have anything to do with this?! I'm being serious here!"

"So am I." Frank puffed out a smoke ring nonchalantly, not a bit bothered by his friend's rage and frustration. He still had the ongoing bet with Kamiko on how long it took for Spirit to realize the truth behind his daughter's pet. Luckily for Maka, she had inherited her mother's brain. She had already figured it out within a week.

"I mean it this time, Frank." Spirit grimaced. "I'm fighting an enemy who killed my wife, who was the strongest alchemist this country ever had. If I can't come back alive, you're the only one I can trust to keep her safe within the military."

"There's still Kristopher, though."

Spirit half-chuckled, too familiar with his friend's ability to kill heavy atmospheres. "He's still a brat, and he has a much worse position than my daughter."

"Are you sure you don't want to tell her? She'll hate you for the rest of your life if you come back and for the rest of hers if you don't."

"I already lost Kamiko," the Major General said, eyes dulled into a muddy green shade. "I'd rather she hate me than lose her too."

Frank didn't answer, inwardly wondering if he was as emotionally constipated as others said. If he was, then how could he always see the truth behind the Albarn family's messed up feelings and interactions way too clearly? Even now, Frank could see exactly how this would end. But maybe it was just because he was too perceptive for his own good. Marie would know.

"21 December. Winter solstice, huh?" Frank shifted the topic again, glancing at a black and white photo on the wall. Kamiko was smiling in her mysteriously cold way, Marie and Azusa were pressed cheerfully into her sides, he was puffing out smokes, and Spirit and Sid laughed dumbly. It was taken on the summer solstice, exactly two years before Kamiko's death. "Ironic."

Spirit followed his stare and made a pained grimace. "It sure is. Dammit."

"Tonight, then?"

"Right after the curfew."

Frank tapped a finger on his knee in a random rhythm as he inhaled through his cigarette.

To tell or not to tell.

"Actually, Spirit."

His friend replied with an absent hum, still staring at the photo.

"Kristopher had given me something interesting a couple weeks ago."

Spirit turned around. "What?"

With a completely detached tone, Frank started his explanation about the circle under the East City and his suspicions about the real identity of Kamiko's supposed killer.

But Spirit heard nothing except for one. "So you're finally agreeing that these are really the people behind her death?"

"That is not the important point here, but yes."

The Major General was bristling with fury and something closer to deranged hunger. The tip of his mouth lifted up in an unsettling grin.

Frank had just thought Spirit was unsettling. And considering Frank's own personality, that was deeply concerning.

"Are you not gonna do something about the circle?"

Spirit gave no sign of interest, his eyes still the same shade of murky green. "You don't have the proof that it'd be activated tonight, do you? I'll go slaughtering those bastards tonight anyway. If they're really the same guys who made that supposed circle, then it'll be killing two birds with one stone."

He stood abruptly, hands balled at his sides. Frank didn't even flinch at the sudden motion.

"You're not even sure you'll come back alive."

"This is the last thing I can do for the woman I love," Spirit muttered as he walked to the front door, not exactly responding to Frank's words. "Even though I know it's only one sided," he added under his breath before the door was fully closed, not expecting Frank to still be listening.

"She loved you too, you flea-brained monkey," Frank said to the unmoving door.

---

"Isn't this a little too conveniently… coincidental?"

Kid raised a brow at his Lieutenant. "What is?"

"The whole thing!" Liz flailed her arms in a wide circle. "You know, from Maka's meeting with Evans in Death City, her Briggs debacle, your findings about those strange serial taboo experiments, then Major General Albarn's mission and Mr. Stein's own deductions, and finally this creepy sensing Maka had about her mom. They all lead us into this one specific place, at one specific time, with a very specific mission."

They had received an absurd call from Maka yesterday, saying that she had sensed her mother's soul, alive, when she tried to resonate with Evans. The whole team was in a silent frenzy since they found out that the supposed place of Mrs. Kamiko's soul was roughly at the center of the circle Ford had drawn, which also happened to be under the exact building Major General Albarn would raid tonight.

Kid glanced at the map with a human transmutation circle before them. Liz was right. It was all too perfectly coincidental. It was either God's sick prank or His way to show them the truth. Anyhow, they would do this and see it through to the end. The risk was too high for them to afford a room for errors.

Honestly, they had no actual plan on how to destroy the circle, except for going into the circle's prominent spots and trying to disturb the alchemical flow with another alchemical reaction. If they were lucky, they could go into the underground canal and destroy some of it, since the city's water system was what formed the actual circle in the first place, from what Harvar had found after some sneaking (the man was the absolute best for stealth missions).

But to be honest, Kid hoped they didn't have to go as far as destroying canals, because there was a densely populated city above it.

Now, to wait on Harvar's other specialty…

The soldier in question was fiddling with a tiny box Kid didn't even know what that was. All he knew was that it would tamper with the military's line and surveillance cameras, making them play a loop recording, giving his team a simple alibi to sneak out to Gallows Hill. Officer Claymore and Second Lieutenant Astaire would simply say they were having an important meeting if other soldiers tried to go into their office. There was no need for other soldiers to know that Team Morton had disobeyed a direct order.

Harv gave a thumbs up to Ford, who nodded and plugged the little box into their main line.

Preparation done.

They wasted no time stalking out of the headquarters to get their cars. Sometimes it was handy to have Patty as a distraction for other soldiers. Her cheerful smile and childish appearance often made people lower their guard.

In the record time of ten minutes, they were already speeding to the direction of Gallows Hill in two cars. Kilik would meet them in Albarn mansion after picking up their extra hand. It might be a roundabout and a waste of time to go all the way to Gallows Hill from East City if their mission would be executed in the latter, but they needed non-military-issued ammunitions and a place to regroup, since Harvar had reported that the key points of the circle had an unholy amount of chimeras lurking underground, which was why Barrett automail shop was the perfect place.

It was 10 AM sharp when Kid stepped out of the car.

There was no one who answered the door. Where were they?

A low hiss alerted him to look above. Black Star waved from Maka's second floor. "Morton, you dumb popsicle, why did you come through the front gate? What about the lookouts?"

Kid raised his brow, "Lookouts?" He took a glance at Liz, receiving her headshake, and replied, "There's no lookout."

"Oh, they're gone?" Black Star grinned, then turned his head inside, shouting, "Soul! They're gone!"

Black Star disappeared into the house, leaving Kid and his team exchanging confused faces. There was a loud thud and rapid footsteps coming from the house. A second later, the door cracked open, revealing the blue-haired engineer.

"Come in, come in, make yourself at home!" he jerked his head inside.

Kid rolled his eyes, immediately searching for the owner of the house. "Where are Maka and Evans? And what are you doing up there?"

Star waved his hand and led them to Maka's room. "Well, Maka has a little house-arrest situation. Soul and the cat are busy guarding her door."

What the—?

"I just checked on her literally 24 hours ago, what actually happened?"

"Eh," Star scoffed. "A little fight broke out and the Old Man locked Maka up in her room. Fancy handcuffs and all."

"HE WHAT?!" It was Liz who shrieked.

"Exactly my reaction," came a drawled voice. They had arrived in front of Maka's room and Evans was staring flatly at them from his spot on the floor. It might be the first time Evans regarded them without any hostility or aggression. His body language was calm and even a little lazy, though Kid noticed he was sitting upright instead of doing his usual slouch. Maka's black cat purred on his lap, swaying her tail. "Took you guys long enough to get here."

"Listen, you sharkface—" Liz started, but Kid raised a hand before she could form a full-sentenced insult.

"We have no time."

Liz grumbled, but retreated back to her sister's side. Black Star, who had no interest in their almost catfight, produced a wire and started to pick Maka's lock skillfully.

"Oh, thank Leto, Buddha, Jesus, whatever, if I spend a minute longer in there I'm gonna kick my window out of its hinges." Maka's breaths were loudly audible when she stepped out of the room. Well, from the footprints on the window, it seemed like she had tried that.

"Fucking thanks for your impeccable timing," Evans mumbled for no one to hear.

"He really cuffed you!" Liz shrilled again, glaring holes at Maka's wrists.

Kid's eyes dropped on Maka's wrists, and a cold sweat broke on his face. Oh, snap, it was those cuffs. The Major General must've had the resolution to be hated for life.

"Can't you transmute it?" Liz urged him as they walked down to the living room.

"No, they're special cuffs. They were forged from at least ten different metals and fifteen other materials with unique proportions for each unit," Kid hissed. They were the kind they used on rogue alchemists and top ranked criminals. They all knew alchemists can't transmute something if they don't have a full understanding of the material. As a student of the prodigal Professor Stein, he could crack it, sure, but it would be another couple months before he succeeded. "We need the key."

"Pah, keys!" Black Star scoffed before yanking Maka's hands to the floor. "Hold still!"

And with one wide movement, he swung the heel of his steel-soled boot to the cuff's joint and crushed it to splinters. Everybody's jaws were somewhere on the floor, staring at the horribly cracked concrete under the metal splinters. Shuddering, they sometimes forgot that Black Star was Star Clan.

But Kid was the first to recover. "You know, knowing your occupation, one would expect you to fiddle with the lock or something. Like with the door."

Black Star waved his hand. "Psh! Lame. A god never does the same trick twice."

Kid was sure it wasn't the first time and certainly wouldn't be the last time Black Star picked a lock or crushed one, but he wisely chose not to comment.

"Great! Now we can go straight to East City!" Maka dictated, brushing the remains of the cuffs of her wrists, ready to make a dash to the front door.

Evans caught her wrist and gently pulled her down to sit on a couch. Maka whipped her head at him in fury, but instantly paused when he gave her a firm head shake. She gnashed her teeth and looked like she wanted to punch something for a moment, but to Kid's surprise, she exhaled a breath and begrudgingly sat beside the Ishvalan man, not bothering to pull her hand out of his hold.

No one could stop a determined Maka Albarn with a goal set before her, but Evans could refrain her with just a single headshake.

Interesting.

But there were graver things to think about than his friend's blooming relationship. Kid cleared his throat. "All right, the situation had changed. We can't just barge into that place and casually set up a search party. Ford actually found a link between the anonymous kidnappings and bloody incidents surrounding that area." All eyes trained to Ford, who was nodding and smirking a little proudly.

"What do you want to say, Kid?" Maka demanded.

"Ford drew a rather disturbing diagram out of those points," Kid answered through tightening jaws, sliding a crumpled paper with scribbled circles and arrays drawn over the East City map. "Professor Stein already confirmed it. It's a human transmutation circle."

Both Evans and Maka's eyes widened. Evans's face turned into a disgusted frown while Maka's shifted into an angry red.

"I'm so sorry, Maka, but your search is currently less-prioritized than this, because three hundred and twenty thousands of innocent people's lives are at stake," Kid continued, hoping she wouldn't explode in anger.

Fortunately, there was still some common sense left in Maka, because she visibly refrained herself from protesting. "B-but… a circle this big? It envelops the entire city!" Maka quaked after a few minutes of silence, leaning over to demand further explanation. Sadly, there was no time to waste.

"That is why we have to think about how to evacuate at least the center area and make sure the soldiers your father leads won't step into the inner circle."

"My Papa?" Maka blinked, confused, "What does my Papa have to do with this? He told me he was going on a high-ranked mission in Leore!"

Kid exchanged a glance with Liz before asking tentatively, "Maka, he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Kid had difficulties forming his words, so Liz took his job, saying in a quiet voice, "The target of his mission is the exact place we're going to."

Maka's eyes widened almost comically, her hand going limp on her lap as Evans squeezed the other one. "He tried to keep me out of this." Her volume rose as her face changed into a mix of anger and exasperation. "He tried to keep me out of this!"

"We know that already, can we please proceed with the plan?" deadpanned Harvar. The man really had no fear.

Maka directed her dark glare at him, but Harv was too cold and nonchalant to be melted by her fiery wrath.

"Spirit might be right to keep you home, Maka. It is a dangerous place. Well, not that I'm agreeing with him, anyway," a voice said from the front door.

Everyone turned at the newcomer, who was brandishing a squirming black snake. Something about the creature wasn't right, almost as if it was made of shadows. Kid was right, as it dissipated quickly into nothingness when the newcomer squeezed it tighter.

"Professor Stein!"

The professor took a seat among them, followed by Lieutenant Colonel Mjolnir, Kilik, and two young women.

"What was that thing?!" Liz blurted, unintentionally taking a step back from the Professor.

"Oh, that?" the professor replied nonchalantly, making himself more comfortable on his seat. "Just a trick from an old acquaintance. It means that you've been spied on."

"What?!" five or six voices shouted at the same time.

"Oh, nice circle you've completed, Kristopher," the professor said casually, ignoring the others' stunned look. At their silent reaction, he added, "Come on, no need to be shocked. It's useless to think about the spying anyway, they already know we're coming."

Kid forced himself to produce words despite his shock, "I'm not the one working on it, it's Second Lieutenant Ford, but—wait, Professor, what are you doing here?! And with Lieutenant Colonel Mjolnir!"

Especially since the Lieutenant Colonel was in her uniform, indicating that they were here by official order.

"We're here by order of Major General Albarn to keep an eye on Maka, officially," Lieutenant Colonel Mjolnir—Miss Marie—answered, obtaining a flinch from Maka.

"Officially?"

"Officially."

Kid raised his brow and frowned. "You're violating a direct order."

Miss Marie waved her hand, gesturing at his team, who were all also in their uniforms under the military's winter coat. "Oh, like you're one to talk! We're only joining for a little fun!"

Kid pursed his lips, but before he could counter, Professor Stein leaned onto the table, comparing the first crumpled paper with a new one, which he produced out of his lab coat. "Hmm, I think it'll need an extra point right in this way, and this, yeah, guess it'll do nicely. Who would've thought it'd be this easy? She's lost her touch."

Of course, Kid heard the implication in his professor's words, but he was beaten by Harvar, who inquired with a frown, "You know who's behind this?"

"Well, yeah, of course, I should've known it's her Kamiko picked a fight with. She's been around for over three hundred years and has left many splatters in alchemy history, I know her style. We're one of a kind, after all," Professor Stein answered airily, his smile a touch too uncomfortable to be friendly. Miss Marie sent a quiet glare at him over Kid's head.

"They were Mama's enemy?" Maka pressed urgently. Her hand in Evans's hold was maybe the only thing preventing her from leaping and yanking the front of their professor's lab coat. "Was… Was the accident ten years ago caused by them?"

At this, Professor Stein softened slightly, though Kid doubted the others could tell the difference. "Possibly," was all he said.

Maka sunk back into her seat, frowning deeply as her fists started to tremble. Evans gave her a squeeze again. Liz was already beside her, somehow, placing a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Pulling his attention away from Maka, Kid debated against himself whether to voice his own suspicion or not. His face fell into a grimace. Even though he had formed his team to do his agendas, most of them hadn't known what Kid was truly after.

The truth of his Father's death did not make it to the public, after all.

But finally, he made up his mind. "Professor," Kid started, hands balled on his knees. His Adam's apple bobbed. "Are they really immortals?"

His professor stared at him with an unreadable face. Kid ignored his uneasy heartbeat and concentrated on appearing calm and composed.

"You see," the older man finally answered after a long silence, putting a cigarette on his mouth and lighting it up. "Within the past two or three decades, in every generation, there's always been an anonymous scientist who contributed greatly in the development of our country's alchemy."

He puffed a smoke ring before resuming his story, "It was bizarre, because there was no way a scientist that good was not getting recognition in this country. Normally, they would certainly be granted the State Certification. There was no concrete proof that all of them were the same person, on top of the obvious impossibility, but they all had similar touch and a distinct way of doing scientific research. And for a reason, their styles always, always, had something to do with serpents. So, naturally, I have suspicions."

"But isn't the logical conclusion to take is 'a long line of mentors and students of one alchemy style' instead of 'the same person'?" doubted Harv.

"You are correct," the professor nodded, not exactly stumped by Harvar's logic nor feeling the need to disprove it.

Kid had the same question, to be honest, but he knew his professor enough to not doubt him, because Frank N. Stein had a very rational way of thinking and would not believe something if he didn't have solid proof, contrary to his reputation as a mad scientist.

True to his thought, the professor started his explanation, "I have no solid proof, sure, but I and Kamiko came across this woman a few years after we established our partnership." He stopped a bit to flick the ashes off his cigarette without bothering to find an ashtray.

The normal Kid would immediately throw a fit and deem cleaning the carpeted floor a top priority, but he couldn't find it in him to care, which was an unsettling behavior in itself.

"She was an important figure behind many secret research, apparently, despite not having the talent to do an active transmutation. She had all the distinct traits of the mysterious scientists from previous generations. And yeah, she had quite an affinity with snakes."

Again, the professor stopped. When he started again, his voice was low and inducing a chill to Kid's spine.

"Her name was Medusa."

Kid's eyes widened. His fist tightened on his knees, nails painfully digging into his palms. From Maka's side, Evans shared the same look, though no one paid him any attention.

"Then…" Kid felt his mouth move, "Then there's a chance that this immortal group we're after is the same group who had played a part in my Father's death."

A few people let out a strangled 'what?' at that, but Kid did not have the mind to explain. But to his relief, Liz, his ever dependable Lieutenant, silenced them with a stern 'Later!' and a quiet headshake.

The professor didn't answer, only looking at him with his typical unreadable expression.

Kid sucked a long breath.

He had to control himself. There was a very important mission ahead of them. He couldn't afford emotional outbursts.

"Immortals… Homunculus…" Maka whispered, finally pulling herself together to join the discussion. "Are they alchemists?"

Professor Stein made a doubtful face. "Not an alchemist, for sure. A scientist, yes."

"They can't use alchemy," Ford concluded in a quiet murmur. The professor nodded.

"Then why make a huge-ass transmutation circle?" Liz protested. "What for?"

The professor shrugged. "That's the question of the day, isn't it? Anyway, Maka—" he reached over to pat Maka's shoulder, ignoring Evans's flinch, "—I believe you. Kamiko is here."

Apart from both of them—and Evans—the rest refrained from showing their skepticism. Even Kid himself had a doubt about Maka's statement.

Firstly, Mrs. Kamiko had been dead for over ten years. If she was alive, then who did they bury under her name? Even Major Yumi, one of the few people who had the chance to look at the disfigured body, had said that it was unmistakably her, proven by the lines of alkahestry circles tattooed on her palm and a platinum wedding ring on her finger; the perfect match of Major General Albarn's.

Secondly, Maka had only sensed her for a couple seconds. She could be mistaken.

So why did the professor look dead serious?

"Enough of the chat," the professor yawned. "We can't just disrupt the circle like a normal alchemy circle. This person can't use alchemy, but she may be the most knowledgeable person about it in the whole Amestris. Her 'alchemy', and this is a theory I made myself, is honestly a self-activating transmutation chain with a fifth element—imagine something like the Philosopher's Stone—as the trigger. The only way to cancel it is by activating a counter-circle right after the first circle is triggered."

Professor Stein gestured to the paper he had placed beside the original scribble Ford had made, which had a different circle drawn on it. "For that to happen, we need five alchemists in the inner circle to activate the quasi-transmutation chain, and Maka—" he nodded at the girl in question, "—to connect them all to the outer circle with your alkahestry."

They were all just gaping at the professor.

How could he formulate all of that so easily?

As if knowing their astonishment, the Professor leaned back in a relaxed manner, seemingly saying that it was just a small thing. "I know her style, and you may forget, Kristopher, but I had read both of Maka's documents about the music box and your report. I've been constructing the counter-circle since," the Professor replied Kid's unspoken question with a smirk.

They said Frank N. Stein was a prodigy, but that seemed to downplay the professor's actual ability. Could a perfectly sane and normal human casually construct a counter-circle of something they had seen for the first time? Kid thought not.

Well, technically, any alchemist could, but it would take years of research and calculations. Not a month.

"Ah, and your deadline is 12 PM tonight, or three hundred and twenty thousand lives will be lost."

"Wha—"

"Think about it. What would happen if there's a human transmutation circle being activated under your feet?"

Everyone in the room repressed a shudder. Kid stared at his Professor's eyes while an unsettling sensation dropped into his gut.

Either they would be dragged into the Gate, or be turned into a Philosopher's Stone. Possibly both.

Kid glanced at the faint stitches on his Professor's body; he and Maka were lucky enough to be taught by an alchemist who had opened the Gate, who had an unusual moral compass to tell his pupils about the taboo of alchemy. Including human transmutations and the theory he had thought of the secret behind a Philosopher's Stone.

And the rest of his team was lucky to have him as their leader, since Kid himself also did not hold back from telling them all about the taboo of alchemy; to prepare them for the worst, since the enemy he'd been hunting was certainly not a normal human.

Kid gulped. Were they really lucky, though?

"Why tonight?" Patty, who was playing with an ornament since she stepped into the room, chirped.

"Winter solstice," the Professor answered airily. All of them completely missed a slight twitch on Evans's brow.

Kid immediately picked up. Ah, the rebirth of the sun. The amount of tectonic energy that would be released when the planet tilted back was huge, indeed. Made sense.

He caught himself and dragged his mind back to track. "Okay, so five alchemists. Me, Kilik, Maka, Professor Stein, and…"

"Me." Kilik's guests finally made themselves known, and Kid grimaced in shame for neglecting them the entire time. They had been muted by the Professor's overwhelming aura.

The one with black hair stepped forward, declaring calmly, "I'll be the fifth alchemist."

"Jackie! Kim!" Maka exclaimed when she took a good look at the two strangers. Her surprise was met by the women's smiles.

"Nice to see you and your grumpy boyfriend again, Maka," said the one with pink hair. "I see you've taken better care of your hair, Evans."

"He's not my—!"

The pink-haired woman sent a sly smirk at Maka's hand, which was still in Evans's grip, by the way. They spontaneously broke the hold, as if being stung.

The abnormally heavy atmosphere that had been weighing the room since Professor Stein's arrival was dispersed by the pink-haired woman's light teasing. Kid could even feel a snort coming out of him.

He disguised it as a polite cough.

"Kim," the other woman chided, though she was also wearing a little smile. "My name is Jacqueline Dupré. You're welcomed to call me Jackie, though, and this is my girlfriend, Kim Diehl."

"We all know that you two had helped Albarn in the North Province, but this is another mission entirely. And considering it was technically you who reached out first, can we ask why you volunteered yourselves?" The ever serious one, Harvar, stole Kid's words and spit it out in his gravely snide tones. Kid sighed; he should've been faster.

But Harvar had a right to be suspicious, though. It was not everyday they had someone volunteering to help them in their agendas. The two women just contacted Kilik one day and demanded to be let in to whatever mission Kid was having. That was the reason why Kilik sometimes left his post as Maka's bodyguard; to meet them.

But fortunately, Jackie didn't take the offense in the slightest. "We have our own reasons."

"Well, we just want to stand clear here, you already know us from Kilik, but we don't know about you. What's the word for it, eh? Ah, equivalent exchange," Harvar snatched Kid's words again, making the Colonel grumble. He really should give mediation lessons to his subordinates. Ford jabbed his partner lightly, hissing.

Jackie looked ready to shout, but Kim stopped her. "It's okay, Jackie."

She took out her forearm for everyone to see. Somehow, Kid had an inkling that Kim already expected this to happen, considering her choice to wear a sleeveless outfit in the winter. In a second, the muscles on Kim's lithe arm began to grow, red fur quickly covering it as her nails became longer, sharper and deadly. It was only a flash before Kim's arm returned to normal.

For the love of Prima Materia, was she really—

"I am not a full chimera," she muttered, answering Kid's unfinished question, her tone strained. "I—we chose to help you because we know you're not on the military's side. We know you're working against this regime, and we have aligned objectives. There is a reason why Jackie and I are never on the military's side even though we were from military families."

She exhaled a heavy breath before continuing, "My father was a soldier before they took him into a lab and transmuted him with a raccoon."

No one commented. Even Professor Stein, the Life-Sewing Alchemist, who specialized in chimera and bio-alchemy, was silent. However, his dark eyes told Kid that he had known about such things rampaging inside the military body but had no power to stop it.

Ah, the curse of being a dog of the military.

"Thank you for telling us, Miss Kim," Kid pulled himself up in time to reply. The woman replied with a stiff smile.

Liz was the second to break from her trance. "Okay, now we need the guns!"

Black Star, who had been surprisingly silent and civil the entire time, stood from his seat on the nearby window and led them to his automail shop. "This way! And Kid, I'm putting it in your tab!"

Kid transformed his groan into a cough in time to avoid Liz's glare.

---

While the others took their sweet time raiding the Barrett's weapon shop, Maka scooted closer to Miss Marie, observing Kid's team arming their entire bodies from the sidelines.

"Did Papa really send you and Professor Stein here?" she started in a small voice.

Miss Marie wrapped her arms around her, smiling earnestly. "He just wants you to be safe, Maka. Don't be so hard on him."

Maka grimaced, denying acknowledgement of her Papa's stupid parental concerns. "And he went to Professor Stein for help?" she said, incredulity thick in her tone.

"Well…" Miss Marie chuckled. "He was pretty desperate. I think we're the only adults he could think of that are politically neutral in the East Province. He basically forgot that the last thing Frank would do is to obey an order."

She giggled again, and this time, Maka imitated Soul's toothache grin. Her eyes flew to one corner of the weapon shop, where Ford was meticulously asking about every detail of both the East City circles to her professor.

"Was it true, Miss Marie?" Maka heard herself say. "That Papa… basically went into this mission expecting things wouldn't… wouldn't go right?"

The arms around her moved up and down, giving her calming strokes. Miss Marie let the silence blanketed them for a while before she said in a soft tone, "Your mother was the strongest alchemist in our arsenal, Maka. She was basically unbeatable. But yet… Yet she lost. This enemy had managed to send your mother back to your father as a disfigured corpse. Think of what your father thought."

Maka didn't answer. She stared at the ceiling to forbid the mist in her eyes from turning into liquids, blinking desperately to keep her face dry.

"He is the dumbest father ever," she rasped after an eternity.

Miss Marie didn't give her a reply except for her tightening side hug and her gesture to let Maka's head fall on her shoulders. They stayed that way, silently watching Liz loading a magazine into an enormous sniper rifle, Harvar tucking two Glocks into his shoulder holsters, Patty assembling a grenade launcher, and Black Star roping Soul along and forcing Berettas onto him to carry.

Miss Marie's eyes were also nailed on Black Star and Soul apparently, because she said with a thin layer of excitement, "So tell me about your boy, Maka."

"M-my what?" Maka's voice came out like a squeak.

"Your boy," Miss Marie repeated without mercy for her reddening face. "Soul Evans, wasn't it? Such an unusual name for an Ishvalan."

At that, Maka forced herself to laugh. "A-aah… That was just, um, a fake name. I, uh, sort of asked Kid to forge him a new identity?" she smiled sheepishly.

Miss Marie blinked, suddenly very interested. "Really? Then he gave himself a new name?"

"Not—not really?" Maka answered a little warily. Miss Marie's smile was a touch too similar to Tsubaki's or Liz's when they heard a new gossip. "His given name was his own but, uh, I gave him his last name, so—why are you smiling like that, Miss Marie?!" she shrieked the last bit because the older woman's smile had widened into a dangerous level.

"Well, only because names are a thing that shouldn't be taken lightly in Ishvalan culture, sweetheart," Miss Marie explained, still with that wide grin.

"Uh… what do you mean by that?"

"Do you know that Ishvalan parents never gave their children names themselves?" Miss Marie answered with another question. "Their names were given by their religious leaders. For them, a name is a sacred thing bestowed to them by their god Ishvala. That's why they had never given themselves a name."

Dread and mortification swelled in Maka's head the more she tried to digest Miss Marie's words. Oh, no! She had unknowingly disrespected a very important part of his culture, and he had said nothing about this!

"And that's why, Maka, him receiving a name from you would be equal to accepting a divine present from an angel," Miss Marie whispered on Maka's already steaming ears.

"Miss Marieeeeee, please stop!" she shoved the Lieutenant Colonel away, only to receive delighted giggles.

Oh. That was probably why Soul was so amazed when she told her she would give him a last name.

It was as if her embarrassment was blaring siren noises, because right at that time, the boy in question stared at her with a piqued look. Still with a completely flustered face, Maka threw him a childish pout and whipped her face away from him, earning a confused tilt of head she was too embarrassed to see.

She would give him a good punch later.

---

Soul didn't know what prompted the feeling, but he sensed a weird danger radiating from Maka.

Confused, he turned his head to her direction, only to find her whipping her face away, cheeks puffed.

What the hell?

Soul was just going to walk towards her and maybe demand an explanation, but Black Star slung his arm on his shoulder and dragged him away to take a look at more guns. Soul groaned. Unfortunately, it was wiser and quieter to just go along with him when it came to Black Star.

But after a couple more minutes, Black Star suddenly announced he had to go upstairs, because apparently he had forgotten to tell Tsubaki about the whole mission. Soul couldn't help the grumble. Damn man had such a squirrel brain sometimes.

Somehow, Soul ended up being dumped beside the creepy Professor and that snobbish soldier (which he still hadn't clearly caught the name and felt it was too rude to ask at that point).

The tallest soldier with the deadpan face (was his name Harvar? Or maybe Harvey? Soul struggled to remember before giving up. Yeah, he'd just call him Harv or something) approached them and tapped the shoulder of his comrade, saying, "Are you not gonna pick a gun?"

The snob soldier jolted up straight with a surprised yelp before scrambling away to the rest of their team, Harv followed behind with a calmer pace.

The absence of the two soldiers made Soul relax a bit. A very tiny bit. Because there was still the creepy Professor beside him.

Part of him wanted to go to Maka, wanting to gain some peace of mind and rid himself of the need to socialize, but seeing her talking rather passionately to the Eyepatch Lady detained his intention. Besides, it was very uncool to use her as a social shield every time he got uncomfortable.

So Soul stayed in his place, choosing to admire the Beretta Black Star had shoved onto his hands earlier and just wish he didn't have to engage in any future conversations.

But his luck was never the best, as always, because the creepy Professor started to talk, "So you're the kid Kamiko had saved?"

Soul quietly slipped the gun under his leather jacket. "Am not the only one."

The Professor scanned him from head to toe, clearly calculating. A chill ran down Soul's spine. He knew the professor was on their side, but he couldn't help the extreme discomfort. Something about him made Soul want to keep their distance at least a hundred miles away.

If Maka was the furthest State Alchemist from the people who experimented on him and Wes, then the creepy Professor was the closest. There was no doubt the Professor would open him up if he had his way.

"Clearly this is not her best result. I honestly expected more from her," the Professor said.

Soul kept silent.

"What was she thinking, really? She could just end everything if she just made a Philosopher's Stone," the Professor drawled to himself, still staring at the twitchy Soul.

Soul found himself unwillingly dragged to join the conversation by his own mouth. "What do you mean? That stone is just a legend."

Now the Professor gave him his whole attention. Which didn't help Soul's anxiousness a little bit.

"Is it?"

Soul gawked, stuttering, "I… uh, isn't that obvious?"

The Professor didn't give a response except for a tiny dubious shrug. Soul didn't know what else to say, so he just made a confused frown.

"Don't you realize that you're the closest thing to a Philosopher's Stone among us humans?"

What?

"What?"

Soul stared at the professor with wide eyes.

His Demon was giggling.

"Do you know what is the main ingredient of a Philosopher's Stone?" The Professor ignored his desperate need for an answer.

Before Soul could demand a decent answer, a voice answered, "Living humans."

The snobbish soldier was standing behind him, tucking his newly-acquired gun inside his hip holster. But Soul was too shocked by the answer to be coherent.

A living what?!

"As expected of you, Ford. You did your research."

The snobbish soldier—Ford—took his original seat beside the Professor. "What do you mean with Evans being the closest thing to a Philosopher's Stone, Professor?"

"I mean exactly what it is," the older man said. "His Black Blood that serves as the core energy to do his weapon transmutation is actually similar to a Philosopher's Stone."

The Professor began to spread the details about both the Black Blood and the Philosopher's Stone. Ford listened intently, occasionally asking something. But Soul was deaf to their voices.

There was nothing in his head but extreme dread and disgust caused by this revelation. Beads of cold sweat ran down his neck as he balled his hands into trembling fists. Soul wanted to puke.

He might not be an alchemist, but he had seen the things alchemy could make.

Once again, he was reminded of how disgusting his existence was.

Because he was painfully aware of another vengeful entity inside him. He was painfully aware of how much sacrifice and blood taken to complete him. He didn't forget the cries of his Ishvalan brothers and sisters, even though he couldn't remember their faces or their names.

Something frightening plunged into Soul's gut.

The insane chuckling inside his head was confirmation enough.

As if wanting to corroborate Soul's darkening thoughts, the professor stated,"In short, there were human lives sacrificed to make you." He looked deep into Soul's eyes as if dissecting the deepest part of his being.

"Something cannot be created from nothing, and so in order to obtain something, something else of equal value must be lost," the man said, citing alchemy's highest and most important law. "That is the law of equivalent exchange."

Inside Soul's head, the Little Demon was grinning.

'There's always a price to pay when you step into God's domain.'

An echo of the statement Mrs. Kamiko had said a long time ago.

And at that moment, Soul realized two things:

The Professor's right eye was artificial, and his left one had the same shade as the one visible eye of the blonde military Lady who was talking eagerly beside Maka.

---

Tsubaki was pacing in her room, occasionally glancing over the window to the Albarn mansion. Two of her innermost desires clashed terribly inside her chest.

She had heard about Maka's resonance with Soul; about how she found out the possibility that Mrs. Kamiko was alive. She wanted to go too, to check the dragon path herself for a clue if her former mistress was really alive, because she had suspicions, just as Maka had, that the incident which took Mrs. Kamiko and her big brother's life was not all it seemed.

But she had also heard about Maka's fights with the immortals, after her husband demanded the whole story from their little sister. She wanted Maka to be here, where she could watch over her.

The horrible incident still left a sour taste in Tsubaki's mouth. If it wasn't for Soul, Maka could have been dead. And it was because she wasn't there to help. If something had happened to Maka, it would've been her fault.

Protecting their clan's bloodline was the Nakatsukasa family's duty.

It was her duty.

It was why she was brought here in the first place; to protect Maka Albarn, daughter of Xing Imperial Family's Seventh Princess, Lady Kamiko of the Shimizu clan, who had fled her own country to escape her destined fate to be imprisoned inside the imperial castle as the next emperor's concubine.

It was her duty to protect the lost princess who wasn't even aware of her own blood.

How could she forget that?

But she couldn't do either of them. Impossible, she sighed, caressing her round tummy. She couldn't fight if she had another soul to protect inside her.

Even if she went to East City, she couldn't use her Soul Perception to search for Mrs. Kamiko either. Another soul in her body made it hard to see her surroundings, which was why she hadn't realized Soul's strange soul until that particular evening in their kitchen.

"Stop pacing, Tsu, you'll agitate the kiddo."

Tsubaki spun to face her husband, who approached her with a slight smile. "Black Star," she whispered.

He took her hand and led her to the bed. Tsubaki fidgeted with the hem of her blouse, stealing a glance at the window again.

"You know about him, right?"

"Huh?"

"Soul."

"Ah." Tsubaki winced a little before tentatively nodding.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"I honestly don't know…" Tsubaki exhaled, "Well, his soul was weird, but... frankly, I just didn't feel any malicious intent coming from him. I don't think I'll sense it even if I use my full-perception. And Maka-chan seemed to be quite taken with him. We know that as a direct descendant, her perception is far stronger than mine. She had said that Soul is a good person, and that's enough for me, really. If she didn't want to talk about it then I don't want to pry."

Black Star wiped her bangs out of her eyes. "Then that's okay."

Tsubaki nodded again.

"You wanna go, right?"

She answered with a troubled grimace, her hands subconsciously fled onto her belly. Black Star followed her movement, placing his hand above hers.

"Do you regret it?"

Tsu's face quickly changed into a furious disagreement, shaking her head. "Never!"

"But you still want to go," he concluded, rubbing his thumb on her palm.

Sometimes it still amazed her, how he seemed to read her emotions without her speaking a word.

"Remember our wedding vows, Tsu?" her husband said, with the gentle voice he only used when speaking to her in private. "You are mine, and I'm yours. Yours is mine, and mine is yours. It applies to all of ours. Duty, desire, wish, hope, revenge, grief, all of them. It's a package deal."

Ah, no matter how obnoxious and self-centered Black Star made himself out to be, his inner self was still this gentle and loving man.

"I will go in your stead. I will make sure Maka comes back in one piece."

Tsubaki responded with a slight frown and thinning her lips.

"Don't worry, Tsu. Your man is the greatest. Don't forget that." He cheeked a toothy grin.

Her belly jumped, startling both of them.

The father-to-be smirked, "Ooooh, you agree with me, kiddo?"

---

Maka latched herself behind Soul comfortably as he revved his bike. Black Star, however, was sitting tall and proud above Kid's car, crossing his arms and legs and was looking so pleased with himself. Maka rolled her eyes and wished for a tree branch to knock him off of there.

It was both annoying and calming to have him with her, unfortunately. He was strong.

Professor Stein's counter circle basically had two main circles. First was the inner circle, which had the five key points where the alchemists would be assigned. Each point was at least one kilometer away from each other, presumably connected by the city's main water tunnel. The second was the outer circle at the outskirts of the city, where they had to draw a specific alchemy circle in another five points.

The team had been decided. She and Soul, Kid and the Thompsons, Black Star with Kilik, Professor Stein by himself (that man was a terrifying force), and lastly Jackie and Kim, with Harvar and Ford as their back-up, considering they never really had any formal military training.

Maka's team would go with Kid's, since there were no back alleys around her assigned spot and they could not cause a panic within the city by brandishing firearms and a huge-ass scythe.

Kilik's team would go to the point farthest from Maka, even though they had to calm Black Star's vehement protests because he wanted to be at least the closest to her. Maka didn't let herself be babied, though, and besides, that point was actually one of the most dangerous ones and Black Star was—begrudgingly speaking—their best fighter.

Jackie's team would go to the other point closest to Maka—hence, also farthest from Kilik—because Kilik's and Jackie's alchemy was similar; both stemmed from the fire alchemy. They would resonate stronger from the opposite sides.

Professor Stein, naturally, would go to the most dangerous point. No argument needed.

Miss Marie would go to Papa's team, asking them to divert their track—which supposed to end precisely at the whole circle's midpoint—and have them positioned on the outer five points, while the alchemists took their positions in the inner circle. It was a tough job, to distract Spirit Albarn in the middle of his revenge mission. But Miss Marie had the unique ability to persuade people, either by words or violence.

The last resonance she did with Soul before the mission was on the outskirts of East City. She was horrified to find that, with Soul's ability to amplify her perception, she could sense the numerous chimeras squirming around right under the citizen's feet.

She wanted to throw up. Their souls were neither animals' nor humans', but the only similarity between them was the amount of their suffering.

There was no Mama, which she noted with an aching stab in her heart, but the huge wall she sensed under Amestris's land was present, sickening as ever, disrupting the Dragon's Path.

She paid no mind to that, however, as the wall's presence was normal.

And there, in some of their assigned spots, she could sense the immortals, waiting silently with their disturbing souls.

Soul transmuted out of her hand, and in an instant, a hand was placed on her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. Maka brought her own hand to cover his. It was okay if they couldn't find Mama today. She could always search for her later. They still had three hundred and twenty thousand lives to save.

It was somehow calming to think that Mama would certainly make the same choice.

"Okay, from here, we'll split up to our own assigned point. Everyone please look out for any individual with an Ouroboros tattoo. If you do meet them, your priority is to protect your alchemist partner, okay?" Professor Stein commanded so casually, one would think they were just a bunch of schoolkids on a study tour.

"Yes, Sir!"

All of the other teams were gone, other than Maka's team and Kid's. They would infiltrate through the same route and branched right in the middle.

Maka stared at the Ishvalan boy beside her. His face was clear, a slightly excited look, for those who didn't know him that well, but Maka could recognize his slightly tense smile and a certain fear looming inside his eyes, which was hidden behind his usual sunglasses.

"Thank you… For being here…" Maka hesitated for a moment before linking their hands. "I know it's difficult for you, I'm being selfish again…"

He rolled his eyes, "Stop saying such creepy things, geez."

Maka smiled wryly. He was being sarcastic; he really was nervous.

"Thank you anyway," she repeated, melancholic, but he turned his head away, ears suspiciously pink.

"Alright, lovebirds over there! Stop producing pinky smokes, god! Let's go!" Liz's voice startled both of them.

"We're not lovebirds!"

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm the Führer."

"Liz!"

---

They had just stepped into the first zone, for the love of Ishvala.

It was right before their splitting point, and now they had dozens of chimeras surrounding them from all sides. Soul instinctively placed himself in front of Maka, one hand in hers, ready to transmute into a scythe at any given moment.

"We'll take care of this. You're the center of our plan, Maka, you go first," Reaper Colonel commanded flatly, clearly used to this kind of thing. "Patty, make a path. Liz, you handle the rear."

Soul heard a faint 'Roger!' from the thing in the colonel's ears as Patty chimed with "Kaaay!"

The elder Thompson had left a while ago to take a position from a tower nearby, assuming her role as the colonel's 'hawk-eye'. Soul had witnessed the Gunslinger Sisters' shooting practice once, and yeah, their skills were the real deal.

Goosebumps suddenly creeped through him when Patty's expression changed disturbingly fast. She threw the top half of her uniform and the coat away, leaving only the blue pants and a black tank top, revealing a body full of firearms and ammunition. Soul knew a bit much about guns from his years of harsh military training—and from the weeks he spent in Sid's shop, immediately recognizing the firearm slung over her shoulder as a submachine gun, even though he couldn't tell what was the model. The dual pistols inside her shoulder holsters were certainly Berettas. And yep, those were 40mm grenades belted around her waist. How she could hide all of those under her uniform was beyond him.

The young sergeant giggled maniacally as she took one of her Beretta out of its holster while her right hand casually loaded a grenade launcher. Childish excitement was gone, replaced by a deranged grin.

"Time to paaaartyyyy!" Patty sang as she pulled the trigger. Grenade blasted out in front of them, killing at least five of the beasts.

Reaper Colonel's steps were as calm and elegant as if he was taking a morning walk. The chimeras on the front would be reduced to splinters by the younger sister's grenades, and the ones attacking from behind would have their brains blasted by the older sister's .50 BMG bullets.

But there was no time to be distracted. The Thompsons really were skilled, but they were still outnumbered. Soul snarled as a wolf-like chimera nearly bit Maka's leg. The realization that just a second of a spaced-out mind could cause a grave injury for Maka made his heart beat ten times faster. Maka's disapproving look went unnoticed by him as he thoughtlessly transmuted his arm to cover her.

It was marginally easier to say he wouldn't transmute by himself again in a calm ruin under the quiet stars, but it was painfully different when she was inches away from bleeding to death, so his mind just obediently gave in to his instinct.

The creature was quickly beheaded by a swift chop of his arm-blade, however, and with a single exchange of their eyes, he extended his hands to touch hers.

Her new transmutation circles reacted to his skin in an instant, producing a pair of bright green angel wings that engulfed him in their lights. He landed in her hands as a scythe, which she swung widely to slash three chimeras in a single attack.

Soul was starting to get used to the slight thrilling sensation when Maka's alkahestry flowed through him.

Whatever their thoughts were, they both were really getting stronger together as one.

---

Kilik really was having the time of his life.

Together with Star, the both of them morphed into a silver bullet that blasted through the thick wall of chimeras, bolting blindly to their assigned spot. With both his automails and Black Star's tremendous fighting skills, the supposedly dangerous chimera felt like domesticated puppies. Except that he would never hurt a real puppy.

Their smooth progress couldn't last forever, unfortunately, when one of the beasts mauled Black Star right on his face.

"Black Star!" Kilik shouted as the engineer hurtled back at least fifteen meters away.

Kilik's attention instantly snapped to the responsible chimera, only to find that it wasn't. It was definitely humanoid, big, burly, with black skin and a weird X crossing their face. What made Kilik's movement halted altogether was a certain tattoo on the tongue they displayed when they licked their lower lip.

Oh, snap. It was the Ouroboros.

"What the ever-loving Chicken Quesadillas just happened?!" Black Star was already springing back to life, eagerly calculating their new enemy.

"I think it's one of the immortals Maka'd been—Hey, Star!" Kilik shouted, watching helplessly as the loud man hooted and propelled himself to the homunculus, only to be splatted back to the faraway building.

He quickly popped out of the rubble, however, happily hollering, "He got SPUNK! I LOVE IT!"

"BLACK STAR, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KILL IT, NOT ADMIRE IT!"

"FUCK YOU, RUNG! I CAN DO BOTH!" Star's bellow echoed wildly through the abandoned facility as he engaged the homunculus with an excited grin. One would think that he was a child on christmas tearing up their presents instead of a grown ass man fighting a creature of nightmare.

Covering his eyes, Kilik shook his head and smirked. Fire crackled joyfully as he prepared to fry the remaining chimeras.

Who could blame the enthusiastic engineer? Even he had been enjoying this fight immensely.

---

The team with the smoothest route might be them, Oscar concluded, as the slashing, splatting, and gunfire noises echoed loudly from the communication device in his hands. Seemed like the other team had a hell of a time just getting to their assigned spots.

Jackie was already sitting on her specified point, with Miss Kim sitting beside her and started doing the nonsense couples did, like feeding each other sweet breads and braiding hair. Seriously, where did they get the sweet bread?

Oscar squinted annoyedly at his partner, who was determined to ignore the couple and had his ultimate flat face on display.

He sighed. He also wanted a sweet bread.

---

Frank casually puffed out a smoke ring, ignoring the blasts and shrills coming from his communication device.

Ah, youngsters... how energetic.

It took him a total of thirty minutes to get to his assigned point; his fighting skills must be dulled from lack of use for the past ten years. Kamiko would laugh at him if she was there.

He slightly shifted the tiny mountain of chimera corpses which he'd been using as a waiting chair. Maybe it was not a good idea to sit on something with too many sharp claws.

---

Spirit stared at a determined Marie, trying and failing to muster a rage after hearing the dreadful news she just said.

That fucking mad scientist actually did the opposite of what he was ordered to!

Part of Spirit's minds blamed his own decision to trust Frank. Of course he would do this, he was Frank N. Stein; the man who dodged the Führer's direct orders for morning exercise.

Maybe he was part of why Maka had a troublesome tendency to disobey orders.

But Spirit couldn't just ignore Marie's other warning that three hundred and twenty thousand lives would be lost if he refused to work together with them. A very Frank thing to do, seriously, forcing him to cooperate by telling the whole plan right when there was no time to think of another solution anymore. Both Frank and himself knew that he would never agree to this plan if they talked about this over coffee in his office the day before. And he also sent Marie, on top of that. The bastard knew Spirit was weak for her determined eyes.

So he had no choice but to stifle his boiling blood and sigh, gesturing for Azusa to come. "Major Yumi, split the group into five, each one to be positioned at one of these points. Captain Law, you take a small team and make sure the inner circle is evacuated. Do it silently. Don't alarm the citizens."

"On it, Sir," Azusa and Justin both saluted and went to the rest of the group. Spirit turned to Marie, and for once, really angry.

"Where is that bastard? I will kill him for dragging my daughter to this kind of place!"

And for once, with a beaming smile, Marie refused to talk.

---

Maka skidded to a stop, lowering Soul as he transmuted back into human and landed lightly on his feet.

They had been separated from Kid's group right after she wielded Soul. One of the chimeras had pushed her through a manhole down to the city's water tunnel. It was okay, though. They were still on track. The point they were assigned to was underground.

They walked and walked and walked through the dark water tunnel, until it transformed into a slightly bigger one, which led to a dimly lit underground base right on their assigned spot. By the looks of things, it was an alchemy lab. How ironic.

She could feel Soul tensed beside her. The place's atmosphere was indeed far more intimidating than any of her Mama's labs. The back of her mind wondered if it was similar to the place he had been confined, and the thought sent a jarring bolt of fury through her spine.

Hardening her face, Maka held out her hand. Soul was glancing away, his cheeks pinking, but he took it anyway.

"S'embarrassing..." he mumbled, aware that she did that to calm him. Well, he had a right to be embarrassed, Maka couldn't deny that the gesture made him look like a five-year-old child reassured by their mother.

"If it makes you feel better, I also feel uncomfortable," she mumbled back, which was not a lie.

Soul responded with his toothache grin. He still grumbled about it being completely unnecessary, however, muttering that he could walk on his own just fine. His half-hearted protest and his contrasting gesture of squeezing her hand tighter made Maka chuckle. The creepy place didn't feel that intimidating when he was being utterly endearing.

Yet, Maka's chuckle died down when they stepped into the next room, the former light atmosphere quickly dissolved into that of a horror.

Taking this route was a mistake.

There, in front of them, was a path made by two rows of liquid-filled giant tubes, each containing a slightly disfigured corpse, various types of steel blades protruding from different places of their bodies. All of them had white hair and tan complexions, their lifeless eyes a disturbing shade of red. A straight diagonal scar was present on each of their torsos, reminiscent of Soul's own.

Maka wanted to puke.

The room was horrifyingly silent. She couldn't hear anything besides Soul's ragged breathing and a choked gasp of 'Wes…' But it was enough to pull her out of her own shock and give more attention to her dear friend.

He looked truly aghast, completely paralyzed and disoriented by pure terror. His face paled to white, beads of cold sweat ran down his neck as the hand in her fingers started to tremble uncontrollably.

"Soul? Soul!" she tore herself off her own horror and frantically tapped her hand on his cheek, but Soul was unresponsive.

Suddenly, Maka was filled with anger. But strangely, instead of being reckless and brash like she always did whenever she was mad, she was unnervingly calm. She pulled the trembling boy to her, gently hiding his face on her collarbone.

"It's okay, Soul. Don't look."

She felt something wet and hot trailing down her neck along with Soul's silent sobs. Grinding her teeth, she swore she would punish whoever responsible with her own hands. She waited until he was stable enough—which took a lot longer than she would like—and herded him out of that cursed place while squeezing his hands as softly as she could with her own shaking hands.

"It's okay. They're not Wes. They're not you," she hummed those words again and again. Even though she was overwhelmed, she couldn't imagine how he must feel. Her dread must pale in comparison to his horror. She didn't know what else to say. So she just kept repeating those words, "I'm here. It's okay. You're okay."

The horrendous path seemed to be endless. Maka tried her hardest not to count the bodies in that place, concentrating solely to calm the only Ishvalan alive in that room. They were really lucky Soul didn't fall into a total breakdown like what happened in Little Hook. Maka would be absolutely terrified if he did, aware of her previous inability to bring him back from the depths of his own mind.

It felt like forever, walking through that path, but at last, they managed to stagger into the next room, which was blessedly empty. They broke down on the floor and just silently held each other for a while before she felt it was okay to gently nudge Soul and pry him off her shoulder.

"A little better?"

A startled choke escaped Soul's mouth. He gulped and nodded shakily, maybe didn't trust his voice enough to use words. She reluctantly turned back to the vile room, sending a transmutation to form a solid wall between them and the bodies, removing them out of sight. She used a long-distance transmutation, of course, there was no way she would leave Soul's side. And besides, there was no way she could hold her stomach and approach that place to transmute it directly.

Maka exhaled, squaring her shoulders up and gently tugging a still-shaking Soul. He complied silently, trying his best to not look behind and followed her further into the dimly-lit facility.

What other horrible things would they find in this hellhole?

She steeled up her shoulders and tugged Soul to stand. "You okay?" she asked. She knew he was certainly the furthest from okay, but she tried anyway.

"Just… Just let me be a scythe," he mumbled to his shoes. "Hurt less," he added, as if it was a proper explanation.

Maka pulled her lips into an unsettled line, but she held out her hands anyway, and in a few seconds Soul was already a lethal weapon in her hands.

She jogged to their assigned spot with a disturbed mind. Was that green soul she'd sensed yesterday real? If it was, then what was Mama doing in a horrible place like this? Why wouldn't she come home?

Her steps automatically stopped when they reached their destination, and Maka just stood there, staring blankly at the dirty floor.

"Maka?" came Soul's worried voice from the scythe.

This boy, really, how could he worry about her when his own mind was on the edge of devastation?

Blinking rapidly, she sucked a breath. "I'm okay. Sorry!"

She pulled a communication device out of her trench coat's inner breast pocket, trying to put the earpiece on. Those things were supposed to help them get a precise timing to activate their circles at the same time. But before her hand reached her ear, something made Maka froze and forgot the entire mission.

She sensed green.

Her whole body turned at the direction of the familiar soul. Without her awareness, the communication device slipped from her hands and landed on the dirty floor, pitifully left behind as she dashed madly to one direction.

She didn't realize she was heading right to the center of the circle. She didn't even hear Soul's yells. There was just one thing in her mind:

She sensed green.

---

Soul didn't fully understand what was happening.

Half of him was still distracted by that dreaded room full of his brothers and sisters' bodies. And the other half was relentlessly trying to block his Demon out of his brain. But Maka's sudden dash brought him back to the present.

She appeared a little unbalanced, madly dashing to one direction. She didn't even hear his yells, and that worried him so much.

His suspicion proved true when she stopped suddenly and let go of him before crouching down to touch the floor in a familiar manner she always did when she was checking the Dragon Path. Her mouth muttered nothing but 'Mama'.

From his scythe that was lying helplessly on the floor, Soul could get a good view of the place they were barging in.

It was shaped like a dome, with white granite walls that made it look like the inside of an egg.

"Mama!" Maka's shout jerked him back from inspecting the architecture. She turned her head to his blade. "Soul, Mama is right under us! Let's transmute this floor open!" she commanded hastily, picking him up.

But before they could do anything, a sweet voice purred from the darkness behind them.

"Well, look at who we have here."

His Demon was giggling.

Maka turned around, letting him see the new person as well. But he couldn't see much, because most of their features were still veiled by the darkness.

"I honestly didn't think that you would actually come here with just that simple bait. Didn't your dear Professor warn you of me, Little Miss Grigori?"

Maka raised him to a fighting stance, guardedly glaring at the stranger. "Who are you?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" The strangers produced a melodious laugh before stepping fully into the light. She was a slender woman, with blonde hair braided on her chest and a pair of yellow eyes, her slit pupils made her look like a snake.

"I am the embodiment of Pride. Maybe you would recognize me among the renowned scientists as 'Medusa'."

Soul did not know if he could feel a shiver while in the scythe from, but he certainly felt a sickening dread flowing through his soul.

This was the exact same feeling he had the first time they met the homunculi. Only a hundred times worse.

Being in the same room as this person—this creature, stirred his blood so much Soul was struggling to focus.

No.

No, no, no, no, no!

It was that woman!

It was the same woman who led the Black Blood Project before Mrs. Kamiko took the control. She looked exactly like she did over fifteen years ago, which sent disturbing memories and dreadful cries back to the front of his brain.

His Demon's giggles transformed to cackles.

Soul cursed. If he hadn't been in his scythe form, he was sure he would've lost control over himself. That woman's sickening aura was drawing his Blood in, as if forcing him to resonate within a madness.

"Maka! She's dangerous! Let's get out of here!" he shouted, but she was deaf of his cries.

Medusa—Pride—whoever the fuck she was, tilted her head and focused her eyes on his blade, a predatory smile on her face.

"Ahhh, yes… the weapon…" the homunculus talked to him as if he was her precious baby. "Are you Number 563 or Number 564?"

Soul's mind was so full of one very sophisticated word:

Fuck.

"Maka, god fucking dammit, GO!" he shouted again, fortunately succeeding to kick her back to action.

Two things happened at the same time. One, there was something like shadows creeping around homunculus Pride, and it started attacking them, making fire sparks whenever Maka tried to block it with his blade.

Two, there was a distinctly unhinged yell as something pink attacked them from behind. It was the Wrath. Crona.

They were against two homunculi.

His Demon now laughed insanely.

Soul tried his best to cling onto his sanity, but one hard blow from Wrath launched him out of Maka's grasp, accompanied by Maka's loud shriek.

Swiftly, he transformed back to human in midair, landed smoothly on the floor, and immediately propelled himself back to Maka. Their hands touched as green angel wings sparked, and in the next second, he was already in her hands as a scythe.

Pride let out an astonished noise. "So you're Number 564, then?" she said. "I was hoping for your big brother, but oh well, you will do."

Still sending transmutations to attack Wrath, Maka barked, "YOU WILL NEVER HAVE HIM!"

But the homunculus Pride just let out a purring laugh. "Oh, I'm not so sure, Little Miss Grigori."

As soon as she said that, her shadows began attacking them. Maka had done astounding by blocking the attacks effectively, but she was clearly outnumbered, and in Pride's case, outmatched. Bruises started to form all over her body.

While they were ferociously trying to stay alive, Pride walked towards the spot Maka had crouched earlier. She closed her eyes as Wrath did a particularly nasty kick onto Maka's stomach, forcing air out of her lungs and flinging her right into Pride's shadow trap.

"MAKA, LOOKOUT!" Soul yelled, but it was too late.

She was caught in a living web of shadows, their dark limbs strangled her up like snakes.

"You know, using your mother as a bait was so effective, indeed," Pride purred, pulling her shadow closer to where she stood, dragging Maka and Soul along with it.

Hearing about her mother, Maka stopped trashing, instead fixing a glare full of hatred at the homunculus.

"What have you done to her?! Give her back!"

"What makes you think she didn't come to my side out of her own will?" Pride challenged.

Maka made a sadistic and condescending smirk that sent shivers through Soul's being. It was so close to what Mrs. Kamiko would show when she decided to be merciless.

"My mother would never stoop so low and join a scumbag like you," she taunted.

A resounding slap was heard when Pride flung her hand at Maka's cheek. The calm face the homunculus was wearing rapidly shifted to an intense disgust. She yanked Maka's face and brought it to her, her nails digging into Maka's cheeks and producing beads of blood.

Soul was beyond furious, but he couldn't afford to attract unnecessary attention, as he was trying to shift his scythe's weight little by little so his blade could touch the ground.

"You are as disgusting as your mother," Pride dictated. "But you still have a use. Both of you."

She let go of Maka's face and stepped back. Wrath was already at her side, bristling with unknown fury, though they were only standing silently, as if waiting for the next order.

"You know why I made this circle, Little Miss Grigori?"

Maka spat out blood to Pride's feet. "Why should I care about your fucking disgusting ambitions?"

She got a hard slap again.

"Language. Tsk, tsk. What had your useless mother taught you?" Pride shook her head in a completely fake concern. "And it's not ambition, my dear, it's my right."

"Killing thousands of lives and turning them into a rock is your right?! What a nasty bitch."

This time, the slithering shadows all over Maka's body tightened their strangles. Maka's scream muffled a sound that Soul was pretty sure was a cracked rib.

"Maka, oh my fucking god!" Soul screamed in exasperation through their bond.

It wasn't like he did not agree with her words, but hell, couldn't she think a bit more about her own situation? Damn girl didn't have an inch of self-preservation bone in her body!

"What an arrogant little girl. When we're finished I promise to give you a slow and painful death."

Maka just made a smirk that could very well meant 'Try your best, then,' and Soul had to suppress the urge to strangle her himself. Forget hemochromatosis, his actual reason for dying was obviously gonna be from all the blood pressure Maka inflicted to his heart.

"You won't be as proud when the Gate is opened, Miss Grigori," Pride trailed her sharp nail along Maka's bleeding cheeks.

"Do you know what made humans able to do transmutations?" the homunculus inquired. Maka just sent back her fiercest glare. "You're right. Their inner Gate."

Soul was still concentrating to shift his weight. A little bit more. Just a little bit more.

"Unfortunately us homunculi weren't born with our own Gate. Because we were… just parts of a whole one." Pride's entire being became a touch darker when she said the last part. But then she smiled, her tone suddenly was all sugar, "Do you want to find out what would happen if I try to open your Gate, then use the Philosopher's Stone and your… Ah! 'Alkahestry', to move the Gate from your soul to mine?"

For the first time, Maka's face paled. As well as Soul's, if he was in a human form, actually. The idea of Maka being stripped out of her alchemy was an eternal amount of wrong. But to give that ability to someone as dangerous as Pride—as the scientist Medusa, it was beyond catastrophic.

Howbeit, Soul had more important things to do. His blade had finally touched the ground.

"Maka, transmute!"

She instantly followed his command. Her alkahestry flowed through him into the ground, making a thin and sharp granite blade protruding out of the floor, cutting Pride's shadow from Maka's body.

Graciously, Maka circled his handle and positioned him to a slashing stance. With a quick, wide horizontal slash, Maka sliced both homunculi into two.

Maka landed a few meters away from the grotesque corpses, catching breaths and coughing blood. Their enemies were still alive, undoubtedly, but at least, they had bought som time to set their heads straight.

"You fucking madwoman!" Soul complained loudly.

Maka, despite all of his exasperations and curses, laughed. He cursed some more.

But then his Demon also laughed, absolutely ecstatic because of the earlier gore.

"Soul? Soul, what happened?!"

Soul's self-control went haywire for a second before he could anchor himself again. Fucking insane gremlin.

"Yeah, I'm o—"

"It's time," interrupted a chilling voice.

They lifted their eyes to see Pride standing before them, face displaying a smooth benevolent look. The creepy woman clearly had stalked closer when they were panicking about his Demon.

Fuckin—

"Now, Miss Grigori Alchemist, do the transmutation."

Maka snarled, "Never!"

Pride's expression didn't shift one bit, "Oh, I'm not asking."

In an instant, Soul was tackled away from Maka's hand, harshly landed onto the floor as a human and instantly pinned down by Wrath. At the same time, a dozen black arrows spreaded from Maka's behind and dragged her down to the Homunculus Pride. Medusa's shadow scattered quickly to form a very complicated array with Maka perfectly in the center; an alchemy circle that Soul was perfectly sure was for human transmutation.

Pride's voice was honey-sweet, "I am commanding."

Along with Maka's agonized scream, the circle glowed purple and strange black hands ghosted from the circle, flailing at nothing like creepy flows of black hair.

"MAKA!" Soul shouted helplessly under Wrath's weight, struggling closer to the circle without success. "MAKA! MAKA!"

But what he could heard was nothing but screams.

Soul's entire being was engulfed in terror. Far more horrifying than when they walked across the bodies of his kin.

He knew Maka's screams would haunt him for the rest of his life.

---

When their surroundings were blanketed in a purple light, Oscar was sure.

The original circle had been activated.

They survived solely because they were standing in those five counterattack points. And if they didn't activate the reverse circle before the night ended, there was no more tectonic energy to restore the citizens' souls back to their bodies.

"It's Albarn," Harvar said, holding out his own communication device, which was producing no sound. His face and voice were still infuriatingly calm as ever, but Oscar knew his partner enough to tell he was worried.

In a second, Oscar understood. If they were down an alchemist, it was over.

But before they could think about what should be done, a person approached them. Well, it was not quite 'a person', Oscar couldn't place his finger on it but they definitely didn't feel quite like a human. Harvar instinctively fired his revolver, but the creature leaped inhumanly high before the bullet hit them.

Moonlight illuminated their features, and Oscar gasped.

It was a woman. She had two dots on the corners of her mouth, and a pair of big and shiny eyes. The hands that were gluing her body onto the walls had webbings between the fingers. It was obvious what kind of animal that had been fused with the woman's body.

The chimera woman's eyes were unfocused and a little deranged, but none of them thought that she was an easy fight.

Seeing Miss Kim's arm turning hairy was one thing, but seeing a perfect human-frog hybrid dodging a bullet with superhuman moves was another matter entirely. Holy, they really did make chimeras from humans.

Miss Kim hissed.

"Just go," Miss Jackie said in a low voice, positioning herself so that she could protect Miss Kim easily. To the human-chimera, Miss Jackie taunted, "I heard frogs hate fire."

Oscar exchanged a nod with Harvar, dashing to Albarn and Evans's point. He managed a glance over his shoulder, right when the two women's surroundings became walls of fire.

Scary. For a person with fire as her power, Miss Jackie's coldness was chilling.

---

There was nothing Soul could hear.

Devastated might represent what he felt, but it was not quite right. It was like comparing the buzzing sound of a puny fly to the painful roar of a dying dragon.

Spirit was right. She shouldn't have gone to this place. She should have stayed home. Damn it, Spirit was right.

Without her, the world was dark.

Empty.

Lifeless.

Cruel.

Terrifying.

Everything ached. Ached so unbearably much.

The morbid idea that he might not see her again unleashed a certain overwhelming emotion he couldn't name or even knew of its existence.

Then something clicked.

Oh.

It was love.

He loved her.

He'd never tried to think of her as someone other than that little faceless girl; that kind daughter of that woman, the replacement of his lost savior. He'd always dismissed everything about her as an extension of that woman he forbiddenly saw as a mother. But when his perspective finally snapped into place, everything was painfully clear.

She was her own person.

And he had been so blind.

God must have laughed maniacally when He planned for him to realize it right after he lost her. Seriously, if his very soul didn't feel like combusting right then and there, he would laugh.

Damn it, Spirit was right.

What wouldn't he give for Maka to come back? For him to turn back time so he could lock her up himself? So she would never have to go to this hellhole in the first place?

He would give anything. Anything.

He would drink the Black Blood a thousand times, burning his cells over and over again, if it meant that he could bring her back.

He would go back to those labs, strapped onto the operation table and being dissected like a worthless lab rat, if it meant that he could save her.

Just please, he pleaded to whoever was listening, he just wanted to see her again.

He couldn't feel anything. Even his Demon was silent.

He was numb.

But fuck did his chest hurt.

He loved her.

God, he loved her.