"We can't find him anywhere!"

"No one has seen him anywhere!"

"I tried searching the city, but I can't find him, not even a trace of his soul."

Stein sighed, rubbing his temples as he held his cigarette between his teeth while different meisters and weapons spoke over one another. The early sun was still rising over the horizon, laughing at them as it ascended the sky. How can a city full of meisters and weapons lose one little kid?

When Marie and Spirit tried to talk with Maleko late into the night, they'd found the door wasn't blocked anymore, not entirely. The desk had been moved to the side to offer a narrow space to slide through to get into the room. The room itself had been a mess, as if it had been the sight of a battle with how much had been destroyed in the boys tantrum.

The kid hadn't been in there, his window was open and bars melted and torn off. The metal had long since cooled, so no one could say just how long it had been since he had escaped, but they had issued a city-wide search as soon as they found out.

Yet hours passed and no one found any sign of the boy. Everywhere had been searched; abandoned buildings, alleys, empty apartments. Anything that could hide the child and it all turned up empty. So far those who were searching outside of the city had yet to find him either, though some were still out looking.

It would have been easier and quicker if they could follow his soul, but it was gone, not a single trace.

Damn it. How did he even learn Soul Protect? He hadn't known how to use the spell when he arrived at the city, he had to have learned it within the months he stayed here, but from who? Had this escape been planned from the start? Or was it triggered by a recent event? The kidnapping, was that the cause of all this?

Stein knew that there was something up with Maleko, something else happened in that warehouse that he wouldn't tell them. Was that what this was really about?

He cranked his screw and blew out a puff of smoke. If he managed to reunite with Kai, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but the boy knew things about the academy that he'd rather not let such a prominent enemy know.

Perhaps he had been working as a spy all along? No, Stein doubted Maleko would have been capable of fooling them for that long if that was the case, he wasn't necessarily the brightest child in the world after all. He was too naïve, he wore his heart on his sleeves. It was impossible for the child to deceive someone for so long and on such a grand scale.

Slowly the group began to disperse, and no sooner had the students left had Spirit approached, looking disheveled and tired. He'd not gotten a wink of sleep, searching with the others to try and find the sorcerer before someone potentially got hurt. He placed a thick manila folder onto the desk, papers starting to fall out but held together by paperclips and staples.

"Lord Death's issued for everyone to cease searching in the city," he explained, pulling out a chair and collapsing into it. "We'll keep looking outside the city, there's not many places he could have gone on foot."

Stein took a drag from his cigarette, "It's a big desert," he pointed out, to which Spirit gave a hum. "If we're lucky we'll find him alive, but it'd be easy for a boy like him to die out there. Animals or dehydrations… as soon as he uses his magic we should be able to find him if he's still close by."

"We'll find him alive," Spirit frowned. "and then we can find out why he ran off. But, we also have bigger problems," he pushed the folder over to Stein and waited as the doctor flipped it open, scanning through the pages. "We're starting to suspect that there's something bigger at play."

Stein began shuffling through different reports and records, narrowing his eyes and turning his screw with his free hand. "Acolytes?" he said out loud. Of course he'd heard of them, they had caused quite a scene a long time ago, had been a very real threat during the time as well. "I suppose it makes sense that there would have been remnants of their organization that survived long enough to begin rebuilding."

"We don't have concrete proof, not yet, but everything we're finding is pointing towards a resurgence," Spirit ran a hand through his hair. "Which may make things even worse. Hunting down kishin eggs is one thing, but asking students to fight and kill human souls doesn't feel right."

Stein hummed as he found the black and white photo of a scrawny witch with a tangled mess of pale hair and narrow eyes. What made the Acolytes so dangerous was their fanaticism, blind worship of an evil entity. Witches. "When the witch they worshipped was killed, the logical line of thinking would be to realize she wasn't an immortal god," he said as he plucked the photo up and stared at her face. What had her name been… Sara, her magic involved iron manipulation, she had been leading the Acolytes when they'd finally been squashed.

Or so they'd thought. "She was killed and the Acolytes were defeated," he said out loud and placed the photo back down, "but perhaps it had been wrong to assume she was the one they thought a god."

Spirit raised a brow, leaning back in his chair, "What's going on through that head of yours?" he asked.

Picking up another report from the file, Stein skimmed it over, the frown not leaving his face. "It's only a theory at the moment, but I feel very strongly over it's possibility. Everything seems to convenient to be a coincidence. We find Maleko, and instead of coming to retrieve him, the witch raising him vanishes," he put the paper down and began turning the screw in his head even more. "What few sightings we've had are lining up with the reports suggesting Acolyte movement. The timing is too perfect."

"You think this sea witch is the real mastermind behind the Acolytes?" Spirit asked.

Leaning back and putting out his cigarette in the ashtray on the desk, Stein stared up at the ceiling, at the slight flicker in the lights. "She could be," he nodded, "it's not a good outcome, but it seems to be what everything is pointing at. She's preparing for war, and we need to prepare as well."

Maleko yawned as he curled up in the shade of a large rock. He didn't mind the heat, honestly the dry air and hot sand was comforting if anything, he enjoyed the feeling of warm sand under bare feet—it reminded him of the beaches at home—and he was grateful that even with his magic shut down, he still had a high heat tolerance. The problem was that he'd been walking and running for several hours and he was exhausted.

But, he'd made good ground and now was as good a time as any to take a rest.

Shrugging the backpack off, he reached for the canteen of water and took a drink, careful not to take too big of a swig before he put the cap back on. Taka had landed and nestled in next to him in the shade, patient as Maleko rummaged through the bag to find a granola bar to munch on.

"We should be able to reach the next town over in a few days," Taka mused as Maleko ate. "You're doing wonderful, little sun, you were able to escape the city long before they noticed you were gone. No one could have asked for more."

A few more days of running, Maleko could do that, he'd keep running if it meant there was someone in the next town who could help him get back to his mama. There had to be one of those… those… Acolyte people there, right? Or maybe another witch? Someone was bound to help him.

Or maybe not.

Maleko's face twisted into a frown as he nibbled on the bar. Maybe he wouldn't find anyone who'd be able or willing to help him. Maybe he wouldn't be able to find her at all, the meisters might find him first and drag him back to the academy. They might just kill him on the spot. The thought sent shivers down this spine.

He'd held them in such high regards, but they'd been using them, hadn't they? They wanted his soul, or maybe information on his mama. They'd been quite interested in her when he first arrived, asking questions and making him believe they wanted to find her so they could reunite the two. But that wasn't the case, was it?

He reached up with his free hand and began scratching at the nook between his neck and shoulder. His body trembled as he bit down hard into the granola bar and drew blood with his claws. The more he scratched, the more he began to calm until it felt like he could breathe again.

"Little sun," Taka nudged him slightly, "I believe the sword pair had put a map in the bag?"

Blinking, Maleko glanced at the bird and then at the backpack. "Oh," he whispered and then another pause before his brain began catching up and he moved towards it, opening the pouch once more and rummaging within. A map… that was important, right? He didn't really understand it, but, Taka wanted to see it, he guessed.

He pushed aside the jacket, the snacks and bandages as he searched. His fingers brushed against some paper and his mind went 'ah' as he grabbed it. A map, right? It felt small, maybe maps were small.

But when he pulled it from the bag, it wasn't a map it was a photo. Maka and Soul, Blackstar and Tsubaki, even Crona was in the picture. It looked like they were at some sort of party, dressed up in fancy clothes and all smiling at the camera, looking like they were laughing, that they were happy.

Maleko's heart clenched, his mind thought back to eating with Maka and Soul, getting sick and carried to their apartment to recover. He thought of Blackstar, always happy and laughing, confident, his fun declarations of strength and how much Maleko had believed him. Tsubaki was always so kind and sweet, like a mother or sister.

All the fun games he'd play with them, following them off into class too sit beside them, drawing the zombie man as he did lectures, or the screw man, or Marie when they taught instead. How they'd let him take naps during class, walk him to the cafeteria so he could join them as they ate or walk him back to his room when classes were done. They didn't care if he couldn't understand the classes, they let him participate and let him have fun just by being there.

Blinking back tears, Maleko realized how much he missed it already. Even if it'd all been an act or a game to them… he had enjoyed his time with them, he had thought them his friends and had loved being with them and a large part of him wanted to go back to it.

"It's best not to think of them," Taka flew up to perch on Maleko's arm brought up his foot to rest on the photo, pushing down as if to lower it. "They were using you, little sun, they don't deserve your love."

Whimpering, Maleko let the picture drop to the ground. Taka was right, he had to try and forget about them, if he didn't, it'd only hurt him. Swallowing back the tears, he focused his attention back on the bag to go back to looking for the map as Taka watched silently.

Eventually, he was able to find the map folded up deep in the bag and withdrew it. Taka flew off his shoulder to land on the ground as Maleko unfolded it and placed it on the sandy ground, finding small rocks to hold it down.

It was a mess of squiggly lines of different colors, jumbles of words and symbols. Just staring at it made his head hurt.

"Let's see," Taka examined the map, putting a talon on a large marker, "Death City, and we've been running for several hours so… we should be around here." He hopped down and put his talon on an empty space a little bit away from where the city supposedly was. It wasn't really far from it, the distance was only the length of his thumb, still close to the city. Maleko scrunched up his nose as he stared at the map as Taka kept talking, something about how he had an amazing sense of direction and that if they kept going this way, they should go, confirming that they were just a few days away from the nearest city.

How could he tell any of this?

"Is something wrong?" Taka asked looking up at Maleko and then glancing down at the map once more, "was there something that caught your eye?"

Maleko shook his head, "Can…can't ruh-read," he mumbled and wanted to hit himself. All this stress, it was making it harder for him to remember how to form his words, talking was getting harder again. He hated this.

"Not even a map?" Taka asked, to which Maleko shook his head. He cocked his head and then looked over to the map, hopping over so that he started pointing at a small series of symbols on the side. "These symbols represent landmarks, cities and other locations. This big dot with the star marks the capital—the main city—of this state. These smaller dots represent towns and cities…"

Slowly and patiently, Taka began explaining different aspects of the map, different places, and each meaning. He paused in between topics, waiting to see if Maleko had questions before moving on with another. He was understanding and practical, and even if Maleko still wasn't quite sure how to read a map, he at least knew a little more than he had when it was over.

They went over the map, mostly Taka looking at different things and trying to plan out a safe route that would lower any chances of running into others from the DWMA. Eventually, after Maleko had crunched up the granola bars wrapper and stuffed it into a different pouch in the bag, Taka let him fold the map back up and return it to the backpack. It was time for them to get moving again, too dangerous to stay in one spot for too long, who knew how long the academy would keep searching for.

The plan would be to keep walking, and when the sun went down, he'd keep walking until he found someplace safe to set up a den for the night to rest. There was still a long way to go until they reached that, though. The day was still young.

Hours passed, his legs were starting to grow sore but Maleko didn't voice a complaint. Taka would fly off to scout on ahead, sometimes following from above and sometimes just perched on Maleko's shoulder or bag.

Maleko swallowed and adjusted his grip on the bag, he kept walking, feeling the warm sad sinking between his toes with each step. Cautiously, he glanced up at the hawk on his shoulder, his last talk with Crona and Ragnarok repeating in his head, their comments towards the bird sticking.

"Ta…Taka," his tongue felt weird in his mouth, words felt weird. It always felt weird trying to say words, but now it felt worse than usual. He grimaced and tried again watching as the bird looked his way. "Are you uh-ah ah familiar?"

Even Maleko knew what a familiar was, mama had told him about them when he saw some during a gathering of witches. They were animal companions to witches and sorcerers, they were magical. Was Taka magical? It'd make sense, most birds couldn't talk, right? Was he… was he Maleko's familiar?

Taka ducked his head as he continued preening his feathers, a few beats of silence passed as Maleko kept walking through the Nevada desert. "Clever little sun, I am indeed a familiar," Taka confirmed after plucking a light brown feather from under a wing. Letting it drop from his beak, it fluttered to the sand. "However, I am not your familiar."

It was disappointing to be shot down, ducking his head in shame and feeling his face heat up. But then, if he wasn't his familiar, then… maybe, just maybe… "Mama?" hopeful, desperate hope.

"That'd be a sight to see. A witch of the sea with an avian familiar," Taka's voice chuckled in Maleko's head at the thought, feathers ruffling as he adjusted his perch on the boys shoulder, then settling back down to relax. "You don't need to concern yourself with it, my dear sun. My master would like to look out for you is all."

It was hard to not worry himself over it when Taka made it so much more curious of a topic. If he wasn't his or his mama's, just who was the witch or sorcerer that the hawk belonged to? But, Maleko tried his very best to banish those thoughts from his head like he was told to do, tried not to think of it anymore.

He supposed that all that mattered was that there was someone looking out for him. Taka was someone's familiar and they were a friend. They had to be if they were this concerned over helping him reunite with his mother. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could meet Taka's master and thank them.

The thought was enough to keep him going with a smile, as if reenergizing him with the hope of meeting this person one day. He bounded forward at a decent pace, hands on the straps of his bag to keep it secured as Taka took off from his shoulder to fly around.

By the time the sun had gone down and the air had cooled, Maleko found himself an abandoned next that smelled of a strange animal. It was safe and hidden, so Maleko curled up in the dip on the ground to sleep for the night. Taka nestled down beside him, telling him to sleep and that he'd keep watch over night, and come morning, with the sun starting to rise, the two were on the road once more.

True to words, they had reached a small city within a few days. It's timing couldn't have been more perfect, as Maleko had run out of food the day before and would run out of water in his canteen soon. The city was full of strange and new scents, none of it familiar.

Maleko received a few curious glances from the adults that passed him on the streets, staring down at the dirty, barefoot kid with an oversized backpack, and dirt covered clothes. But no one stopped to talk to him, they went on their way and let him go about his own business.

Though they had reached the city, he still had to be careful. They didn't know who was a friend and who was an enemy, he couldn't let people know just who he was, what he was.

He set up a cozy den under a damp bridge coated with a generous amount of obscene graffiti and spiderwebs. It was safe, and all the scents of people underneath were several days old, so he felt confident that he wouldn't be found under there. They needed to figure out a game plan now. Or, Taka did, Maleko wasn't a good enough thinker to be able to think of a viable plan of action, he'd come to accept that about himself. He wasn't smart, not like those around him, so leave the thinking to those who could do it.

Shrugging the bag off to the side, Maleko sat down and crossed his legs together as the bird settled down in front of him.

"You'll need a new name," Taka said, "You can't call yourself Maleko, not when people are going to be looking for you, and you can't tell people you're a sorcerer, not unless we can trust them."

"Buh, but Maleko…" he made a face when Taka said he'd need a new name. He liked his name, it was the one Kai gave him, it was important to him. He was Maleko, he didn't want to give that up, it felt wrong.

Takas feathers ruffled but then relaxed. "It's an alias, a fake name to keep you out of trouble," he assured. "You'll still be Maleko Palakiko, but those who meet you from here on forth can't know that. Does that make sense?"

He frowned but nodded. It didn't make a lot of sense, but he could try and understand. "Okay… theh, then what… my name?"

There wasn't a moment to think, not a pause to contemplate possibilities. When Maleko asked, Taka answered. "Asahi. You are Asahi."

"Asa…he?"

"You're Japanese, little sun, neither the wilds, the tropics or even the deserts can hide that. So, you'll don a Japanese name," Taka explained and hopped a little closer. "Asahi, the morning sun. It's a fitting name. I'll try and teach you the language as well."

Asahi… Maleko frowned. The name, it stirred something deep within him, felt as if something in the back of his head was scratching at the walls, trying to get out. It didn't make sense. But, if that was the name that Taka chose… "Maleko… Asahi," he accepted with a nod.

"Good. Now, let's rest, little sun. We'll need to search for your mother's allies tomorrow."