Heya, readers!

Here's chapter two, ready for y'all!

[Insert disclaimer from prev. chapter, because y'know what? I'm just too gosh darn lazy.]

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"The Coolest"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord Death had a very interesting office. One of most peculiar elements of the Death Room was the numerous graves that surrounded the mirror platform. This was what Professor Stein, famous for his skills and infamous for his love for dissection, was staring at as he spoke with Lord Death. He wasn't looking at the head of the DWMA while he talked, he was looking behind him, at the graves. Stein counted them in his head, 1. 2. 3. He wondered something.

"Seems like we have quite a treat, Death."

"Oh yes? Wonderful!"

4. 5. 6.

Someday.

"Maka. Her secondary nature, it's Puppeteer."

"A rare one!"

7. 8. 9.

Someday, the fear that gripped him half an hour ago…

"Yeah. A rare one alright."

"And how's Maka?"

Stein took a whiff from his cigarette.

10. 11. 12.

…will materialize.

"She's paralyzed after overdoing it. But she'll be fine."

"Good to hear!"

13. 14.

The white smoke twirled and spun upwards.

Someday, Stein knew he would die. His spirit would follow the smoke into the sky, and his soul? Well, it'll be whisked away by Lord Death.

15 did not exist. Stein couldn't see that far. Ironic, isn't it?

"Soul, resonate with Maka."

"Professor, are you sure this won't end up like last time?"

"Yes. I'm certain."

To be honest with himself, Professor Stein wasn't sure at all if resonance would help Maka control her Soul Menace. It was a theory, but there were no other paths that the two could take if they wanted to develop Maka's menace. For all he knew, this could end up worse.

Maka readied herself before passing soul wavelengths to Soul, who sent it back, magnified.

"Let's go: SOUL RESONANCE!"

"The legendary super-skill of the Scythe Master! WITCH HUNTER!"

"Don't stop now! I want to see MORE! Show me what you got!" Shouted Stein with a wicked smile of approval.

Maka yelled with effort as the the resonance rate increased exponentially. Soul roared similarly from his weapon form.

The already magnificent witch hunter exploded with power as it doubled in size, edge keener than the finest sword.

"GENIE HUNTER!"

The professor laughed, feeling the extent of his student's power. His expression was almost mad.

However, the resonance rate did not halt there. It kept being boosted as Maka and Soul sent their wavelengths back and forth, magnifying it until they reached a turning point. The strain in the surrounding air skyrocketed as the ultimate technique burst forth from its glowing shell.

"The ultimate super-skill of the Scythe Master: KISHIN HUNTER!"

The technique was terrifying. If one stared at the radiance of the blade long enough, one'd go nuts. If any evil happened to touch the blade, it would disappear like smoke to the wind.

Stein grinned. Many would call his expression mad if they did not know the professor's natural love for experimentation.

"NOW, Maka!" Stein yelled, "Use you menace now!"

Concentration written across her face, Maka found the same power she used yesterday. To her, and consequently to Soul also due to their resonance, she found an extravagant room with a light and almost childish theme. If only she couldn't see past the lies, though. A heavy and unwelcoming miasma floated around the room, lingering in the shadows and stalking Maka's every move. If she could use one word to describe it, it would be dominating.

"Yo, Maka."

The meister lifted her head as she watched a baby blue curtain rose in defiance to gravity. It was not present before, and it disappeared soon after Soul stepped through. But Maka caught a glimpse of what lay beyond her world, aka this room. It looked cozy alright, and had a darker theme with some sort of jazz being played.

"Hey Soul."

"This is your mind right now, eh?"

"I guess. I don't like it though."

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Look, Soul. Over there," pointed Maka.

Her index finger stretched towards the shadow of an armchair that was standing in a corner. Anyone could see the dark red mass lingering within the folds of the rich shadow.

"Oh, that thing?"

"Yeah."

"Might as well check it out, right? No use sitting here doing nothing."

"I guess…as long it doesn't kill us though."

"C'mon, Maka. My partner's cooler than that. Besides, it is your mind, so it's unlikely anything in here will kill us, right?"

Maka didn't answer that.

Soul grinned. The weapon embraced his uneasy meister from behind.

"It'll be alright, Maka. If anything happened, I'll be there for you, ok? I swear, I'll protect you from whatever that is, k?"

Maka felt the warmth emitted from her partner, succumbing to his embrace. After her eyes regained their light, she made a decision.

"Let's go, Soul," she smirked.

Without warning, Maka took hold of Soul's hand and sprinted towards the shadowy mass. The two vanished, leaving the sunny room to itself, undisturbed.

"Soul!"

"Maka?!"

In the pitch darkness, the two madly felt around for each other. When at last Soul had managed to catch Maka's arm, both of them let out a long awaited sigh of relief. After a while, Soul decided to ask the inevitable.

"So, uh…where are we?"

"I've been here last time. Yesterday."

"Cool. So, where should we go?"

"Well…does it look like I have an idea?"

Soul sweat dropped at his partner. However, their humorous moment did not last long, for Soul suddenly had an uncanny feeling that something was lurking where their sights did not reach.

"What?! It's not my fault you know! Yesterday it was also pitch dark in here, so I just felt around and did basically nothing—"

"Shh! Do you feel that?!"

Maka was surprised at the sudden outburst, but soon afterwards she began peer into their dark surroundings. It wasn't long before she, too, noticed the unusual presence. Instinctively, her hand tightened around her weapon's.

"Uhh…Soul what is that?"

"How should I know? It's your mind!"

"Stop saying that! ….MAKA CHOP!"

"OW! What was that for?! It's true you know!"

"I don't know! Just be quiet!"

Maka held Soul in his scythe form and stood in a defensive position. However, a sweet laughter caught her off-guard. The laugh was of a familiar voice, yet as rich as the yellow honey that flowed endlessly from the great oaks of the Golden Age (A/N: The Golden Age is a mythological age when there was no crime or sin, and to exist was bliss itself… the honey is a reference from 'Bulfinch's Mythology'. You should check it out: it's a very interesting book!).

"Oh hey there!" a joyous voice called out from the darkness.

Maka stiffened, her eyes had trouble seeing beyond her nose, but still she kept looking intently into the shadows as if to spot the 'invisible' laughter.

"Why are you so afraid? I'm not here to hurt you."

"Who the heck are you?" Soul growled.

"And what are your intentions?" Maka demanded, her grip tightening.

"Who am I? Well here I thought that the great Maka Albarn, who is soooo great a student, would know! Haha! You sure got my hopes up there! But you're not as smart as you make yourself seem, eh?" This time, the person, clearly a female, had a laughter that could only be described as silk woven from the finest ingredients.

"But then, I don't want to say that do I? I don't want to call myself stupid now, do I? Whooops! Looks like I made a mistake, didn't I? Confuuuused yet?"

The way this entity dragged out her vowels made her sound childish and immature, but her voice was far from it. It was light, sure, but it was rich with many folds. Each word that dropped out of her mouth was dipped in something that Maka and Soul couldn't quite put their fingers on. Each note echoed in some valley with no bottom that felt as if one was about to disappear into the unknown along with the sound that was originally present if listening too intently.

One moment, Maka felt the girl tapping at her head. The next moment, Soul saw a piece of white material close to his blade before it vanished into the darkness. A second later, Maka saw the glint of a blade so close to her eyes that they widened in absolute terror. She attempted to hit the being with Soul, but she found herself wildly slashing at plain air.

"If you wanna fight us, then let show yourself, damnit! Are you too much of a wimp to do that, you filthy creature?!" yelled an extremely frustrated Soul. For all he knows, his meister, his one and only partner, could be backstabbed any moment and lose her mind to death before he notices. And, to make things worse, if he just up and left with Maka right now, there's not telling what hell would be raised in the meister's mind afterwards.

"Didn't I tell yooouuu? I don't wanna fight you! And," the being traced a finger along Soul's blade and playfully twirling with Maka's ash-blonde hair.

"if I were you, I wouldn't be calling me a 'filthy creature'. Ooooohh not at all! For your see,"

Maka felt herself being embraced from behind. She couldn't move. She was frozen in her spot, out of sheer fear. The honeyed voice sounded musically inside her ears as the other being leaned her head down on Maka's shoulder. But the notes that were played where not beautiful, like Soul's playing was, they were horrid. The meister's voice hitched.

"darling, I am Maka. I'm your partner! I'm you!"

With a gasp, Maka found herself able to move again after the cold, rigid being had left her shoulder. She swung Soul madly behind her.

"THAT'S RIGHT. Let me see a bit of MADNESS!"

Screaming, Maka continued to slash at the nothingness as she slowly lost track of consciousness. To her dismay, she did not strike anything solid.

"Maka! MAKA! Hey! Maka!" Soul shouted frantically.

With as gasp, Maka fell to her knees, dropping the scythe on the ground

Soul turned back into his human form, covering Maka's small, panting form with his own.

"It's fine, it'll be alright. It's ok," he whispered, "You don't have to be afraid!"

Eventually, the meister stopped shivering and calmed down, breathing in the calming scent of Soul's jacket. She dared to look up to his face, and stared straight into the red depth of his eyes with her own innocent olive green. And that's where, and always will be where, Maka took her courage from and used it to stand up once again.

"Sorry for the wait," Maka smirked, her voice resonating with the strength of bother her, and Soul. Evans grinned. This was more like his partner. He morphed into a scythe and flew into his meister's hand.

"But, I'm alright now."

"Hehe! No worriiieeees, dear. But, do you wish to kill me with that scythe of yours? Do you wish to see my crimson blood spilling and my head rolling? Because that would be the equivalent of slaughtering yourself, ne?"

"You can say whatever you damn please, I'm not going to yield to you!"

"Nya? Not gonna yield, are you? Why ever not? I am you, should you not trust in yourself? Girl, you lack self confidence!"

"Stop blabbering, you scum. You make me sick. You're not Maka—-that much I know."

"But what if I am? What can you do about it? I'm simply a better version of your meister there—a more refined version of Maka 1.0. That's it, call me Maka 2.0! Let me show you how much more evolved I am than Maka 1.0. Lights on!"

At once, meister and weapon felt a great shift in their surroundings. And suddenly, as if with a switch, the Sun lit up above them and lit up the mind of 'Maka 2.0'. Both students found themselves surrounded by a great field with grazing animals and a peaceful breeze.

"Beeeeehold! This is my great mind! What do you think now? Do you not see that it is a million folds better than than the current Maka?"

Now in broad daylight, Maka and Soul could clearly see the image of the being, an almost exact copy of Maka, if not for the wicked way her coat twisted into a purple and black piece of bad modern art. There was a wicked grin plastered across her face, which could only be described as madness in person.

"You see this might, it is not hard to achieve if you accept it! If you'd only give in, you'll be able to utilize this strength whenever and wherever you choose!"

'Maka 2.0''s hand waved incoherently at the background framing her as the centerpiece.

"Don't you see? Now, Maka, ACCEPT ME, ACCEPT YOURSELF!"

Maka and Soul, were unwilling. They knew something was up with the whole damn place the moment they caught sight of it. It was, after all, not the fields of joy and prosperity that was inside the mind of this mad girl, but the fields of insanity. The lie, the photoshopped image that momentarily blinded the both of them vanished and dissolved into reality. What appeared in the aftermath was the world of a psychopath, for everything was absurd. The trees grew in the skies, the vegetation was dyed purple, and the flowers kept flickering between poppies and daisies, similar to a small child with trouble making a decision. The cow jumped over a bleeding moon spurting green blood, and the sun never set, preferring to hold hands with the moon with a stretched and twisted arm. The chickens burrowed in the ground like moles, and the snakes hissed in the skies. The pig flew and cried tears that dropped into an ocean that had no bottom. On top of everything, the sky was dyed some form of dark, crimson red, as if all the fairies had bled and stained it.

Maka's eyes widened, and Soul fell to the ground after morphing back into a human.

"You're…You're insane…"

"That's RIGHT! HAHA! AND I'M PART OF YOUUUUU, MAKAAAA DEAR! So you should learn to accept me, accept MADNESS MAKA!"

A tear leaked out of Maka's left eye and and dripped onto the purple grass, and expanded into an endless sea that drowned everything within sight…everything except what was in the horrid sky and the insane girl with wild pigtails. Before Maka slipped into unconsciousness along with Soul, she could still hear the silky, sick sweet voice of 'herself'.

"Why do you cower in fear of causing pain to your partner and those around you because you are weak? Why do you keep despising yourself whenever someone takes a near fatal blow for you? Don't you see that you can escape from all that? By accessing your madness, you can become stronger! You would not need to feel any fear or pain any longer! Please, Maka! I beg of you, for every pain and pang of fear within your heart that you feel becomes my agony, every tear that you shed becomes my river of tears, accept this generous offer! There is no point in remaining in the lame firing range of despair!"

To be honest, Maka had only one idea why.

But, Maka heard Soul's voice, sharp and clear, like the keen edge of a weapon that cut into her consciousness:

"Maka, wake up!"

"Sou…Soul?"

"Yeah."

Olive green eyes flew open and Maka's forehead crashed against something hard as she impatiently sat up.

"Ow! Jeez what the hell Maka?!"

"Whoops…sorry about your head…"

"Well whatever, it's not that bad. Where are we anyway? We got away from that crazy lady but now…"

The meister looked about, but there was nothing there…just a plane of white as far as one could see. But as she stood up, the world rippled and a stage appeared, with a white grand piano smack dab in the centre. Even Kid would have marveled at how carefully it was placed and how it sparkled under the stage light—if not for the fact that pianos weren't symmetrical.

Both meister and weapon never noticed that all this weren't anywhere in sight beforehand, they simply instinctively took off towards the piano, as if in a trance. However, before long, both Soul and Maka ran into a wall that obstructed their view of the stage. With a flourish, a neon-green wall plastered with 'KEEP OUT' tape spontaneously spawned in their faces. The only entrance to what lay beyond it was a simple door with an iron sign on it, oddly colored with rust and hung with a crooked nail. It read:

'Do you seriously think you're ready? You're about to be one step closer.'

"One step closer? To what?" wondered Maka out loud.

"I dunno, we are in your mind. Try to un-think this thing."

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm imagining that wall in the first place."

"Do you think that it's the crazy what's-her-name doing this? That 'Maka 2.0' or whatever? She did say she was you, right?"

Maka stayed silent for a moment, staring at the tiled floor.

"Do you think that she's actually me?" the meister whispered. The question caught the weapon off guard, and he too began to stare ponderously at the ground.

"No. It can't be you. The only time you've been insane is when you were under the influence of my black blood…so you can't be like that now, right?"

Maka's figure went rigid with unease. Although he had said no, the way that Soul had stated it was vague and completely up to the answer—it was, after all, a question. Uncertainly, Maka attempted to think up a key for the door in front of them. It took her at least ten attempts before she was certain it was the right one.

'Forget it, Maka. Whatever. I'm sure that my mind is just messing with you,' she thought to herself, 'Besides, you'll start to worry Soul if you talk about it anymore…and you've already caused him enough trouble.'

Neither teen was aware that this meeting was just a foreshadow for what's to come in the inevitable future that intertwined both of their fates—and souls.

"Hey Maka, why aren't any sounds being played out of this thing?"

"I don't know, I have next to no control over this piano!"

"Great, if it's that annoying chick again, I swear I'm going to tear her stupid grin off the next time I see her."

"Makaaaaaaaaa… CHOP!"

A book rose from Maka's thoughts and smashed across the unfortunate skull of Soul Evans, creating a dent with a shape very similar to that of a 700 page book spine. As the weapon fell backwards with a comical fountain of blood spurting out of his head, he mumbled something incoherent about the meister and her temper.

"Don't be so violent when you're talking next time!"

With momentary annoyance still fresh in her veins, the female leaned onto the piano, not expecting the sudden, harsh sound that erupted from it.

"Oh hey it worked this time," said soul was he climbed back on the chair (painfully, that is!).

"Maybe you have to play it with some sort of emotion?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

With that in mind, Soul struck a few keys while summoning a relaxation into his mind. Surely enough, the notes began to play smoothly, and a low, slow tune rose.

"But I don't even know how to play the piano!" Maka moped.

"Well then don't! I can do it for you!"

"But it's my technique! What if we're fighting and for some reason I can't resonate with you? Then I'll die if I don't have something!"

Soul stiffened. He didn't like the sound of that at all. He held Maka by her shoulders and stared straight into olive-green.

"Maka…I'll ALWAYS be there to protect you, ALWAYS, you hear me? You are going to come back to safety in one piece every time because I WILL NOT allow anything to happen to my Maka, understand?!"

Color immediately rose to Maka's cheeks, and she turned her head in a miserably failed attempt to hide the massive blush that reached her neck. Squirming, she attempted to chop the idiot in front of her, but failed due to the fact that she couldn't help but be swayed to numbness by his words. The meister and weapon silently sat there after Soul finally realized what he just said.

"Uhhh…er…ahahaha…ha?" he stuttered, trying to act cool.

"Heheh…I think we should focus on the piano right now, eh?" Maka said, with an awkward smile on her face. Soul was too dazed at his meister's cute expression to register the question being asked. A blush crept on his face, too.

"Soul?"

"Oh—right! Yeah about that, maybe you should imagine yourself playing it? I mean it is your brain we're in."

"Sure. I guess we could try."

Slowly, he slouched back onto the bench and watched as the girl placed her hands on the keys and closed her eyes as imagination flooded into her.

"Just think about how I play…then replace me with yourself," Soul kindly instructed.

"Mhmm 'kay."

A piece sluggishly began to play, soft and gentle like a summer breeze. It soon began to pick up its pace, however, and turned into a lively capriccio, ricochetting Maka's fingers up and down the keys.

A large colorful screen appeared to the side, and the smooth display showed an unknown hand typing a word. As the meister played, her costume changed to that of a sundress, with pigtails that were tied with sky blue bell ribbons that rung along with her movements. As the piece drew to an end, the word on the screen displayed clearly the word 'Joy'. Maka sat back, panting.

"I know…heh…it's not the most appropriate emotion after we saw that crazy what's-her-name but somehow I felt inclined to…play it I guess."

Soul hadn't noticed that he had his jaw dropping to the black-and-white tiled floor this whole while. He coughed and closed his mouth, but was stilled stunned at the beautiful, although slightly short, music.

"That was…amazing Maka. Since when did you play so well?!"

"Er, well I guess I was just imagining it like you told me to so, uh, don't flatter me!"

Maka's arm found its way to the back of her head and she rubbed it sheepishly, and Soul found himself having a heated face once again thanks to his meister's cuteness.

Not like he will admit that…right?

When the duo spiraled back into reality, they found themselves no longer in resonance and…a very, or rather extremely, funny specimen. Six people, Professor Stein, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty, and Miss Marie, were in dance poses that were quite obviously from the sketch book of someone who doesn't know how.

Finally gaining back their bodies, various comments were made. The first one was said by a smirking, victorious scientist who said something about 'looks like it worked'. The second was Black Star:

"Wow! Me and these lame-os were just walkin' around and the Professor just started talking about this Soul Menace or whatever that you had! A second later we were dancing without thinking about it!"

"Indeed, it was very strange, we could think, that's for sure, but we were unable to control our own bodies. Is that your Soul Menace, Maka?" added Kid.

"Giraffe!" was the only comment made by Patty.

"Yeah…I guess? Professor Stein called it the Puppeteer nature," said Maka.

"Wow girl, impressive," exclaimed Liz, along with some compliments from Tsubaki and Miss Marie. Soon enough, the training area erupted into Black Star shouting about surpassing God and being God accompanied by a Soul who was clearly too proud of his meister for his own good, and wouldn't stop making 'cool' comments about the whole ordeal.

As the morning slipped onwards and cheery bunch rumbled on, Maka was the only one uneasy. When Soul asked her about it later, she couldn't respond, because she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Welp," Soul replied with his famous shark-toothed grin,"if you don't want to talk about, that's cool. But if you ever want to or if that crazy lady comes back to talk to you, just tell you gosh darn weapon about it, ok? The more brains the better, especially if you've got one as cool as mine."

Soul took Maka's hand as they began walking back home.

"Oh and Maka?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant what I said back in your brain. For you, I'll always be there, whenever, wherever."

Maka smiled. She knew that if her world came crumbling down on her someday, there was always going to be one ruby-eyed idiot of a cool guy she could depend on. Always, whenever, wherever.

"Yeah, thanks, Soul."

"For you, anything."

(4,145 words)

Alright, I'm done, so done, so tired, fudge balls. 4145 words raw. RAW!

Ok maybe not, I'm still gonna talk to you guys, because I'm a loner and I sit in my closet writing random shiz. Ok fine, maybe not. But still.

So I was gonna post this chapter yesterday, but do you know what I was doing instead of writing? I was reading SoMa fan fictions and looking, no, STARING OBSESSIVELY at SoMa fan art. (Ok, if you think that I was reading other people's fanfics so I could copy their ideas, stop right now. I'm not that type of person! That's just plain 'un-cool'!) A realization dawned on me, and I realized, in the middle of doing it, that there was suuuccchhhh as huge lack in, quote quote, 'my type' of SoMa fanfiction (y'know the ones with a buncha action but still has the strong romance aspects? the ones that are apparently so hard to find because their balanced between the two?) that I began to read other shipping fanfics with other characters and just replaced the main characters with "Maka" and "Soul". AND I was doing that unconscious of my actions. Creepy much?

Great, now I've succeeded in making myself feel like a retarded old cat lady or fish lady or dog lady or whatever chilling in an armchair in a closet being addicted to some random Japanese whatever. O.O But wait, what if I am...? I don't wanna think about it anymore.

Night peeps!

~Owl-chan