A/N: My apologies for the lateness, folks. I've been on vacation, but I'm happy to report that I'm recharged and ready to continue with my weekly schedule. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy the chapter!

Review Responses:

pokelover01, glad you enjoyed it! Annie and Cori and the black blood will be explained over the course of the story (I hope), with a brief explanation in this chapter (and you can also see my reply to fanficlove2014 below for one fun fact). Thanks for the review!

Diana Raven, glad you like the idea! It's going to be somewhat important later on!

Keywords Kid, thanks! I write original fiction too and I often use fanfiction as a 'testing ground' for words that I've heard before and want to use somewhere to see if they work. Glad you liked it!

fanficlove2014, well, from Soul through Maka, because as it turns out resonating when you have twins might not be a very good idea~ More explanations to come, but suffice it to say that because Annie got it so early in life/development, she has it way worse than Soul does, maybe to the same degree that a certain other character has it. Glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing!

Arcane Student, if you're attached to the characters, I'm doing my job right~ Thanks so much for the review! To answer your question, it's just Annie, for reasons that might be explained soon. See my reply to fanficlove2014 for one of them. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Attack Pt. 3; Facing the Past


People assumed that Shelley's weapon form was a spear.

It was completely understandable to her why they might make that assumption. After all, every single time that she and Angela had fought together, she had taken on the form of a naginata. The curved spear suited Angela's fighting style better, and it was already usable for flight, without any drastic changes needed. She liked being a spear, liked the range and other possibilities that that form granted her.

It didn't mean that that was what she had been born as.

Angela was a witch, which meant that resonating with her was akin to being made a temporary Death Scythe, giving her the ability to alter her form to suit her meister. And since Shelley had always had a particularly versatile soul, it hadn't taken her long to realize that that was the weapon form that Angela was most comfortable with. But now, as she felt herself transform in a flash of light, she could feel her body settling back into its original weapon configuration, a form that she hadn't used in years, but was just as comfortable as slipping on an old pair of shoes.

Stein stretched his hand out and she took shape in it, the light coalescing and forming a thin, slender blade, a scalpel that Stein spun between his fingers, the handle passing between each finger in turn before resting comfortably in the palm of his hand.

Shelley felt his wavelength and shifted hers to meet it, feeling his do the same. A meister that could wield any weapon, and a weapon that could match any meister. They pushed their glasses up at the same time, light shining off of Stein's glasses in the physical world.

Shelley felt the madness in her father's wavelength and unconsciously molded her soul to account for it. She couldn't calm him, not the same way her mother could, but she could deal with it in other respects. It wasn't enough madness to be worrying, but she was glad for the work. It gave her something else to think about, something other than the task at hand.

Something other than Micah.

She frowned, folding one arm over her chest as the wind pulled in close to the scalpel blade. Whatever feelings she might have, she buried them deep down, hiding them somewhere deep inside of herself.

Now was not the time to feel sorry.

When Stein took off at a run towards the dungeons, when they closed in on Micah through the second sight of their shared Soul Perception, Shelley didn't flinch. She watched, stone-faced, as her father burst through the door, as Micah turned around from his position in the corridor and watched them, still wearing that expression of faint regret that he had worn in the graveyard, the last time she had seen him.

Shelley found that she couldn't look at him anymore.

"Somehow," Micah said, as he reached into the inside pocket of his cloak. "I was hoping that it wouldn't be you."

Stein drew to a stop, spinning the small blade in his hand and holding it at the ready. "Shelley," he said.

Shelley raised the hand that wasn't folded across of herself, pulling it down through the void of her soul space. Light traced through the air in its wake, numbers reflecting themselves off of her glasses. "Targeting," she said.

Her wavelength began to spread, light drifting across the surface of Stein's soul. In the outer world, numbers reflected off of his glasses, the same rapid fire pattern that flickered through the walls of her soul space. His senses sharpened, the wind around the scalpel in his hand becoming steady and regular as Shelley began gauging the distance between her and Micah, lining up the target.

Marie might be able to enhance her meister's physical attributes, but Shelley had never inherited that art. Her battles had always been battles of the mind, the senses. She made sure to keep those senses sharp now, her eyes on Micah as he drew a single card from his cloak, turning it to face them.

Justice.

The card dissolved into light, forming a slender, one-handed sword. He gripped the sword's hilt with ease, his gaze regretful as he looked at her from over the steel.

Stein charged at him just as the building shook, the explosion shaking the ground.


Clark ran towards the sounds of battle, the chaos of the city reigning around them. He felt his breath coming in hard pants, his grip tightening on Vayne's handle as he ran, the back of the blade braced against his shoulder. His lungs burned, chest heaving with the exertion, and sweat beaded on his forehead, glistening across his skin. He was exhausted, his injuries from yesterday's training burning. And he was afraid.

But there was something else, an electric thrill that coursed through his veins as he ran through the street towards the sound of battle and destruction, a thrill that reminded him why he had come to the DWMA in the first place.

He burst out onto the street, widening his stance as he skidded to a stop and lifting Vayne off of his shoulder with both hands—

—and froze, his eyes widening as he noticed the boy standing in the middle of the street, turning to face him.

Grayson Knight looked rougher than he had been the last time Clark had seen him, before his expulsion from the DWMA. His hair was longer and scruffier, his eyes harder and more deadly. Scars lanced his skin, one on his arm, the other on the side of his face. Diagonal scars, almost like claw marks. He was dressed in a dark-colored shirt with the sleeves ripped off, jeans, boots. Sometime in the intervening year, he'd gotten a piercing, a bolt of sleek silver metal in the vicinity of his left eyebrow. A gauntlet of rippling black metal encased his right arm and climbed all the way up to his shoulder, covering the same area that Richard's weapon form had once covered. It was similar to his former weapon but different, more organic in a way, but somehow less alive.

Clark tightened his grip on Vayne, catching his breath as he kept his eyes on Grayson. The other boy looked at him, and there was nothing but contempt in those eyes, seething contempt and hatred. A part of him knew why Grayson was here, but the rest of him seemed unwilling to believe it. He stared at Grayson numbly, heart pounding, mouth going dry.

Vayne wasn't nearly as slow on the uptake.

From inside his soul space, his partner let out an alarming snarl, clenching his hands into fists. Vayne's eyes narrowed in anger, his soul straining against the boundaries of their resonance. The sharp edges of Vayne's wavelength dug into his, producing a sensation that was almost physical, and Clark jolted out of his stupor, his eyes snapping up to meet Grayson's.

"You…" he said. "You joined them?"

Grayson frowned at Clark, as if trying to place him somehow, and then something in his mind seemed to click and his eyes lit up. "Well," he said, a sneer appearing on his face. "If it isn't the momma's boy."

Clark's eyes widened at his words, his surprise at them making him freeze for an instant. It was just long enough for Grayson to cross the distance between them, just long enough for Grayson to draw his fist back.

And then Clark remembered himself.

He darted to the side, away from Grayson's punch. Clark shifted his hold on Vayne to one hand, hefting the massive blade up off the ground. He slammed into the side of Grayson's gauntleted arm with the flat of the blade, the sheer momentum behind Vayne swatting Grayson's fist aside as with his other hand, he adjusted his glasses. Grayson stumbled back, and before he could recover, Clark stepped in, striking at Grayson's neck with his free hand.

The older boy jerked his head back, avoiding the strike, but it had only ever been a distraction. Clark dropped his free hand back to Vayne's handle, lifting the blade with both hands and swinging it in a wide arc in front of him, parallel to the ground. Grayson raised his gauntleted arm just in time, metal clanging against metal as the arm blocked the blade, but Vayne's momentum threw him off his feet, forcing him back.

As he leaped back, away from Clark, Clark completed his turn, shifting his grip on Vayne to a one-handed grip again and swinging it vertically through the air. The air parted beneath the blade, sending a blast at Grayson that was powerful enough to knock him backwards through the air, slamming into his chest and catapulting him straight into the nearest building.

Clark stabbed one of the pendulum's points through the ground, using the leverage to keep the blade upright as he caught his breath, chest burning. Vayne was...heavier than usual, and Clark knew that it wasn't a problem with Vayne. His partner's weapon form practically hummed beneath his touch, a sign of Vayne's eagerness to fight. It was his own soul that had started to shy away.

Vayne noticed. His reflection appeared in the blade's flat, his eyes wide as he looked over his shoulder at Clark.

"Clark?" he asked.

Clark shook his head, pushing his glasses up again. He had to stay focused. He couldn't allow Grayson to rattle him, couldn't allow his thoughts and doubts to get the better of him again. He thought he was over that. Still…

"What do you know about my mother?!" he called into the wreckage, his grip on Vayne's handle momentarily faltering.

At first, there was no answer. Then, Grayson let out a loud laugh, and Clark felt something shift, his eyes widening in alarm as he realized that Grayson was suddenly behind him. He spun, picking up Vayne in both hands, and managed to use the flat of the blade to block the blow that came his way, gritting his teeth against the force of the punch. Grayson looked at him from over their locked steel, his lips bared as he pulled away from a grin.

"So you are that creepy lady's kid," he said. "What d'you think, Greysteil? You gonna join the family business?"

Clark's eyes narrowed, anger flooding through him, and suddenly Vayne was light in his hands again, their wavelengths snapping back into sync. "Go to hell," Clark said, ducking beneath the gridlock. He braced one hand on the ground, lifting himself up off the ground with it and using the other to swipe out with Vayne at Grayson's ankles.

Grayson danced back, avoiding the slash, then darted back in, lightning quick. His punch took Clark in the jaw, and Clark let out a grunt of pain as he was driven back, the blow nearly knocking him off of his feet. Before Clark could recover, Grayson drew his fist back and punched again, this time hitting Clark in the torso. He managed to tense up in the instant before the blow hit, stopping the wind from being knocked out of him, but the blow still forced him back, and he exhaled sharply as he stumbled, his eyes on Grayson.

"Clark!" Vayne said, alarmed.

Grayson had started to move, picking up speed. He moved faster than Clark had ever seen him move before, darting around Clark. There was a grin on his face as he appeared, first to Clark's right and then to Clark's left, moving so quickly that his movements were impossible to track. His laugh echoed through the air.

"How do you like this, Greysteil?" Grayson demanded. "Bet the DWMA didn't teach you these tricks."

Clark's eyes narrowed, moving from left to right beneath his glasses as he tried to keep track of Grayson's movements. "Vayne," he said, raising Vayne over his head. Vayne nodded, the blade catching the sunlight.

"Soul Resonance!"

He poured his wavelength into it, Vayne's wavelength rising up to meet him. Their wavelength's exploded, doubling in size, the wind kicking up around Clark as his soul rose up to fill the space around him. Light flared up from beneath Clark's fingers, coalescing into a chain. His free hand came up, wiping at his jaw where Grayson had struck him.

As Grayson finally darted in to attack him, moving in from his right, Clark let Vayne fly with a flick of his wrist, holding onto the chain.

The pendulum swung towards Grayson, slicing through the air and shooting towards him head-on. His eyes widened, and he banked sharply, avoiding the blow. Clark reached up with his free hand and closed his fingers around the chain, tugging sharply. The blade reversed direction, and Clark leaped into the air, pulling on the chain so that the pendulum blade skimmed the earth, slicing upward at Grayson from below.

He ducked just in time, his eyes wide as he used his gauntleted arm like a shield. The pendulum blade glanced off of the gauntlet, its trajectory changing, and Clark maneuvered it into an arc, catching it in one hand as he landed on the ground. He let it fly again, still holding onto the chain, and the blade flew parallel to the ground, shooting towards Grayson. Grayson raised his gauntlet to meet it, but he was not prepared for the force behind the blow, and it knocked him back. Before he could recover, Clark gave the chain a sharp tug, sending Vayne careening back in the opposite direction. He used Vayne's momentum to pull himself forward, launching himself towards Grayson as he and Vayne passed each other.

Clark jabbed at Grayson's eyes with one hand, and then, as Grayson jerked back to avoid the strike, dropped into a crouch, coiling the chain around his knuckles. He punched first at Grayson's kidney and then at the back of his knee, the other boy's knee crumpling with the movement. Clark straightened up and used his fist to backhand Grayson in the back of the head, then, while he was disoriented, looped the chain around him, pinning his arms to his side. He tugged, pulling Vayne back to him from where the pendulum blade had embedded itself in a wall, and catching it in one hand.

"Who are you working for?" he demanded, spinning Grayson around to face him. "What does any of this have to do with my mother?"

Grayson's eyes widened and for a moment, it looked like he might talk. Then, an explosion rattled the ground, coming from the school behind them. Clark turned without thinking, looking back over his shoulder at it, and Grayson took the opportunity to slip out of his hold, hands slamming into him and bodily shoving him off as he untangled himself from the lengths of chain. A cloud of dust rose up as Grayson punched the street with his gauntleted hand, the blow strong enough to disintegrate the cobbles beneath them. Clark coughed and retched as he inhaled some of the dust, his eyes wide.

When the dust cleared, Grayson was gone.


The elementary school stood just on the edges of the worst of the fighting, crows swooping down on the rooftops nearest the building and monsters in the street. Maka tightened her grip on Soul's handle, urging him to pick up speed as they flew over a handful of teachers in the street that led to the school, fighting back the monsters. The school's second floor windows had been broken, glass shattered as if something had crashed right into them. Soul banked sharply in the air, flying towards Annie and Cori's classroom windows without any prompting on her part, and Maka felt her heart race.

One side of the twins' classroom's windows were almost completely broken, as if they had been torn through by some massive force. On instinct, Maka looked at the window through the lens of her Soul Perception, casting her awareness through the break and into the room.

There were four souls inside. Two were the pulsating, deformed souls of the monsters that were attacking the city, but they hung freely in the air, no longer attached to any sort of body. They weren't a threat anymore. Her shoulders sagged with relief, and she focused in on the other two.

On the surface, they were identical souls, but on the inside, they couldn't be more different. She felt the madness still wrapped up tight within Annie's soul, a nexus of darkness and fear tied intimately to the black blood that coursed through her veins. The other, all misguided bravery and light, was Cori's, and it pulsed with a raw, unrefined version of the wavelength that Maka herself had used on many occasions when faced with the black blood. Was using right now, to keep some of the pressure off of Soul.

The Anti-Magic Wavelength. She let out a ragged breath, feeling her grip on Soul's handle finally loosen. The twins were alright, and as long as Cori was with her, Annie wouldn't lose her control. Already, she could feel the ragged edge of madness starting to fade, the blood going back to its dormant state.

She and Soul floated slowly through the open window, and Maka leaped off as soon as they were through, landing lightly on the ground. She held the scythe loosely in one hand, frowning at the scene in front of her.

Annie and Cori sat on their heels on the floor, surrounded by the wreckage of the classroom. Shards of glass and twisted splinters from broken desks littered the ground around them. A thin line of red trickled down the side of Cori's cheek, and a plate of hardened black blood was pressed up against Annie's side like a bandage. Apart from that, the two of them seemed alright. Each had a single red soul clasped between both hands and were pulling it closer to themselves, Annie uncertainly and Cori enthusiastically.

"Ita-dakimasu~" Cori said, the two of them opening their mouths wide.

Maka cleared her throat. The twins went rigid, both of them looking up from over the red souls. When they saw her and Soul, Annie let out a startled yelp and dropped the soul she was holding, springing back. Cori's eyes widened, and she quickly backed away as well.

"What exactly is going on here?" Maka asked, narrowing her eyes. She released Soul as he started to transform, and while he materialized beside her, folded her arms, looking down at the twins.

"Um…" began Cori. The twins exchanged a long glance, before Cori drew herself up so that she was sitting straight. "We fought a monster?"

"Where are your teachers?" Maka asked. "Where are the other students?"

"Um—," Cori began, scratching the back of her head with one hand. "Uh—well—that is—"

"Annie?" Maka asked.

Annie looked up miserably from where she was sitting on the floor, staring at Maka from beneath a curtain of silver hair. "The rest of the class is hiding. Cori said we could fight the monster, so we did…" she said glumly. "It had two souls, so she said we could have one each."

"Two souls?" Maka repeated, frowning down at the souls lying on the floor between the twins. For a moment, she lost the thread of her irritation, her mind going back to what she had noticed earlier. "You're sure? Two souls, from one monster?"

Annie nodded, not looking up. Cori, sensing that her mother was distracted, quickly dived back into the conversation. "You should have seen her, Mama!" she said. "Annie exploded it! It just went all to pieces!"

It was the wrong thing to say. Maka's attention jerked sharply back to her, her eyes narrowing again, and Cori quickly looked away, a slight flush on her face. From beside Maka, Soul let out a long sigh, walking over to Cori and cuffing her lightly in the back of the head. She let out a small 'oof', her head moving forward with the movement, and Soul crouched down so that he was at eye level with her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Next time, leave the fighting to the rest of us, okay?" he asked. "There's going to be plenty of time to get into fights when you're older."

Cori blinked up at him, her eyes starting to water. "I just…wanted to be like you," she said.

"I know you did," said Soul. "But don't worry us like that again, okay?" He placed his hand on Cori's head, patting it roughly, and looked over his shoulder at Maka. Maka sighed and relented, letting her arms fall back to her side. She exhaled, turning towards Annie.

"Annie, are you alright?" she asked, crouching down in front of the other girl and gently turning her face up towards her. Maka carefully smoothed her hair out of her face, revealing wide green eyes that were just as tear-filled as Cori's. On top of her head, the girl's two small pigtails had transformed into quivering black blades, a sign that she was on the edge of a breakdown. "You're hurt."

"Y-Yes…" Annie said, one of her hands brushing against the black plate stuck to her side. "I-I—I—."

And then Annie threw herself into Maka's arms and started to cry.

Maka sighed, sitting back on her heels and wrapping her arms around the crying girl. "There, there," she said, placing a hand on the back of Annie's head and gently rocking back and forth. "It's alright. You're fine. Nothing's going to hurt you…"

Across from them, Cori watched Annie's breakdown with a bewildered look on her face, her eyes moving from her twin to her father. Soul still had his hand on Cori's head, but he was watching Annie now, his expression troubled. His eyes moved past her face to the tear on her dress, to the droplets of black blood that smeared the walls around them.

"I didn't mean to…" Cori said softly, balling her hands up in the fabric of her dress. "I told her to transform so that she wouldn't get hurt. I didn't mean for that to happen, Papa."

Soul watched Annie for a moment longer before turning towards Cori. He seemed to stare at her for a long moment, as if considering how he should respond to her. "I know you didn't," he finally said, looking her in the eye. "But we've talked about this. You know what can happen with Annie."

"But—but she's okay!" said Cori, her eyes wide. "As long as I'm with her, she's not gonna lose control. I can always bring her back, can't—can't I?" She stared up at Soul when he didn't respond immediately, tears filling her eyes. Her lip quivered, and when she next spoke, it was much softer. "Can't I?"

"You…probably can," said Soul after a while, letting his hand fall back to his side. "Just…uh…just don't overdo it."

Before Cori could ask him anything more, he stood up, turning towards Maka. Maka slowed her rocking as Annie's sobbing dwindled down into sniffles, rubbing slow circles on her back and waiting until she finally started to calm down. By the time Annie relaxed enough to allow Maka to pull her away, her shirt was soaked.

"There," she said, giving Annie a smile. "All better, right?"

Annie sniffed, her eyes red-rimmed from crying. "I-I guess…" she said. Her eyes moved past Maka, landing on Cori sitting across from her and at the souls lying on the ground between them. "Can—can we still take the souls?"

Maka frowned, glancing across at Soul, who shrugged. She looked back at Annie. "Alright," she said. "But don't get used to it. I mean it. You two are both so grounded."

Annie nodded, slowly extricating herself from Maka's hold. Maka took the opportunity to stand up, turning towards Soul.

That was when an explosion sounded out from behind him, loud enough to rock the building.

Annie and Cori let out frightened cries, Cori covering her ears as Annie toppled over. Maka and Soul turned towards the window sharply, eyes widening. Before anyone could stop her, Maka ran towards the window, scaling a pile of wrecked desks nimbly and looking out at the city ahead of her. "That came from the school," she said.

"We should go?" Soul asked, walking up to her.

Maka nodded, looking back over her shoulder. "Cori, listen to me," she said. "Take your sister, and go back to the rest of your class. Try and find the nurse if you can, but stay out of trouble. Annie…are you alright with doing that for now?" She gestured with one hand towards the hardened black blood pressed firmly to Annie's side. Annie visibly paled, but she nodded solemnly, her eyes on the ground.

"I-I think so…" she said. "It's not that hard…"

"Okay," Maka said. "Try and find the nurse, but if you can't, just stay like that until things calm down. Don't come out of hiding again. And we're not done talking about this, young lady," she added to Cori, pausing to frown at her as the other girl reached for the soul again.

Before either of them could respond, Maka held out her hand to Soul, catching him as he transformed. She launched herself out the window, wings spreading out from the other side of Soul's scythe blade as they took off into the sky, turning back around and heading for the DWMA.


The blast rocked the building, sending Stein tumbling back as cracks appeared in the ceiling overhead, a large chunk of stone dropping between him and Micah. The world tilted on its axis for an instant, and he quickly widened his stance to keep his balance, the floor beneath him tilting to the side as the whole building groaned and readjusted itself. The air filled with dust, momentarily obscuring his view as the place settled.

In her weapon form, Shelley let out a soft gasp, her eyes widening as she looked up through her soul space's sterile gray void.

Then Micah appeared out of the wreckage, running towards them.

Stein felt a grin tug at his lips as Micah approached, sword in hand. Light gleamed off the sword's flat as Micah pulled it back to strike, his red eyes impassive as he slid down the heap of rubble that had fallen between them.

"He's aiming for your leg," Shelley said, light shining off of her glasses as she quickly composed herself. "He'll feint high and duck at the last moment." As she spoke, Stein could see Micah's actions play out in his mind, momentarily overlaid on top of his vision. He 'saw' Micah approach him, saw him swipe his sword quickly at Stein's face, then drop and lunge forward, aiming to hamstring him.

The image faded like smoke as Micah reached him. A second image appeared, one superimposed on reality. A line of light that curved around Micah, positioned at the exact angle necessary to avoid the blow before glancing off of his side and continuing on into the distance. Stein gave the scalpel a spin between his fingers, feeling its familiar weight.

When Micah drew his sword back, swiping at his face, Stein was ready. He ducked beneath the lunge and closed in on Micah before he could react, stepping quickly out of the reach of that sword. He held the scalpel out as he passed, the blade following along the gold line. Fabric tore as it sliced through Micah's cloak, seeking skin.

It never made impact. Instead, it glanced off of something hard, a tight mesh of light that covered Micah's skin beneath his clothes. Shelley let out a grunt as the blow was repelled, the shock of impact traveling up Stein's arm to the elbow. He didn't give Micah a chance to recover, quickly planting his foot on the ground and pivoting so that he was facing Micah's back. As the boy looked over his shoulder, eyes wide, Stein gathered his wavelength into his free hand, a crazed look appearing in his eye as he slammed that hand into Micah's back.

Micah went rigid as Stein's wavelength poured into him, his back arching as he opened his mouth in a silent scream. Stein felt that armor push back against his wavelength, protecting Micah and responded by pouring more power into the attack, his grin widening. Cracks appeared in the mesh covering Micah's skin, small ones at first, and then larger ones until the armor shattered altogether with a sound like breaking glass as Micah was suddenly thrown away from him.

He struck the stone wall of the dungeon hard, faint trails of smoke rising from his body as he slid to the ground. A card fell out of his other hand as he landed, its edges black as if burnt. The Empress.

Micah sucked in a rattling breath, sliding one hand underneath himself. His shoulders shook as he pushed off the ground, propping himself up with one arm as he tried to get up. Immediately, about a dozen gold lines appeared in Stein's vision, all leading from the scalpel in his hand to various weak points on Micah's body, possible avenues for attack. He held the blade out beside him, feeling the wind that encased it, feeling his heart rate start to increase with the approach of madness.

Micah coughed, struggling to get back to his feet. And Stein rushed forward, not giving him the chance.


"Tch," Black Star said, hovering in the air above Death City. He looked up at that glowing light ahead of him, then back down at the city below, at the explosion that rocked the school. He scowled as Maka and Soul zipped past underneath them, hurrying to join Kid on their way back to the building. "Just like them, to run off when things are starting to get good."

"You don't think we should go back too?" asked Tsubaki, looking over her shoulder in alarm.

"Nah," said Black Star, eyeing the group that had gathered around the school already. "They've got it covered. Besides—" His eyes moved away from the building, back to the light that hung in the air over his head. A grin appeared on his face. "—pulling people out of a collapsing building isn't my style. Not when there's someone like this to fight. Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki nodded sharply, transforming in his hands into a large black kunai, a strip of cloth tied around the hilt.

Shadow Star: Third Form - Severed Shadow.

Black Star caught it in his hand, hooking his finger through the hole near the handle of the kunai as he put on a burst of speed, charging into the light above them.

The light swelled up to meet him.


The sound of the blast rang through the air, coming from the DWMA. Rei's eyes widened, and he quickly used the Cloak of Shadows to pull himself out of a leap, landing on one of Death City's peaked rooftops as he spun around to face the school. A cloud of dust and smoke was rising from the building, the building itself leaning alarmingly to the side.

"Whoa…" Ayame said, her eyes wide as she turned towards the sight.

"Tell me about it…" said Rei, his eyes on the building. He looked up quickly, scanning the sky, and saw Shinigami turn around, flying back towards the building. His opponent was nowhere to be seen.

Rei cast his Soul Perception out in a net around him, looking for Clark and Morgan. He was too far away from Clark now to feel him clearly, but he thought Clark seemed alright. Morgan's wavelength was just a block away from him now, her soul burning brightly in his vision. It was wrapped up tightly with Cassie's, as if she was fighting. Around him, he could feel several souls moving, converging on the school. His own parents zipped by overhead, heading back towards the school. It seemed like the blast had drawn everyone that didn't already have their hands full, people moving back towards the school in the confusion. From up here, he could see people abandoning fights and guard positions. His eyes moved back up, fixing on the school again.

"We going back?" Ayame asked, as if reading the direction of his thoughts.

Rei didn't respond immediately, looking back in Morgan's direction. Her wavelength hadn't moved, although it had separated briefly from Cassie's, as though the blast had broken her concentration. He thought about it for a moment, looking back at the school. It seemed too convenient somehow. He didn't know what was going on, but he was fairly certain that whoever planned this would have known that a blast at the heart of the DWMA's power would draw all of Death City's defenders back towards it.

"No," he finally said, shaking his head. "There's way too many people heading back. Someone needs to stay out in the city. Let's grab Morgan and figure it out from there."

"Right," Ayame said, nodding. Rei reached for the kunai again, throwing them at the building across the street.

He pulled himself across the gap and dropped down into an alley, his Soul Perception spread out around him just in case there were any nasty surprises waiting for him there. The alley appeared in his mind in minute detail as he landed, his clairvoyance mapping out obstacles both in front of and behind him. He didn't see anything, but he remained cautious anyway, silently motioning for Ayame to take her ninjato form. Morgan and Cassie's souls burned brightly through the wall of the building next to him, and while he couldn't sense anyone else in the room with her, Morgan's soul continued to pulse as if she was struggling with something, or fighting. He reversed his grip on Ayame's ninjato form, holding the short sword out in front of him as he rounded the corner and stepped into the building.

There was a brief moment of blindness as he stepped in from the alley and closed the door behind him, his clairvoyance rearranging itself until he could 'see' the entirety of the room laid out behind him. It looked like they were standing in the backroom of a bar that hadn't yet been opened for the day. Morgan and Cassie's souls were just ahead, inside the bar itself. A closed door stood between him and them, and Rei frowned, creeping up to the door and pushing it open just a crack, allowing some of the ripples of his Soul Perception through.

Rei froze.

While in his Soul Perception, he could only see two souls—Morgan and Cassie's—his clairvoyance revealed three people in the room. Morgan stood with her back towards the door, Cassie's weapon form in hand as she faced down a tall man whose features were in shadow. Rei pressed his back against the wall, barely daring to breathe as words drifted out through the crack in the door, their voices reaching him.

"…can't continue to protect you," the man was saying. "You know what will happen if she finds you here."

"I'm not going back, Uncle," Morgan said. "I don't care."

Rei's eyes widened.

Uncle?

"This childishness is only going to get you killed," said the man, beginning to sound angry. "Do you understand what will happen to you, what she will do to you? Do you think I want to see—."

He broke off suddenly, and Rei felt his heart leap into his throat.

"…Uncle?" Morgan asked, her tone uncertain.

When the man spoke again, his tone was dangerous. "Someone's outside," he said. "Open the door, Morgan."

"But—."

"I said open the door."

Rei's heart pounded in his chest as he felt Morgan moving, felt her approach the door. He wanted to run, told himself to run, but his body wouldn't obey him, remaining frozen in place. The door opened with a creaking sound, as if Morgan was reluctant. She peered out into the stockroom, turning towards him.

Her eyes widened as they met his, her hand falling away from the door.