A/N: This used to be a story that was posted separately, but I decided to add it here into the oneshot collection as well. Enjoy!

Title: A Monument to Your Failure

Summary: "If you want Soul back, I need you to bring me the heart of the Evenfall, Maka Albarn." ─ There was nothing holding Maka back if the safety of Soul was concerned.

Rating: T

Genre: Horror/Suspense

"I killed them. All of them─ just as you told me. Now release him!"

Her voice sounded stronger than her body was, muscles and limbs burning excruciatingly as she clutched the Heart in her fist tightly. Her view blurred and for a moment she thought she was going to faint. The fine hairs on the back of her neck prickled, her skin shuddering with goose bumps, her bones freezing as her lids drooped and she stumbled. She caught herself at the last moment, knees trembling, her throat constricting.

The black fog around her encircled her with its cutting cold, forcing a gasp from between her lips.

"Damn it, I know you're here! Come out! We had an agreement!"

She blinked, eyes stinging, betraying her fear and weakness. She felt the temperature drop around her, her breath visible in wispy, smoky tendrils of air around her. Unconsciously, she rubbed a clammy hand over her arm. She flinched, looking at her hand.

She didn't remember getting hurt like this. Had the Evenfall managed to land a hit on her after all? There was something warm on the side of her head; her fingers grazed the spot, and she startled. She didn't remember anyone hitting her head either, she didn't remember the blood, she didn't remember the pain.

She gulped and gritted her teeth.

"Damn it. LET SOUL GO!" Each word burned her lungs as she felt the air fleeing her.

"Maka, Maka, Maka."

The blood in her veins froze. "Give him back,"she whispered, looking around frantically and then added with a steadier voice, "I held up my end of the bargain. What about you? Fucking Liar!"

"Maka."

"Stop playing around, I want Soul back!"

Damn it, something was wrong. She knew, she recalled this with clarity that she had had the upper hand in the fight. She had killed that bastard quickly, had punched its ghastly visage, had rammed the blunt end of her knife into its bony neck, had made sure to burn the body until the black, polished stone that was called its heart remained. It was a slight weight, barely there, so insignificant─ but it was the promise, the reassurance of getting Soul back out of his clutches. Then why, even though she had bested that beast, did she feel like she had been beaten? Why did it feel like her skin had been peeled off by long sharp claws; why did it feel like someone was still holding her throat, choking her, watching her dazed eyes as her strength left her?

"But I'm here, Maka. I'm always here with you."

She closed her eyes, not daring to open them. She knew, knew this even more certainly than her victory over the Evenfall, that if she laid her eyes upon him, she'd lose what little rationality she had.

"No," she rasped weakly, never once loosening her grasp on the Heart, despite the insistent tug on her wrist. He wouldn't be able to get it from her if she didn't let go of it willingly. "You're not Soul. You can't fool me. I want Soul back, the real one."

He chuckled and it made her heart clench tightly─ stopping all blood flow to her body─ she knew because it sounded like Soul, it sounded like him so much, but she had fallen for his tricks too often. She knew better.

"Maka, look at me."

She had come too far to lose right now, her hands drenched in the blood of many. She remembered big, round eyes─ maybe they had been blue or maybe they had more of a tint of green in them. She remembered burning the small body, remembered taking the big, round blue-green eyes too because she needed them.

She recalled thin arms trying to hit her as her sleeves were soaked with grey water, recalled the body with the thin arms getting weaker, the resistance lessening, its pathetic flailing ceasing in one moment. She recalled that she took something from it too. Yes, there was something. A vial─ she had filled the small, crystalline vial with something.

And then, there had been the Lady in White. She remembered how her white gowns hadn't looked so white anymore once Maka had rammed her trusty knife into the lady's abdomen, had remained with the lady until she had bled out, had watched her lips turn blue, watched her mouth parting in a hopeless cry for help. Maka wasn't sure what she had needed from the lady, just knew she that she had needed it and fought the strong lady desperately because it was all for Soul.

"If you want Soul back, I need you to bring me the heart of the Evenfall, Maka Albarn."

"Huh?" She instinctively opened her fist, the pitch black sphere she knew that had been there gone. "What have you done with it?!"

"Done with what? We have a bargain, Maka. You want your Soul back, I want mine."

She took a deep, shuddery breath. "You're never going to give him back, are you?"

"I keep my promises. What about you? You promised me the Heart and you don't have it."

She felt the impenetrable, dark fog she had come to associate with this place envelope her; she felt neither cold nor warm, just pleasingly numb and dazed.

"Bring me the heart of the Evenfall and I'll give you your precious Soul back. Do we have a deal?"

Soul, yes. Soul. She would never leave him here in this rotten place. He was counting on her. She...she needed the heart of the Evenfall, needed to kill it like she had strangled the child with blue-green eyes, like she had drowned man with thin arms, like she had let the lady in white bleed to death.

For Soul. She'd do it because there was nothing holding her back if the safety of Soul was concerned.

She opened her eyes, hazy green meeting absolutely nothing but viscous blackness. She nodded once. Twice.

"I'll do it."

She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'm glad to hear that. I will see you again when you bring me the Heart. You must kill the Evenfall with a blunt knife, do you understand?"

She nodded again. Slowly, the suffocating mist around her thinned and she felt like she was breathing again for the first time. She resolutely looked at the red moon in the sky, the dim light reflecting in her eyes as she willed herself to move because she knew staying in one place for too long would be the end of her sanity. She couldn't afford that. She had to get Soul back.

Her steps were heavy yet certain when she made her way to retrieve the last piece she needed.

Footsteps echoed in the hollow street. It was cold and misty but that was nothing new, the darkness permeating all sources of light wasn't anything new either.

"I have what you want," he said, red eyes determined, voice steady. "Let Maka go now."

A/N: Yes, I admit this was definitely one of my weirder fics and a lot more different in style than I usually write. I hope you still enjoyed it though. Tell me your thoughts!