It sickened me to the bone.

Is this…?

I stopped eating. I was on the end of the table. I slipped out.

"Where ya going, Alice?" Maka asked. Patty looked at me.

"Nowhere." I bowed slightly and walked towards the main door. I made sure no one was looking at me as I walked out.

I slammed up against the wall. The darkness was still there. How could no one else feel it? I closed my eyes. I tried sense where it was coming from. I remember reading a book at Kid's house. Kishin come out of the blue sometimes, when very bad people transform into monsters, they are called Kishin. They give off a madness that strong meisters feel. I'm a strong enough meister to sense it? Cool…

Where is it… where… suddenly, I felt it. In the alley way, near the café. I just knew it. I started to run. What am I doing? I need to get help from the others! But I didn't want them to get hurt. What happened with Black*Star… my fist shooting out sparks… him flying… that was Soul Drive, a move where meisters give off waves of soul energy from their body. It happens when they have no partner at hand, and they use their body as a weapon. My fist was a hammer, I guessed.

I turned down a random alleyway. The darkness had gotten stronger. A shadow turned to look at me. Its red eyes gleamed. It reminded me of Himari. I straightened my arm, like a sword. I hoped it would work or I was screwed. I slashed at the darkness. Sure enough, a purple slash mark appeared from my arm and out towards the monster. It yelped in pain.

The shadow now took form. It had the legs of a regular person, but its stomach, chest, shoulders, and arm were puffed out and bulging like a balloon ready to pop. A chill was sent up my spine. I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

It attacked.

It lunged for me. I jumped onto the wall to my left. I ran.

"I'm… running… on a wall! Whoo-whooo!" I yelled, mimicking Black*Star. I turned my head. The Kishin ran into the dirt, and it was now shaking its head, wondering where its meal went. It spotted me. I jumped off the wall, and landed on the rough ground. I only made a good twenty feet gap between us. I raised both my arms. I stuck my hands out like guns. I pushed my thumbs down, and sure enough, purple shots came from the tips of my extended fingers.

"Bang!" I whispered to my own pleasure. The monster yelled. I laughed. This is so easy! Hahaha! I didn't understand why I enjoyed fighting this monster, but I just did.

I stopped firing. I blew on the end of my finger. I smirked at the monster, and winced. It was still there, barely made a dent in his arm that he used as a shield. It came out of its daze and came right at me. It was so fast, I couldn't react in time. All I could do was close my eyes tight and raise my arms up to protect my head. As if that helped.

The Kishin slapped me away with the back of his giant paw. I was thrown up against the wall. Something fell across my head. A brick? I slid down, and landed on my knees. I felt so dizzy. I couldn't stand up...

I opened my eyes. The Kishin's eyes were the only thing clear to me. My head ached worse than the times Father pulled my hair.

The monster's fist was raised, directly in front of me. This is it. The fist lunged toward me. I closed my eyes.

"Move!" A voice called. I was suddenly wrapped in a pair of arms. I felt dirt on my back.

I was pushed out of the way?

By who?

"Roxas?" I opened my eyes. Sure enough, the messy-haired kid was sitting me up, brushing dirt off our clothes. He had risked himself by pushing me out of the way. He didn't look hurt though. Thank God.

"Stupid!" Was all Roxas said. "Are you okay? You're bleeding!" He felt my forehead. He kept the palm of his hand hidden from me. I didn't care. I knew what it was.

"Help me up." I grabbed his arm as he got up. He lifted me to my feet.

"You're too weak to take on a Kishin this size." Roxas glanced at it. "That's way strong Kishin."

"Shut up... You're a weapon, right?" I held my hand out in front of his chest. Roxas hesitated, wondering whether or not to take it. "Take my hand!" I said loudly. He didn't think twice. He grabbed my hand. Suddenly, his body flashed white. I threw him up in the air. When the weapon came back down I caught it. Upside-down.

I smirked. Roxas was a katana.

An energy I had never felt before rushed into me. It was coming from Roxas. I heard humming, and I knew it was the sound of his soul.

I rolled as the thing lunged at me again. I ran along his wide arm and cut at his shoulder. It yelped in pain. I was thrown off. I landed on my feet. The Kishin grabbed it's bleeding shoulder. Roxas's face flashed in the blade, like a mirror.

"Find it's weak point!" He called out to me. I nodded. I looked around for a sign, anything.

I dodged again as he threw his chest out, trying to pin me. The dodging and running started to take toll on me. I gripped the sword better.

"You can use some of the madness to beat it, if you want." The shadow's voice called into my head. "But only half of it, of course. Unless…" She thought for a moment.

"No." The shadow laughed manically.

"Whatever. Don't die." The shadow pretended her hand was a gun. She held her hand out to the side of her head. "Bang." Everything went black.

I looked at its head. I saw a shimmer, directly in the middle of its forehead.

"You see it?" I called out to Roxas.

"Yep. Let's finish this."

The Kishin's fist got stuck in a wall as it attempted to hit me. As it struggled, I ran along the arm again and jumped onto its head.

"Gross." I said. I drove the blade into his forehead. It yelled. I jumped back. It froze as it kinda exploded. All that was left of it was a red ball and dust. The wind picked the dust up and carried it away forever.

"Good job." Roxas was in his human form, grabbing the red ball. He swallowed it.

"Gross." I repeated.

"Haha, not as good as Pocky." Roxas laughed. I smiled at him.

My knees could no longer stand. I fell forward, time standing still.

"Alice!" Roxas grabbed me, holding me in an awkward embrace. "Damn, you took a good blow to the head." He picked me up, bridal style. "Come on."

"Mnn…" I closed my eyes. I couldn't help it. I felt cold compared to Roxas's warmth. I could still hear his soul beating. My head was in the nook if his chest. I felt safe. I smiled before everything went black.

"Oh my Shinigami!" Liz exclaimed as she ran over to touch Alice's forehead. 'What the hell happened to you two?" Everyone soon crowded around me and the fainted girl I held in my arms. She was lighter than a feather.

"Alice ran into a Kishin. A big one, at that."

"Is she going to be okay?" Patty asked. She grabbed and shook Alice's limp hand.

"I don't know. She's unconscious, but she's still breathing." Thank God for that. When she went limp as I carried her I thought the worse. I don't know why, but when I thought she was gone I felt more scared than ever in my life.

Kid was in front of her, checking her pulse and her head. "No big deal, really. She lost a lot of blood, but nothing fatal." He sighed a sigh of relief. I did the same. "I better take her home." He attempted to take her out of my arms. I let him, but I felt empty as I did so.

"Damn, she's light." Kid heaved her up onto his back, giving her a piggyback ride. "Well, this went out on a bad note."

Everyone looked spaced out.

Black*Star and Tsubaki left first. They have a more Japanese home on the hillside just outside town. They waved and walked away. Soul and Maka had left on Soul's motorcycle. Me, Kid, Liz, Patty, and Alice walked towards the dorms. Liz and Patty were in front while Kid carried Alice with me following.

"Hey, Roxas." Kid said quietly.

"Yeah?" I glanced at him.

"Thank you."

"For what?" I got a Pocky from my pocket and placed it in my mouth.

"For saving Alice. You were the first one who noticed something was wrong." Memories came back. Soon after Alice left the café I heard a Kishin screaming, so I left the café to find Alice. If I had gotten there any later, Alice would've died. I remembered her sitting there, bleeding, looking so frail and helpless. I remembered how easily she swung me. I felt my soul resonate with hers. No one was ever able to use my weapon form, or the electricity that came when out of tuned partners linked would burn us.

"It's nothing." We were at the dorms. I was on the same floor as Kid's, so we walked slowly up the stairs.

"Alice?" Kid blinked. I looked. She was squirming. Her eyes were clamped shut. Beads of sweat trickled down her face. She must be having a nightmare.

"Stop! Stop!" I was in a locked box. Black ooze seeped in through the keyhole. The light the hole gave through went black. The glue stuck to my legs. I freaked out, screaming and squirming.

"Scary, huh?" I was on the floor, the shadow laughing, floating in the air.

"What the?" I crawled to the mirror, and placed my hands on the glass. It was cold.

"Shush, shush, no need to be scared." The shadow was on the ground next to me. She placed her hands on the mirror too. I noticed we were both wearing white gloves.

I was crying. "What was that?"

"Your wonderful imagination."

"Why am I here?"

"You ask so many questions. You fainted."

"Oh." Memories flooded. "Who's the other half of my darkness, then?" I remembered what she said last time.

Himari pointed to her red eyes. They reminded me of Soul. "The eyes."

"Black*Star's were a dark green…" I recalled out loud. Himari nodded. "Soul's were red…" She smirked. "So that means…" Himari cackled.

"…Roxas…" Alice whispered. We were at my door, Kid still carrying her, when she called out my name.

"Huh?" Kid turned his head. Her expression was calmer now. She looked like she was sleeping in a blissful dream.

"Awkward." I said. Kid nodded. Liz and Patty had gone ahead of us to their dorms.

I had my hand on the door handle.

"May I come in?" Kid asked.

"Sure?" I turned it and headed inside. My small apartment. A kitchen to my left, with a table in the middle. Ahead of me was a hall and to the right of that was the living room. A tv, bookshelf, couch, and a window, I felt perfectly at home.

Kid set Alice down on the couch. He went into the bathroom and came out with a wet cloth. He began dabbing the blood and sweat away from her.

"So what's the deal with her?" I asked. I sat down at the table.

"What do you mean?"

"You've obviously known her longer than me. She seems distant, and she's always daydreaming."

"She's quiet all right." Kid said. "She's always in a daze, thinking, yeah."

"No. I mean she's different."

"She has no memories." He stopped cleaning her to stare at me. I looked at him, then at the sleeping Alice. "How did you guys beat the Kishin?"

"She can match my soul wavelength." I sighed. I never really thought about it until now.

"I see." Kid went back to cleaning her face. I watched in a daze as I ate Pocky.

'Roxas.' A voice came into my head.

'What?' I whispered.

'Get away from me…'

"What?" I said quietly.

'Please…'

"Roxas?" Kid asked.

"Huh?" I came out of my odd conversation.

"You're acting like Alice." Kid laughed. He was rinsing out the cloth at the sink. Alice's face was clean.

"Hmm."