I'm so sorry for taking so long, I've been busy and have found it difficult trying to write on this. I hope this chapter helps after so long.

"Umbra, are you there? Hurry up and answer the door!"

Umbra couldn't believe how panicked Spirit was so early in the morning. But when he checked the clock, he was surprised to realized it was past noon.

"Hurry it up, this is a medical emergency!"

He barely even touched the knob when Spirit came crashing inside. Like some cartoon character, he was flattened against the wall behind it. He was glad that he could change into water. He just wished that he had taken a painkiller ahead of time.

"What is is already?" he asked the Deathscythe as the man ran about.

"Medusa is missing!" the man practically screamed.

"Hmm! Missing, what'd you do this time!" He had to put up the act, it was his only chance to give Medusa a chance to get away.

"I didn't do anything besides check up on her regularly."

"Didn't you do that with all the nurses before her, at least four times an hour? And besides, don't you regularly check the ladies at that cabaret club?"

"That's not the point, this one's missing!"

"Wouldn't be the first time." Fortunately, Umbra didn't have to fake that last comment.

"I also found this stuck in the wall!" He held up a silver knife.

"Oh...that." Great, what was he to do now? "Well, when I was healing her leg, the gown she was wearing was getting in the way. You can see thing's didn't turn out so well." Only because nobody is supposed to find out. "I did get her to calm down afterwards." It took nearly three hours though, but Umbra made doubly sure that he didn't mention that.

"But what am I supposed to do without her medical love?"

"Oh, for the love of...drink this!" he handed Spirit a cup of coffee. "This should help you calm down and think of where to look." The Deathscythe downed it immediately, and in one gulp, only to go stiff as a board and fall flat on the floor. "Good, now that that's over. Marie, will you hurry it up already! I know he's fast, but you really need to get it in gear!"

"I'm sorry, but I needed Stein to help me find your house!" she called back.

Umbra couldn't believe this, "Stein, just pick her up and get her over here! You should know she doesn't run very well in those damn boots!"

"Stein, what are you doing? Put me down!"

Stein was at Umbra's door in mere seconds, a kicking and screaming Marie in his arms.

"Better be careful, you might dislodge his bolt."

Marie stopped, shocked by what she thought would happen, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry!"

Umbra shook his head, "Now, what's this about Medusa being missing?"

The woman remembered what she was going, "She wasn't in her room when Spirit went to check on her. He was in such a panic that I was worried that someone may have kidnapped her."

"She should be feeling better now and needed to get some fresh air. If you consider what she had to deal with, you might too." Umbra pointed his thumb over towards the unconcious Spirit. "Don't worry about him, it's just a tranqulizer. He'll be ok in a few hours."

"Umbra, you idiot!" Marie planted her fist into his face.

"Just like...old times...right?" Umbra just wished it didn't have to feel so familiar.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Old habits die hard." Marie pulled out a handkerchief to rub his face.

"I'm old enough to know how true that is. I'm just glad I heal just as quick."

Stein shifted his glasses, "That won't explain the bleeding nose."

"You never taken a real hit from Marie before. Now, about Medusa. I've already healed her."

"But aren't you just a bit early for that?" Stein asked. There was a tone in his voice that Umbra wasn't liking. Something sparked in the back of his mind, but he ignored it.

"I'm not really sure how, but after some time thinking about what I was going to do, it simply came to me. Hell, even I didn't know I did so well. Medusa was able to leave before the day was done."

"Oh, if that's the case, alright then." Marie tried to pick up Spirit, but he was proving to be heavier than she thought. "Umm, Stein, can you help me?"

"Alright, I'll get the legs. Sorry to bother you, Professor Ouroboros."

"Jeeze, hearing it from you makes me feel twice my age all of a sudden. I'd better be careful or I'll either start to rust or melt."

After they were out of sight, Umbra closed the door and transformed. Damn, that was too much, he thought. He scooped up his pot and raced out the back door. Nothing stood in his way as he made his way through the bushes. He kept his nose to the ground and followed her scent trail. It still carried the scent of his coat, which only made it easier to follow.

"I should have taken one of your shirts before I left, or maybe some pants!" Medusa jumped down from the tree and right onto Umbra as he passed.

"And deprive me of this?"

Medusa would have kicked if it weren't for two reasons. The first was that he was a puddle, while the second was that she was enjoying the sensation under her feet. He was so soft and shifted so well against her skin. "If I didn't have such a facination with your abilities, I'd think you were just some perverted old man." She dug her toes into him, finding no resistence. "You're so warm."

"I thought witches weren't bothered by the cold?"

"We're not. I just like how warm you are right now."

"Here, let me make you feel even better." He wrapped himself around her body, forming a suit underneath the coat. Thanks to his liquid nature, he fit like a glove.

"Very nice," she purred as he was like silk. He was like a second skin. "I could get used to this. Hey!" She slapped at her hip and pulled at that part of him. "Don't be getting fresh with me!"

"Sorry, my hand has a mind of it's own."

"I'm sure that's the reason. Try that again and I will have to tear you to pieces."

"What would be quite the sight." He would have smiled if he had lips. She wasn't going to win this one. "Spirit was searching for you."

"I'm sure he was. He must do that quite a bit, doesn't he?"

"Unfortunately. It will make it all the more difficult for us." He split off from Medusa, taking his gauntlet with him. He left a layer of himself to act as Medusa's clothing. If someone came across them, it would be easier not to have to explain why he was with a naked woman. "I was able to send them off, but I don't know how much they suspect. Stein is the one I'm worried about. He's as smart as me and just as cunning. The only thing he has that I lack is his bloodlust."

Medusa wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "Is that longing I hear in your voice?"

"Maybe, things have been slow for the past few years. But I'm starting to feel different now. After last night, I felt like a new man."

She brushed her face against his neck and sank her teeth into his flesh. His words were silenced when he saw her licking her lips of his blood, "I don't know, you still taste the same."

His heart was beating so loudly in his chest that he could barely hear the forest around them. In the world of soul, the dust was beginning to clear. All it took her was one simple action and he could feel himself changing.

"Umbra, don't lose control on me now." Hearing her voice, so full of false concern, only made him smile.

For a moment, he felt the skeleton's deathly grin across his face. No, what was happening? This wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to...

When he snapped out of it, he had to hold himself together, lest he melt. His breathing was hard, but the feeling of life pulsing through his veins didn't leave him.

"Ah, isn't this sweet."

Umbra turned and lashed out with Black Needle, but the spike was held still by a woman's two fingers. He knew her, he didn't want to believe it, but he knew her so well. So, even she was alive again. He regreted the day he couldn't kill her. Maybe today would be different.

"Oh, is that the way to greet your old friend?"

"We were never friends. Not when you became the thing you are now."

"Yes, but from what I recall, you were simply jealous that I became better than you." She tapped her foot and a spike made of stone shattered his Black Needle. "Oh, and who's fault is that? If I recall, it was you who tainted my power. Well, guess what, I've become much stronger since that day. So I guess I have to thank you. Screech Radiance!"

Medusa leaped out of the way, not knowing what kind of attack was being used. Umbra could feel her concern when nothing happened. Unfortunately, that was the issue. For there was nothing going on anymore.

He looked back and tried to speak, but there were no words. It was too late, the technique took effect. Everything around them was being effected by a potent entropic field. Umbra himself was finding it difficult to keep himself together. Even his gauntlet was melting. This was the woman's power: entropy. She was preventing his power from holding his body in it's human form. Without it, he would melt and become nothing more than a puddle of black ooze.

As soon as Medusa tried to help, she was drained of power as well. But because she had a solid form already, her nervous system was shut down and her heat was stolen from her body. She couldn't move or breath without energy pulsing through her nerves.

"Huh, so he found himself another one. I didn't like the first bitch he came across. Now she's got us under her thumb because of your failure Umbra!" He raised her foot and brought it down on Medusa's shoulder "Damn it, that's right, you can't feel pain because there aren't any signals telling you you're hurt. Ok, I'd better cool it before I blow my cover. Oh well, I'll settle with your death."

She shot a look at Umbra, who was melting by further and further. Just the fact that he could almost hold himself up was a testiment to his resistence. He pushed himself up as far as he could until his arm came off. But it was his eyes that remained the same. There was such anger his eyes, all directed towards the woman as she stood over Medusa.

"I remember that look, you gave me that look shortly before I died. I don't know why, but you're making me mad." The entropic field increased around her, turning the grass and several trees to dust. Then the ground split apart and Umbra started to slip through. As his melted mass left him, drained into the crack, there wasn't much of him left to show. His lower half was completely gone along with one arm and his jaw. He reached out with his remaining arm before dissolving altogether.

"So, where were we?" The woman turned her attention back to Medusa, who was turning pale.

She was alive because she was a witch, but there was something stirring inside her. Several of her arrow-like snakes suddenly appeared from her back, each intending to spear the one who attacked their creator.

"So, you have some power as well. Well, let me tell you this. You are far from the first. In fact, he has had many women in the past. I was once one of them before he killed me. I guess that makes it all the more suitible for me to kill you and end this twisted cycle. Screech Radie-" she stopped there when she heard someone laughing.

It was faint, but she could feel it gnawing at the edges of her mind.

"Where are you?" she stamped her foot, sending rocks flying in all directions. Trees were smashed to splinters as she used her power to hurl more into the air. But the laughter kept going. Then, from the spot where she buried Umbra, a skeletal hand covered in black ooze erupted, reaching for the sky. The hand opened and closed itself, as it stretched out the fingers before slamming down and pushing against the ground.

The woman didn't know what to do for this being, if he was Umbra or not, couldn't have been able to resist her power. She tried to stop it's actions, drain him of what force was driving him. But as the head began to emerge, a bare skull was slowly revealed from under the ooze as it dripped off his face. As his teeth were exposed, it almost appeared as if he was wearing a wide smile that went from ear to ear. Even without flesh or eyes in his sockets, she knew he was peering deep into her soul and smirking.

His jaw moved, strands of ooze dripping from his teeth, but no sound came out. But she heard him, she heard him clearly as the day he killed her.

"So, you're up to your old tricks again. I can see you haven't lost your touch; you still can't kill her, can you?"

"Shut up! It's all your fault!" she stamped her foot, sending a wave of shattered stone shards at him. He took every one like it was nothing, each piece passing through his body. "If it wasn't for you, I would have had perfect harmony!"

"You say that like it's a good thing. I merely showed you an example of what you would become."

"Shut your mouth! Screech Oblivion!" She was about to bring her foot down when he was upon her. He was right in her face, his hand on her leg. Even though she wore pants, she could feel his hand rubbing the inside of her thigh.

"Don't you remember, you tried that before. You used that move once before, it took everything she had to stop you. You should remember her name after all this time, don't you?" He could see the rage building in her eyes as if he was taunting a shark with a piece of wriggling meat. She was always calm, but she could never handle him. There was no way she could ever hope to grab hold when his usual form was so chaotic. "Let me refresh your memory. Her name was-"

"Shut up! She's dead, I made sure of that, now will you just die!" She smashed his face in with her forehead, not caring that he was nothing more than bone anyways. "Screech Oblivion!"

All it took was a twist.

As soon as she realized she was breathing, Medusa opened her eyes and looked around to find herself in a bathtub. What happened to her? She had only been conscious enough to know that someone had attacked them. Then everything went blank. This was impossible, she was a witch, there was nothing she couldn't have handled. But she went down easier than a child.

She was so deep in thought that she barely noticed Umbra was washing her arm. She tilted her head, only for every nerve in her neck to suddenly ignite and stiffen up. She stopped moving and everything went numb for a few seconds. Umbra didn't appear to notice and kept rubbing her arm with a sweet-smelling oil.

"Good, you're awake. You were quite a mess. Your whole nervous system is nearly shot and will need some care. I knew you would want to speak to me, so I worked on your jaw first."

"What are you doing?"

He seemed taken aback by her question, it was possible he was expecting something else, "This oil revitalizes the body. It calms the nerves and dulls pain. I wanted to take things slow and let you recover first. I had to take you back here, to my house, so I knew nobody would think to look for you again." He rubbed her skin so gently, like he was worried that he would break her. "I won't mind if you resent me for bringing you into this kind of situation again."

"What situation." She wanted to keep it simple, for it was too obvious that he was nervous about something.

"First you lose your eye and leg, then this happens."

"I'm a witch, I'm not so easily broken."

He tried to smile, but it was fake, "I know, but, your heart wasn't beating when I woke up. I don't know what happened, but the piece I left you with hasn't calmed down yet."

"But it's a part of you, shouldn't it have been absorbed into your body by now?"

"That's the thing, it's almost as if it doesn't trust me anymore. Something happened, but I don't know what. I feel...broken."

That much was true, there was no life in his eyes, just a deep emptiness. "Umbra..."

He head came up, almost expecting the worst, "Hmm?"

Even though every muscle in her body screamed at her, she raised her arm and pulled him closer. All she wanted was to close her lips around his, she knew it was worth it. His muscles relaxed, he was almost melting in her arms. That wasn't good enough.

By the time he knew what happened, there was blood dripping from her chin. His hand went to what was left of his lips. He could taste his own blood and was almost shaking, but he wasn't afraid of what she had done. She looked into his eyes once more, seeing something that was part of the Umbra she had first met.

"Every man who has ever loved a witch has fallen to either her power or his weakness. There has never been an exception."

"Then I guess I will have to stop sulking and start enjoying the time I have left. But first, I should let you soak for a little longer. Want something to drink?"

"I can't move so well just yet."

"You just lay there, I will take care of everything." He left for a minute and came back with a rare brand of red wine and a single glass. "Something to wash down my blood. You seemed to like it well enough, but maybe something a little more sophisticated." He filled the glass half-way and raised it to his lips. "Yes, I made this years ago, back before I joined Shibusen." He reached behind Medusa's head as he took another sip and pulled her into a kiss.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the taste of the wine as it passed from his lips through hers. She let him do this until the two had finished off the bottle. Because she was a witch, she wasn't prone to becoming drunk on such a delicacy. But to have it served to her in such a manner, it was something she could get used to.

Who knows, maybe Umbra earned himself a few more years on his life for this night?

As she relaxed in his care, he pulled her leg above the surface and started to rub oil into her skin. It didn't hurt when he moved her, she noticed. Anything she did wasn't going to react the way it should, but she was regaining her sense of touch well enough. She would already feel his fingers delicately massaging her foot.

Once she regained some of her function, he transformed his arms as he pulled her from the tub, wrapping her in his warmth. It had been a hard day, Spirit and the others were probably wondering what happened to them. The sudden realization only served to irritate her and draw her attention away from Umbra.

But he seemed to read her mind as he told her, "I think we can relax for the next few days. I told Shinigami that I would be leaving to make sure that you were back to full health. I made sure to leave Stein in my place, that should keep him from going out too often. And I told Spirit and Marie that I wouldn't be back and out of contact during that time. We're perfectly alone right now."

Medusa laid her head on his shoulder. Even though she was so close to him, she was still irritated by the injuries she had suffered so far. She took a deep breath and cast it from her thoughts. Right now she was in no condition to be working on her experiements or searching for more information.

Umbra took her to his bedroom and put her down on his bed. He then transformed and used himself to blanket her. He smelled sweet like the oil, probably because he had made it from his own body. At least this time he wasn't going to get himself drunk.

Once Medusa had recovered enough strength to walk by herself, the two sat down at his table to talk. He had made it obvious that he was going to explain just why he had been targeted.

"We were one a group. The four of us once walked the same road, each of them attracted to the information I possessed. One of them was like a brother to me. As I taught him techniques, he trained me to become more powerful. To extend my physical strength to my liquid form, but be quick like the wind." Umbra breathed a mist into his hand and it hung there before dissapating. "That was once his element. He loved the wind because it could do so much. It could brush against you like a breeze and twist like a tornado, then blow you down like a storm. But then everything changed when he became Reaper Dragoon. While he retained that wind, he became nothing but a force of destruction."

Medusa had been paying attention to every word, possibly because she had a stake in this too. She took a sip of her coffee, which had cooled by now, and asked, "What about the woman?"

"Yes, she is Reaper's sister. I entrusted her with my knoweledge because she was strong and patient. Her element was earth. She could sit and wait for at long as it took to learn something. But over time she became something different. She wanted everything to become like stone, she wanted everything to be governed under a force of law. During a fierce battle, she took on the power of entropy instead. She keeps out the forces that cause change, until everything comes down and is unable to rise. She will never change, she is like the stone, but her voice is meaningless. How do you speak without making sound? Her name is now Clear Cobra. She has no color, so meaning, other than to dissolve everything until nothing but barren stone is left."

"What about the third?"

Umbra tensed up without meaning too, but in doing so, he knew he would have to come out with it. "You aren't the first woman I ever loved. The third was a woman who possessed the same strength as you. She had a tanacity that always left me without any chance to resist. We fought against Clear when she changed, but I she had left her own mark on me. It sapped so much of my power that I couldn't fight like I needed to. So she sacrificed herself to stop Clear Cobra. Now two of them have returned, so all I can do is hope that-"

Medusa stopped him, "You still love her, don't you?" Her words lacked any emotion. She didn't care how he would respond. Neither acceptance or denial were of any use to her. He knew that much.

"No, all I can hope is that she remains in her grave."

That caught the witch by surprise.

"I have come this far, I found you, I am not giving it up just because she can't accept the choice she made."

Deep inside Umbra's soul, the alchemy lab was a mess. The skeleton was broken, pieces were missing, but it smiled as blood dripped from it's remaining eye socket. Although his soul was alright now, it had nearly torn itself apart in that short time.

But it didn't matter, for now the skeleton had an eye again. It could see the world around it like it should, bright and clear. The mess was slowly sorting itself out, even though a few emotions were scattered in the process. Until the time came, the skeleton would sit back and wait.

Even with half a jaw left, the deathly smile never seemed to leave it's face.

In a room with a false sky, surrounded by cross-like grave markers, the woman with the white mask stood alone. Shinigami was in his mirror, unaware that she was even there. She reached into the ground, pulling traces of red dust that barely covered the tips of her fingers. Just another piece of what she needed.

There was still more to be done, but this was not the right time to do it. She faded just as Shinigami left his mirror, leaving him wondering about what he thought he might have noticed. But there were no signs of any presence besides his own, so he soon forgot about it.