Author's Note: This chapter was so tiring for me to write lol, but I did enjoy writing it. I appreciate all the feedback and reviews; I'm almost to 100 reviews, I can't believe that! Thanks so much!

Chapter 24: Infiltration Part 2

Maka quickly dodged Travis's blade and countered by swinging her blade towards Travis's right.

Travis frowned and swiftly blocked with his own blade and jumped back.

"I don't think this is exactly the best place to have our fight, don't you think so?" Travis mused with a chuckle as he casted a glance towards Rachel.

Maka growled and gripped her scythe even tighter. "I'm not letting you get away this time. You're going to pay for all the pain and trouble you've caused others." Maka finished with a scowl, before lunging forward to strike a direct hit on Travis.

Maka's attack caused Travis to get pushed back against the wall outside the bathroom.

Maka hurriedly followed Travis out the door and noticed that Travis had set off a smoke bomb in the few seconds that had passed.

'Great, he's trying to go for some sneak attacks.' Maka thought to herself, as she stepped carefully out of the hallway and back into the living room.

"Maka, let's be careful. Travis probably set off his whole apartment with different types of bombs." Soul stated, using the eye of his scythe form to look around.

Maka didn't reply back as she suddenly covered up her mouth and stepped back slightly in alarm.

"What's wrong Maka?! Did Travis attack again?" Soul asked sharply.

Maka shook her head, but uncovered her mouth a bit so she could properly speak. "This isn't a normal smoke bomb that Travis set off. It's filled with toxic fumes that I just breathed in!"

"What! Damn it we need to end this fight fast then! Maka concentrate and use your Soul perception so we can find him through this smog." Soul replied back.

Travis's laughter came out amidst the fog. "What's wrong Maka? Can't handle a few chemical fumes? You two trying to play hero will end up costing you your lives."

Travis suddenly approached from behind Maka and managed to land a slash along her shoulder blade.

Maka quickly moved aside before Travis could finish cutting her and bit back a scream as she clutched at her injured shoulder and back.

"Maka focus! Don't forget you have me here as your weapon! We won't be able to finish him off unless we work together!" Soul snapped out angrily.

Maka panted as she stood back up properly. 'Soul is right. I'm not handling this situation the right way. I need to pay attention and listen for what side Travis is going to attack from.'

Maka narrowed her eyes and studied the room carefully for any sudden movements. With her soul perception, Maka could see Travis standing towards her left pacing back and forth.

"Maka, aren't you making this a little too easy for me? I expected more out of you now that you even have your weapon with you for this fight. I guess you're still weak with or without your weapon." Travis mused out harshly.

"Don't let what he says get to you Maka. He's just trying to get under our skin and distract us." Soul whispered.

Maka nodded her head in agreement as Travis moved to attack her again. Just as Travis was about to land a hit to Maka's torso, Maka blocked him and slid her leg under Travis's foot to trip him.

Travis stumbled over a bit and Maka used the opportunity to slice along the back of both his legs.

Travis fell over and let out a stream of curses as he wobbly tried to stand back up.

"You bitch. That was a dirty move you just played there." Travis spat out coldly.

Maka smirked before letting out a small cough. 'I need to hurry and finish this. I can't continue to breathe in this in air for much longer.'

Travis grinned as he finally managed to shakily get to his feet. "You won't be able to fight for much longer. You haven't dealt with the smell of chemicals and poisons like I have. Pretty soon you'll be passed out on the ground just like Rachel." Travis finished with a snicker before rushing towards Maka again.

Maka watched as Travis approached her and readied herself. 'Okay, this is the best chance I'm going to get to finally end this battle. All I need for him to do is just get a little bit closer…'

Travis struck out his sickle arm, about to pierce Maka's chest, only to find he had ended up hitting the air instead.

Travis frowned and stood back. 'What's going on? I know she was in this area. I would have heard her move or the sound of her scythe if she had changed positions.'

Maka watched as Travis hurriedly looked around for her in the smoke. As soon as Travis had struck out his arm, Maka had crouched down and hid behind a nearby chair.

"Alright Maka, let's finish this bastard off once and for all." Soul mumbled.

Maka nodded and stood back up and started to dash towards Travis just as he turned around to face her. Travis moved to lift up his arm, but gaped when he realized that Maka had stabbed him straight through his chest with the blade of her scythe.

Travis stared down at his chest, then back up at Maka as she pulled the blade out.

Travis quickly covered his hand to the stab wound as blood began to leak out. After poorly trying to apply pressure to the wound, Travis eventually fell to his knees and met Maka's jade green eyes.

Travis glared at her for a minute before letting out a manic laugh and coughing up some blood. "I can't believe you actually stabbed me! I didn't think you had it in you to kill a human."

Maka stared at him coldly. "You're more like a Kishin than you are a human. People like you who only kidnap and kill people for the fun of it to collect their souls are sick. I'm surprised you aren't on the DWMA's most wanted list."

Travis finished laughing and managed to shakily wipe away some of the blood from his mouth. "That's because your stupid school has only been focusing on trying to stop the Kishin until just recently really. It's okay though, I have the last laugh. You won't ever be able to find a cure for that poison that's already in your blood."

As Travis finished his last sentence, he coughed up a bit more blood before falling over and completely going silent.

Maka watched him for minute, just to make sure he wasn't going to make any sudden movements before letting out a small sigh of relief.

Soul quickly returned back to his human form and caught Maka just as she was about to tumble.

"Hey stay with me Maka! We still need to get out of here!" Soul shouted, trying to keep Maka awake.

Maka nodded her head and rushed towards a nearby window and opened it up. Maka immediately took in a breath of fresh air and tried to calm her racing heart and mind.

'It's finally over. Thank goodness it's finally over. We need to hurry back to Rachel and get out of here…'

X~

As Maka finished breathing in some fresh air and fumigating the room of the toxic fumes, Soul came back into the room carrying Rachel on his back.

"Alright, let's get the hell out of here." Soul stated tiredly.

Maka nodded her head as she gazed back outside. The sky was already starting to gain a mix of dark orange and red upon the horizon.

"Did time really fly by that fast? It appears that we've been fighting all night if the sun is starting to rise now." Maka noted.

Soul frowned and glanced at his watch. It was currently about 5:30 am. "Yeah, I guess we have been fighting for a few hours. We need to get Rachel and you checked out at the nearest hospital."

The walk to Death city's hospital at the crack of dawn was somber for both Maka and Soul as they reflected over the last few hours.

Travis's last words still echoed in Maka's head as she gripped the makeshift bandage she had applied to the wound he gave her. 'It's okay though, I have the last laugh. You won't ever be able to find a cure for that poison that's already in your blood...'

Maka coughed and tried to shake away the thought. 'Travis could have just been saying that to find one last way to mess with me. I'm sure Professor Stein has already found a cure by now.'

Soul watched as Maka walked unsteadily and grabbed her hand to help her keep her balance.

"Don't worry Maka, we're almost there now. It's just a few blocks further."

Once Maka and Soul finally made it inside the main lobby of the hospital, a team of nurses immediately took Rachel off Soul's back and sent her off to the intensive care unit. Another pair of nurses noticed Maka's condition and helped get her into a wheelchair to take her to the wound care unit.

Soul frowned and started to follow after the nurses as they started to wheel Maka away.

One of the nurses noticed Soul was trying to follow them and pointed him back towards the exit. "I'm sorry sir, but your friend here needs to have her wound and condition checked out by the doctors and surgeons on call. You'll need to wait back in our waiting room until we can call you back."

Soul growled and was about to argue back that he wouldn't leave Maka alone until Maka spoke up.

"Soul I'll be fine. You should go back home and get some rest anyways. You're the only one who didn't really end up getting injured after all. When school starts though, I need you to tell Professor Stein that Travis's apartment needs to be investigated for all the souls he's collected."

Soul was about to argue against Maka's arrangement, but the glare Maka sent him made any words he planned to say remain in his head.

Soul sighed and gave Maka a quick kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back in a few hours, I promise."

Maka nodded her head and gave Soul one last smile before the nurses turned around and wheeled her quickly down the hall.

Soul frowned as he watched Maka disappear further and further from his view.

'Damn it, how can Maka honestly expect I'll be able to get any sleep after the night we've just had?'

~X~

Soul groaned and trudged back into the apartment in exhaustion. It was now just a little past 6 am and Soul realized it was getting close to around the time that Maka usually woke him up for school.

'It seems like I might be able to get in maybe an hour or two of sleep, but I doubt it.' Soul thought grouchily, as he walked towards his room.

Soul was about to enter back into his room, but suddenly stopped and turned his attention back towards Maka's.

'I should probably go get Maka's medicine from her room. I'm pretty sure I'll need to give it to Stein later on or at least give it to one of the doctors when they ask about any medications Maka is taking.' Soul reasoned to himself, as he pushed open Maka's door.

Soul glanced around Maka's room in search of the two medicine bottles. Soul finally noticed them on top of Maka's desk and picked one of them up while the other fell to the ground. Soul sighed and reached down to pick up the bottle and noticed a crumpled up paper in Maka's trash can as he stood back up.

Soul stared at the paper ball curiously, a part of him wanted to be nosy about what Maka had thrown away, but another half of him told him that it was probably nothing.

After mulling it over for a few seconds, Soul shrugged and picked up the paper and unfolded it out. There was only one sentence on the paper, but it was enough for Soul to shake off the sleepiness he had been having.

Make sure to pick up mask and sax from Hiro's locker after school.

Soul read over the sentence twice before crumpling it back up and throwing it away.

Soul walked out of Maka's room and went back to his own. 'Well for once, I actually look forward to going to school. I guess I'll finally find out what type of double life Maka has been having after all…'

Soul only managed to get in about an hour and a half of sleep before having to get up and head to school. Soul groaned and walked slowly to school until Black Star popped up next to him.

"Hey man, didn't you hear me calling you down the block?! It's not polite to ignore your God like that! By the way, why isn't Maka with you?" Black Star yelled out.

Soul growled and ignored Black Star's rambling as he continued to walk ahead of him towards the school.

Black Star frowned and was about to yell even louder at Soul for ignoring his presence, when Tsubaki put a hand on his shoulder.

Tsubaki shook her head as she watched Soul walk away. "Something seems to really be bothering Soul; It looks like he barely got any sleep. Let's not pressure him with any questions until he calms down."

Black Star huffed and eventually nodded his head. "It must be bad if Maka isn't with him. I hope she's okay."

Soul basically slept off and on throughout the majority of Stein's lesson. When class was finally over, Soul approached Stein and handed him Maka's medicine bottles.

Stein looked at Soul in confusion. "Why are you giving those to me? Maka needs those doesn't she?"

Soul shook his head. "Maka's in the hospital right now. We fought Travis last night and she inhaled a bit of the toxic smoke he had set off with a bomb."

Stein frowned and finished erasing his notes off the board. "Follow me to my office where we can finish discussing this."

Soul sighed as he took a seat across from Stein once again.

"So explain to me what happened. What caused you two to go after Travis so suddenly? Did Maka suddenly just stop taking her medicine?" Stein asked.

Soul shook his head. "The last time Maka took her medicine was last night. The reason we went after Travis was because he had kidnapped a girl from the NOT class and we went to rescue her." Soul explained.

"Maka told he me to tell you that his apartment still needs to be investigated for the souls that he's kept there as collector's items. I also wanted to ask you if you could possibly give Maka a stronger dose of the medicine you prescribed her or better yet, if you had come up with an antidote yet." Soul continued on.

Stein sighed as he glanced back down at the antibiotics and antivenin tablets. "Well I can get people to look into Travis's apartment that's no problem, but I still haven't come up with an antidote."

Soul growled and slammed his fists on Stein's desk. "What the hell is taking you so long?! The medicine you gave Maka won't help her now that she inhaled more poison!"

Stein clasped his hands together and gave Soul a blank stare. "You act as if I haven't been trying to work on a cure. This isn't good that Maka was exposed to more of the toxin. It's possible now that the toxin in her will start to grow and rapidly divide again unless the surgeons at the hospital find a way to remove that main organism causing the problem."

"So what do you plan to do now?" Soul questioned tiredly, as he calmed back down.

"I'll head over to the hospital and get a good look at Maka's condition. Did anything else happen to Maka or the girl that Travis kidnapped?" Stein asked, standing up.

"Maka got a cut to her shoulder blade and we aren't sure what Travis did to Rachel. She was tied up and had some cuts and bruises on her. When Maka and I first got to the hospital, the nurses swiftly took her away to intensive care and took Maka to wound care." Soul stated.

"Why didn't they check you out also? Weren't you exposed to the air also?" Stein questioned.

Soul nodded his head. "I was, but I was in my weapon form for the most part, and Maka swinging me around really blocked me from inhaling as much as she did."

Stein sighed and nodded his head in understanding. "I'll go check on Maka's condition. I'll call you if anything major comes up."

Soul smiled a bit in relief as he followed Stein out of his office. As soon as Stein had disappeared down the hallway though, the smile on Soul's face immediately slipped.

'Well if I try to go back to the hospital now, they'll probably just turn me away again until Maka fully gets properly checked out. I guess to kill time, I'll go find Hiro and clear up a few questions I have for him.'

~X~

Soul found Hiro eventually hanging outside on the patio of a popular bistro just a few blocks away from the school.

Soul came up to him and effectively blocked him from getting up from his seat or escaping.

Hiro frowned and squirmed slightly in his chair. "Uh, what brings you here Soul? I didn't think you were the type to like the foods this restaurant sells."

Soul scoffed and glared angrily at Hiro. "Cut the crap Hiro. I need to you to answer me a few questions and be honest with me here."

Hiro gulped before quickly nodding his head in agreement.

"Why does Maka keep a saxophone and a mask in your locker?" Soul asked, straight to the point.

Hiro's eyes widened in shock, before he eventually let out a sigh. "I guess I should have known that this was eventually going to happen."

Soul eyes narrowed, so Hiro continued to explain. "Um, well I've been giving Maka music lessons for the past few months, so sometimes I let her leave her saxophone in my locker. She uses the mask to hide her face when we perform at a nearby club."

Soul looked annoyed. "I thought I told you to be honest with me."

Hiro frowned and nervously twirled his index finger on the table. "I am telling you the truth! In return for giving Maka music lessons, she would give me advice on how to get stronger so people would stop using me as their errand boy."

"Why would Maka go to you of all people for help though?" Soul asked.

Hiro looked slightly offended, but spoke up. "Well we kind of just made the agreement back in a music store a few months ago."

Soul sighed and stood back up. "What was the name of the music store?"

Hiro scratched his head and tried to think back. "I think it was called Music Mania. It had just opened up back when we first made the arrangement."

Soul wrote the name of the place down on a nearby napkin. "What about the mask?"

"Oh, Maka got that from me. I guess you want to know where we perform at. It's the White Lily Pub and Café." Hiro stated.

Soul added the name of the café to the napkin and grinned toothily back at Hiro.

"Thanks for the info. I'll leave you back to your meal now." Soul stated, as he turned around and left out of the bistro.

Hiro let out a sigh and rubbed his head nervously. "Maka's going to be pissed when she finds out I told Soul everything, but I'm pretty sure he was going to start using his fists soon if I didn't tell him what he wanted to know."

Soul decided his first stop should be to Music Mania since that was where he was closest to.

"Hello! How can I help you young man?" Mr. Clark asked Soul as he walked in.

Soul looked around the store curiously. 'How come this is my first time hearing about this place?"

Soul walked up to Mr. Clark after glancing around the store for a bit. "I wanted to know if you sold a saxophone to a girl with ash blonde hair in pigtails a few weeks ago."

Mr. Clark frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't remember every customer that's came into our store over the past few months."

"Don't be silly! I know who he's talking about! Remember it was that one girl who came in with that other blonde kid who seemed like a cute couple!" Cindy stated, leaving the cash register to walk up to the two of them.

"Dear, I've told you not to interrupt me when I'm talking to customers!" Mr. Clark grumbled towards his wife who only huffed and walked away.

A few minutes passed when suddenly Mr. Clark snapped his fingers and turned back towards Soul.

"Now that I think about it, my wife actually helped jog my memory back a bit. There was a girl who came here with a guy late one afternoon and bought a saxophone when we first opened up this store. I remember she was really excited about learning how to play it. I wonder if she's gotten any better now…"

Soul grinned at the information he had just gotten. 'That must have been the day Maka bought the saxophone and started her lessons with Hiro.'

"Thanks for the information, I appreciate it." Soul stated, as he left out of the store.

Cindy frowned as she watched Soul leave the store before turning back towards her husband.

"That boy didn't even buy anything! Why didn't you at least try to persuade him to buy something?"

~X~

Soul looked outside the White Lily Pub and Café with a mix of confusion and interest. This was the same club that he had talked to Liz about before that invited a variety of guest musicians and jazz players to play for the audience on different days of the week.

'Could Maka really be one of the people who played at this club?' Soul thought to himself, before eventually heading inside.

"Hello! Welcome to the White Lily Pub and Café!" Jessica greeted from behind her booth.

Soul greeted her back before looking around at the peaceful layout of the club. How exactly could he ask if Maka played here if he wasn't even sure himself?

"Is there someone you are looking for sir?" Jessica asked, breaking Soul out of his thoughts.

"Well I was wondering if this certain group or person performed here." Soul grumbled back.

"Hmm well we do have a lot of different people come and play here, but our most popular group as of late is Masquerade." Jessica replied back.

"Masquerade huh?" Soul mused quietly.

"Yeah, I'm sure you've heard of them! They're quite the popular group even when they added a third member." Jessica stated excitedly.

"I've heard of them. Do you have any like CD's of them or old recordings of them playing?" Soul asked.

"Sure! Actually business is kind of slow right now so I don't mind playing you a video recording I did on my phone." Jessica stated, moving away from her booth to walk over towards the bar.

Soul nodded his head in agreement and took a seat at one of the bar stools. Jessica took a seat next to him and handed him her phone.

"Sorry if it's a bit hard to hear. The audience could get a bit loud at times." Jessica said.

Soul nodded his head and focused on the video clip. It showed both Emerald and Diamond on stage playing some type of classical song. Soul took particular note of Emerald's long curly hair and the jade green mask she used to obscure her face. Even the clothes she was wearing looked expensive like the latest trends one could only find in high end malls.

'Even without the mask, Emerald looks like Maka when she keeps her hair down except it's even longer than normal. I'm not sure where Maka got those clothes though.' Soul thought.

"That's one of their older shows when they first started out playing here. They've grown to have a large amount of fans since that video!" Jessica explained, once the video clip had ended.

"Do you know anything about them personally?" Soul asked.

Jessica shook her head. "To be honest, they all seem to be very private people. I guess that's what keeps fans so interested in them is their mysterious nature. They never tell me what their real names are and prefer to just be called by their stage names."

"Does it look like they enjoy playing?" Soul continued to ask.

"Yeah they've really grown into their roles. Emerald I could tell was nervous to play for people at first, it actually still shows that she isn't completely comfortable on stage, but I can tell that she has at least improved in her playing with others and alone." Jessica replied back.

Soul nodded his head as his mind replayed the footage he had just seen.

'Maka and Emerald must be the same person. But why would Maka go to all this trouble to keep it a secret from me? Why would she go to Hiro for help and possibly even Travis when I was always right by her side?' Soul thought gloomily.

Soul sighed and hopped off the bar stool to head home.

"Hey wait are you a fan of Masquerade?" Jessica asked from behind him.

Soul shrugged. "Not really. I don't know much about them." 'Well at least I thought I knew one of the group member's well…'

Jessica smiled and walked back to her booth. "It's been awhile since I've heard from them, but you should stop by again if you ever get the time to. They normally play on Wednesdays at 4 pm. I'm sure you'll become more of a fan of them once you hear them play enough, but you'll have to watch out for Emerald's fanboys!"

Soul sighed and nodded his head as he finally left out the doors. Once Soul made it back to the apartment, he quietly walked back into Maka's room and confirmed his suspicions by finding her sax and mask underneath her bed.

'I can't believe I didn't pay more attention to the obvious signs. If Maka lied to me about this, I wonder what else she has been keeping a secret from me.' Soul thought with a groan, as he looked over the mask.

Just as Soul was about to go back to his room, Soul suddenly heard his phone go off.

"Hello?" Soul answered gruffly.

"Yes Soul? It's me Professor Stein. Maka has been moved from the wound care unit into critical care. I think you might want to come down here as soon as possible."

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 24! Let me know what you think with a review and as always thanks for reading!