CHAPTER 12: Before the Battle

Night began to fall on Death City. The clock struck 9 as some prepared for bed, others begin a night on town. The heat around Soul's banishment had died down quickly, many had learned Soul had disappeared and was sent secretly on the train, and some were angry he wasn't sentenced to death. Some claimed it was a cover for an actual execution. But it would only be the talk for a week at most. For after tonight, something new would be on their minds.

Kid and Black*Star sat in Kid's chambers, drinking and talking. It had been awkward since Soul left, both wishing it was the night before, when all three were drinking instead of two. Kid looks out the window, at the chuckling moon and began to think.

"Well, better get used to life without him again I suppose." He says with a sigh. Star shakes his drink a little, the ice cubes clanking in the glass.

"Yeah. Like he never…" He mutters before the clanking begins coming from above. "The hell?" He asks with a brow up.

"Damn dust bunnies!" A voice yells from the vents. Black*Star recognizes the voice and tilts his head.

"Soul…?" He mutters in cuiousity as the vent begins to bend and crash.

"DAMN!" The figure yells as it falls chest first into the floor. They both stare for a moment. The figure stands and wipes himself down, and looks at them with a toothy grin.

"Sup guys?" Soul asks to the two, both mouths agape.

"THE HELL SOUL?! YOU SHOULD BE 500 MILES WEST BY NOW! YOU TRYING TO ESCAPE THE LAW!? NO! YOU CAME RIGHT BACK TO THE GUY WHO SENTENCED YOU TO-" Black*Star yells in Soul's face before Soul uppercuts him.

"SHUT IT! IVE JUST SPENT HALF AN HOUR CRAWLING THROUGH THOSE DAMN VENTS TRYING TO FIND KID WITHOUT THE GUARDS HEARING ME OR SOMETHING!" Soul yells back instars face.

"DON'T YOU FREAKING YELL AT ME ASS! YOU KNOW…!" Star yells back as Kid face palms at the argument.

"13 years… and they still complain about my symmetry obsession." Kid mutters rubbing his forehead. "OK YOU TWO SHUT UP!" He yells as Soul and Star look over, both with their arms around each others necks. Kid coughs a little and walks over to Soul. "So… WHAT THE HELL!? YOU SHOULD BE 500 MILES WEST BY NOW! YOU TRYING TO ESCAPE THE LAW!? NO! YOU COME BACK RIGHT TO ME! THE GUY WHO SENTENCED YOU TO EXILE! IDIOT!" Kid yells shaking Soul like a rag doll.

"HEY! THAT'S WHAT I WAS-!" Star yells.

"I'm Shinigami, you're argument's invalid!" Kid yells at Star.

"BULLCRAP! MIGHT AS WELL EXILE ME AFTER I KCIK YOUR-" Star yells in Kid's face as Soul stomps his foot on the ground.

"OK OK! TIME OUT!" Soul yells, bringing Kid and Star's attention to Soul. "I need your guys' help." He says.

Maka sat, chained to a pillar in a warehouse she didn't really recognize from the inside. She had been crying for the last half hour and passing out in the tears. The man who looked like Soul didn't say much, he only complimented her every chance he got. She was in a combination of fear and wishing she was…

"Maka…" A voice called from the dark. Her face shot up to the dark. "Don't be afraid…" The figure coming out of the dark mutters, holding up a brown bag. "I brought you food." He says, she could see a smile from the bit of light that came from the moon. He dropped the bag in front of her, and transformed his arm into its scythe form, cutting the ropes, making her fall almost face first into the bag.

"What?" She asks. She sees him grin.

"Hamburgers. I know how much you love them. Got you two. Plain, just like you like them." He says.

Maka didn't know whether to be thankful, or scared. She didn't care as she rushed in the bag and took bite after bite from the warm and juicy burger. She finished to the mans weird delight.

"Was it good? If not… I can go to the restaruant and slaughter the cook for you." He says instantly, smiling. "I'd make him suffer…" He hisses to Maka's wide eyes.

"Who the hell are you… WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" She yells, now angry at his words and very, very sick kindness.

"You don't recognize me? REALLY?!" He yells as he violently grabs her by the neck and slams her back into the pillar she had been chained to. "Come on baby… you should know… AM I REALLY THAT MUCH OF A WASTE TO YOU?! HUH?!" He growls in a deeper voice. Maka shakes in fear and begins to tear as he mans eyes seen through the hair that covered them became sincere. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell. I'm sorry…" He says as he kisses her forehead tenderly. "I didn't want to scare you. I'd never hurt you on purpose… now… tell me… who do you think I am?" He hisses in a way that made Maka wish he would just kill her now.

"… I… don't know…." She chokes as he held her throat in his clawed hands. He grins and whisper in her ear.

"I'll tell you a story… maybe that will jog your memory." He drops her on the ground and walks into a small beam of light shining through the warehouses window. He takes off the hat from his head, all his hair now out that went close to below his chest. "Where to begin? There was a boy… it was his first day living in Death City. His parents called him… a freak because he could turn into a scythe. They called him a demon… hurt him… so he ran away. He was dying on the streets before a red haired man and a young women found him. He showed them his special power, and the red haired man showed he was the same. The nice lady said the boy could go with them to a place he could be accepted. So he went to DWMA… and saw he wasn't alone." He tells, Maka looking up with her eyes in tears, not moving as he talked. "After a while he liked it. He loved it. But he never had many friends… hell, almost none. Then one day, he saw a girl… she was beautiful… so beautiful… she wore her golden blonde hair in pigtails and her green eyes would glow. He wanted to talk to her everyday… but was to scared to speak to her. One day he built the courage to actually do it… he was going to talk to her. But no… he saw her holding hands with a silver haired boy... he had always seen them together. Then he saw her kiss HIM… and he hurt… he hurt a lot!" He yells looking back at her with the three eyes shining blood red. "He wanted her. He would do ANYTHING… and he met a witch. She promised the boy ultimate power in a experiement she was doing… she said if it worked, he would have the power to have the girl. He liked that thought, he liked it a lot. So he took it, she gave him shots, did weird spells. He felt strong… so strong. He knew he could win the girl over." He lulls looking back to the moon and looking at his hands. "But that all went wrong… when the nightmares talked to him… they told him to KILL, KILL, KIIILLLLL. HE WANTED THE VOICES TO SHUT UP! Then the markings came… he hurt… he needed to kill… so… he walked into his meisters room… she was pretty… not as pretty as the blonde girl… she wasn't going to be missed… so he turned his arm into a scythe like THIS!" He yells turning his arm into its scythe form. "AND HE SLASHED! AND SLASHED! SHE SCREAMED AND BEGGED! Then she was quiet… her soul floated out of her wounds… and he ate it. He craved more… SO MUCH MORE!" He yells as he looks at Maka's fear filled face. "Then he heard the blonde girls lover left… and he didn't see her… he thought she was gone… he knew he'd never see her again. He craved the souls… and he ate. The more he missed her… the more he ate. 12 years of lonliness and killing… and he saw her again and the cravings stopped..." He looks down with a sly grin. "Maka… do you want to know my power as a Kishin?" He asks coldly.

Maka shakes her head violently and backing up, biting her lip. The man cackles as he slowly walks to her.

"I can change forms. This is my real form. How ironic I looked so much like Soul huh? Made it easy to frame him…" He says, a light red energy flowing off as he changed form in the dark. Maka backed up to a window, outside a streetlight's light shined. "But… I got used to this face over the last year!" He yells walking into the light, making Maka drain of color and yell.

"He's got her?" Star asks, his eyes wide and squeezing his fist.

"How could I not sense it?" Kid asks slapping his forehead.

"I didn't either. Until the last thing he said to me, I recognized the voice he used. The guy is a shape shifting kishin. And I have to meet him in front of DWMA in 15 minutes or he'll kill her!" Soul exclaims, to Star and Kid's shock.

"So, lets go kick his ass!" Black*Star yells, throwing up his fist.

"No Star, we cant." Kid states, to Star's curiosity.

"Kid, this guy must be a full on Kishin, close to Asura even!" Star yells.

"This guy obviously wants to fight Soul one on one. We show up, he could kill Maka. We can't risk it." Kid says. Star understands and looks, eyes squinted, to Soul.

"So, what do you need for us?" Star asks Soul. Soul holds u his Black Blood marked forearm.

"If I go Kishin during this fight, I need one of you to kill me..."

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Maka yells, ducking under the kishins arm and running. She couldn't see much in the dark warehouse, but she didn't care. She wanted to be away from him.

"NOW, NOW! STOP RUNNING!" He yells at her, a claw of black blood coming from his chest and pulling her back to him.

"NO! LET ME GO!" She yells hysterically. He pulls her into his chest and hugs her, her stiff and shaking.

"Shhh… its ok Maka… Rein is going to take good care of you…"

"WHAT?!" Star yells at his grey haired friend.

"If I go Kishin, you need to kill me." Soul says again firmly. "I'm losing to the disease. I can feel it eating me alive. Tonight… it'll take me over completely… and I'm taking that bastard with me." Soul grunts, pulling down his sleeve.

"YOURE JUST GOING TO THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY? YOU SON OF A-" Star yells as Soul looks up with cold eyes.

"Star, I know I sound crazy. But I've known for a while my times up. I've accepted this as my way of death. And at least I'll die saving the one last thing I love in this world." Soul says, fighting tears "Besides… I'd rather have my friends stop me from hurting others than me do it myself." He finishes. "Your choice Star. After the fight I'll stab myself in the heart before it takes me over, or you put me out of my misery." He says making Star tear and bare his teeth. Soul walks towards the window and as he begins to open it, Star looks to him and salutes.

"You got it Soul! I'll stop you even if you beg me not to!" Star yells through tears. Soul looks over.

"Thank you. It means a lot… Star" Soul mutters. "Be close to DWMA, out of sight. This is my fight, it'll stay that way." Soul says, Kid and Star nodding. "And guys… thanks for everything." Soul says with his toothy grin nodding and falls out. He lands on his feet to the ground and looks up at the academy on top of the large hill. "Lets end this… Rein."

Rein stares at Maka as she sits again tied to her pillar. Half an hour to go until his confrontation with Soul at the academy. After he had tied Maka in the form he had used for her the last year, he resumed his true form. To Maka, if he wasn't completely insane or a Kishin, he might've been confused for a male model or playboy. His hair was the same silver color as Soul's, his teeth were sharp of that of a wolf, and his eyes were red, all three of them. He had sat in a chair staring at her the last 15 minutes, his eyes not leaving her.

"Think baby… after tonight, Soul will never bother us again." Rein luls, Maka looks up in pain.

"Why… why are you doing all this? Especially Blair… she had nothing to." Maka asks dryly as Rein scoffs and bares his teeth.

"She needed to pay! I saw her walk with him our of a apartment. I knew he had sex with her! He was lying abot how he said he loved you! I knew he wanted you just for your body! I saw you kiss him in the rain, I was… angry. I followed and watched you two… and I saw in his eyes he didn't really love you. So I was going to frame him. After a while, I went to the bar I saw she worked and made her PAY!" Rein yells in joy, throwing his hands up and laughing.

"You're sick… YOU'RE INSANE!" She yells at him. He stops laughing and looks down with squinted eyes.

"Insane? HEHE. I'll tell YOU whats insane Maka!" He yells getting in her face. "HAVING THE GIRL YOU LOVE LEAVE YOU FOR A SLIMEY, NO GOOD, LITTLE-" He yells in her face before a small clock that was next to the chair he had sat in began to ring. "Well… 9:45... better hurry. Don't want to be late." He says mockingly as he unties Maka and reties her wrists together. "Lets go." He says, leading her to the warehouses exit.

Soul runs, unable to get his thoughts off what awaited. He stopped at the stairs of DWMA. He reached into his pocket, taking out the black box.

"Maka… I promise…" He says in his head, thinking of everything he had been through with her till this moment. From meeting her as she had selected him as her weapon, to when he gained a scar to save her, to their first kiss… He squeezes the box in his hands and he coughs in pain, seeing the markings cover his hands again. "At least I'll die… saving you." Soul mutters, squeezing the box and running up the stairs.