Scar looked around the classroom. Everyone was goofing around, just like the day before. She had figured that today they'd have to catch up on a lot, especially since all the drama yesterday had caused them to miss an entire class period, but Evans wasn't in the classroom yet, not even a teacher to explain Evan's disappearance. She couldn't help but wonder if the school was falling apart. She really hoped that wouldn't happen, because for one she wouldn't be able to spar with anybody anymore, and secondly she might lose all the friends she had met here.

"I know what you're thinking" Kaido muttered under his breath. Scar whipped her head around to her partner. He was leaning back in his chair nonchalantly, gazing over the classroom. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. They'll find Ran and Demi, and soon everything will be normal again, just wait." Scar shook her head.

"That's not exactly it," Scar replied. "I mean, Ran and Demi are gone, but I have a sense of foreboding, you know? Like something bad is going to happen soon. I felt something last night, something wrong, like what happened when-"

"Don't say it," Kaido intervened. "You'll only make yourself upset. I know how you get when you remember all that."

"But you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Kaido sighed, setting his chair down. He stayed silent for a while, which was answer enough to tell Scar she was right. Something wasn't right. Something was going horribly, horribly wrong.

"You felt it too then," Julia asked, coming down to where Scar and Kaido sat. "I thought it was a fluke, I'm not very good at soul detection, but it must've not been."

"Or you all could just be crazy, that's an option too." Myrady added from her seat in the back. "I don't even know what you're talking about; I slept like a baby last night."

"How you slept isn't an issue," Scar replied. "Rhya and Shun are missing and something weird happened last night. They both can't be a coincidence."

"I think they can," Myrady replied. Scar rolled her eyes and turned to Kaido.

"Anyway, what should we do?" Scar asked. "We can't just sit here, there has to be something we can do to help-"

"Why don't you just leave it be, Scar?" Julia asked. "You don't even know her. She's unstable on a normal day, and she's been gone half of the time she's even been enrolled. She even used a Soul Resonance just to beat you, which is over the top for a simple school battle. She kinda gives me the creeps."

"I can't leave it be because it's way too coincidental not to be connected to everything we've been doing," Scar snapped. "Besides, I didn't ask you, I asked Kaido."

"I think we need to go find Evans." Kaido interrupted. Everyone directed their attention to him.

"Why is Evans important right now?" Myrady asked. "Could you not go one day without being nannied?"
"Shut it, Myrady. Time and place." Kaido snapped. "We need to find Evans because he's probably going to know what's going on the most. He has the black blood and all, and we know Rhya has issues with the madness. If what we felt was what I think it is- and I'm probably not far off- we should go find him first."
"Where would we even find him though?" Julia asked. "We don't even know if he's in the school or why he's not here."
"Well, his wife would probably know." Myrady replied. "You know, she kinda only lives with him and shows him a good time on occasion."
"That would've worked if she was here today," Scar muttered. "But she's gone too."
"Both of them are gone?" Kaido repeated. "Well, do we know where Tsubaki or Black Star are?"
"I wish I didn't," Julia groaned. "Black Star has been smothering my dogs all morning. Tsubaki's had to take care of him." Kaido bit the inside of his cheek in contemplation. Neither Maka nor Soul were at the school, but they weren't with Kidd dealing with the madness, or else Black Star and Tsubaki would be there. What other explanation could there be?
"Maybe they stayed home," Myrady suggested. "I'm sure teachers skip sometimes too, maybe they both wanted to have a romantic getaway." Kaido turned to Myrady and considered what she said. She did have a point.
"Well, getaway or not, I'm going to see if they're home." Kaido announced. "Anyone can come with if they want."
"That sounds delightful, but I'm afraid I left my fucks at home." Myrady yawned. "Tell me how it goes for you though."
"I'll probably stay here with Myrady." Julia concurred. "Even though the madness yesterday worries me, I really don't like this situation. Besides, Black Star has probably suffocated Jackal half to death, so I'll have to deal with him soon anyway." Kaido disinterestedly turned to his partner. While he knew she didn't have to come, he couldn't help but feel that he wanted her to come anyway.
"So, are you going to come with?" Kaido asked her. "You probably won't have much to do once these two harpies leave." ("And not a single fuck was given that day!" Myrady shouted from the background)
"I suppose so," Scar replied, getting up to her feet. "But we should go find a victim on Kidd-sama's list first; All this serious talk is making me insane."

"So how many souls does that make it now?" Scar asked as she munched on their freshly caught soul.
"Chew with your mouth closed for crying out loud," Kaido snapped. "And it's our 47th one. Not bad since we just joined, but we should probably go hunting for more here soon." Scar looked over at him curiously.
"You've been different since the fight with Rhya and Shun, you know." Scar mentioned. "You haven't been as serious. You're a lot more laid back and you're not as harsh. What's up?" Kaido stopped in his tracks. He really didn't expect the conversation to turn in this direction. He didn't really notice it, but Scar had a point. He had been teasing her a lot less, he's been more easy going with his friends, less dedicated to fighting and training.
"You've been different too," Kaido replied as he turned around. "You've been quiet and sad; you almost never ask to fight anymore. Your head wasn't in the game in that last fight, either. Is something going on?" Scar smirked a bit.
"I asked you first," Scar pointed out. Kaido rolled his eyes, but laughed a bit. He ran his hand through his hair, contemplating what she had said and everything that's happened in relation to him.
"I guess the fight with Rhya and Shun didn't feel like a fight, it felt more like a struggle." Kaido considered. "I sensed Rhya's madness before Stein spilled the secret to the class, and it was going mad during that fight. I don't think she noticed it though. It made me think a lot of what we were getting ourselves into with the Spartoi and the Hatter and all this bull shit. And…I suppose I haven't been as playful because of how you've been acting. I've been worried, you know? Now you spill the beans." Scar bit her lip, trying to think.
"Well… its mostly been little stuff," Scar replied. Kaido gave her a look, and she laughed a bit. "Ok, its been a lot of stuff. I don't know if the madness is infecting me now, or what my deal is, but I've been thinking a lot about my parents; they were killed by a kishin, what if it was the Hatter? Before this got blown out of proportion, hunting the Hatter was just a fun little secret club thing, nothing would've ever came of it, it was fun to just play detective and look at the different legends and explore the different parts of town and all that shit. But now, it's just…insanity. It's like a shit storm all the time. It's made me think more than what's probably healthy."
"Well, you know what they say," Kaido stated. "Thinking's a dangerous pass-time." Scar laughed a bit, the first genuine smile in days spreading across her face. Kaido smiled back at her, holding out his hand.
"Let's forget about going to Soul and Maka's." Kaido suggested. "Let's go hunt some more. I think we both need it." Scar smiled and without a second thought transformed into her weapon form and landed snuggly on her meister's hands.
"You better not get performance issues on me," Scar teased.
"I'd be more worried about how you're going to be walking for the next week," Kaido taunted. Scar's reflection turned into a bright red at the highly sexual suggestion. Kaido smirked and ran off, looking for one of the many countless victims he and Scar would catch tonight.

Scar sat on the park bench with Kaido, trying not to explode from the amount of souls she had consumed. They had hunted for hours, resulting in a whopping 10 souls added to their total and a cat soul souvenir from an unexpected fight with Blair. She looked up at the laughing moon. It simply laughed and laughed, oblivious to the troubles of techs and weapons, humans and witches. It just hung up there, disobeying countless laws of science, laughing away.
"You're thinking again," Kaido pointed out, rolling his shoulder. Scar rolled her eyes, leaning back against the bench.
"Aren't you just the know it all," Scar responded, putting her hands behind her head. It was nice hanging out like this with Kaido again, oblivious to the problems around them.
"-and make sure you take this potion every few hours, or else she'll act up again with a vengeance." She heard Maka's voice say from a distance. She sat up and looked around. A group of people were walking down the dark streets, all chatting together.
"And don't forget what I told you about how to fight it," Soul added. "The demon inside the black blood was a monster enough, if Maka hadn't-"
"Soul, she knows," Maka interrupted. "For now we should just let her get home and sleep."
"What about the person she kept talking about?" Shun asked. "Do you have any idea to who her "love" is?"
"No, but if we do some research it won't take long to figure out." Maka reassured. "But don't concern yourself with that, we just have to make sure she gets home and-"
"Hi Scar and Kaido," Rhya's weak voice called through the night. Kaido stood up and looked behind him, looking at the strange group.
"Hey," Scar greeted. "Where have you been all day? We were going to go look for you."
"That's private," Shun interjected before Rhya could respond. Her face turned sour as she pushed Shun back.
"It's just a long story is all, not one for the middle of the night" Rhya retorted, her voice still weak. Shun bit his cheek conspicuously, but didn't say anything more.
"We'll brief the Spartoi tomorrow afternoon," Maka announced. "Make sure Julia and Myrady get there, we'll have to-"
"No," Rhya butted in. "I want to tell them all one on one, then I'll discuss it with the Spartoi as a whole."
"Discuss what?" Scar asked. "What's so important? Did it have something to do with that huge madness wave last night?" Rhya's face twisted and she stepped back, completely silent. Scar stared at her in disbelief. What'd she say? She hadn't meant to upset her.
But that's just it, isn't it? Scar thought. The hints are all there. She was called to Stein's office yesterday to work with the madness. Then there was just a huge explosion of it out of nowhere. Then she's gone for a day talking with Soul and Maka, the only other two that have any personal experience with madness. She's what caused the disturbance. It was her madness.
"Scar, we better go." Kaido whispered. She looked over at his partner. Based on the look on his face, she sensed he had worked it out faster than what she had. Scar nodded and stood up, trying to stretch her arms out nonchalantly.
"Well we both have a free period tomorrow if you want to talk to us then," Scar called out. "I hope everything's going ok." Rhya didn't respond and Shun wrapped an arm around her comfortingly, starting to walk again.
And that's when the sky turned black.
It was sudden, almost like someone turned off a light switch. Scar jumped, almost immediately ready for a fight. But nothing came. The street lights were dim in the darkness, but it was just enough to see. Her heart thudded angrily. Slowly, almost cautiously, she looked up at the sky. The stars shone brightly, like normal. But the sky was empty. It was hollow.
The moon was gone.