I got home and ran straight up to my bedroom, grabbing a camera. "Mom'll probably want some pictures." I said to myself. 'Probably' meaning 'she told me to take bloody pictures.' I ran down stairs and, right as I touched the door, I felt an icy stare on my back.

"Why the hell are you here?" I asked.

"Now is the time. I want you to get something from inside of the school while everyone is distracted." Medusa said.

"Can't we wait until the dance is over?" I asked.

"Do you want to see what I can do to your sister? I think a small demonstration is in order." Medusa said.

"No wai-" I began to say.

K

Crona ran-and I mean, ran, like a track-star-into the room, looking around. She was wearing her normal dress, and ran straight to me when she saw me.

"Where is Riley?" Crona asked.

"He just left. What's wrong?" Maka asked.

"I don't know how to deal with this!" Crona said, tearing up.

Stein noticed what was happening while he was dancing with Ms. Marie, and told her he needed to see what was happening. "What's wrong?" Stein asked.

Crona took a big breath, and said "Medusa made me poison Kylie, so they could take something from the school, but I wouldn't let that happen and I transferred the snake-poison to Riley and planned to take it from him but I couldn't get him alone long enough!"

Stein calmly said "Spirit! We need to go."

Spirit walked over to Stein and said "If this didn't have to do with Medusa I'd let him die. Did you see what he did to my Maka?"

I kicked Scythe in the shin. "My brother is going to die!" I heard my words and reality sank in. I immediately grabbed Soul as I began crying.

"It'll be okay." Soul said, holding me. He shot a look at Spirit and Stein, and Spirit immediately jumped, changing into a scythe in mid-air. Stein caught him and looked at Ms. Marie.

"Try to calm the students down." Stein said.

Ms. Marie nodded, and turned to the crowd of students, saying "It's all going to be okay. Go back to dancing."

"It'll be fine, Kylie." Stein said to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. Then ran for the door, slamming through the doors like a giant football player.

R

I shouted as a stabbing pain shot though my stomach.

"What?" Medusa exclaimed in surprise, her evil smile disappearing.

"He's got the snake inside of him!" Eruka said.

Medusa's smile reappeared. "Maybe the plan will still work, then."

I smiled as the pain subsided. "Wrong. You think I'd betray DWMA?"

"We will kill you if you don't follow our orders." Eruka said.

"Shut up." I said.

Medusa's eyes were wide with surprise. "Aren't you afraid of death?"

"I've seen death before." I said, readying my leg muscles. "I'm not that afraid of it." I tackled Medusa just as she triggered the snake, screaming in pain as fire shot through my stomach. We slammed into the kitchen, and I opened a drawer, throwing silverware all over the floor. I fell, Medusa slamming her fist into my face during a particularly large pain spike. Medusa stood, with what looked like pointer arrows coming out of her back.

"Your foolish mistake will cost you dearly." Medusa growled, while Eruka stood watching, wide-eyed.

"I don't think so." I gasped, grabbing a sharp knife in each hand and sitting up. I shoved the knife into her stomach, straight down to the hilt, then jumped up, using the other knife to cut her throat. Then I fell, landing on silverware, watching Medusa's body fall. I was about to pass out when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a snake slither across the ground. "No you don't!" I said, grabbing a knife and stabbing the snake in the head, the giant blade going through its head. And that was the end of Medusa, once and for all. 'And maybe,' I thought grimly, as darkness engulfed me, 'the end of Riley McConnell.'

S

I slammed through the door, sensing a witch soul. But suddenly, the witch soul went from living, to dead, then living for a few seconds, when it died again.

"Stein, what's going on?" Spirit asked.

"Looks like Medusa just died twice." I said, putting my glasses back on as I walked up the stairs. "Her partner just ran off."

"Should we chase her..." Spirit trailed off when we walked into the kitchen. A tall, muscular Caucasian male wearing a suit was on the ground, his hands stained with blood and his eyes closed. He was taking short, ragged breaths, and there was blood coming from his mouth: the poison had probably damaged several internal organs. I noticed him from my class. This was Riley McConnell, and he wasn't in very good shape. In fact, he was dying.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Who gives a damn?" Spirit asked, running over to the teenager. I tried putting things together, but couldn't find the final piece until I saw a snake, pinned to the ground by a knife through its head.

"Amazing." I said, helping Spirit. "He managed to kill Medusa twice with only kitchen knives. I would love to di-"

"Shut up and help me." Spirit groaned.

I nodded, and focused on moving Riley. He was murmuring words...no, names. It amazed me he could even talk while so heavily injured. I put my head beside Riley's mouth, and, though a few blood drops landed on me, I made out what he was saying: 'Maka' and 'Kylie.'

"What's wrong?" Spirit asked.

"Riley is saying 'Maka' and 'Kylie' over and over again." I said as we got to the whole where the front door used to be.

"We are going to have a nice, long talk when you're better, Riley." Spirit said.

A/N: I think this chapter is an extraordinary example of how badass Riley is. Also, sorry for killing an animal in the chapter, but I had to cement the fact that Medusa is, indeed, not coming back.

-MN1