Stein sighed, he lowered himself onto a chair.
"Not giving up on those kids are you?" Spirit asked in concern.
"No. But there's not a hell of a lot I can do for them either. Some seem to be holding on pretty tight, but if things keep up, this illness may wipe out a vast majority of the weapons. Most of the strongest students were hit harder than others."
"But you can figure it out, you're-"
"It doesn't matter. From what I've seen these kids go through, the pain and weakness that just take over, maybe it's not a bad idea to -"
"You don't mean that!" Spirit cried in alarm.
"It's probably the easiest choice. Of course the others will have to-"
"I don't believe this, you can't be serious. Maka's group is a good one, they'll stop whoever did this."
"Tell me, how do you stop someone if you don't know who they are, there isn't much time. Soul's losing ground too fast and Crona's starting to get to the same point. Do I need to mention the fact that three more were -"
"You don't have to say it, I was there." Spirit shook his head. A long silence passed between them.
"I suppose we should check on the patients, maybe they'll surprise us and start reacting to something." Spirit followed Stein from the room, he knew he shouldn't expect much,but still held some hope that the students would take a turn for the better.
"Rhiannon?" Akane asked looking at the papers in front of her.
"But she's supposed to have died centuries ago." Olivia pointed out.
"According to this that's true, but it wouldn't be the first time we had this problem and it's worth checking out." Kid said.
"Witches are notorious for faking their deaths if they're backed into a corner. We owe it to the fallen weapons to explore every option we come across." He added.
"If that's true, then where do look and how do we do this without our weapons, we're basically powerless without our partners."
"We'll look everywhere starting just outside the city. We'll have to take extra precaution It's not much, but we've got Liz and Patty to help us. I'm sorry but I don't have much more in the way of protection to offer,but I have a lot of faith in them and I know they won't let us down."
"Thanks. Kid, that really means a lot to us." Liz said surprised by the strong words.
"But we've been looking around the City and nothing unusual was reported." Maka said.
"Rhiannon is a pretty powerful witch, it doesn't surprise me that no one's heard anything yet, my guess is even if they had she would probably kill them before they had a chance to say anything."
"We'd better get started then, there's no time to sit and do nothing. " Akane said leaving the rest of the group to follow behind. Maka thought of Soul and Crona, She wondered if they were okay and hoped that despite the hopelessness of the situation, they would find some way to save them.
"Hold on a little longer Soul and Crona, we'll figure it out." She whispered to herself.
"Soul, are you okay?" Crona forced himself to sit up and turned his attention to his friend.
"I don't know, it feels like something's trying to -" Soul was obviously feeling a tremendous pain in his body.
"Just hold on Soul, Professor Stein will be in soon, maybe he'll give you something to help you rest." Crona tried to comfort Soul but wasn't sure what else to do.
"I-I can't-" Soul said weakly. Crona stood up and crossed the short distance to Soul's bed. His own stomach pain was becoming difficult to handle.
"please don't say that, Maka can do this, we'll be better soon. Please Soul, just try to be okay for her. She needs you." Crona said worriedly. He had never seen Soul act this way, the young scythe was always strong for his Meister. It frightened Crona. Spirit and Stein had heard Crona's pleas and rushed over to them.
"Professor stein, will Soul be okay?" Crona asked while Spirit forced him back into bed.
Stein didn't answer, he was already trying to calm his patient.
"Soul, I need you to relax now, can you tell me what's wrong?"
"I hurt." He said simply.
"What does?"
"E-everything, like something trying to-" Soul couldn't finish speaking,Stein placed a hand on Soul's forehead.
"Fever spiked." He grabbed a pen and pad from the bedside table and quickly wrote on the paper before handing it to Spirit.
"I need you to get everything on this list and bring it back to me quickly. I don't know how to cure these students but I can help manage their pain. Be very careful about reading the labels, we can't afford any errors." Spirit nodded and rushed out of the room to find the items.
"Soul, listen to me, you can't give into your illness, Maka's counting on you being here. You're not just her weapon, she's said many times that you're also her best friend, if you allow yourself to be taken by it, Maka will lose more than just a partner. You know what would happen don't you?"
"M-Maka can-"
"It would break her, Soul I know she means a lot to you, it's easy to see, from the first time you said to me you weren't going to let me near her, I saw it in your eyes, she was never just a Meister to you, you would die for her not because it's your job, but because you value her life above your own. I need you to think of her now. When Spirit comes back, I'll give you something to help you but right now, I need you to rest...For Maka."
"Can't." He said weakly. "I failed her,I didn't -"
"Shh, you didn't fail anyone Soul, you're still here and that's what Maka really wants. Just hold on until this is figured out and-" Soul felt himself being pulled into darkness.
I'm so sorry Maka, I wasn't strong enough to keep my promise.' He thought. 'I hope Crona can be, don't leave her Crona, you can't. You'll be the one she comes to now. It's hard for me to do this to her,but I have to do what's best for her and right now that's all I can give. Take good care of Maka."