"She was in the wrong place at the right time for us. We never thought we'd take her so easily." The witch hissed out.

"Your name." Stein said, roughly pushing her into the chair again.

"Auril."

Spirit asked the next question. "Why did you take Marie? Be specific."

"She was there and it's better to have two than one." Once again it seemed as if the woman was meeting his eyes directly, and Spirit shuddered.

"For what?" Stein cut in.

"Why do you think? You are supposed to be a genius." The woman's tone was condescending.

A twisted smirk pulled across Stein's face. "I think that I am going to enjoy dissecting you, Witch Auril." Spirit shot the man a warning look and Stein completely ignored it. "I'll start by permanently silencing you. Then I'll enlarge the incision and examine the structure of your throat, play with your thyroid." His voice lowered, "It is a hypothesis of mine that the thyroid in a witch is more highly developed than that of a normal human. Give me a reason to find out."

The woman swallowed hard, and Spirit stepped in, pushing Stein back. He met the meister's eyes and glared at him. Stein just smirked and shrugged, mouthing I want to know at the death scythe. Spirit just shook his head.

"Witch Auril, detail your reason for taking Marie Mjolnir." Spirit said, professionally as he sat down on the other side of the table.

She was silent.

Spirit leaned forward, repeating his demand.

"I heard you the first time," she rasped out. "There was no reason for taking her. All it did was allow us to have a card to play against your friend."

"If you wanted a card to play against him, why did you kill Marie?" Beside Spirit Stein's hands clenched into fists as Spirit asked.

The witch shrugged. "I didn't know she was even dead at first. You fools let it slip through your actions. One of the mimesis must have gotten… too far in character." A hissing laugh followed the statement.

Spirit reacted before Stein could, grabbing the witch by the front of her shirt and bringing his hand smartly across her face.

"What is the point of these…. mimesis?" Spirit demanded, the witch still pulled across the table.

"Algid, Brumal, Piercing, Frore." Auril rasped out, a smirk twisting her features as she quickly completed the spell.

"Senpai!" Stein's voice called out as Spirit released the woman, staggering back, surprise on the weapon's face.

The spell went off, the woman hissing out her laughter. A second later Spirit was pinned to the wall, a shard of ice piercing his shoulder, a blue frost spreading from the wound. Spirit gasped at the cold.

And it was cold. The weapon felt like he was freezing, and began to gasp for breath even as Stein moved to his side. Blinking became difficult, and Spirit realized that he could actually see his breath in the air. "Sssss-ttteeee-iinnn" Spirit chattered out, his jaw nearly refusing to move. "C-c-c-ooo-lldd." The man was obviously in shock.

Stein grabbed the large ice shard that was impaling Spirit's shoulder and yanked as the witch cackled behind them. Spirit screamed in agony, his flesh tearing with the ice, the network of frost on his skin stretching and cracking as Stein pulled on the shard. The scientist stopped and turned to face the witch. One long stride took him to her side, and he lifted her bodily from the chair, slamming her into the wall.

"Undo it or I kill you now." Stein's voice was low and promised nothing but pain.

She laughed, her head thrown back. "Undo it? You'll still kill me, and this way he dies just like your other one!"

Rage boiled in Stein's veins, his hand drawing back to attack even as the door to the room burst open and people flooded into it, pulling Stein away from the witch, some carefully pulling Spirit, ice and all, from the wall. Stein screamed out wordlessly as they drug him away from her, Auril cackling until they gagged her.

Spirit's eyes were closed, the weapon's body rigid. His lips were tinged with blue; his fingernails were also blue along with the tips of his fingers. The shard of ice was still lodged in his shoulder, the network of frost covering nearly his entire chest, his right arm, and sliding up his neck and down his abdomen. The only thing keeping the man breathing was the tube that was sending warm air into his lungs.

Stein sat on the edge of his chair, his hands wrapped around Spirit's left hand, desperately trying to share warmth with the man. The dispensary had to be around 90 degrees already, nurses constantly checking on Spirit to see if his body temperature was maintaining.

So far it had been steadily dropping. The man had stopped shivering already, and Stein could feel the cold radiating from the weapon.

"Senpai…" Stein's voice was strained as he sat there. He had already shed his lab coat, the heat in the room already warmer than he cared for, and steadily rising. A portable heater sat beside the death scythe, blaring heat against the freezing man.

He could feel Spirit's soul only dimly. The scientist worried what that meant. It was as if Spirit's soul was encased in ice and Stein didn't know what that could possibly mean.

'What if the spell kills him? Will his soul be free, or will it remain trapped?' Stein thought, a pang in his chest that he wasn't sure what it meant. Without realizing it, his hands closed tighter on Spirit's.

Hours passed. Stein sat beside Spirit, watching as the man's chest rose slower and slower, unable to do anything. His own hands were freezing; the cold from Spirit's leeching any warmth from Stein's. A hand touched his shoulder and he looked up at Nygus.

"Stein, it's too hot in here for you to stay. His temperature is steady now- go get some sleep. They have a team of interrogator's working on Auril. They'll get what they need to know about how to undo the spell out of her." The mummy looked down at him.

Stein could feel the sweat on his face then, the salty sting of it in wounds not quite yet healed from their initial fight with the witch. He just shook his head.

"Spirit wouldn't leave if I were injured."

"You're not partners anymore, Stein. You'll not do him any good if you've collapsed from heat exhaustion!" Nygus' voice was firm and Stein blinked as she pried his hands off Spirit's. "Now, go. Get some sleep or I'll sedate you myself."

Stein smirked slightly as Nygus propelled him out of the hospital room. He walked off, leaving his lab coat behind him, draped over the death scythe's body.

Spirit's hand curled into it, bunching the stitched fabric between his fingers.

A/N: Never trust a witch, even one that's blinded and mostly muted, neh?

I don't own Soul Eater.