Maka walked down the street to her and Soul's apartment, her head hanging and her mind constantly rerunning the talk she had had with Lord Death. Was she really the reincarnation and host of the most powerful witch in history? And if that was true, why her? What makes her so important? Was it fate, or was it just plain bad luck?

"What makes you think that it's bad luck?" Maka looked up in surprise at the voice, finding that she had somehow been pulled into that grey desert again, and, big surprise, found the scowling moon and the shadow woman waiting for her. Maka's eyes narrowed at the shadow.

"Circe," she said with disdain in her voice.

"So, Death told you about little old me, hmm?" Circe said with a chuckle. She almost seemed pleased by the knowledge. "Guess there's no point in keeping my appearance a secret anymore." Her shadowy form quickly dissipated, revealing… Maka.

"What the hell? Stop playing games!" the original Maka demanded. The new Maka looked exactly the same as the original, except that she wore a black cloak. She even had the same pigtails and dark green eyes.

"I'm not playing, Maka," Circe assured her. "This is honestly what I really look like. Well, before Death and Hecate got their way at least. I was only about fifteen when I rebelled against them."

Maka's eyes went wide in shock. "You were fifteen… but you were the most powerful evil witch in the world. That's… that's unbelievable."

Circe laughed as though she had just heard an amazing joke. "'Evil?' Please. There's no such thing as 'good' or 'evil.' There's only order and chaos. Either one can be called good or evil, but it's always based on perspective. What you call doing good, others might consider evildoing."

"Just tell me what you want, Circe," Maka ordered the witch.

"My, my, so impatient." Circe sighed with a mischievous look on her face. "I just want to ask you one question. Do you believe Death is in the right?" Maka narrowed her eyes again, not trusting the ancient witch. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm not trying to turn you against him or anything. I'm simply trying to help you open your eyes to the ways of the world."

Maka waited for several moments. "I have complete faith in Lord Death."

"Faith in a person and belief in that person's ideals are two different things, my dear," Circe said, her face becoming frighteningly serious. "To have 'faith' in someone is to trust them. To 'believe' in their ideals is share the same mindset. Tell me, do you really want to spend your entire life as some skull-faced weirdo's servant?"

"Lord Death may be odd," Maka admitted, "but he's a great man and a great leader. You're just a selfish witch hell bent on destruction."

"I'm really nothing more than a messenger of chaos," the witch stated. "You may not want to admit it, but you yourself are also a chaotic being. You can deny it all you want, but you, your friends and family, and even Death himself are all creatures of chaos. There's not a single being in the universe save for one who is truly an orderly entity."

"I'm nothing like you. I'm not evil."

"You really need to learn how to listen. Good and evil never existed in the first place. Order and chaos are the only concepts that can match them, but they're never just one exclusively. Order can be just as 'evil' as chaos. Chaos can be just as 'good' as order."

"Are you saying that Lord Death is the bad guy here?" Maka asked.

"You willing to pay the price for that question?"

Maka glared at the witch before something came to her. "I think I know why you're so eager to make me give up my sanity." Circe raised an eyebrow. "You want to take over my body, and me having lost my mind will make it all the easier for you, won't it?"

"I'll count that as a question," Circe stated. Suddenly, Maka felt the worst migraine in history rampaging in her head. She fell to her knees, clutching her head with her eyes wide. The migraine soon faded. Maka looked back at Circe, who now held a tiny floating pink sphere in her hand. "Like I said. Only a tiny piece of your sanity. And the answer to your question is yes, you being insane would make it a thousand times easier to take over your body. But I'm not after that. It's really just the way that I do things."

"You…" Maka stared at the tiny sphere with wide eyes. According to Circe, that thing represented a piece of her mind. "Give that back!"

"Too late," Circe said with a grin. Then, in exactly the same way that Soul Eater ate souls, Circe downed the little pink thing and swallowed it whole. She licked her lips. "Mmm. That was surprisingly good. Tastes sort of like strawberries with a hint of chocolate."

Maka simply stared at the witch, utterly dumbfounded. Circe had just eaten a physical manifestation of her sanity! Was that even really possible? She wanted to deny it, but she simply couldn't think of another explanation. She even felt it in her mind. It was incredibly vague, barely noticeable, but something was nonetheless… different. Something was off.

"You're already noticing the change, eh?" the witch inquired with a light chuckle. "Look, I really don't want us to turn out to be enemies. The witches of the world may want to resurrect me, but that's actually the least of your troubles right now."

Maka was about to ask the witch what she meant, but caught herself before she could. She would have to figure it out on her own. "Just send me home."

"All righty then," Circe said as she snapped her fingers, making the desert world slowly fade into blackness. "Just remember one thing: I'm on your side, kiddo." With that, darkness reigned.

-o-

Maka found herself standing in front of the door that led to her apartment. Her body must have been moving on its own while she was conversing with Circe. She took a deep breath and headed inside, where she found Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, and Liz and Patty waiting for her. "What's going on?" Maka asked. "What's everybody doing here?"

"We were all worried about you when we left you with Lord Death," Tsubaki said with a concerned look. "What did he talk to you about?"

"Oh… um…" Maka hesitated to answer. Just before she left, Lord Death had told her not to speak of Circe's presence with anyone, not even her friends. She mentally cursed as she tried to think of something. "It was just… it's nothing too important. You guys don't need to worry about it."

"Are you sure, Maka?" Soul asked. "If something's bothering you-"

"I said it's fine," Maka interrupted as she walked past him. She stopped by the hall that led to her room. "Look, I appreciate your concern everybody, but… I just need some time to myself right now. I'll be in my room." And with that, she left for her bedroom, all eyes focused on her with worried looks.

When she got to her room, she immediately plopped down onto her bed. She stared at the ceiling, the day's events running through her mind backwards, forwards, and sideways. Circe was definitely inside her soul now, and had said some truly frightening things. What if she was telling the truth? Was Lord Death really in the right, or could he be wrong about something? She sighed quietly and turned onto her side. She would try to get some sleep. Maybe that would help her. She closed her eyes and willed herself to drift off.

-o-

Within Maka's soulscape, Circe sat in the sand, watching the motionless moon as blood dripped from its mouth. Eating her sanity may not have helped my case, she thought with a depressed sigh. I need to gain her trust. We need to stop her somehow. Maka's the only one who can do it now.