"Dig in everyone!" Tsubaki smiles brightly as her and Maka put down the last plates. Soul and Black*star have already taken half of the other dishes. Liz and Patty and Helena are laughing together at the other end of the table while Kid and I watch everyone else.

We make our plates and have light conversation while we eat. Everything seems like a kind of normal I haven't had in a long time. Until Kid looks at me funny. "Do I have something on my face?" I ask around a mouthful of chicken.

"Is it okay to ask you something?" he looks me straight in the eye as he asks his question. I swallow hard, but nod my head. "Do you sleepwalk often?" Maka choked on her drink as Liz took too big of a bite. I stared hard at my friend for a while before answering.

"Why do you ask?" it wasn't the question I was expecting.

"A while ago…before you went to Africa. I saw you," he states.

"Saw me. Where?"

"Outside my house fairly late into the night. You were walking and I was confused because it was kind of cold that night. When I called out to you I got nothing. You just kept walking," I felt everyone staring now.

"Then what?" I ask quietly.

"I followed you. You walked down the street and into a park. When I caught up you had passed out on a bench."

"Oh," I swallow thickly.

"I saw your arm and leg then," he looked down at his glass. His second question hung in the air, but I ignored it for the moment.

"I've slept walked for as long as I can remember. Different people telling me at different points in my life about what I've done and where I've gone." I pick up my glass and stare at the liquid. "It is a rare thing though…usually when my stress is too high. Thanks for following me," I add. "I hate waking up and not knowing where I am."

"Why did you leave so early the next morning?" he questioned.

"Like I said I hate waking up and not knowing where I am," I reiterated.

"What happened to your limbs Ramla?" he asks bluntly. Tsubaki bumped her shoulder against mine and I turned my head to look at her.

She had on a small smile, "it's okay if you don't want to tell us Ramla-chan."

"Although it's weird that you have two skin colors!" Black*star retorts. He soon finds himself with a dent in his skull from Maka.

"Baka," she hisses. She gives me a sympathetic look while Soul and Patty laugh at Star's misery. "Tsubaki is right Ramla," she looks at Star hard. "You don't have to tell us anything that makes you uncomfortable." Soul gave her an incredulous look, but said nothing.

"No it's…it's not that um," I pause as I look up at the ceiling. "It's just an incredibly long story."

"We got time," Helena interjects. I look over at her to see that sparkle in her eye. For a moment I think of a different pair of blue eyes and my heart stutters.

"Let me get more to drink," Liz stands up and takes her and her sister's cups. When she comes back and sits downs she gestures for me to go on.

"Let's start…at the beginning," I mumble. "Long, long time ago there was a philosophy student from France that went on a safari in Africa."

"I'm already bored," Black*star complains. Soul punches him in the head and tells him to shut the hell up.

I roll my eyes and continue, "well this philosophy student got lost on the savannah and became scared. Just when she thought all hope was lost she ran into a tribe." Liz leaned in closer while Maka placed her elbows on the table. "The tribe was actually a hunting party for a village a few miles away. They took her in and took care of her—this philosophy student was my mother."

"You're French?!" Helena squeaks.

"Yes," I laugh. "And African; my father was the son of the High Priest. My grandfather died before I was born and there was another who was finishing my father's training when I was born."

"So your mom…" Maka starts. "She never went home?"

"According to my mom her father was a very wealthy business man. It wasn't until years later that I confirmed her story, but she didn't want to go back to that life. All she ever wanted was a family and a place to call home. When her and my father met it was instant. My mom always said that if you don't feel that spark the moment you look at a person then they aren't your person. Your souls have to want to dance otherwise there is no point," I laugh lightly. "Anyways jumping forward to when I'm born there was a peace in the village. Actually at that time it seemed that the whole country was at peace…of course it wasn't but still.

"By the time I was two I could transform. In my village those that can transform were said to change their soul to fit who they were as a person. Now I don't know how much I believe that, but what I do know is that my bow is the bow of my father. He was a strong hunter and his preferred method was bow and arrow. There were others in my village that could transform and one of them was my age…" my mind drifts back. "Her name was Zoya and she was beautiful."

"Are you okay Ramla-chan?" Tsubaki places her hand on my arm. Helena walks around the table and squishes herself between me and Kid. I watch to see Death the Kid slide over willing closer to his weapons. Knowing what he did for me those months ago makes me look at him a little different; he smiles lightly and I smile back.

"Yeah," I answer. "Yeah I'm okay. It's just," I take a deep breath. "It's been a long time since I told anyone anything. Zoya was my age and her two brothers were our partners—they taught us how to fight. When we trained almost everyone came out to watch," I smiled at the memory. "The peace was nice and it was such a beautiful time. But like most nice things it didn't last long. I was f-five," I swallow hard. "Five when the first attack came. It was some radical group who wanted to steal as many people to force into their fight as they could. It was horrible."

The blood and screaming and death circulated through my mind. "Zoya's brothers did not survive. Many people did not survive…anyways the memories are fuzzy but," I stop to collect my thoughts. "The important stuff. My father and other hunters that survived went out to stop the army, but they never made it back. But they did ward off the army, at least for a while. My mother—my mother was such a brave soul. When there was about sixteen of us left from our village she took it upon her to take care of everyone. We made our way across the very savannah that she got lost in years before.

"It was okay for a while. Our luck turned for the worst when we ran right into the army." Patty let out a gasp as Liz looked a little teary eyed. I saw that Black*star was actually paying attention as Helena warped her hand around mine. "Well as you can image a bunch of tired old people weren't enough to fight them off. Most of them were killed instantly it was my mother…my mother saved a couple of us. She was not a meister by any stretch of the imagination, but somehow she managed to use her soul as a weapon.

"It was beautiful in its destruction. To this day I still don't know what she did." I sigh before leaning back.

"Is that why you study so much?" Helena blurts out. Her face is immediately red and her embarrassment is obvious. "S-Stein-sensei might have told me a thing o-or two," her stutter was her tell. I laugh before cursing his name.

"Yes, yes I became an avid student the moment I was given some kind of peace. But there was a lot that happened before I got to that point. To make a long story shorter once my mother died and it was me, Zoya, and one other boy about fourteen left and things became real difficult. We traveled hard to get somewhere that was kind of safe. Before we could even find another village the boy died. It was a pathetic funeral we held for him, but we were five. It was just when we were about at Death's door that the most horrible thing happened."

"What?" Black*star and Soul both ask as they lean forward. Maka and Tsubaki laughed at them before turning back to look at me.

"That bitch found us," my voice hardened. "She had such a soft, sweet voice that lulled us into a false sense of peace. When she took us that is when the experimentation started. We were whisked off to a lab were terrible, horrible, nasty things were done to us. All types of experiments performed by sadists that transformed me into…into this. They pulled us apart and then tied us back together atom by atom."

"So you're the product of experiments?" Maka ask astonished. "Your eye…"

"Yes," I answer. "My eye was something that I lost in those dark years. We were broken, but by the grace of some god Zoya and I stayed together. We had to sometimes watch the other be tortured," I shrugged at the memory. "We saw Kaluwa every now and again. She came to check up on the progress of her plan. Once it was decided that we were broken enough we were released to wreak havoc across the continent."

"So you ended up in the army then?" Kid interjects. I nod my agreement, "after all you did to get away…"

"I know it sounds so awful," I say. "I know and I'm sorry I never told you anything before."

"We weren't very nice to you," Tsubaki says. "For that we are sorry. Your life was hard enough without us making such a fuss."

"It's okay," I say with a light laugh. "You guys are the first friends I've had in such a long time. Anyways Zoya and I were sent all across Africa to raid other villages and town just like ours was raided. It was…oh three years later when we were eight that something happened. It was then that I met Marco." I felt my eyes glaze over as I stared off into space. "We were stationed at the same camp and somehow that stubborn mule wormed his way into my heart," I felt my voice wobble.

Liz was full on sobbing on her sister's shoulder while Helena had a death grip on my hand. This was the hardest part to relive. "He was the one that made me see what a rotten situation we got forced into. Zoya took a lot longer to convince, but once she was on our side it didn't take long to find others. In total there were twenty of us that wanted to revolt. It was glorious because we were all able to access our souls thanks to that bitch's experimentation. Her plan backfired on her when we started a revolution."

"Wait!" Kid yelps with surprise. "Don't tell me—you're part of the Twenty Prophets?!" his golden eyes are wide as he stares at me. I can't help but laugh as Maka and Liz both exclaim their disbelief.

"Un…the twenty who now?" Patty asks.

I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, "oh dear. Yes Kid I am one of that Twenty."

"The-The Twenty Prophets were an amazing group of meisters and weapons that tore through the Soul Army a radical group of pre-kishin's causing mayhem and destruction in Africa!"

"I've heard of the Soul Army!" Tsubaki gasps. "They were terrible! Killing innocent people to feed their monsters! Oh Ramla-chan I am so, so sorry!" there were tears in her eyes as she looked at me.

"Guys! Guys! It's okay honestly it feels like it was forever ago so there is no reason to feel sorry. I'm—I'm okay." I smile sadly at them all. "So we led the revolution that ended in the downfall of the Soul Army. This of course did not go unnoticed by Shinigami-sama and that was when I met Stein. Shinigami-sama sent out parties to find us and recruit us for his own army," I grimace at them. "Sorry."

"I guess we kind of are," Soul agrees. "So what did you do?"

"Well by the time Shinigami-sama got to us there were ten of us left from the fight. We were young, we were angry, but mostly we were tired. Tired of the fighting and blood and death. So when Stein took a keen interest in me I let him pick me up. Marco stayed right by my side even though he wasn't happy about it. Zoya and the other eight survivors went separate ways."

"Stein-sensei?" Kid questions.

"Y-Yeah he took us in and trained us. Marco and I became truly inseparable after that. Stein showed us how to channel our anger in constructive ways and we soon became a power pair. I made Marco into a Deathscythe and he was so close…" I trailed off.

"Deathscythe?!" Maka and Black*star squawk.

"Yes and I am now one as well," I sigh. "Marco finally completed me."

"What?" Helena said.

"Stein saved Kaluwa's soul and I ate it. But that was like two days after the fight. He said that no one else really deserves to have it and since I had taken in ninty-nine other souls…" I spread my arms out wide. "You are looking at a newly minted Deathsycthe."

"No fucking way!" Black*star bellows. "How did a god like me lose to you?!" I felt my eye twitch in annoyance.

"Anyways!" Liz cuts in before I could pound him. "What happened after Stein-sensei took you in?"

"Well he stayed with us until I was ten and Marco was eleven. In all those years we trained and got better. It was during those years that I met Miss Fallon and the little witch and started working with them. Marco didn't really understand the research, but he was such a kind person. He always went along with whatever crazy experiment I had in mind. But Stein was the one that was far more excited to participate…so excited in fact that he might have let me cut up his face…"

"You discovered Soul Stitching?" Kid asks impressed.

"Yes and no it was Stein's idea I just figured out how to make it work." They all gaped at me in a stunned silence. "I mean he didn't stop me!" I huff in defense.

"I read some of your work and it was amazing," Maka said. "I mean until you burned it."

I laughed, "oh yeah. Sorry about that. Stein really needs to stop leaving papers just scattered around in the lab."

"What h-happened after Ramla?" Helena asks. Her blue eyes were bright with curiosity as she stared at me.

"Well…Stein left. Actually everyone that was there from the DWMA left. And as soon as they were gone," my voice caught in my throat. "As soon as they w-were gone…Kaluwa came out of hiding." My heart clenched at the memories of those horrible days. So many innocent people died and for no reason other than spite. "Kaluwa took her rage out on the whole continent. We tried to stop her…"

Tsubaki sniffed next to me and it was then that I realized a few tears slid down my cheek. "She was just too much for us. Even after all that training and studying and accomplishments we weren't enough."

"Are you okay Ramla?" Kid asks. He leaned around Helena to look at me and the concern there was touching.

"No—I mean yeah I'm fine. It's just that I thought during that last fight I had with her in Africa I lost Marco…One second I'm wielding him for a killing blow and the next I find myself face first in the dirt. Kaluwa took Marco and vanished. So to see him in that cave," my voice cracked. "It broke my heart to know that he was alive and I did nothing to save him." Helena wrapped her arms around me as I leaned my head on her shoulder. "He really was just like you Maka," I say in between silent sobs. "So strong and stubborn. He planned everything out and then jumped head first into danger. Not to forget he also had a Grigori soul like yours—anti-demon wavelength," I chuckle darkly.

"Could he do the shield thing like me?" she asks. It felt like a distraction, but I embraced it nonetheless.

"Yes and so much more," I looked up and smiled at her. "I can show you sometime."

"That would be amazing!" she smiled right back at me. We laughed for a moment and when the quiet settled around us again I spoke.

"And that's pretty much it. I roamed Africa picking fights and causing problems and occasionally going to the lab or HQ. When Stein found me my soul was tainted and I was so, so close to being a pre-kishin. Coming here and meeting all of you…" I look around the room at all their faces. "It saved my life. So, thank you," I breathe.

"You're welcome!" Black*star bellows with a laugh.


1 Week Later

"Ramla-chan are you sure this is what you want?" Shinigami-sama asks again. Stein and Spirit-san were standing behind him in the Death Room looking forlorn.

"Yes Shinigami-sama," I confirm. "I've already told everyone else. Clarabelle should really be back home and I can't leave her all alone." I bite my lip as my eyes trail over to the little witch. She's been in mourning for a while now, but at least she's laughed and smiled thanks to Tsubaki.

"When are you going to leave?" it was Spirit-san who spoke.

"Classes are over in two days so I'll stay to finish helping with the lessons. Maka has come so far in such a short amount of time with her soul training," I smile at him briefly. "The weapon classes have seen marked improvements and I would like to finish what I started before heading back to Africa." The little witch moved closer to me and grabbed my hand. I squeezed hers before looking at the door.

"Well then I can't stop you. You are one of our best and brightest so whatever you think is best I will go along with," Shinigami-sama concluded. I bowed to him before turning to Stein, he was wearing a particularly nasty scowl today.

"Thank you sir," with that I picked the little witch up and walked out of the Death Room.


3 Days Later

"Oi!" I scream for the third time outside Stein's lab. The door was locked and he imbedded his soul into the lock so I couldn't pick it. "Stein! Let me in you ass!" I pound on the door with all my might. He has avoided me the last two days and it hurt. "I'm leaving in ten hours and you can't even say good-bye?!" I scream as tears stung my eyes.

Finally the door cracks open and he standing there smoking a cigarette. I don't even wipe the tears from my face as I lunge at him through the opening. I sink my nails into his neck as I wrap myself tightly around him. "You're going to come see me right?"

Silence.

"Right?" I say softer. This time he wraps his arms around me and pulls me in closer.

"There's something I need to do first," he murmurs so softly I almost missed it.

"What do you have to do?" Instead of answering he buries his face in my hair and breathes deeply. I flick his ear and huff in annoyance at his lack of response.

"Something I'm working on…I can't leave it just yet," he admits.

"Oh, okay," I push back to look at him. "But you gotta take care of yourself Stein," I trace the dark purple circle under his eye. "I'll be calling Marie at least once a week to make sure you're still alive." He growled at me, but I only laughed. I pulled all the way back to look around the lab one more time. "So…I guess I'll see you later?" I ask hesitantly.

He reaches out and ruffles my hair, "yeah I'll see you later."


1 Month Later

"Can you hand me the carbonate?" the little witch holds out her hand towards me. I laugh at her impatient behavior before handing the vile over to her. She has been a maniac in the lab, trying to finish all of Boss Lady's last experiments. At least she was smiling again and her soul wasn't as burdened. I go back to typing up my latest report when we hear a car pull up. Neither of us move as Alexandre and Dengu walk into the lab.

"Ladies," Alexandre offers as a greeting.

"Hey," I say back as I turn around in my chair. It was a ridiculously hot day and it seemed none of us were really in the mood to wear proper clothing. I laughed at Dengu's bare face. "Too hot for face paint today?"

"Mhm," he grunts at me. "I think you should come with us Ram." At this statement even the little witch turns around to look at them.

"Why?" I ask cautiously.

"There's something you need to see back at HQ," Alexandre says smoothly.

"Am I going to like it?" I ask. I narrow my eyes in suspicion as Dengu sighs in irritation. The little witch walked over to me and stood next to me.

"I'm certain you'll love it," Alexandre smiled broadly. I look at the little witch and she only shrugs her shoulders.

"Fine, let us clean up first. And I need to finish this conclusion—like ten minutes," I offer.

"Alright," Dengu says before heading towards the kitchen. Alexandre merely sits in one of the chairs and looks out the window. The little witch cleans up her experiments and papers while I put the finishing touch on my paper. Once we finish we all head out to our vehicles. The little witch takes to the sky on her broom while I jump on my bike and gun the engine. Dengu and Alexandre took one of the cars from HQ to get here. Without another word we all head out towards HQ.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on here?" I ask as we park our Soul Vehicles.

"You'll see!" Alexandre was having too much fun with this surprise. I can only roll my eyes and follow after them. The little witch was sitting on my shoulder playing with one of her snakes as we entered the elevator. The ride up was awkward as the silence around this unexpected trip kept growing. Once we stepped off Dengu turned immediately towards the conference room. We all follow him without speaking. When he throws the doors open I was not prepared for the sight.

"Surprise!"

"Oh my Death!" I squeal as Helena and Tsubaki hug me from both sides. "Everyone! What are you doing here?" I laugh as I hug Helena.

"Clarabelle-chan!" Tsubaki exclaims as she takes the little witch from my shoulder.

"I thought you were all coming next month? Beach trip right?" I ask confused. Liz laughs as Patty launches herself at me from across the table. I grab her in a hug and Helena stumbles back, but I manage to grab her wrist before she can fall.

"Yeah but we couldn't wait that long," Kid explains.

"Wait that long for what?" I ask. As I say this my eyes trail over to the corner near the mirror. Stein is standing there smoking a cigarette and staring at me with a smirk. "What's going on?" I ask again. Marie never told me he was coming out to Africa.

"We thought after everything you did for us back in Death City," Maka starts.

"That you deserve a nice surprise here in Africa!" Tsubaki finishes. Stein moves closer to me and I rush at him. I wrap my arms around him as he rests his head on top of mine.

"Happy birthday Ram," he whispers.

"Ramie?" a voice behind him calls out. My heart stopped and the world kind of tilted as I peeked under Stein's arm. There was no way. "Ramie you're hurting my feelings here," he laughs. I shove off of Stein and rush around him to come face to face with—"I've missed you."

"Marco!" I sob as he grabs me up in his arms and holds tight. The tears came hot and fast as I held onto him for dear life. "Marco, Marco, Marco…" his name was a prayer on my lips. "H-how? What? How are y-you here?" I ask in a haze.

"We got Stein-san to thank for this," he answers calmly. "He's the reason I survived your un-survivable attack," his laugh shakes the both of us. I turn my head slightly to look at the man who became a second father to me.

"You're not the only one who does research," came his cryptic response.

"You are going to tell me everything later," I growl lightly at him. "But right now…" I turn around to look into the bluest eyes I have ever seen. "Right now I've missed you so much." Marco smiles at me and it stretches his face making his freckles dance and his eyes sparkle. I don't hold back when he leans down and kisses me. Patty and Black*star were making gagging noises while Soul and Helena cheered us on.

When we pulled back I laughed before turning around to look at everyone. Marco did not let go of my hand, 'good I wasn't going to let go either.' I look at Helena and Tsubaki who had tears in their eyes then to Maka and Liz and they gave me a thumbs up. Death the Kid smiled at me as Patty continued to use his hand to cover her eyes. Soul was laughing at Black*star as he screamed about how gross we were being. Stein was standing with Alexandre and Dengu and they were all watching me closely. "Thank you."

"Well now that the reunion is over…" Liz starts. The little witch was latched to the Demon Pistol's hip playing with her hair. "Let's go to the beach!" Marco and I laugh as everyone cheers and moves towards the door. Marco pulls me back and kisses me again. I melt into him as he cradles my face in his hand. I felt a warm familiar weight against my soul and I reached my hand out to stroke it.

'We have a lot of catching up to do,' Marco's voice echoes through my soul.

'We have time,' I answer with a contented sigh. He kisses me once again before we follow all of our news friends outside.


Epilogue

"Okay but I saw your skin dissolving!" I finally snap. Marco and Stein have been giving me the run around for two weeks now. Marco laughed so hard he fell out of his chair.

"I think that blast rattled your brain a little bit Ramie," he managed to say in between fits of laughter. "I was in one piece, but you did get knocked around quite a bit after that explosion."

"So wha…." I don't finish my thought as I glare at Stein. "Explain!"

"Just read the article I wrote on it," Stein drawls out. He threw a folder at me and I grabbed it eagerly.

"The Study of Detaching and Reattaching Souls: Do They Have to Stay in One Body?" I look up at them in bewilderment. "Your soul was bound to Kaluwa's wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Marco admits. "I seriously would have died had Stein-san not acted so quickly."

"When did you figure out his soul was attached to hers?" I accuse.

"Back in that cave," he shrugged nonchalantly. "I started researching it as soon as we got back to the DWMA."

"So…this body," I gesture towards Marco. "Isn't the original?" Both of them had good enough sense to cringe at my tone.

"Well no…once Stein-san took my soul from my body it didn't last long." Marco coughed as a blush spread across his face. I raise my eyebrow at Stein waiting for an answer.

"It belonged to someone who died in that battle Ramla," he was never one to mince words. "I kept the body on ice basically while I tried to figure out how to rebind Marco's soul." I stare at him for a moment before nodding, "I'm so sorry it took me so long."

"Mhm…no it's okay Stein," I stand up from the table and stretch. The small café that we found to have this conversation in was quiet and uncrowded. "I'm just glad you told me." I walk around to their side and kiss him in the cheek. "We should get you to the airport."

Marco stands up and grabs my hand, "so you're not mad at us?" The concern on his face was laughable.

"No Marco I'm not mad," I squeeze his hand. "I'm relieved actually. You're here," I whisper. "And that's all that matters to me." Stein stands up at last and drapes his arm across my shoulders. "Thank you," I say as I lean into his side.

"Anything for you," he responds before laying down some cash. We all walk out wrapped up tightly in one another.

I think I've finally found my peace.


I couldn't feel anymore stupid if I tried. I swear to god I finished this work like...well probably at least 5 months ago. And for some reason I did not post this! Ugh someone kill me know...but this is it. This is The End. Thanks for reading and putting up with me.

Keep it sparkly

xoxo

Sparkles