"Ok Soul, you ready?"

I called out as I lifted my backpack, getting ready to finally go out and find Blackstar and Tsubaki's hideout. We brought all the supplies we thought we needed and made sure to use the secret passage to get out safely.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean they did tell us not to let anyone in or out."

Soul asked me questioningly as we headed toward the basement.

"Well, I don't know what else to do, nothing in the lab will help me, I need to be out there, maybe even find a candidate to work on, and the only place to do that would be with tight security, along with lots of weapons to help prevent anything from going wrong. I already radioed Tsubaki and she told me their location, she told me to set the alarm before we go and to just follow the trail and to be careful. There shouldn't be any of those monsters getting down into the underground parts of town, especially if they want human souls."

I retorted as we were finally at the door, I had Soul go out first as I took a deep breath, asked if we had everything we needed and set the alarm.

"Ok, here we go."

I stated firmly, trying not to be nervous, though I felt as though my sin was the only thing keeping me together.

"Hmm, we can do it Maka, I know it. Just try not to cause too much damage when we get to that lab."

Soul teased, I knew he was trying to ease my nerves.

"Alright, let's go."

I bundled up all my belongings and we left, knowing we'd never go back to that house where I felt safe. But now that I think about it, I was slowly beginning to feel trapped there, almost as if that house was consuming me, it was nice to actually get out even if the fear of coming across one of those monsters.

"Ok, it shouldn't be too much further up."

I huffed as we had approached what looked like a door with yellow and black caution tape.

"Sure looks like the place, you let Tsubaki know that we're here?"

Soul looked at me as he raised an eyebrow.

"I'll radio her right now."

I took the radio out as I heard her voice on the other side, shortly after she opened up the door and welcomed us in.

"It's good to see you again. Come in, I'll show you to your room."

Tsubaki led us into the hideout and we realized there were a number of people sitting at tables, cleaning guns and weapons, eating simple meals, but there was one common attribute they all had . . . there was no life in there eyes. Determination, hatred, and a slight hint of fear replaced it.

"You two will be staying here, I hope it's comfortable for you. We'll be having a meeting tomorrow morning about what we plan to do about all this. And Maka, it'll be best to prepare what you'll say about everything going on and what you know about the entire situation, everyone will be curious."

Tsubaki looked rather seriously at me.

"Understood, I'll have everything ready for it."

I nodded as I began to put all my things away.

"Jeez, I never expected . . . this."

Soul put his palm up to his face, appearing to be shocked from what he first saw when we walked in.

"Makes me feel guilty for living in a pleasant sort of way with the two of us, but everyone else was suffering so much."

I fell to the ground and began to weep.

"Hey Maka, don't think about it like that, you've been trying to figure out a way to stop all this."

Soul consoled me as he held me close, petted my hair, and kissed my head.

"Soul, we HAVE to help them! I won't let anymore harm come to these people."

I grabbed the back of his shirt, took a deep breath and stopped crying. I stood, as did Soul, hugged him, and put away the rest of my things and went to wash up.

"Well, guess I'd better put my stuff away too."

Soul quickly shoved his things in a few drawers and went to lie on the bed, resting his eyes for a moment.

"Maka!"

Soul jumped out of bed, the look of terror in his eyes, he looked around the room and saw me laying next to him, though I stirred slightly when Soul called my name out.

"Soul, what is it?"

I rubbed my eyes and looked over at him with concern.

"I'm sorry to wake you, I had a nightmare, you, you sacrificed yourself to save everyone. You, you were gone."

Soul felt his eyes tear up as I got up and hugged him, his face betwixt my breasts as he hugged me and simply told himself that I was right there with him.

"Soul, I'll always be here for you. And I do want to help these people, I am scared, but I think I'm more so determined to put an end to all of this."

I petted him as he nodded his head.

"Now, let's go to bed, we'll talk more in the morning, ok?"

I looked at him with love in my eyes.

"Yeah, ok."

Soul sat up, wiping his eyes.

"Hmm, and I'm going to have a meeting with Tsu and Blackstar and everyone else, remember? Everything will be fine, we can't go charging out into the battlefield without a plan now can we?"

I stroked his head as I cupped his face and kissed him gingerly.

"You're right, I'm sorry."

Soul looked down.

"Don't apologize, it happens to the best of us. It's understandable."

I held his chin and looked him sternly in the eye.

"Ok, if you say so."

Soul smiled showing his sharp shark-like teeth as he got under the covers and patted the empty space next to him. I crawled over to him and snuggled next to him under the covers and we fell back to sleep.

"All right everyone, settle down!"

Tsubaki raised her voice as everyone settled down.

"Now, Maka, or Dr. Albarn I should say, has inside information on the situation at hand."

Tsubaki introduced me as I stood and walked to the front of the room, I was in simple business attire with my hair in a neat bun.

"Good morning all, no formalities needed, Maka is just fine. I'd like first to give you a backstory; I worked at the asylum where the first signs of this psychological disorder began. I was one of the psychologists who was observing the case of Asura and I found interestingly enough, it seems that no matter who approaches these . . . creatures, feel fear and are no match against them. However, my colleague has pointed out one vital aspect, we cannot lie to ourselves and say we're not afraid, but admit that we are, but we're willing to face our fear in order to end this. My belief is that if we stop Asura, the rest will follow suit, still the problem is the followers that are appearing rapidly and mysteriously. Thus I will need assistance in distracting them. I still believe that these creatures are still people and they can be saved, I do not want harm inflicted on them, we will thus be using tranquilizers and that is all. I do not recommend hand-to-hand combat, we need a long distance, since Asura and his followers seem to be able to create, or kill people within a close rand. Now, any questions?"

I looked around the room to see a lot of stunned faces.

"WELL, THAT'S THAT THEN. LET'S GET THESE TRANQUILIZER GUNS GOING PEOPLE!"

Blackstar clapped his hands together as everyone stood and began preparing.

"What do need us to do Maka?"

Tsubaki and Soul approached me.

"Hmm, I'll need some gear, light weight, and a long distance weapon, do you have a pole of some sort?"

I looked at Tsubaki.

"I'll take a look, but I'm sure my girls and I can get that for you."

Tsubaki nodded as she walked away and took a handful of girls with her to the weapon room.

"Hey."

Soul put his hand on my shoulder as I looked up at him.

"Hey Soul, I'll need all your support. I'll need you to be my right hand man; you'll need gear too. Go help the men prepare tranquilizer guns, and get gear from Tsubaki. Next is going to the range to practice our shooting."

I ordered him as he nodded his head and I went to change and headed for the range with practice bullets and tranquilizers with Tsubaki. The hardest part must have been the recoil after each shot, but I made sure to adjust my small frame to it. I was there everyday, practicing, if I wasn't there, I was working out, if I wasn't found at either the gym or the range, I was checking on how everything was coming along. I also made sure to use scouts, though they had to be snipers, with a good eye. Everything seemed to be coming together nicely as I tried on my gear and practiced moving in it, shooting, running, and managing to hold up all the weight.

"Tsu, Blackstar, Soul, I think we're ready."

I nodded as Tsu said she'd gather everyone together and recruit a small unit to be the distraction, along with an offense and a defense for our base.

My heart was pounding so hard I thought that surely everyone around me could hear it. It was as if it wasn't all really happening, but it was, they were hiding, with those animals not too far away, I swore I could hear them breathing, rough heavy breathing, inhumane, very fast pace, and very deep. I signaled the offensive team to hold their places until the signal. Soul nodded at me, kissing me one last time before we'd run out into the open, assuring the people that we WOULD put a stop to all this madness, no matter the cost. I inhaled deeply as I realized there was no better time than the present to face my fears, thus I nodded my head and sprang up, instantly shooting one of the monsters in the leg, to which it fell to the ground with a thud, the other next to it bore its fangs and charged me, Soul instantly fired another shot, much closer to the chest this time, it too fell to the floor, not before putting up a fight. Suddenly a loud howl was heard, an ear-piercing cry that sent chills down everyone's spine as we braced ourselves. Suddenly I was looking in the eyes of Asura. I froze, my heart skipped a beat as Soul called after me, and all I could hear was bits and pieces of his voice as I realized he was telling me to face my fear that they were all counting on me. I gripped my gun as I gritted my teeth and faced him, headstrong and bravely.

"I'm not afraid to admit that I'm afraid of you!"

I stated loudly as Asura gritted his teeth, though he felt a small sting of pain but it didn't affect him to the point of being defeated. It was as if he smiled at me, mocking the fact that I attempted to stand up to him. It was as if he was looking into my soul, trying to find any piece of fear in order to gain more power. I felt as though a tornado was going on in my mind, mixed feelings of fear and bravery spiraling around one another to form a small spark of courage that was beginning to formulate a fire within me.

"And I'm not afraid to face you!"

I took out a knife and stabbed him in the heart as he shrieked, suddenly a dark cloud formed overhead as a bright light appeared, Asura turned to dusk as the creatures began to return to human form, being taken to the hospital. I could feel my heart pounding; my throat even seemed to throb as I felt my eardrums aching.

"I did it."

I smiled as tears streamed down my ash stained cheeks.

"You sure did."

Soul squeezed my ass as I turned around and we kissed. Everyone surrounded us as we all cheered. It all seemed so surreal, as if it was all one big nightmare.

"Good night precious one."

I turned off the lights to the nursery as I felt something hard behind me.

"Hey."

A low-pitched growl emerged by my ear.

"Hey babe. I thought you were in bed?"

I turned to look at Soul.

"Nope, couldn't wait."

He picked me up and carried me to our room.

"You know I don't intend to have ten children."

I giggled.

"Nah, five will do."

Soul chuckled.

"Five!"

I covered my mouth when I realized how loud I'd said it. Soul shushed me.

"I can barely handle one, and besides, you yourself still act like a kid."

I kissed him as he began to strip me down.

"That's one of the many reasons why you love me. Besides, I have my talents."

Soul smirked.

"Oh yea, like what?"

I smiled at him suggestively.

"Like this."

Soul stripped in one motion, flipped us over and began kissing me, using his tongue to tease me as he nibbled at my perfect creamy skin making small bit marks as I moaned.

"Oh, and that's supposed to impress me?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"This too."

Soul smirked as he went betwixt my legs and went for my sensitive spot as I moaned even louder as I climaxed, he entered me soon after as we began working on our second child.

Things were much different, true there were those who suffered PTSD, but there were ways to cope, lots of counseling helped, and times like these seemed to do a lot of good, but one thing was for certain this town was progressing. Soul and I found that their little Soma was an angel in disguise, she helped me find the bright side of life, even if I had Soul by my side, there was still an uncertainty of things at times but Soma made life much more precious than it had been before.

END