Ame, Kid, Maka, Blackstar, and their weapons all headed out as soon as Ame was back on her feet. Azusa had recovered a name and location for their possible culprit; a demon who called himself the Puppet Master. He wasn't interested in souls; he was interested in people's bodies. He would make puppets out of them to do his evil bidding. Their search led them to Geneva, Switzerland, in an abandoned warehouse.

"It's always a creepy warehouse," Liz complained in her weapon form. "What was this warehouse used for? Halloween props?"

"Worse," Kid replied. "A porcelain doll company."

"Why did we have to take this mission?" Liz cried. "Why? Why?!"

"Get over it," Kid sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Nagi's lips pulled back over his teeth in a wolfish smirk. "We'll be done here soon. Let's just get this over with."

The Puppet Master; Are You Even Human?

Kid led the team into the warehouse, slowly opening the heavy double doors to reveal the inside. At least thirty stray souls were floating throughout the large space, shedding light upon the room's contents. It was like an art gallery; corpses posed and placed in different corners of the storage unit. Most of the corpses were obviously unfinished; some were just half-posed and unorderly.

"Disgusting," Maka said.

"Who would do this?" Tsubaki asked quietly.

Ame continued to venture in curiously, slipping behind a curtain. Kid tried to keep up with her.

"Ame," he said, pulling the curtain back. "Don't run… off…."

Ame was standing in front of one of the dolls. It was standing still, gazing skyward. The body was obviously that of a female, dressed in a crimson hakama and a white kimono top. Her hair was bleached white. Her right eye was tinted yellow from colored contacts, and her left eye, which had been gouged out, was replaced by a smooth emerald stone. Ame reached out to timidly brush the doll's face.

"It's… me," she said. She took a step back. There were more models like her; they were all made to look like her, neglecting her wolf ears and tail. They were all in different positions. No one said anything. There really wasn't anything to say.

"What kind of sick pervert is this guy?" Soul asked. "I've never seen anyone with an obsession with Ame before."

"Why is he doing this?" Maka asked. "I thought he wanted puppets. Not—dolls?"

Ame paused when she saw what was obviously the Puppet Master's best work. It was Ame, of course, lying on a row of boxes, wrapped in a red, velvet comforter. Her arms were extended above her head, and her eyes were closed, as if she was sleeping. It was sickening.

"This is all wrong," Ame whispered.

"Ame, back away," Kid warned.

"I'm not like this," Ame continued, her voice rising in anxiety. "I wouldn't—!"

"Ame," Kid took her arm and pulled her away. She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Kid, do I really look like that?" she asked. "Is Ame really… human?"

"No, never," Kid replied firmly.

"So she's an animal, is she?" a voice leered from the darkness. The others turned, readying themselves for battle. There he was—the Puppet Master. He was tall, and cloaked in thick black robes. His hair hung to the ground in silver waves, his eyes concealed by his choppy bangs. He reached out and held one of his dolls close. "I guess I should make another doll."

"You disgust me," Kid growled, pushing Ame behind him and assuming the crime stance. "Puppet Master, you've caused numerous deaths and used your victims' bodies for your perversion of a goddess. We judge you for this act of crime."

"Rise, puppets!" the demon commanded, holding his hands out. The puppets began to move, a web of string spreading across the warehouse.

"Ame," Kid said. The girl transformed into a white wolf and growled at her enemy. He wouldn't let him go for defiling her in such a way.

The puppet wrapped in velvet sat up and looked at them. She tilted her head as his strings compelled her to do his bidding. He loved her so…. That's all it could have been, right? She felt her arms reach up like she had no control of them. She was nothing more than his puppet now. Her head rolled to the side as she began to dance slowly.

The battle began; stone and clay crashing and crumbling as it was broke. Wires strained and stretched against metal and skin, cutting through what it could. Maka lunged at one of the dolls, stabbing it through the chest. She winced as the puppet string wrapped around her arm. She jerked away, cutting the string with the blade of her scythe.

"Maka, be careful!" Soul chided. "Don't let that string wrap around you, or you're done for."

"Got it," Maka dodged a blow from one of the puppets.

"Man, it's like a corpse party in here," Ame said, lunging at another puppet to rip it to pieces.

"Is this really the time, Ame?" Kid asked, slightly annoyed at her careless anime/game reference.

"Well, when else are we going to be in a room full of corpses?" Ame asked.

"Plenty!" Kid replied, shooting one of the cords.

"She's so feisty," the Puppet Master mused from where he watched them battle. "I want her for my collection."

"This is pointless!" Blackstar shouted. "We're not getting anywhere killing something that's already dead."

"And when we cut the cords, they just tie back together," Soul added.

"We need to destroy them at their source," Maka said.

"But there's a bundle of cords protecting him," Liz said. "How do we break through?"

"Maka, use Witch Hunter," Kid ordered. "After you break through, we'll try everything we can to defeat him."

"Right," Maka nodded. "You ready, Soul?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go, Soul Resonance!"

Soul Eater

"It's no use, girl," Puppet Master said. "I won't let anyone but Ame break through."

"Witch Hunter!"

Maka lunged, driving her scythe forcefully through the bundle of strings and cords. The Puppet Master fought all her could, but he was no match for her. His hands, entangled in the mess of string, were shredded clean off as the cord broke. The puppets collapsed and the others shifted their full attention to the master.

"No!" he cried, staring at the bloody stumps at the ends of his wrists. "This can't happen! You did this!"

He glared at Ame, who growled.

"You're nothing more than a cruel god, a manifestation of cruelty and evil! You liar! You don't deserve to be god, and you don't deserve to fool everyone into thinking you're human, you wolf!"

Ame's head swung to the side as if he'd hit her. While he'd admired her, although perversely, Ame's strength had been prevalent. However, now that he hated her, blasphemed her, the power was crushed. It was leeched out of her and thrown into a sea of despair and broken dreams.

"Don't talk to her that way," Kid growled.

"Tsubaki, Enchanted sword mode," Blackstar commanded, charging at the demon.

"Let's keep going, Soul."

"Liz, Patti, Soul Resonance."

Ame snapped out of her reverie and charged at the Puppet Master. She attacked with all her might, and he wasn't formidable at all. A few solid hits had him down on his knees. Ame stalked forward, ready to end this battle.

"Why are you so enamored with the image of a pure human body?" she asked.

"Because a pure human body would not truly be human at all," he replied quietly. "It would be something I can touch, and I can love, without any defilement taking place. I just wanted you. But a wolf… is a demon!"

With his last ounce of strength, he threw a bundle of metal wire at her, which spread underneath her skin and inside her body, petrifying her. She was thrown against the opposite wall.

"Just as I suspected!" Puppet Master laughed. "You're weaker in your human form!"

"You don't know anything about me," Ame growled, baring her fangs.

"I know of your purity, but of your strength, you have none! Only a human can truly die! Even your boyfriend can't be immortal as a human!"

"Shut up!" Ame snarled, straining to stand on her own two feet. She trembled as she straightened her legs, but she didn't give up. She opened her mouth wider in a loud snarl. "I have enough strength to kill you, worshipper!"

She lunged across the room in one powerful bound, The Puppet Master collapsed in a pool of blood.

"I wish you had made it easy," she growled.

"Ame, are you okay?" Kid asked seriously. Ame looked down. The wire had split into several pieces, breaking through her skin in some places. She shook her fur out, splattering small droplets of blood on the floor.

"I'll be fine," she said. "The black blood in my body will dissolve the wires.

"Okay," Kid nodded, still rather uncertain. What was it that the puppet master had said about death? What was his reason to believe Kid wasn't immortal?

"Well, that happened," Blackstar said as the weapons took their human forms.

"I've never seen anyone with such an obsession with you, Ame," Maka noted.

"Yeah, not even Kid is that obsessed with you!" Liz laughed.

"Shut up, Liz," Kid rolled his eyes, blushing.

"I hope you're not jealous," Liz continued to pester him.

"I said shut up!"

Just trying to get as many chapters as possible up while I'm on my two-week summer vacation :) I don't think I'll post much more until I get a few reviews, just in case anyone has suggestions that I could put in the next few chapters for some filler.