{[( Well, I did say hopefully it won't be more than a year. Either way, here is chapter 9 of the story. I honestly have no idea how I'm going to end this, but I hope I can come up with something. I don't want this story to go on forever.)]}
"Man, that flight went by too fast. I barely got any sleep." Soul said, walking off of a plane.
"I thought it was fun. We never get to fly on airplanes!" Patty said.
Liz did not share the same enthusiasm. "That turbulence was horrible…"
"Ah that was nothing. Especially not for a big man like me." Black*Star said.
Soul looked over at him. "Then how come your legs are still shaking?"
Once the group got their bags, they were met by a familiar face.
"Hey there, Maka." Soul said, waking up to her with a smile.
She returned the smile. "Hey." She said.
"Where's Kid?" He asked, looking around.
"Oh he's off researching stuff, so he had me come to get you. The hotel isn't that far away from here, so we can just walk." Maka said, turning and walking with Soul.
"So, Maka, how've things been?" Soul asked. "Haven't heard from you much since you came out here."
She laughed nervously. "Oh, not much has happened, really."
"Oh is that so? So you don't like Kid then?" He asked, nonchalantly, catching her off guard. "That's a shame, you two would be cool together."
"Wait, where did you hear that from?" Maka asked, not remembering having told him about her crush on Kid.
"Huh? Liz told me."
Maka slowly turned around with a glare. "Oh she did, huh?"
"So, when did it start?" He asked. "Ordinarily I wouldn't care about this sort of stuff, but since you're we're partners and all…"
Maka nodded. "Well it started when… Wait, when did I start to like him?" She asked.
"Wait, you seriously don't know?" He asked, surprised.
"Of course I do… I think." She said, uncertain of her response. "I didn't start noticing my feelings until this trip, but aside from that… I don't know when it started. It sort of just came out of nowhere." She said.
"What came out of nowhere?" Tsubaki asked.
"Her crush on Kid." Soul said.
"Oh that." She said, smiling.
"Wait a second, does everyone know?" Maka asked.
"Uh… Well not everyone. Just… Everyone we know." Liz said.
Maka glared at her. "You told everyone?"
Meanwhile, Kid was taking a break from collecting information. "How incredibly disappointing." He said in disgust. "With nothing to go on aside from urban legends, how am I supposed to find anything concrete about the Slenderman?" He asked.
Taking a deep breath, he decided to try to think about something else. No matter what he thought of, his thoughts always came back to the Slenderman. "How are we supposed to defeat something when we can't get any accurate information about it?"
Thankfully, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking at his door. He walked to the door, opening it to see all his companions from the DWMA standing there.
"S'up dude. Heard you two were in a bit of a rough spot." Soul said with a smirk.
"That could not be much more correct. Where are Stein and Death Scythe?" Kid asked.
"They're going to be a bit. They missed the flight." Soul replied.
Kid nodded. "I see. Well, I'm sure they know the nature of what we're up against." He stepped aside, allowing everyone entrance to his room. "Now then, please come inside. I'll share the information I've managed to gather with you all."
Everyone filed into the room, Maka and Kid exchanging a look as she passed, the door closing behind them.
{[( I know this chapter was short, but the next one is going to be one long discussion between all the characters and I didn't want this to run too long.)]}