A.N - Hey! A lot longer chapter this time, and one that (I hope) has a satisfying conclusion. This is (most likely) the penultimate chapter, with an epilogue rounding off the next chapter. Until I get that written, enjoy this one!

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Soul Eater NOT, or any of the other franchises that I've taken cameo characters from.

Franky Scafidi paced back and forth across the floor in his safe bunker, hands linked behind his back, clearly worried. Despite the fact that this bunker, built to survive a nuclear blast among other things was supposed to be impenetrable, Franky couldn't help but imagine that shinigami kid or his friends bursting in here as easily as kicking a wooden door down. His right hand man, Antonio, was sitting on the love seat placed in the bunker — it was, after all, completely furnished, with plush red carpet, a fully-stocked bar, pool and card tables, and armchairs, in addition to the love seat — following his boss with bis eyes, an arm slung across the back of the sofa.

"Relax, Frank," said Antonio. "You're driving yourself — and me — crazy."

"I can't help it," Franky muttered in response. "I'm just...I'm just...it was Death himself that came looking for me, Tony! Death himself!"

Antonio sighs, thinking of a way to calm his best friend. "Well, you know, I did tell you that black-mailing the Devils was going to be a mistake." He crossed his arms, slightly irritated. "But ever since that Callisto entered the picture, it was like I had nothin' good to offer ya. What was up with that, man? I've been your biggest supporter since we were kids!"

"I know, I know!" Franky snapped, glaring at Antonio before sighing himself. "That thing with Callisto...I mean...well, she's a witch. Maybe she put a spell on me."

Antonio's anger faded away, and he grinned, a bit wickedly. "Love potion, eh? Figures that'd be your luck!"

"Yeah, well – "

"AAAAAAAHHHHHAAAA!" Franky, his response interrupted by the sudden scream, jumped, startled, as did Antonio. They both stared at the sealed metal door, where the scream had come from, and where suddenly a human imprint, accompanied by a loud BANG!, appeared. Franky began sweat dropping, even more so when he heard voices on the other side,

"You didn't have to do that, you know...All you've done is hurt yourself." That was a woman's voice.

"I...I have the code, don't you remember me telling you that?" A dfferent voice, a young man's, and familiar. Franky frowned; could it be one of his gang? His lip curled at the thought of a traitor in his ranks.

"Why are you guys talking about? Of course I had to do that!" So there were at least three people out there, two men and a woman, and one of them, to Franky's dismay, was the one who'd literally gotten the drop on him and held a blade to his throat in his office.

"I'm a star!" The swordsman continued. "I have to make a dynamic entrance! I was pretty low-key and menacing in the office, so I really had to bring it for this entrance!"

The woman sighed. "But you haven't even entered yet..."

There was silence for a moment, and then the creaks and pops of the bunker door opening could be heard. Franky and Antonio swore, and both drew their guns, with Antonio moving in front of Franky. When the door opened enough for a person to slip through, the two gangsters began firing, one round after another.

"Tsubaki, Smoke Bomb mode."

"Right."

Suddenly smoke filled the room, and Franky stumbled backwards; he wanted to continue shooting, but held back for fear of hitting Tony. He looked around wildly, trying to see, when he heard a noise to his left. He turned his head —

And the blue-haired swordsman from before appeared in front of him, sword held at nose-level, a dark look in his eye. Franky tried to cry out, but managed only a small squeak before the swordsman cut him down with a single slash.

"Francesco Scafidi," the swordsman said in a cold voice, glaring down at him, "your soul is mine."

...

"KATSU!"

Kid aimed his next attack right at Callisto, who, unfortunately since her upgrade, was not only more agile but also more resistant to his attacks — where before a strong blast from Kid would send her into a wall, the witch now seemingly had no problem taking his attacks head-on. She dodged the one Katsu he'd just released, but the next one caught her in the stomach; her massive body shuddered, and her face was twisted in pain, but then the blast flowed right through her and into the wall behind her. She raised her head slowly to meet Kid's annoyed look, and let out a roar-like laugh.

"Close, but no cigarrrrr, Shinigami-san," she growled at him. Kid frowned, but then chuckled lightly.

"I suppose I should commend you, Callisto," he told her. "You've certainly managed to stave off death for yourself rather well."

"You have my grrrratidue," the witch answered, sounding genuinely pleased. She reared her head back and opened her mouth. Screaming, "Urrrrsa Minorrr Grrrizzly Cannon!" she shot out a beam of intense purple light at Kid.

Kid summoned a Death Block to protect himself; though it was sufficient in shielding him, the shinigami was surprised by the amount of pressure the witch's attack was exerting on the energy shield. Eventually the attack wore off, and Kid dispersed his shield. He frowned at the witch, who at least seemed to be tiring now. How was it that he hadn't managed to defeat one witch in all this time? He took a breath to calm himself, reminding himself that even his honored father had struggled against single opponents in his younger days, such as against the Witch Arachne.

Kid peered at Callisto's soul, trying to come up with the best strategy. Her soul, rather large now because of her power upgrade, was nonetheless wavering at the edges, more so than ever before. It was likely that being in this stronger form so long was taking a toll on her. If he couldn't finish her off himself, maybe he could just wait until she'd used all her energy...

Suddenly Kid's head snapped to the side, away from Callisto and towards a hole in a wall that led to the stairs. Somehow in the course of their battle, they'd ascended a couple floors above Franky's office, their starting place. Now, coming up the extra flights of steps, were Maka and Soul's souls...and...was it really true...yes! A grin started forming on Kid's fave as he felt his partners' soul wavelengths getting closer.

Callisto noticed his distraction and, instead of attacking, turned to also look at the wall. "What?" she demanded, unhappy she was no longer the sole object of his attention. "What arrrre you looking at?"

"Your ruin," Kid answered, as Maka and Liz burst in through the wall, Soul and Patti in their Weapon forms.

The grin grew and stretched across the shinigami's whole face. "Liz!" he cried, beaming, reaching out for them. "Patti!"

"KID!" they yelled back, delighted. Liz had a giant smile on her face, and Kid could feel Patti was just as happy, her soul exuberant. Liz started running towards him, and threw Patti up in the air; the younger Thompson transformed and joined her sister in tackling their meister in a hug. The three of them squeezed each other, laughing with joy at being reunited. They'd been separated for weeks, each party worried for the other's safety, confused and uncertain about the future – but now all was well. Kid had his partners, his friends back, and everything else that followed — finishing off Callisto and Franky, rebuilding Death City, reconnecting with the witches — would practically be a piece of cake now.

Kid and the girls drew back to look each over; to Kid's relief, they didn't seem too worse for wear. "I'm so glad to see you two," he told them.

Patti hugged him again, quickly, before pulling back to say, "So are we! We're SUPER happy to see you, too, Kid! Yay, we're all back together again!"

Liz clapped a hand on Kid's shoulder. "It really is great to be back," she said, voice suddenly sounding choked, possibly with tears.

Kid opened his mouth to respond, when he was interrupted by a loud growl. The three of them turned to see Callisto baring her fangs at them, saliva dripping from her open mouth.

"Excuse me," she snarled. "But did you thrrrree forrrrget something?"

Liz and Patti looked at one another, then at Kid, then back at the witch. Liz then sighed. "Man, Kid," she said lightly to her meister, "can you not do anything without us around? Not even take down a measly little witch like her?" Liz's tone turned more hostile on the last word, the rage she felt towards the witch still simmering in her soul.

Kid smiled, replying, "Well, you know how much I depend on you two. And what's a shinigami without his scythes?" He held out his hands, and with determination in their eyes, Liz and Patti transformed into twin pistols and landed solidly in their meister's palms. Kid leveled them at Callisto.

"Don't worry," he said. "We haven't forgotten you." He then began firing in rapid succession. Callisto took many of them at full force, flashes of pain on her face; clearly she wasn't as hardy as she'd been moments before.

Taking a deep breath, the witch chanted, "Grrrrizzly, Polarrr, Panda Bearrr...Grrrizzly, Polarrrr Panda Bearrr...Urrrsa Majorrr!" Once more, purple light surrounded the witch, and when it subsided, she had grown larger, her teeth longer, and her claws sharper, if the welts in the floor boards were any indication. With an entirely inhuman roar, Callsto got down on all fours and charged the shinigami.

Kid went to defend himself, but then Maka, Soul in hand, leapt in front of Callisto and slashed her across the chest, eliciting a howl of pain and anger, and causng the witch to rear backwards. Attack successful, Maka dropped beside Kid.

"Thanks, Maka," Kid said to his friend, eyes still trained on the witch.

"Yeah, no problem," the scythe meister responded. She peered at Callisto, then made a small noise of surprise. "Kid, her soul –"

Kid spared Maka a glance. "I think I know, but what?"

"It's – it's like it's shrunk," Maka answered, sounding puzzles. "It was normal a moment ago!"

"Hmm," Kid said, tensing as Callisto let loose another roar and looked straight at them. "It must be this form she just entered, this Ursa Major. It's probably a last resort technique for her, because it puts so much stress on her."

"Then she should be easy to beat, right?" said Liz. "With the three of us working together again?"

"Most likely," Kid agreed. He paused a moment, thinking, then asked his partners, "What do you say, we finish her off now? Think we can do it?"

"Yeah!" cried Patti, eager to finish what she'd started before Franky interrupted. "Let's do it!"

Kid nodded, then closed his eyes, reaching out with his soul to Liz's and Patti's, and felt them doing the same. He felt full, complete with them near him, strengthened by ther bond. Opening his eyes wide, he shouted in unison with Liz and Patti,

"Soul Resonance!"

Bright light enveloped Kid and the Thompsons, and the sisters' gun forms grew and elongated to become cannon-like, looking like extensions of Kid's own arms. "Death Penalty: Execution Mode Acquired."

Callisto snarled, and began bounding towards the shinigami. Kid raised his cannons, his soul wavelength pulsing inside the barrels. He said, "Death Cannon," and fired.

The attack caught Callisto dead on, and she screamed and howled as the blast incinerated her; the sounds were very animalistic, and seemed to confirm Kid's theory that the witch's Ursa Major form came at a cost. When the dust cleared, all that was left of the Witch Callisto was a small, dark purple soul with rounded bear ears floating in place.

Kid, Liz, and Patti deactivated Soul Resonance, and Liz ad Patti returned to their human forms; Soul quickly followed suit. Kid walked up to Callisto's soul and grabbed it, pocketing it in a dimensional pocket he had access to as Shinigami-sama. He turned to his Weapons and said somewhat sheepishly, "I would let you two decide which one gets her soul, but you know the witches would be down my throat for not respecting their burial practices. I know we're not at fault, but I do still want to smooth over relations with them."

His Weapons nodded in understanding. "It's okay, Kid," Liz said. "We understand."

Kid nodded in acknowledgement, then looked around at his frends' faces. "Well," he began, "now that that's over...should we go find Black*Star and Tsubaki?"

Soul chuckled. "I'm surpirsed we haven't heard him exclaiming his victory over Franky from the rooftops by now."

"Maybe he hasn't won yet," Maka mused, a small twinkle in her eye. "Maybe he needs our help."

Liz grabbed one of Kid's hands and Patti grabbed the other. "Then what are we waiting for?" Liz demanded. "Let's go!" The rest of them nodded, and followed her out the door.