MAKA ALONE

2 months, 1 week after Asura

She found it strange that she couldn't hear. Even if the town itself was strange; mushed newspaper gray, that was probably the only thing she could find to be off-putting. The people seemed to be shadows, and as long as she didn't speak, they wouldn't be able to hurt her. They stretched towards the sky and if she breathed too hard, they would turn their heads down and she would see into their deep, black eyes that seemed to hold an eternity within them.

She weaved between street lamps and the giant legs and feet, which resembled elephant's feet, trying to find a way out. There were storefronts and apartment doors, a few busses, and cars; but they were all nondescript, all gray and almost two-dimensional against the background. This all seemed fake, but the stomp of another foot beside her reminded her that it was real and that she needed to get out of here now.

She ducked behind a corner and took in a deep breath, and was plunged back into darkness; it was like a thick, heavy ocean, and if she stared at it hard enough, it seemed to turn into a bright, endless light. Like a small galaxy hidden in a black hole; there was no push or pull but simply a crushing amount of pressure. Maka opened her mouth to gasp for another breath, but only felt her lungs fill up with a viscous liquid. She choked and desperately tried to find a single bubble of air, but only more of the liquid filled her, leaking from her eyes and crawling out from her nose and ears. She hoped for death, almost begged for it, when she sat up in her own room.

She could hear Soul on the other side of the door, talking to himself. It was a strange, garbled tongue he spoke in; something she didn't recognize. She crawled towards the door and tried to open it, only to find that the door handle was a thousand feet in the air. Maka jumped as high and as hard as she could, she tried running up the door, she tried climbing it - all to no avail. She kicked the door and watched as the handle turned slowly. It began to open very slowly towards her, and she realized she would be swept away if she didn't run away. Maka ran as fast as she could and was barely out of the door's range when she saw Soul's shoe step down hard next to her.

"Maka?" She heard him call, his voice distorted and hoarse-sounding. She shrieked up at him and he looked around wildly. Her voice only confused and upset him and she watched him walk to her bed and sit down. He spotted her on the floor and his eyes grew wide before he reached down and picked her up delicately.

"How did you get so tiny?" He asked, and she tried to bite him in retaliation. He didn't feel it, and he chuckled to himself. She felt a bit of relief; Soul could help her get back to normal. At least, she didn't have to be alone anymore.

The pressure of his hand around her slowly began to increase and before she could fully understand what was happening, before her mind could process the betrayal, Soul had crushed her in his hand and she was oozing out from between his fingers, dripping harshly on the floor.

She screamed when the drop to the floor changed into a swampy, wooded area. The air was damp, and the sounds of bugs and frogs rang deep into the night. Maka took a hestitant step forward, trying to get the rhythm of dripping onto the floor out of her mind. Her pace was slow and cautious as she navigated the swamp, wondering what question to ask first that would begin to make sense of what was happening to her.

Where was she? Where was she a few minutes ago? It all seemed to be like a dream, but being crushed and drowning both felt completely real; it made her spine tingle to remember the way her bones crunched in Soul's palm. Shaking the thought from her head, her vigor was renewed and she stomped through the sludge and the muck. She tried to think what could have gotten her here - was she having a vivid dream? Or was she stuck in her mind; was she in another coma? No, it all seemed too painful for it to be fake.

This all had to be real. But how was she being thrown around from reality to reality? What had happened that would do something like this? She ducked under a branch and something clicked in her mind when the fog settled long enough for her to see a building in the distance.

Medusa's lair was just as intimidating as it was the first -and last- time she had been there. As she waded in through the door, she was mildly surprised that the sconces were all lit. She made her way through the halls, a faint dripping sound sending her into a full panic as she began to run.

"My, how unbecoming." The voice drifted through the corridors, and as though a curtain opened beside her, Medusa was sitting on a tall pillar; a beam of light focused on her. Maka went into a defensive stance, her heart beating wildly. The witch's grin grew wider as she hopped down before the meister, blocking her punch. Maka swung her leg at Medusa, who caught it and threw Maka into a wall. She pinned her to it and chuckled deeply, a snake seeping from her mouth as her eyes narrowed.

"You seem much different this time around."

"I killed you." Medusa frowned and let the girl go before pointing to her stomach. A bloody, red line showed where Maka had severed her. Maka inspected the wound, poking and prodding it while Medusa stood still. The flesh wasn't connected, and it was still dripping with fresh blood. She looked up at the witch who was smiling back down at her condescendingly.

"Oh, but you have. You're as bad as Stein was when he came crawling to me. Someone unspun your entire soul." She laughed this time, a rumble that Maka felt in her own chest. Disgusted, she pushed passed Medusa and tried to walk away. The torso of the snake witch followed her, taunting and goading Maka into arguing with her. The meister stayed quiet, and soon Medusa was silent as well.

The halls of the compound became rocky and uneven, and they wound endlessly. The wall sconces were placed unevenly in each hallway, barely perceptible to anyone. But for some reason, it stuck out to her. She followed them, leading to a large room with a long table in the middle.

"Why are you here?"

"We're locked inside of your mind. I'm a fragment of your imagination. I believe I'm supposed to deliver some sort of important message to you, but I like toying with you much more."

"Then I want you to go away."

"It doesn't work like that, Maka." Medusa purred at her, reaching out to touch her face. Maka smacked her hand away and she pouted before joining her legs back to her body. She walked beside Maka until the scenery changed again, and she disappeared.

Maka was in class now, sitting beside Crona and Soul while Stein lectured them in a monotonous voice that seemed almost garbled to her; she recognized all the students, but there was something off about everything. Their colors and voices were mixed up. The air was stale and oddly damp, leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

Black*Star cut down the door with a large zanbato, cackling the whole way as he cut Stein into giggling pieces. Tsubaki was outraged; why was he wielding another weapon again?

"Mine doesn't cut through rice paper!"

She was in her house very suddenly; the living room. She was reading her favorite book, one her Papa had gotten for her. She had read it thousands of times, but the words weren't showing up on the pages. There was a heavy thud against the front door and the handle was wrestled with for a few moments before Soul swung the door open.

His chest was torn open and she knew he was missing a foot. His left eye was cut out and he was breathing hard, limping into the apartment and collapsing soon after. Maka ran to him, pressing her hands to his wounds and calling for Blair. The cat retrieved the items for Maka swiftly and without question as she held Soul, whispering to him and waiting for his slow, quiet replies.

Her mind was racing, trying to burn his stump shut and block out his scream of agony. There was blood covering her lap, some in her hair, all over the floor. Blair's hands shook as she desperately tried to wipe away the blood on his chest, to find the wound; more blood pooled over his breastplate and he gasped for breath. Maka's hands were working in tandem with Blair's, the foul stench of burning flesh engraved in her mind.

There was no wound on his chest, but still, it continued to bleed. Maka asked Blair to go get help, get Stein, get anyone. Losing Soul was not an option. It never was. Blair was out the front door in seconds, in her cat form, heading towards the school. His breathing was normal now, his chest still bleeding. He tried to talk to her, to ask what was going on, but she hushed him as she wiped the blood from his face with her thumb.

He was going to be fine, in theory. In practice, he died in her arms.

Maka's eyes grew wide and she was painfully aware of the amount of blood that was on her. Soul's blood. And he was dead, one eye staring back at her, pleading for a few more moments of life. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall, when she heard a static sound from somewhere behind her.

"Stop trying to fight this, Maka." Agnes was there, pushing Soul's body away from her and pulling Maka to her feet. Her wide eyes were trained on Agnes, wondering why she was here; what pain could she inflict upon the meister?

The blood was gone from her clothes now, and the scenery of her apartment had faded away, but Agnes was still there - clutching her arms and staring at her with that flat look. Maka didn't understand why it was Agnes, and she didn't understand what the other meister was trying to say. Convinced now that she had truly succumbed to madness, she shoved her away.

"What are you saying? You aren't real!"

"If you keep fighting, you won't be able to transform. Then you will be mad for nothing, and you will never be able to go back." There was something strange about Agnes; her voice wasn't distorted, like everyone else's. Her form was flickering like a bad television picture, and her arms were folded over her chest. The absurdity of what she was saying rang within her mind, making her wonder where this information was coming from.

Maka was plunged back into the darkness, all of her questions dying on her lips. Agnes watched her plummet deeper into despair and closed her eyes. After a few moments, Maka's madness fell away from her and she was brought back to the long table occupied by Mosquito and Giriko. She was surprised when Justin Law joined them only moments later. He sat down at the table slowly, drawing the attention to himself. With a satisfied smirk he divulged to the group that he abandoned the DWMA a few days ago, when Maka's soul had been unravelled.

"Maka Albarn has succumbed to madness. Our plans are going into motion-"

"No. They aren't." Justin leaned forward in his chair, curious about her rude interruption of his triumphant speech. Her blank stare was rather unnerving, and he had to admit that if Mosquito hadn't joined in, Law would have looked away first.

"What's the word from our kishin?"

"Maka is indeed on the edge of madness, but Justin Law failed to inform any of us that she has a grigori soul..." Giriko's eyes found hers, and for a moment they completely understood each other. Agnes had felt something blocking her off from Maka, but there was a definite connection. The only logical answer was that her soul was immune to the twisting and cursing it would take to turn her.

"You supplied them with a pure soul? It says explicitly within the first few pages that a soul like that won't work. Are you kidding me? This is bullshit." Giriko kicked his feet onto the table and leaned back haphazardly in his chair, and to Justin's amusement, Agnes nodded in agreement. He felt the corner of his mouth twitch in annoyance. He stood up and smiled at everyone in the room, who were all immediately off-put by the coldness of it.

"Well, then, we'll just have to find someone else."