"Hey Black*Star," Tsubaki whispered as they walked the school in. Their weekend had passed peacefully. They'd spend their saturday at the gym and sunday they went on a mission, which ended up as a succeed for a change. "Have you talked to Soul lately?"

Black*Star, who was walking next to his weapon, eyes closed, opened one eye to look at the girl. She seemed to be nervous. "Ah no, why?"

"Well usually he lets something hear from himself," Tsubaki explained. "I'm a little worried."

Black*Star smiled reassuringly at Tsubaki. "He won't do anything stupid Tsu, don't worry. He'll be fine."

Tsubaki nodded, trying to listen to her meister's advice. They made their way to the classroom and sat down. But they weren't even thirty minutes in class before they heard Stein call their names, together with Kid, Liz and Patti. "You are expected in the Death room. Shinigami wants to see you."

Confused, Tsubaki looked over to her meister. Black*Star looked worried as well, which caused a great feeling of unease in Tsubaki's stomach.

The team got up and left the classroom, feeling the curious eyes of their classmates on their back.

Once they were in the hallway they started to talk.

"Have any of you seen Soul?" Tsubaki asked. Everyone shook their heads.

Tsubaki frowned as they continued their walk to the Death room. Shinigami-sama was already waiting for them when they walked in.

"Hello, hi how ya doing?" The god asked with a bright voice.

"Why did we have to come?" Black*Star asked, not in the mood for the god's formalities.

"Ah yeah, it's about Soul."

That caught the team's attention. "What do you mean, it's about Soul?" Liz asked, wording everyone's thoughts.

"It appears he has gone missing." The kids – young adults, Shinigami realized – still looked confused. "Saturday morning Spirit Albarn came across Soul, they went to Stein but Soul left soon after a falling out. Apparently when Spirit left Stein's residence, he found Soul's motorcycle, keys still in the ignition. He called me soon after, feeling alarmed. They had been talking about the witch that killed Maka."

Alarm bells rang loudly inside Tsubaki's head. "You think - ?" she started but couldn't finish the sentence.

But Shinigami understood what the weapon wanted to say, and nodded, his bright spirit faltering a little. "We're not sure yet but we have to act like he's been taken by the witch."

"This can't be happening." Liz muttered with dismay. "We've already lost Maka because of that bitch. What more does she want from us?"

"We have to look for him." Black*Star announced and was already on his way to the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The blue haired ninja looked over and saw it was Kid.

"We shouldn't jump on this right away Black*Star," the junior death god said. "We're not sure if it is really her."

"Why else would Soul disappear?"

"Maybe he wanted to leave Death City." Kid suggested

"Why would he want that?"

Kid raised a brow. "Haven't you noticed how Soul was acting lately? How he was when we visited Maka's grave? He was completely off."

Black*Star frowned, trying to recall Soul's behavior that afternoon. He'd acted like he always did, right? But then he remembered Soul's empty eyes when he realized Maka was almost turning eighteen before the battle. He looked like he blamed himself for it but Black*Star had brushed it away when they started cleaning her grave.

Kid, noticing how Black*Star mentally answered his question, nodded somberly. "I can understand how Soul would want to leave this place. So much painful memories. Maybe he just needed a break."

"He'd tell us." Tsubaki protested. "We're his friends, we would support him."

"Admit it Tsubaki, ever since Maka's passing he hadn't been really open with us."

Tsubaki bit her lip. Though Kid's words were harsh, they were true and that stung. Soul had shut himself off from the group.

"Still," she said, determined. "We have to look for him."

"Great, now that that's settled, let's go!" Black*Star said and took off.

"I just hope he's doing okay," Liz mumbled as she followed the boy, Patti in tow.

Tsubaki, Death the Kid and Shinigami were left, all looking concerned.

"Do you really think Soul took off like that?" Tsubaki asked.

Kid shook his head. "I just didn't want them to believe that he'd fallen in the hands of the witch."

Tsubaki nodded. "Do you think -?"

Kid nodded before Tsubaki could finish her question. "I think it's time."

To: Parisian devision

From: Death the Kid

Subject: We need you.

We believe that witch Meredith has taken Soul. Please come to us at once. We need you.

The reply came five minutes after Kid had sent the original message. The group was scouting Death City for a trace of Soul. He called Tsubaki over to walk next to him as he opened the message. It was a two word reply.

To: Death the Kid

From: Parisian devision

Subject: Re: We need you.

I'm coming.

Death sighed and looked at Tsubaki, who looked worried at the screen. "Time to tell them, I guess."

*Hey guys, I haven't noticed until now that this chapter was... weird looking. My deepest apologies for not fixing it sooner... I hadn't checked if it was okay /
So I've uploaded again and I hope it's now working right!

New chapter will be up soon!