Hands clutched skirt fabric nervously as eyes scanned the airport for anyone familiar. She found the familiar face of Sid, standing in the back. She walked up to him and bowed a little.

"Sid, what's the situation?" she asked, concerned.

Sid looked at the young woman, eyebrows knit together in a frown. "Still no trace. Kid and the team are scouting the city for traces."

The woman nodded. She should've figured. It took her six months to even find a trace of the witch.

"Let's go then," She said, confidently.

Sid nodded. A small smile slipped on his mouth. "Welcome back Maka Albarn."

Maka nodded. "It's good to be home."

"Guys, I need to tell you something." Kid said when they were back in Shibusen. Everyone was feeling down because they hadn't found anything that could lead them to Soul.

Black*Star, trying to keep the mood up, said, "No need to tell that you secretly worship me. I already knew that."

"Black*Star!" Tsubaki protested. "Not now."

The ninja frowned. Since when does Tsubaki protest against his antics? He looked at his weapon and saw her clutching her ponytail. What was going on?

"Ten months ago I made a decision that affected this team," Kid started, his voice solemn. "As you guys knew, Maka was in a pretty bad shape after the battle with witch Meredith. She lost a lot of blood, but the doctors were able to stabilize her."

Black*Star's mouth dropped in surprise. "What-?"

"Let me finish," Kid said. His voice not tolerating objections. "She was moved to a hospital in Boston, far from us, so she could recover. I asked my father and after getting permission, I got her transferred to our Parisian devision, getting a fake identity to which non of us had access to."

"She's alive?" Patti asked with disbelieve.

Kid looked away, not daring to look his team in the eye, and nodded. "As I said, I take full responsibility. If anyone has any issues, they should be directed towards me."

"Any issues?" Black*Star asked, starting to feel furious. He was about to jump on the man standing before him, weren't for the footsteps approaching them. Everyone turned and there she stood.

"Oh my god," Liz gasped.

Maka looked almost scared at her former team mates. She gave Kid and Tsubaki a nod, then her eyes went to Liz and the others.

Patti was the first to react. She ran over to Maka and threw her arms around the girl. "I missed you so much," she cried.

Maka wrapped her arms around her smaller friend. "I missed you too." She mumbled. "I'm so sorry." When she pulled back she was met by the disbelieving eyes of Black*Star. "I never wanted it to happen. I'm so sorry."

Maka walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't deserve it."

Black*Star was speechless. He just took his childhood friend in. She was real. She was alive. He should be happy but all he could feel was betrayal. "Why?" was all he could say.

"Maka needed to go in protection since the witch was still alive. It was too risky for her to stay with us." Kid answered. "Meredith wanted Maka dead because she killed Medusa."

"I'll explain everything but first I need to know what is going on with Soul." Maka promised. She walked over to Tsubaki and Kid, eyes filled with concern.

"We were unable to find anything Maka, I'm sorry." Tsubaki said dismayed.

"Can you still use your soul perception?" Liz asked.

Maka shook her head. "I lost a lot of power when I put a piece of my soul in the witch."

"What about the soul resonance?" a new voice asked.

Everyone turned and saw Stein standing in the doorway, looking seriously at Maka. "I – I don't know." she admitted.

"Soul thought you were still in resonance when you died," Stein made quote signs at the 'died' part. "Are you?"

Maka closed her eyes, trying to feel for a sign of Soul's wavelength. It was there, very weak but still there. She opened her eyes and nodded at the scientist. "I can feel him."

"Maybe you can use it to find him."

"I'll try." Maka promised. "But I don't have a weapon now. I'm still pretty useless."

"You do have a weapon." Spirit Albarn walked the room in, to his daughter. "I'm at your disposal."

"Papa," Maka whispered, surprised.

Spirit smiled a little, fighting the urge to pull his daughter in a bear hug. "We'll catch up later okay? Now we need to find your weapon."

Maka, though her eyes were watering, nodded. She hated to admit it but she kind of missed her father. Over the past couple of months she realized that her father did love her. He just didn't know how to express it.

"Ready?" Kid asked.

The team nodded and they left the Death room. Everyone except Black*Star.

Tsubaki noticed and stopped as well, turning to her meister. "Black*Star, are you coming?" she asked.

"You knew?" he asked, ignoring Tsubaki's question.

Tsubaki's mood fell in a black pit. "I'm sorry Black*Star."

"So that's why you were acting so nervous lately? Because you knew this was going to happen?"

Tsubaki nodded. "I heard you talking to Soul about the rumor. I knew things would go wrong anytime soon after that."

"And you couldn't tell me?" Black*Star yelled, letting the anger reach the surface.

Tsubaki flinched but nodded. She'd hated to lie to her partner. It felt like someone was peeling her skin off. "I'm so sorry Black*Star."

"If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me." Kid's voice came from behind Tsubaki.

Black*Star looked up and saw him standing alone, looking solemnly back at him. "Like hell I am angry at you." he said. Tsubaki didn't have a choice. She was sworn to keep the secret. But him. "You could've told us! You should've trusted us!"

"It's not like I didn't trust you," Kid said. "It's more like I didn't want to risk the witch finding out that Maka was alive."

Black*Star growled and left the room. He couldn't be near Kid right now, for he knew he'd hurt him if he heard anymore of his shit.

Tsubaki looked like she was about to cry. "He hates me," she whispered when Black*Star was out of hearing reach.

Kid shook his head. "He doesn't, he's just really upset."

"What's the difference?"

"He doesn't hate you Tsubaki, he can't do that. He loves you too much for that."

Tsubaki looked at Kid. "I hope you're right."

Kid smiled a little. "Come on, the others need us.

Maka looked nervously around her. Where could he be? She thought anxiously.

She reached for the connection again and noticed it was still hanging on. In fact, it seemed to be a little stronger than moments ago.

"Maka," Spirit said from his weapon form, pulling Maka out of concentration. "Think logically, where could Meredith possibly hide Soul?"

"M-maybe she'd returned to her liar?" Maka suggested.

"Wouldn't that be a little too obvious?" Liz asked, also turned into weapon.

"It's not like she's got anywhere else to go."

"What about Medusa's hide out?" Black*Star suggested.

"Sounds logic, I mean, she was kind of obsessed with her." Spirit agreed.

"Medusa's liar it is." Kid decided.

The trip to the liar was quiet. Everyone was lost in their own thought. All Maka could think about was her partner. Was he okay? Was he hurt? How will he react when he sees her? Did he miss her like she missed him? Her thoughts were cut short when she heard someone scream. Soul!

"Maka?" Kid said, worried. He'd noticed the panicked look in the meister's eyes.

"Did you hear that?" Maka asked, looking around for the source of the scream.

"What? I didn't hear anything!" Black*Stair said. He was looking around, alarmed.

"It was Soul. I heard him scream."

"We're getting closer. Be prepared for ambushes." Kid said.

*Finally the mystery e-mailer is revealed. Some may've seen it coming. I hope it wasn't TOO obvious. :3 Hope you like the chapter. Not sure yet when I'll update again.
Stay cool!*