It felt too good. Even if she wasn't real, he liked to pretend that it was. Maka was wielding him, parrying attacks and throwing him at the witch. And they were strong as ever. The woman got forced back against the wall when Maka threw one particular forceful punch at her, right in the chest. A white light emerged from Meredith's body, shrieks rose from her throat and she started thrashing against the wall.
And then it was suddenly over.
A final, "Soul," called after him before he felt himself being yanked away from Maka's hands.

There were hands on his body, concerned murmurs, the familiar steady beeps of a heart monitor
"Is he okay? Is he alive?" He suddenly heard Maka ask from a distance. Her voice was panicked and worried. Still dreaming huh? Soul thought bitterly.
"Maka you have to stay back."
"I need to know if he's alive Kid!"
Kid? What was Kid doing in his dreams?
"Maka you're bleeding, starving and barely standing straight. You need to rest."
Soul heard a door slam open and a strangled cry. "No!"
"Maka," Kid's voice joined. "He's alive. The witch took a lot of energy from him, he was tortured, he needs time to heal."
"Just give me a few Kid. I'll be gone in a minute. Please."
Soul could hear Kid sigh before he spoke again, "Fine. Ten minutes, I can't give you more." The footsteps and a door closing before complete silence. A hand touched his cheek and he immediately knew it was hers. Warm, comforting. For one second he thought he felt a flicker of her soul calling out to him but that couldn't be. Right?
Soul tried to open his eyes. A strip of light came into vision before his eyes started adjusting to its surroundings. A blonde haired head was resting on his chest, strange sobbing noises coming from it before he realized it was crying. Not it. She. "Maka?" he groaned. His mouth felt like it had been filled with cotton balls.
The head flew up, green orbs meeting his. They were filled to the brim with tears, wide in surprise. "Soul?"
No this couldn't be. There was no way his meister would be sitting next to him, saying his name. Had his brain gone to scrambled eggs?
"Soul?" Maka repeated, now sounding worried.
He didn't realize until now that he had started shaking violently. "This can't be." he whispered. "You can't be her. You're not my Maka."
"Soul please-" Maka took a step to her weapon.
"No, fuck off!" Soul growled. He didn't know where he found the energy but he was pushing himself up on the bed. His eyes were focused on the woman that looked like the Maka he knew.
"Soul what are you-?"
Soul jumped up and pushed the confused meister to the wall. One hand was around her throat, the other pulled back, transformed in a scythe. Maka whimpered but didn't cry for help. Not until Soul started tightening his grip on her throat.
And as soon as she did, the door got thrown open and Black*Star was standing in the doorway. "Soul what the fuck are you doing!" he shouted when he got a hold of the situation.
Maka was lifted a couple of inches from the floor, clutching at Soul's hand that was holding her.
Black*Star jumped at the weapon and threw him back to the other side of the room.
"No don't hurt him!" Maka whimpered, gasping for breath. "He doesn't understand."
"Black*Star what the hell?" Soul shouted. The throw hadn't hurt him much. He was still on his feet but he felt the familiar sting of stitches tugging on his skin.
He just hoped Stein hadn't been fixing him up. One scar was enough.
"I did this for your own good." Black*Star replied. His voice was steady and serious though his eyes pleaded for Soul to believe him.
"Have you gone insane? This isn't Maka! This is a trap. A trick and you're falling for it. This can't be Maka! She died. She is dead." Soul had gone in a state of hysteria. He was confused and hurting all over. This isn't Maka, he told himself, she can't be her. This is some sick joke of the Oni.
"Black*Star what is going on?" Kid asked, joining the two meisters and the weapon in the hospital room. "I heard shouting and -!"
"Kid what is going on? What is this?" Soul pointed at Maka.
"Soul, you need to calm down."
"Why are you all telling me to calm down? Can't you see that she isn't real. This can't be Maka!"
"Soul please!"
But Soul couldn't take it anymore. He felt his vision blur, the stitches had gone open and he was bleeding again. Dizziness taking over, he started to collapse.
Two pair of hands caught him and he heard Kid shout for a doctor. Maka's shocked face was the last thing he saw.

He didn't think she was real. The words filled her head like a mantra, mocking her.
Maka felt like losing her insanity. Or maybe she already had.
After she had destroyed Meredith she got thrown out of Soul's Black Room, finding herself on the ground near Soul. The first thing she'd done was check on her weapon. He was unconscious and barely breathing. Maka had desperately cried for Black*Star while Kid and Spirit dealt with the witch. Not like that was needed. Meredith's life form had died with the one in Soul's head. She was nothing but a glowing red orb hovering over the ground. Next to it was another soul, though incredibly smaller and blue. Maka's missing shard.
It had drifted back to her, entering her through her chest and she had immediately lost consciousness.
When she woke up she was in a hospital bed. Bandages covered most of her limbs and there was a heart monitor hooked to her body. Spirit was sitting in the corner of the room, asleep.
He woke to the sound of loud quick beeps from the heart monitor and for one moment he thought his daughter was slipping away. Though when he opened his eyes he saw that Maka had pulled the clip from her finger that measured her heartbeat. "Maka what are you doing?"
"I need to see him." Maka said as she threw her legs out of bed. As soon as she touched the cold floor, she felt her legs shake. Crap, how long had she been out?
"Four days." Spirit answered. Maka hadn't realized she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.
"So long? What happened? Where's Soul? Is he okay?"
"Soul's okay. He's still unconscious but stable. The doctors say it shouldn't be long until he wakes up."
"I have to see him." Maka took a couple of wobbly steps to the door
Maka you can't be serious. You've just woken up yourself. You need to rest. It's not wise to exhaust your body."
"I'm not exhausting anything papa. I just need to get to Soul."
A hand stopped Maka from going any further. Spirit was standing behind his daughter, a look of worry in his eyes. It made Maka immediately anxious. Her papa was holding something from her. "What?"
"Soul might not believe you are real. He still thinks he lost you in your first battle with Meredith."
"He'll know it's me." Maka said stubbornly and then left the room.
Boy had she been wrong.

Maka touched her throat. She could still feel his fingers on the hot skin when he'd nearly chocked her.
"Maka!" Tsubaki called though the hallway. The meister raised her head and was met by the warm embrace of the taller weapon. "I'm so happy you're okay!"
"He doesn't think I'm real." Maka only whispered.
Tsubaki stiffened. "What do you mean?"
"Soul, he still thinks I'm dead. When he woke up, he looked like he saw a ghost. But when I tried to talk to him he went mad and he – he tried to -" Maka couldn't finish the sentence for she broke down in tears.
Tsubaki held the meister close, trying to assure her that it would be okay. That they'd figure it out. But she wasn't so sure herself.
What she did know was that this was going to be a rough period for the whole team.

*Wow another chapter this week! And it's long! Have I gone mad? No, my internet was sucking ass so that left me time to work on this /I'm sorry that I didn't really get into the whole defeating-Meredith part but I suck at writing fight scenes... doing this was already a pain. I hope you'll forgive /So, let the angst and shizzle begin... I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope I'll update soon.*