Note: Crona appears in this chapter and I decided to call Crona a "he" in this series. Not to start controversy but just since it would be a bother or strange for me to refer to Crona as "they/it/child" all the time. With that aside, enjoy chapter 2!

It had been around ten minutes since Sid's death yet Maka found herself unable to move from her spot. No matter how many times Soul urged or prodded her, she wouldn't move. By then, Noah's group had disappeared going into the forest directly to the right of the beach. Medusa's group on the other hand was still on the beach with everyone else, although it could be seen that Medusa orders Mizune to go do something and the small witch soon flies off.

"Maka…We…We have to go…." Soul sighs and lightly shoves Maka. She shakes her head and hugs her knees. "Sid's dead. The Kishin killed Sid." Soul nods slowly and tries not to look at the corpse. "I know but…you can't just keep sulking like this…"

"Why not!?" Maka quickly gets to her feet and glares with teary eyes. "What do you expect me to do! Participate in this stupid death battle! Is that what you want!?"

The white haired male looks away, saying nothing and biting his lip. Maka gives a hard sigh and holds her arm. "Sorry Soul…didn't mean to yell at you." He waves it off and sticks his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry about it." Wiping her eyes, Maka looks around, surveying who to approach. That's when she saw someone she hadn't seen before. Crona. The nervous child was standing beside Sid's corpse, staring at him.

Why didn't I notice Crona before! Did Crona look when the Kishin killed Sid…

Slowly walking forward, Maka extends her arm, reaching for the pink haired child. "Crona…"

Quickly looking up, Crona's eyes widen. The child shivers and backs away, shaking his head. Maka gives him a confused look as she continues to approach. "Don't be afraid Crona…it's me, Maka…I won't hurt you…"

"N-No…!" Shaking his head furiously, Crona turns and begins to run into the forest, away from Maka. Shocked and afraid to lose her friend, Maka starts to run but is stopped by Soul. "Let him go." Maka bites her lip as she watches the pink haired boy rush into the forest, alone. "But what if someone in there tries to hurt Crona?"

Soul shrugs and leads her away. "I don't know. But you know that Crona is far from weak, right? If anyone attacked him it'd be chaos."

Soul ponders on his own words and frowns a bit. Chaos…just as bad as madness…What the hell is the Kishin thinking…

Joining up with Kid and Black*Star, Maka and Soul sit down. Tsubaki was crying while Patty and Liz tried to comfort her. Kid was the only calm one it seemed. Even Black*Star was having a tough time realizing what just happened. "He's coming back right? Sid-sensei? The Kishin was just trying to scare us? Right?"

Kid sighs and faces Maka. "We lost the only teacher here…Sid's gone…We're on our own now." Maka gives a slight nod and a nervous glance back to Medusa's group that was still here.

Medusa was sitting on the sand, her arms crossed. "DWMA…how pathetic…Those children will be dead by the end of the week. If not by me, then by someone in their own group who snaps." Free gives a grunt of agreement but Eruka remains uncertain. "What if they come after us? All of them? There's too many of them for us to handle at once…"

The snake witch rolls her eyes and scoffs. "Do you really think these children are killers? You think they'd willingly participate? I think not." Free scratches his head and speaks up. "But the kids aside…there's still one other group that we know nothing about." Medusa frowns at the comment. "Oh…the fellow with the book of Eibon. Right."

Noah's group had been the only to leave the beach area and head to the forest. The dark skinned man known as Noah sat by a tree, his arms crossed. "What's taking Justin so long?"

Giriko shrugs and spits on the floor. "When you gotta go, you gotta go. Either that or let your bladder explode, boss." Noah sighs and nods in agreement. "I suppose." Staying closely by Noah, Gopher held the book of Eibon tightly, his cheeks puffed. "Noah-sama what's your awesome plan?"

"My plan?" The male sorcerer grins and stares up at the sky. "Simple. We separate ourselves from the rest to avoid conflict with them. When the herd thins out, we attack. By the near end of the month they should all be tired and wounded. We'll come in for the kill." Gopher gives an excited gasp and looks at Noah with anticipation. "You're so cool, Noah-sama!"

The brown haired male however, looked displeased. "Lets say we kill them all, what then? Didn't the damn Kishin say only one could be left standing?" Noah gives Giriko a crooked smile. "Trust me my good man, I have a plan for that as well."

Back at the beach, Kid tries to emerge as the leader and rally everyone. At this point though, Ox, Kim, and Kilik remained unconvinced. "How do you expect to get out of here? Didn't the Kishin say there was no way to escape" Kilik asks.

Kid looks away and bites on his tongue. "Well…yes that's true but…we can find a way out. All of us. No one has to die." Kilik shakes his head and points to Sid. "No one has to die!? Look at Sid! Look at him, dude! He's…he's dead! Gone!"

Kim breaks down and cries, Jackie holds her and attempts to comfort her. Ox's weapon and partner, Harvar steps forward and looks at Kid. "No one dying is illogical. From the viewpoint of myself, I see a hopeless standpoint in escape. You have to recall that murder isn't the only way someone can die. Starvation. Dehydration. Disease."

Nods of agreement go through the group and even Maka nodded her head, knowing that it was a good point. Kid refused to hear it, however. "That's why we have to work together! If we all just leave and form our own small groups it'll only make things worse! Medusa and Noah both have groups of their own. They could easily kill us one by one if we separate. We have to stay together you guys!"

Sighing, Soul goes beside Kid and pats him on the shoulder. "I'm with Kid on this one. We stick together." Kid smiles at Soul and gives him a nod of approval.

"So…now what?" Liz asks. Everyone looks at each other, uncertain of what to do. Kid points towards the forest. "We look for food. We can't plan our escape on empty stomachs right?"

Watching the DWMA students closely, Medusa hisses and shakes her head. "Those children are hopeless." Eruka nervously approaches Medusa and quietly speaks. "Um…Lady Medusa…what about your child? Crona? Didn't he go into the forest alone?"

Medusa snaps her head back and gives Eruka a look that makes her yelp. "So what if Crona went into the forest? What's your point you miserable toad!"

Before Eruka can say anything, Free points towards the sky. "It's Mizune. She's back." The mouse witch soon ascends from her flight and stands before the group. Medusa steps forward, her hands on her hips. "Well? What did you find?"

"Chi chi chi" The mouse witch replies, pointing into the forest. Eruka tilts her head. "There's snow beyond those trees? Really?"

Mizune nods and goes on. "Chi chi. Chi chi chi." Free gives a worried look at her comment. "A desert too? Argh…I hate the heat…."

Medusa thinks for a moment and then nods. "Very well. We start moving now. Mizune go search for food. And come back if you see any other souls. We need their location." The witch nods and levitates for a moment, then flies off.

In his own private quarters where no one could see or get to him, the Kishin Asura grinned as he surveyed the contestants through a system of cameras. "I got to admit, these cameras are awfully handy. I'll have to thank Arachne when I finish using them." He could already see the contestants separating into their own groups. This is good…very good…

Asura's grin gets wider as he notices Crona on his camera. "Heh. There you are my ticking time bomb."

Looking at a lever on his control panel, Asura grins. "Let's see if anyone is afraid of the dark." Pulling the lever, the entire island begins to darken, until it was nearly pitch black. "Happy hunting." Asura chuckles and licks his lips.

END OF CHAPTER 2
DEATH COUNT: 1