These characters are under copyright by Atsushi Ōkubo, Squar Enix, Yen Press, Shōnen,
Akatsuki Yamatoya. Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Funimation, and/or others. This is a work of fanfiction, for no monetary gain.

A/N:
I privately respond to all reviews, oftentimes with all kinds of neat little tidbits, so don't be shy, leave a review! Thanks again to those of you who already have, and for all the favorites and follows too! They're an author's bread and butter! Literally, because it's not like anyone's paying us to write… :)

Chapter 3 – Missing: Will We Find Kid in Time?

"He can't have just vanished into thin air," Soul complained in frustration.

He and Maka had rendezvoused in the city Kid had disappeared from, with Black*Star and Tsubaki, and nearly every other Academy student and teacher, both Meisters and Weapons. The plan had been to gather together all the Meisters with Soul Detect, to search for Kid's Soul Wavelength. If that didn't work, they were supposed to spread out in a spiral from the alley, searching until they found him.

Maka's ankle was taped and she was on crutches, but she'd refused to be left behind. Only her father had been, since Stein was still operating on Liz and couldn't wield Spirit, though Soul suspected it was also to help keep Lord Death calm. He only hoped Spirit would be safe from Lord Death. He'd never realized Lord Death could be terrifying, that he might attack any Scythe, but especially Spirit.

They'd left the alley hours ago, traveling with Black*Star and Tsubaki, and Patty, and so far, had come up with nothing.

"I feel something!" Maka cried excitedly. She bit her lip. "It's faint, a trace presence, but… no, it's stronger than that. More like the feeling from Kid's blood in the alley, once we flooded it with light and dispelled that thin veil of unnatural shadow. But more substantial, more solid, strong, but also weak, somehow. Almost like…" She swallowed, hard. "Like a piece of him," she whispered, suddenly paling.

"What do you mean a piece?" Patty squeaked, looking horrified.

"Where?" Soul demanded.

"This way," Maka replied, more fearful than eager, now.

"Shouldn't we inform Lord Death?" Tsubaki asked.

"Not until we know what we've found," Black*Star replied grimly, exchanging a look with Soul, and he nodded in agreement. Not after what he'd seen. There was no telling how Lord Death might react.

0 0 0

"We're getting closer," Maka said confidently, as they turned right, onto a new block.

"There. It's the church! It's coming from the church!" Maka cried, excited in spite of the ominous, odd feeling.

"We need to be ready," Black*Star said, and Tsubaki changed to her weapon form.

Soul changed too, and Maka held him at the ready.

Maka and Black*Star approached, Black*Star for once actually being stealthy, Patty following.

Maka tried to peek in through the windows, but they were all stained glass and impossible to see through. Biting her lip, she indicated the door, signaling that she'd yank it open, Black*Star would run in, and then she'd follow.

They burst through the door, as planned, and quickly scanned the room.

Nothing. Maka used Soul Detect, and followed the faint tug to the front of the church, past row upon row of empty waxed and polished wooden pews, towards the altar.

The altar! There was an ornate silver chalice and a matching silver plate that made her stomach clench, for some reason, as she came nearer. Maka reached the altar and looked down, frowning in confusion, but then her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the black and white mass on the plate. "Oh Lord Death. It's… it's Kid's hair. His stripes," she whispered in horror.

Soul and Tsubaki both returned to human form. Patty was staring riveted at the sick offering.

"His lines of Sanzu. That's why the feeling of his Soul Wavelength was both weak and strong," Tsubaki said, sounding as shocked as Maka.

Maka swallowed. "That's not all. Not enough for what I'm feeling." Dreading what she'd find, she peeked into the cup, and paled. "Blood. It's… it's Kid's blood."

"There's something under the hair," Black*Star said, reaching out, hesitating, and then lifting the tangled clump of hair as gently as if it was a newborn kitten.

Patty reached out and took the hair from him, eerily quiet and subdued, clenching it tightly in her hand, as tears streamed down her face.

"It's a note," Soul said, lifting it, his face darkening in fury as he read what was written silently to himself. Then he read it aloud.

"Unless you want me to send you the rest of the brat a piece at a time, send Justin Law to St. Mathew's Cathedral, alone, at 6 PM tonight, to negotiate the ransom terms for his release."

"That's only a little over an hour from now! We need to contact Justin right away. We can't risk missing that deadline," Soul stated grimly.

Maka frowned in confusion. "Justin? Why Justin? Black*Star and Tsubaki have fought Mifune twice now. I don't think Justin ever has. How does he even know about Justin?"

Tsubaki's eyes widened. "Because Mifune isn't the one who wrote this! He wouldn't call Kid 'brat', he'd call him 'kid', like he called Black*Star. And he definitely isn't the one who cut Kid's hair. He would have used his sword, and it's razor sharp. It would have been a single, precise cut, not hacked and jagged like this."

"So he's working with whoever wrote this, someone who knows Justin, with a bladed weapon that makes jagged… Giriko!" Maka cried in sudden certainty and horror.

Soul scowled. "Yeah. That freak is twisted enough to leave something like this, and he has a real hard on for Justin. He really gets off on fighting him," he agreed in disgust.

"But why would Mifune be working with…? Angela! Do you think Giriko is helping him protect Angela from the Academy? Mifune would do anything to protect Angela," Black*Star agreed.

"But why did Mifune kill all those people in the first place? Why such a blatant attack that's guaranteed to make us come after him, to target him and Angela? How is that protecting her?" Tsubaki asked. "And we met Angela. She's not like other Witches. She's just a little girl. She'd protect Mifune with her life, but she'd never hurt anyone, or she would have attacked us when we were sent after them, when we nearly killed Mifune, because he wouldn't use his full skill against Black*Star."

"It doesn't matter if it makes sense or not. Why are you trying to make them sound like they're the good guys? We know Mifune attacked Kid and Liz and Patty. They fought him. Patty was there. She saw him," Soul snapped.

Patty looked startled. "I didn't see him."

"What do you mean you didn't see him? You fought him. He hurt Liz," Maka huffed. She was normally patient with Patty, they all were, but dealing with her could be trying on the best of days, and this was far from the best of days.

Patty frowned, her brow scrunching. "All we saw was shadow and his swords. Kid was upset because the shadows wouldn't listen to him, they wouldn't move for him like they're supposed to."

"But they were Mifune's swords, right? I mean, we found that broken katana. So it was Mifune," Soul said impatiently.

"Why did he leave it behind? Even if they were after Mifune, even if he couldn't reforge it, why leave such blatant evidence that he was the one to attack them? Would he really not have noticed he was missing a sword?" Tsubaki asked, her suspicions matching Maka's.

"What if it wasn't Mifune who ambushed Kid in that alley? What if it was someone trying to make us think it was Mifune?" Maka asked, and then her eyes widened as the full revelation dawned on her.

"Oh Lord Death! What if it wasn't Mifune before, either? What if someone was framing Mifune and Angela, so the Academy would send someone after them? Someone who wanted to hurt Lord Death and the Academy, by killing Meisters and Weapons," Maka asked, horrified. "And Lord Death gave them the perfect victim, because he didn't think Black*Star and Tsubaki would complete the mission."

"Wait. You mean Mifune and Angela didn't really kill all those people? That it was just the bait in some sort of trap to catch me and Tsubaki, but they caught Kid and Liz and Patty instead?" Black*Star asked, incredulous and infuriated.

"I don't think they were after the two of you specifically. Any Meister and Weapon would do. Although it sounds like maybe they hoped Lord Death would send Justin Law. If he hadn't already been on a mission, Lord Death might have. But instead, he sent his son. The perfect bargaining chip for the real perpetrators to get what they want. And we've just read that Giriko wants Justin," Maka reasoned.

"There's still something that doesn't make sense to me. Patty, what do you mean the shadows wouldn't listen to him?" Tsubaki asked gently.

"Usually Kid uses shadow as a weapon. Controlling shadows is part of his Reaper ability. But they wouldn't obey him. He couldn't make them move. Liz thought it was because of Witch Angela, but she was surprised she was that powerful," Patty replied.

"See? It had to be Mifune. Only a Witch could do something like that," Soul argued.

"No. It had to be a Witch. But what if it was a different Witch? What if Giriko is working with another Witch, now that Arachne is dead?" Maka hazarded.

"We have to call Lord Death with what we found. He'll make sure Justin knows what we think we've figured out, what he's getting into. He'll be able to make the best plan to get Kid back safely," Tsubaki insisted.

"Can we ask about Liz?" Patty said, clutching Kid's hair tightly in her fist, which was pressed against her chest by her other hand.

"Of course," Maka said gently, patting her reassuringly on the shoulder. I only hope there's good news.