Soulbound Heroes(rewrite completed)

by shados960

As the climatic battle continued to be waged on the moon to defeat Asura, Maka and Soul traveled inside the kishin’s very soul to try save Crona Gorgon while he planned to make the ultimate sacrifice to atone for all his sins. But due to the will of an unknown force; suddenly find themselves stranded in a strange world filled with heroes and villain’s.

4. Chapter 4:Acceptance

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Soul Eater nor do I own My Hero Academia, both are respective properties of Studio Bones.

I also like to notify you all that this chapter has also been edited and revised by my good friend dmandog056, and highly recommend you read his work and give thanks for his effort by giving more reviews for his stories and this story and the hard work he put into it.

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Chapter 4: Acceptance

CENTRAL HOSPITAL THIRD FLOOR

Silence.

Complete and total silence.

Heavy silence was the only sound that remained within the trio's hospital room for the past ten minutes. With the only exception being the occasional beeps and humming noises that came from the medical machines placed near Crona and Maka's beds. But besides that, the three teens were as silent as statues while they continued their efforts to grasp everything that occurred.

They had no words.

Their thought processes were far too clogged with stunned shock to allow them to move their jaws. All three of them just sat in place, unable to believe what just happened ten minutes ago.

But How could anyone react any differently to finding out their home; and everything they knew their whole lives, suddenly had no indication of ever existing in the first place?

"What just happened?" Maka muttered, regaining the ability to speak from her shocked silence and finally broke the silence within the room.

"I don't know Maka." Soul replied quietly. Despite the calm demeanor he was presenting was just as confused as Maka was right now.

"This doesn't make any sense...how could a major city in Japan...the entire internet, know nothing of death city or shibusen?" Maka asked, her voice was louder than before but it still sounded just as empty.

"I'm starting to think this all some kind of freaky ass dream we're all stuck in." Soul joked in an attempt to lighten up the despondent mood in the room. Unfortunately, Maka's unchanged expression indicated that it didn't seem to work very well.

"More like a nightmare..." Maka despondently replied as her loose ash blonde hair covered her eyes as she sat upright on the bed. Having removed her casted foot from the sling to give herself more mobility as she processed everything that was happening.

Crona was no better as he continued hugging his legs while he sat in a fetal position on his bed. The swordsman was strangely quieter than even his friends had been. Light tremors could barley be seen throughout his body while the reality of the situation sank in.

"Hey Soul, do you really think they'll be able to get in contact with everyone?" Maka quietly asked.

"Of course they will, Maka. There's no way in hell they'd be unable to find them, we've just got to be patient." Soul said as optimistically as possible, but Maka didn't seem to buy her death scythe's words one bit.

"They couldn't find shibusen or death city on the internet soul, so what makes you think our friends will be any different?" Maka bitterly retorted as she raised her head up to reveal her distraught green eyes.

"Maka, I know you're worried but we just need to-"

"keep a cool head? Cmon do you think I wouldn't consider that? But how the heck do you expect me to not be worried?" Maka muttered, causing Soul to widen his eyes in stunned surprise and Crona to finally look up from his position. "I'm doing my best to be brave but i don't know what's happening anymore soul. Our home and shibusan itself has somehow disappeared, as if it never existed to begin with and nobody seems to take what we say seriously."

"That detective said we're in Fukuoka city, but I definitely don't remember it ever having a bunch of people who look like they came straight out of some comic book. Nothing about this city is making any sense. It's like our whole world just went ahead and vanished without a trace" Maka turned to soul revealing the crack of desperation emerging within her jade orbs, clearly hoping for some clear answer. "Just where the hell did the book of eibon take us soul?"

Soul sadly didn't have that answer for his meister, there just wasn't any solution he could come up with. They were supposedly In Fukuoka city, but like Maka said…this clearly wasn't like the one they knew of. It only added more confused frustration to where that goddamned book had kidnapped them to. Yet he couldn't keep saying "I don't know" like some clueless moron. That would be beyond uncool to do his meister, who was already shaken by this how this mess was unfolding.

And that was truly an accomplishment.

Not since that massive blow to her confidence from the envy and sloth chapter's in their mission to rescue kid, did Maka look so hopeless like this. He never thought and hoped more than anything that he'd never have to see his brave, badass meister look so empty again. Consequently, he couldn't say he was flooded with optimism either, as Soul was somewhat freaked out internally from those revelations he seen earlier. The only real reason why he wasn't so expressive about it was because he needed to keep a calm, cool head for his meister to have support in their predicament.

Unfortunately, he was doing a piss poor job at it. Which already told Soul he needed to step up, after all he was a freakin death scythe. Maka's Death Scythe most of all, and there was no way in hell he would leave his best friend in such a crappy state if he had anything to say about it.

Maka however finally seemed to somewhat shake out of her depressed funk as she turned her gaze to the the curtain's blocking the afternoon sunlight. "Maybe we could use some fresh air in here. I think we could all use it to help clear our thoughts a bit."

"Good idea, I think we can use some fresh daylight in here to liven up this room." Soul agreed with his meister, liking the idea of taking a breather.

Crona slowly started to remove the sheets and start to get up. "I-If you w-want I can get up and open up the windows."

Maka however shook her head lightly at crona's offer. "Nah it's okay crona, I'll go ahead and do it."

"What!? Cmon maka you can't be serious, your in no shape to be getting up-hey, what are you doing!" Soul eyes widened greatly as he saw maka removing her casted leg from the bed's sling and started to get up from her bed.

"Hey take it easy, you shouldn't be moving around so soon when your like this!" Soul hastily advised in worry of his meister's injured condition. "

"H-he's right Maka just let one of us help you!" Crona fretted frantically alongside the albino weapon.

"Knock It off you two. I'm not going to fall and break like some piece of glass, I can get up just fine." Maka told the cautious scythe, although she still did feel touched by his concern over her nonetheless.

"But are you sure-"

"Soul please, I can do this own my own." Maka told the death scythe, her voice containing more steel than she realized. The scythe looked like he still wanted to protest further, but obeyed his meister's request.

Once she sat up on the right bedside, grabbed a pair of crutches conveniently placed near her bedside. Using her good foot maka stood up; and started walking as best she could towards the room's concealed windows.

Crona still looked gravely worried however for maka, and continued to get up from his bed. "Maka wait-"

"Your wasting your time crona, we both know once she puts her mind into something there's no stopping her." Soul said to the swordsman.

Crona still looked hesitant at first but slowly relaxed himself, knowing that soul was right in the end. After all he was living proof of maka's stubbornness. Yet as much as he tried he didn't think he could muster enough of the courage maka gave him to push back this overwhelming fear bubbling inside him. He may not really have a good understanding of what the internet was but he did know enough to realize shibusan and death city not being found on it was a very bad sign.

He just prayed that this strange and terrifying ordeal would resolve itself and they could return to the moon, where he could finally fulfill his duty to maka and imprison himself with asura as he planned.

'I know Maka is against it, but it's the only to end this nightmare my mother and i started. And my only way of making sure maka can live a happy life. That's all I want for my friend…for the sake of her happiness I would do anything.' Crona thought remorsefully.

Maka soon hobbled to the windowsill and reached for the curtains and pushed them away; allowing for the spacious room to be filled with the bright rays of the morning afternoon sun.

"That's much better," Maka released a breath of air and started to smile as she took in the sights of the busy japanese metropolis. "But I have to admit this city does look beautiful."

Soul pulled his lips into a small amused smile. "Shame we can't stay here any longer, I'm sure tsubkai's gonna be slack jawed when she hears-."

CLANG!

CLANG!

Soul however was interrupted as the sound of the sound of maka's crutch's falling to the pearl white floor. Startling both soul and crona as they flinched at the loud sound that reverberated throughout the hospital room.

"M-Maka are you okay?!" Crona asked in grave concern, fearing maka lost her balance and accidentally dropped her crutches. But in seconds heard a faint voice come out of the scythe meister.

"I-it can't be...It's impossible." Maka whispered in a deathly quiet tone. Her voice being barely audible, to the point that soul and crona had to concentrate hard enough just to hear the girl's trembling voice. Yet nonetheless it still managed to make both boy's flinch in sheer shock by the tone they could never have imagined hearing come out of maka.

Maka now without her crutches shakily placed her hands on the windowsill, keeping herself barley balanced on her bare feet. The wheat blonde girl kept staring through the window in uncharacteristic terror. Her green eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and her skin had nearly lost all color, turning as white as the pillows on her bed.

"Maka...what's wrong?" Soul asked in bewildered concern for his meister's extremely uncharacteristic mood shift.

Crona unlike Soul who managed to hide his rising concern, was becoming very alarmed by maka's expression of frozen fear. A reaction like that would he normal for someone as cowardly as himself, but to witness someone like maka to behave this way made it feel so unnatural and wrong.

Without even turning her head to face her extremely worried friends; Maka raised her trembling left arm and silently pointed a finger at the sight before her. Subtly motioning for them to come over and look at the cause for her frightened state of mind.

Neither teen even hesitated and quickly ran to maka's side to see what had shaken her so badly. Crona removed the covers of his bed, as he stood up and tagged along with Soul as they walked up to the ash blonde.

When they made their way to the windowsill, Soul and crona took one last glance at maka's frozen form before switching their gazes at the blue afternoon sky like their friend had.

But the second both boys saw what was outside the window, felt their hearts temporarily stop.

Soul had always considered himself to be a coolheaded man. One who would rarely would snap and loose control of his emotions. It's how he's always been, and one of the reasons for what allowed him to be a cool weapon to his meister. But all that fell apart as he looked up to where the sun was.

Crona stumbled back a bit, almost falling on his back, but thankfully he still possessed the strength to not collapse onto his back. But it didn't help in any way to curb the faintness he was experiencing now, his wide cyan eyes beheld the impossible alongside soul.

"What in god's name…" Soul muttered in clear shock he was unable to hide as his widening scarlet eyes beheld the impossible.

Right before the trio was the clear view of the city they were in. The glass walls of the skyscrapers and numerous tall buildings of the bustling city were brightened by the clear daylight. Comforting blue skies surrounded the massive urban sprawl like any other day in the modern world.

But what drew all of the trio's attention was seeing the sun and its omnipresent presence emitting the warm rays below them. Yet instead of seeing the cartoonishly orange spiky ball that was the sun, what they saw was a completely normal round sphere of light; with no laughing face, or any kind of face for that matter.

It was merely a faceless orb of bright light hovering miles above them, something everyone would consider perfectly normal. But for these three teens, the mere sight of it caused them to freeze where they stood. With wide eyes and agape jaws, none of them could do anything else but muster any spare strength to do anything else, but to stare at the unnatural object in the sky in baffled shock.

Each of them began to feel their eyes hurt from staring at the "sun" for too long. Even so, couldn't will themselves to look away from its beaming light. The air around the three teens becoming so thick that a cleaver would have difficulty to slice through the rising tension and stunned silence filling every crevice of the hospital room.

"What the hell is going on? Why doesn't the sun have a face?!" Maka exclaimed to herself, as her mind scrambled to understand how something as infeasible as a faceless sun could be even possible.

Soul and Crona still said nothing and remained silent. The latter barely maintaining the calm composure he was known for, as the demon swordsman kept taking several deep breaths. Desperately trying to prevent the rising threat of a panic attack occurring from this…this thing before him.

"What the hell is this…why does the sun look like that?" Soul muttered to himself, trying to understand what the hell had happened to the sun.

The albino's faint voice allowed for maka to snap out of her shocked stupor-and slowly try to regather her thoughts. Her shaken and stunned mind racing to find some kind of explanation for the sun's warped appearance.

But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find a single answer to explain, what hung in the sky in place of the boisterous spiked sun.

"D-D-Do…do you t-think this could be s-some hallucination conjured by madness?" Crona shakily questioned while he still stared at the alien sun above them.

The scythe pair finally snapped their attention away from the window, and stared at the pink haired swordsman with uncertainty filling their expressions.

Could…could it be possible?

Had they unknowingly befallen into insanity, when they entered deeper into asura's soul-and warped their perception of reality this whole time?

But Maka shakily found herself shaking her head in disagreement. "N-No this isn't madness, there's no way we would've succumbed to it so easily. My anti-demon wavelength should've been strong enough to hold it off longer."

"She's right Crona, we're far too strong to have fallen to the kishin's madness wavelength." Soul said in agreement with his meister, yet face and voice however remained unreadable.

Crona looked hesitant at first but began to realize everything maka said was correct. But if that was the case…then w-what could explain this unnatural phenomenon in front of their own eyes. "T-Then w-what is this Maka? W-why does the sun look so different?"

Maka blankly turned her eyes down to the floor. "I have no idea… ever since the book of eibon and that voice took us…"

At that moment the world around crona, soul and maka froze as both took in the latter's own words. A wave of stunned shock hit the teen' like freight train; as they recalled what that mysterious voice told them.

'Forgive me, but this must be done. When the time is right everything will be explained-but for now your journey here ends, and must begin in new distant lands...' The voice from before played over in the three teen's heads, and slowly did the trio begin to realize what the words from that unknown voice truly meant.

The book of eibon hadn't merely taken them away to some unknown city somewhere within Japan. No, for the truth of their displacement had unveiled itself to be far beyond what either one of them could ever imagine.

The book of eibon through some kind of powerful magic had somehow taken them to another world.

Soul, crona and especially maka didn't want believe such a ludicrous idea at first. It sounded far too ridiculous to ever believe, even with everything the scythe pair has experienced in the world in their time as student's of shibusan. But with everything they've seen in this strange foreign city, such as the bizarre looking people dressing up as superheroes, the lack of knowledge of shibusan and lord death. And now before their very eyes the unbelievable image of this bright orb floating in the sky in place of the laughing sun made it almost impossible to deny what could very well be the truth.

"You got to be shitting me…we're really in another world?" Soul muttered, placing a hand on his head. The scythe trying to coming to terms, learning they've somehow they've all been taken to another dimension-world, whatever you'd call it.

Soul nearly chuckled when that thought came into his head. Whether it was because he was starting to get a little hysterical or because he legitimately thought it was funny; he didn't know. But Soul assumed it was a little bit of both at play here.

Crona was taking the situation far worse than the albino teen was, as his chest tightened in tension and pupils reduced to shriveled specks. The bottoms of his feet felt as if they had rooted themselves to the ground below him, entwining into his muscles and freezing him of mobility. His brain set off like a fireworks show with each part exploding in violent bursts, as the gravity of the situation crashed into his soul and mind like a bomb.

'How….H-How did this happen? T-This shouldn't be possible, Maka and soul only wanted to stop the kishin and save the world! W-what have I done…I-I didn't mean for anything like this to happen!' Crona screamed in his hand as his panic attack only seemed to get worse with every second.

He didn't mean for anything like this to happen when seeking to use BREW. He only sought to atone for his terrible sins and make maka happy. But he did the complete opposite. Now he ended up causing his two friends and his worthless self to he displaced in this other world. And even worse, maka's friends were probably going to get fighting the kishin while they waited for her.

But Maka above all was just as much as a fragile state as the boy's standing besides her as she was desperately trying to keep herself composed and stable. But unfortunately it seemed to be a battle she was beginning to lose, as clusters of fear came crashing down onto her without stopping.

Maka never imagined in her life as a meister she would ever be feeling such emotional storms raging within herself. Sure she had gone through a few times where her confidence had been shaken to its lowest point; but she always found a way to rebound just as quickly. Allowing her to remain as brave as possible in the face of an obstacle. It was the source of her true strength and what always allowed her to catch up with her two freakishly strong teammates.

But at this moment Maka was trying her damndest to have her courage return to her as it normally would in such a dire situation as now. Yet no matter what she tried she couldn't push out this strong feeling of distress throughout her mind and body.

'B-but I don't understand...why? Why did this happen?' Maka questioned to herself, as confusion and frustration continued swirling into her system without end.

They were supposed to defeat the kishin. All of them were in the middle of trying to save the world before all this! Yet soon enough, the mere mention of what happened yesterday froze Maka into mute horror.

'Oh god...w-what about our friends, what's going to happen to everyone!? The kishin's still free and fighting Kid and Blackstar!' Maka realized in panicked worry, thoughts of her friends having possibly perished only made her heart and breathing further race in panic. It had only been a single day since they've disappeared but so much could've happened in that time.

What was going on while they were gone?

What happened?

Did they all fail to stop the kishin?

Did everyone make it out alive?

Is their world falling into madness?

So many of these terrifying questions kept drilling into her head, and even with all the bravery within herself, Maka couldn't overcome the weight of this revelation. It was simply too much to handle all at once. Soon enough she began to feel much more lightheaded and dizzier, drifting somewhere in between dazed and awake. Her body felt like it was falling, all while the frantic yet muddled voices of Crona and Soul became fainter, and fainter.

The world around her grew darker and more silent. Until everything in her fading vision went black as her mind slipped away from consciousness.

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HOSPITAL LOBBY FLOOR

Rumi Usagiyama, AKA The bunny hero Mirko, as more than glad to find that Central Hospital wasn't just the most echnologically advanced hospital in Japan, but also the most providing. She never expected the place to have the best Sarbucks coffee she'd enjoyed in a while. The bunny heroine sipped her soothing hot drink as she walked beside that fukusama, or whatever the hell that feathered cop's name was.

She was lucky enough to find the man and his tusked partner led by Eizo, having crossed paths with each other as both their destinations were in the lobby floor. The elephant officer continued exasperatedly arguing with a peeved civilian woman; while Eizo stood nearby.

"So, who exactly is Ezio bringing in again?" Rumi asked as she walked from the hospital's cafe. Deciding to take the opportunity to gain some insight into exactly who the "special guest" is; and why Eizo thinks the guy can instantly solve this whole mess.

"At first I was just as clueless as you are to who the guy was, but now that I think about it, I've got a pretty good idea who it is." The pink feathered officer answered, with Mirko only growing more impatient to receive her much-needed answer.

"Well, who the hell is he?" Mirko asked impatiently, now she wanted to know the guy's identity more than before.

The flamingo feathered officer sighed before he looked back at the rabbit Amazon with an almost nostalgic expression. He'd experienced the pleasure of working with that man for a brief time several years back.

"His name is Atushi Ōkabo, otherwise known as the 'the soul screener', he's an old friend of detective eizo from way back then if I recall. The guy would always hang out with eizo in his free time or help out occasionally as a civilian consultant." Furamasi explained to the intrigued rabbit heroine.

"Whenever he was available to come down to the station to help us with an interrogation, he would use his quirk to get the testimonies we needed in the span of ten minutes."

He truly was what many of the older police officers in the station considered to be their ultimate weapon in interrogation. A trend back in the day became apparent, that whenever there was a case that left everyone stumped and with no solid leads to move forward on. Someone would call Ōkabo from home to the police station if we was available, and he'd present them with the necessary information to solve the case in less than a day. All he needed was to be in a room alone with the suspect, with the right tools, and he'd get all he needed out of any poor fool in an hour.

"You're serious?" Mirko asked with a raised eyebrow, the officer nodded to affirm his claims. "So if this dude is such a big shot to you guys, then why the hell haven't I heard anything about him?"

"Well for starters, he wasn't a big fan of the spotlight to begin with and always wanted to remain anonymous whenever he got involved. Another reason was how ōkabo, like I said is a civilian consultant, and already had a job he was very much passionate about."

"And what kind of job would that be?" Mirko raised an eyebrow.

"He's a mangaka writer working closely to an anime company, Studio skulls I think it was called." A new voice inputted themselves into the conversation, the pro hero and officer turned around to see none other than Eizo walking towards the pair.

"Oh! D-detective Ezio, sorry I didn't see you there. I was just talking to Mirko about the soul screener." Furamasi nervously told the man, fearful of getting scolded for slacking off in any way.

"It's no problem Furamasi, I'm actually glad you're giving Mirko a rundown on Atushi. She should probably get a good idea of who the guy is before he comes." Eizo casually replied to the officer, who relaxed as soon as the detective spoke those words.

"Wait a minute, did you say a mangaka writer?" Mirko asked, to which Ezio quickly nodded in confirmation. "You're kidding me...you have got to be fucking kidding me." Mirko asked in disbelief, unable to imagine learning this legendary interrogater was in actuality just some fucking mangaka writer!

"I kid you not." Eizo said flatly.

"B-But I don't get it, I thought this guy was some kind of freakin legend to you and these chumps; didn't he help you lock up all sorts of scum?" The veteran detective exasperatedly sighed in response to the question, much to the rabbit girls growing frustration.

"Well, Ōkabo may have been damn good as a consultant but...he was lazy as hell. He would always prioritize every second of his free time to his hobbies and manga writing job, that being through either drawing sketches or watching anime." Ezio stated calmly, yet he almost chuckled as the rabbit heroine sweat dropped at what she was heard just now. In ten seconds an angry vein popped on Rumi's forehead while one of her red eyes twitched in peeved annoyance.

"Eizo...did you really call a fucking otaku to help us solve a vigilante case!?" Mirko angrily said as steam blew out of her rabbit ears. Now seriously ticked off that THIS was the special guest Ezio oh so desperately needed.

The detective saw Mirko's fuming reaction to the reveal, he couldn't really blame her in the slightest for feeling that way. Atushi Ōkabo was indeed a super otaku, having a love for anime and manga as long as Eizo could remember since they first met during a crisis with a pyromanic villain.

The madman had used his incinerator quirk to set off a deadly swath of fire around a quiet neighborhood that ōkabo had lived in. Thankfully it didn't get too far before the fire department and some heroes came to put out the flames and arrest the crazy bastard. He and the police were tasked with evacuating the citizens alongside containing the situation; where he found himself helping that very mangaka escape with his drawing pad in hand from his half ignited home.

Afterwards the ōkabo thanked him for saving his life and life's work from the fire's, and offered some drinks as a token of appreciation. From there after some pleasant conversations did they become friends and hang out if they ever had the time.

Whenever he visited the man, his home would always be littered with numerous sketches of anime drawings that he had yet to complete. All of them were pretty damn good from what he saw for how briefly he caught a glimpse or two of them. The guy was obviously a very talented man when came to this industry, and clearly had shown what he could bring to life once he has the time and inspiration.

It was only after he told ōkabo tales from his job as a detective did he seed his friend's interest and decide to become a civilian consultant to see if he can gain any inspiration from seeing the fight against crime up close. At first he was hesitant but after he and his superiors learned of his quirk, they didn't even hesitate to let ōkabo help out.

Eizo could still remember the times he called ōkabo for a case, the man would come by and afterwards he'd leave with a big fat smile on his face. As he was no doubt filled with joy for putting his quirk to good use, but also gaining a substantial creative profit in the process. Later taking his harrowing experience with that fire that enveloped his neighborhood alongside his experiences as a civilian consultant to create various manga series that were adapted by studio skulls. Many of which alongside their anime adaptions, becoming popular hits in Japan along with the rest of the world.

Eizo even read or watched some his adapted work with his colleagues in the station when they had some free time in the office.

One of which was called "fire force" if he remembered correctly. And it was easily some of the most entertaining stuff he read in a while, with his fellow officers thinking the same once it was adapted into an anime. It was pretty amazing how ōkabo took his own life threatening experience, and make a story about superpowered firefighter's of all things.

Yet it also became very apparent that his work tended to have some more...revealing imagery occur a lot in his stories. Which made some cops do a serious check up on what their teenage sons had been secretly viewing behind their backs.

Seriously, Ōkabo really needed to take it easy with drawing all that fan service.

"But he hasn't really come to help the department like he used to back then. As once All Might came and became an unstoppable force against villainy, intensive crime investigations were much less frequent. Which would usually be his source of creative inspiration." Eizo elaborated. "So eventually Atushi decided to take a LONG break from being a civilian consultant and went back to doing his primary job full time."

"So, he quit because he got bored?" Mirko deadpanned with a annoyed tone prominent in her voice. Immediately beginning to feel her respect for this guy plummet like an anchor.

"Pretty much." the flamingo feathered officer shrugged. "But you can't really blame him, the guy was like a master chef left in a kitchen with only the basics left for ingredients. We all need to expand our avenues and move on for us to be our best."

"So let me guess, the guy probably jumped on the offer to come use his quirk for those whacko's upstair's right?" Mirko rolled her eyes, as eizo in response could only shrug.

"yeah, but trust me when I say he ain't doing this for free either." Eizo reminded the heroine, as he knew his services were far from cheap.

In fact it seemed his price for his quirk only seemed to grow higher than before if he was charging a 10,990-yen fee every damn time. And with the lack of seasoned detectives with deductive skills such as himself, many of his coworkers had their salaries get utterly annihilated by the sheer cost of calling up Atushi and his quirk for assistance in their respective cases.

But what the hell did they expect? Did they really think Ōkabo wouldn't take advantage of his quirk's usefulness and their desperation? Just because the guy wanted to get some fuel for his muse, didn't mean he wouldn't want a make nice profit out of it either.

Hell, he's actually started hearing rumors that the greedy bastard was charging an extra 100 yen per call! But if that rumor was true, combined with the actual price of his service, then he can kiss his paycheck goodbye.

Ugh, he just prayed that Ōkabo's service was worth all this trouble...and his hard earned cash.

Yet as Eizo thought about his check's premature demise by the end of this case, Johnson's approaching voice snapped him back to reality.

"Oi Eizo! I got the flatscreen you requested ready to go upstairs, you just couldn't believe the hassle I went through to get it." The elephant officer replied towards the end in exasperation.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything to her once this whole matter is settled." Eizo waved off as he took a brief look at his watch on his only non-metal limb. The digital clock showed that ōkabo was less than a minute away from arriving. He just hoped he had enough time before the HPSC decided to come and handle this matter themselves.

True, they were the ones who assigned him to this case in the first place; but it didn't mean he trusted those guys with this unique case. As already this was turning into something way out of the rails of a normal vigilante case and he didn't think those guys would properly handle this mess.

They'd just probably interrogate the kids like they were villains, and if they heard that stuff about Death City and their death god...then those children would end up in the looney bin without any further delay. Which was not a good idea to actually follow through with, at least not anymore as Eizo saw it.

Eizo was sure that something was up with these three vigilantes, something just didn't make sense. Maybe they really were crazy. Or maybe, just maybe, these kids were much more than he ever thought. So right now, the best thing was to wait for Atushi, and see what exactly they were dealing with first before HPSC could step in.

'The only chance we have of remotely getting a clear answer to this madness is through Atushi Ōkabo and his quirk.' Ezio conclude while he waited for his friend to come and help him figure out what the hell was going on.

But as if it was timed perfectly by God himself, the automatic doors dinged open as a middle-aged man stepped out and walked towards the lobby.

"Well, it's Good to know all of you were waiting for me." Said a voice.

Ezio turned to see none other than the man that had been so anticipated for this whole time. Ezio held a small smile while Johnson and Furamasi kept neutral expressions the whole time.

And Mirko? Well, she just rolled her eyes again and continued to quietly fume. The rabbit heroine took in the sight of this mystery man and mulled over what he'd been hyped up by these cops to be.

Needless to say, she was even more disappointed than before.

Atushi was a man of average height, yet he still seemed shorter than most, as he was still a foot shorter than Eizo and the others. His medium black, scruffy yet well-kept hair acted as an open curtain to reveal his surprisingly young-looking face. Along with the beginnings of a goatee under his chin and the ever so faint mustache hairs on his upper lip, he looked fairly normal. His right hand stayed in his blue navy hoodie, while the other hand held one of his red book bag's straps. The man walked at a pace that Ezio, Rumi, and the two officers could easily tell made him look like he was in a hurry.

And judging by his impatient expression, he clearly hoped to be done with this as soon as possible.

"Oh Atushi, I'm glad you made it." Ezio greeted and held out a hand to shake with. Atushi took the gesture and curtly shook his hand for nearly five seconds before he shoved his hand back into his pocket.

"Look, I'm just really hoping this isn't a wild goose chase. You're lucky you called me during my break session Ezio." Ōkabo replied to the detective who blandly shrugged.

"Eh...lucky me I guess." Eizo replied.

"You're damn right. Especially since I had to deal with the trains being delayed because of some freaky ass slime villain attacking nearby the station. so again, this better be worth both the effort and trust I'm putting in you." Atushi told the old detective in annoyance.

Mirko however, growled in anger, resisting the urge to give this guy a piece of her mind. Seriously, he was asked to come here in the first place and was getting paid no less, so why the hell should he be bitching about it now?

Ezio scratched the back of his head while looking slightly guilty. "Look, I'm really sorry I dragged you all the way here. I can tell you were really busy before I called."

Atushi merely sighed in response before answering the veteran cop. "It's fine Eizo, the best way you'll repay me is being able to satisfy my need for creative inspiration for my work. So how about we don't waste any more time and just bring me to those kids you're talking about."

Ezio then gave a quick nod. "They're on the third floor of the hospital so just follow me, I'll lead you to their room."

Thus, without any further delay the three cops, pro hero and civilian consultant all walked towards the hospital elevator. One of the officers hauled along the TV strapped to a wheeled table as they made their way to the elevator. Atushi however, slowly glanced to the flamingo feathered officer walking besides him, as a small smile made its way onto his face.

"Well, I got to say Furamasi never thought I'd see you in a case like this. Still haven't been promoted yet?" Ōkabo remarked.

Furamasi turned his head towards the writer and shrugged. "I'm close, but I still got a long way to go Ōkabo."

"Really? You'd think a cop who was involved in taking down a weapons trafficking ring would be given some credibility for such a feat." The writer smirked.

"It's alright, I'm a patient man. And besides with this big guy as my partner I might just get it sooner." Furamasi chuckled lightly, pointing towards the elephant man of an officer. Johnson merely rolled his eyes, but still had a smile hidden underneath his trunk from his partner's compliment towards him.

The group then walked down the lobby to where the elevator was located. A couple of civilians were curious and a few glances landed on them as they were walking. It wasn't every day that someone would see not only three cops, but also the number seven hero Mirko herself! The people in the lobby gave a few shouts of praise to the bunny hero, as she merely gave a small smile and waved a few back.

She may not be a fan of people constantly venerating her like she was some freakin goddess; but she did at least enjoy being someone people could look up to and strive to achieve the same strength she had.

As they awaited the elevator to come down, Eizo took a glance towards Atushi. Noticing he was impatiently tapping his foot the whole time while he stood in front of the elevator doors. At first, he thought the man wanted to finish this job as soon as possible and get back to his own work. But now that he thought about it, Atushi never once checked the time nor really complained about speeding this up. If anything, he looked ready to manifest laser beams out of his eyes with the way he intently stared at the elevator doors.

This must've meant he was REALLY intrigued by what he told the manga writer. Cause he's never seen Ōkabo look so driven to interview a group of people.

Maybe it was because some of Japan's top pro heroes were involved or he actually bought what he told him about those vigilantes. But either way it was clear to Eizo that this man was determined to interview those kids now than he originally thought.

"So how exactly is this guy going to help us with those vigilantes?" Mirko asked Eizo, wanting to know the specifics of this otaku's methods and his quirk.

"When we interview those kids again, let's just say his quirk is gonna let us see the perspective of one of them and see what's going on in their minds." Eizo explained to the curious rabbit eared woman.

"And how exactly does all that work?" Mirko questioned, wondering if this guy's quirk lets him become some kind of mind hijacker or something close to that.

"Is that what these guys have been talking about me?" Atushi added his input to the conversation, then sighed in minor annoyance. "It's truly incredible how stories can grow so out of hand these days. Seriously, the nickname I have makes me sound like I'm some soul stealing demon."

"Then what does your quirk do?" Mirko asked.

Atushi smirked mischievously. "Oh don't worry you'll be seeing it in action soon, so for now how about I save that surprise for later on?"

Mirko raised a brow and lightly scoffed. "Be my guest, But whatever quirk you have better be worth all this hype these guys have been building it all up to be."

"Though I must say, I'm quite flattered the number seven hero would take interest in my quirk." Atushi told the rabbit hero in amusement of gaining such attention from someone like Mirko.

"How can't I? I've been forced to listen to eizo and these dimwits jabbering on about you for past twenty minutes now." Mirko snorted.

"Well, I hope they haven't been overhyping me too much. I'm just here to show you what's in their heads and get a nice paycheck by the end of it."

"Rest assured, I promise you'll be getting your payment Ōkabo." Ezio promised the consultant. "Hell, I'll even double it should this all really be a waste of your time and resources." Ezio replied to the mangaka writer who surprisingly waved off his generous offer.

"Thanks, but You know I'm not into cash Ezio. I'll only be pissed off if what you told me on the phone was total bullshit. It's been a long time since I've been this interested in a police case like this; So, I'll be extremely disappointed if this really was all for nothing." Atushi stated to the senior detective as the two metal doors of the elevator finally opened up. Thus, allowing the small group to enter inside as Ezio pressed the button to head up to the third floor.

"I don't even know what to expect from this whole mess anymore. But let's see if you can finally shed some light on what the hell is going on." Ezio openly said as with a cheerful ding of the elevator, its heavy doors closed shut and moved itself up to the hospital's third floor. The old detective could only wait for whatever would soon come from this special interview.

---

CENTRAL HOSPITAL THIRD FLOOR

"C'mon Maka wake up!" Soul shouted as he shook his meister's unconscious body to try and raise her from the sudden slumber, but to no avail. She was knocked out cold, and would probably be like this for who knows how long.

He and Crona had managed to notice Maka's collapsing form when it had happened, the former of the pair snapped out of his shocked stupor to catch his meister in time. Preventing her from falling to the cold hard floor, and gently placed her unconscious body on the bed afterwards.

Since then the scythe had been trying for nearly twenty minutes to wake her up. But so far nothing had worked, with Crona having frantically tried as well to wake her up, but that ended with as much success as Soul had originally. Now it left him and Crona in waiting for the two-star meister to reawaken from her sleep.

'Shit! How the hell didn't I see this coming!?' Soul chastised himself for being so caught up in his own shock to have not considered how Maka would react to the sight of an actual faceless sun in front of them.

A sun with no features but merely blinding light to this world...a world that wasn't theirs.

They weren't in some isolated part of Japan or even the Japan they've always known, the very same one their dear friend Tsubaki had come from. It was a completely different one, a Japan of another dimension and in extension another earth.

God that sounded so stupid even when he said it in his head.

This all sounded like the plot to those isekai anime's he'd watch from time to time, where some average joe or a lucky NEET would end up getting sent to another world to be their chosen one and save it from certain doom. Whenever Maka caught him watching one, she would always roll her eyes and voice her disbelief and scold him to study more rather than keep watching that "unrealistic junk" as she called it.

Well, he guessed it wasn't as unrealistic as Maka claimed them to be anymore, considering they literally just got isekai'd into a world with freakin superheroes.

God, he wished every word of that wasn't true. That this was still some mother of all fever dreams concocted by either Asura's madness.

It would've been infinitely easier to handle that rather than being sent to another world. At least they could've found a way to escape.

But sadly, that was just wishful thinking.

This wasn't any kind of mother of all fever dream or hallucination fabricated from madness. They really did land in some other universe, and unfortunately it was all starting to look like it was a one way trip.

Okay yeah, that sounds bleak as hell, but it wasn't like any idea's to get out of this mess were popping up either.

The book of Eibon and BREW were gone when they woke up, so that ticket home was gone as a result thus leaving them stranded here.

So that begged the question...how long were they going to be stuck here?

How long would they have to remain on this other earth, until they could find a way back to their own?

Before Soul could delve deeper into these grave thoughts, his attention was redirected towards Crona, who sat across him in a chair next to the bed. The only sounds that came out of him sounded like quiet sniffling she could just barely hear, as he was curled up in his usual fetal position, while only peeking out from time to time.

Ragnarök had strangely sunk back into his meister's body without a peep as he left his meister to dwell on this dire circumstance. His extremely worried and regretful eyes glanced to Maka's fainted body every minute or so, vigilantly waiting for his friend to finally wake up.

"M-Maka…S-Soul… I-I'm so sorry...this is all my fault." Crona tearfully muttered as he hugged his legs tighter than before. "I thought I-I could atone for what I d-did…b-but I only made things w-worse…" his thin body faintly trembled in sorrow from the pain he once again caused for his two friends.

His mind was racked with storms of shame and guilt he didn't know if he could believe those words. He wanted to badly do so, but the regret within him felt to overwhelming for him to push aside. This time he felt he may have finally crossed the line-as if his previous atrocities weren't already horrific enough.

Soul glanced over at the guilt-stricken swordsman with an expression of pity. The poor guy clearly couldn't handle having seen Maka faint like that. But he wasn't exactly helping either just sitting like that to stew in self-loathing. The first thought to come to mind was telling Crona to snap out of it, yet immediately banished that little idea, since a harsh approach probably wouldn't work for someone as sensitive as Crona.

Maybe that soft approach was the best option here? Anything to get the guy to stop wallowing over there. Things were bad enough as it is.

"Crona don't blame yourself for what's happened, I understand how this must feel for you, but this isn't your fault." Soul said calmly to the fetal positioned sword meister, hoping

The pink haired teen shook his head as he tightened the grip on his legs. "But it is all my f-fault …I started all of this…and because of m-me, we're all trapped in here…with n-no way back home."

Soul's eyes narrowed into a firm glare. "Look I get your feeling guilty for all this, but we are going to find a way back to our world and save it. But moping around having this pity party isn't going to solve our problems." The albino sighed and softened his gaze slightly. "All I'm asking is that you just try to stay strong and hope for the best, at least for maka's sake."

Crona raised his head up to look back at his friend with a unsure teary ebon gaze. Good, it looked like he was starting to get through to him.

But before anyone in the roomknew it, a certain demon sword finally made his return from within his meister's body. In a split second the naughty imp punched his meister right in the face with a loud smack. Resulting in crona nearly falling off the bed, but managed to shakily lift himself back on the bed at the last second. In a dazed heap crona pulled himself back into a sitting position as he reeled from the swords punch, and looked up to see Ragnarök waiting with another hard-to-tell expression.

"You dumbasses really think that, huh?" Ragnarök wrathfully repeated, his voice sounded more like an angrily quiet growl than anything else. "Well, you know what I believe? I believe THIS IS ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!" Ragnarök screamed in fury as he began his assault with his tiny ball hands.

Crona then proceeded to cover his face from Ragnarök's raging fists, and while it didn't hurt as much as one would think, the flurry of ball fists surprisingly stung a bit.

"R-Ragnarök stop it! P-Please!" Crona pleaded with the livid little demon, but the demon sword wouldn't budge.

"Goddammit Ragnarök, can't you just shut the hell up for once in your life?" Soul angrily hissed, his pointy teeth grinding in frustration.

Yet it didn't seem the sword heard a single word the albino scythe had spoken as he continued screaming in fury.

"Stop?! STOP!? FUCK THAT! I'm gonna beat the shit out of you for getting us into this mess, you fucking idiot!" Ragnarök screeched as he continued trying to beat up his meister. "Out of all the shit you've pulled, this is the final damn straw! Bad enough you almost got us trapped forever on the fucking moon with the kishin! But now instead you got us trapped with these fuckers in ANOTHER DAMN WORLD!" Ragnarök roared as he continued punching his partner, despite Crona being able to defend himself quite easily.

"Ragnarök, I said stop! I can't handle you right now!" Crona told the still furious Ragnarök. Unfortunately, the swordsman might as well have been talking to a brick wall; With the imp remaining ever furious with his meister.

"No, fuck you! You think you can't handle this!? Oh, then just wait for the hell I have planned for you!" Ragnarök angrily retorted while taking sick pleasure in whatever fear he might've caused for the boy, before resuming his attacks on his meister.

"I don't care what you say! I'm not wasting any more time right now with your tantrums, can't you see this isn't the time?!" Crona said with a risen voice of his own, now he was getting fed up with Ragnarök's childish behavior. Even knowing full well that his merged weapon had every right to be livid with him at the moment.

He once again dragged his weapon into another of his messes on the ever growing list of shame. All the while giving him no say in the matter at all. Combined with all he had done for him before this, Crona was honestly surprised that Ragnarök didn't go berserk much sooner.

"Oh, but I perfectly see what's going on," Ragnarök sneered back, his voice now filled with venomous spite for his puny meister. "I see that the wimpy, emo loser that I'm stuck to got us all screwed several times over. And now thanks to your pathetic ass trying to be a worthless excuse of a fucking hero, we're all gonna be trapped here in this freakshow of a world for the rest of our fucking lives!" Ragnarök yelled, ready to once again throw another punch at Crona. But before he could fire his next small fist, Crona caught his tiny arm and tightly gripped the imp's gloved hand.

"You don't think I know that…?"

Ragnarök's rage momentarily ceased as the sword froze in surprise by his meister's frigid whisper that could only be barely heard. But before anyone could try to speak up, the sword meister's head shot up revealing underneath his bangs, his onyx eyes now filled with hot anger and tearful anguish towards his merged weapon.

"How!? How could you think I could forget that!? I don't need you to keep reminding me how much of a bastard I am!" Crona shouted in raw anguish, sending the whole room into a tense yet stunned silence.

The only sounds that could be heard were the beeping medical machines and Crona's heavy breathing from screaming so loud. Crona let go of Ragnarök's arm as he simply stood there like a tree rooted to the ground with the only thing moving being the tears coming from his eyes.

"Do you have any idea... how much I hate myself?" Crona chocked out, tears dripping from his eyes and his breath hiked. "I despise everything about myself. I've always wished I could be a better person-but that's j-just s-so silly to believe could happen, right? I can never make up for all I've done, but I at least thought I could atone in some way. But even that's impossible. I just end up making everything so much worse, now because of me I not only ruined your chance to defeat the kishin-but I caused you two to be somehow trapped in this place forever."

"Your right Ragnarök...I'm just a loser. I'm worthless. All I've accomplished is getting the friends I've already betrayed, to be taken away from everything they fought to protect. I made them lose everything...I-I-I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." Sobbed out as tears kept flowing from his eyes. The boy's sobs were loud enough to be the only sound that filled the dead silent room; as soul continued to stared at the crying swordsman kneeling on the floor.

The scythe's snow white hair hid his eyes, thus making his expression unreadable as he slowly walked towards Crona's crying form. Tearful onyx orbs soon looked up in confusion at the looming scythe standing in front of him, before he knew it he was suddenly bonked on the head by the albino scythe.

"Ow!" Crona cried out as he rubbed the top of his skull to try and ward off the reprimanding pain he'd just received. Once the pain began to wane, crona looked up to see Soul's looking down at him with a face full of exasperated disbelief aimed towards him.

"Sorry man, but you gave me no choice, like hell I was gonna stand around and continue watching you spout out all that bullshit about yourself." Soul told the blinking swordsman, who was unable to think of what to say before Soul continued. "Seriously what the hell made you say all that nonsense?"

"B-but it's all true, I-"

"It's not Crona. Not even close." Soul immediately cut off the sorrow ridden swordsman, deciding to further speak his mind.

"Look, let's get something straight, you are not a loser like you keep jabbering on about. You're just a guy who's been through a lot of shit in your life." The death scythe pointed a finger to emphasize his point.

"B-But that doesn't excuse everything I've caused, I-I took so many lives…I tried to become a kishin and destroy the world itself-there's no justifying my crimes." Crona whispered and gripped his pink locks as he recalled every wrongful sin he had committed.

"Dead wrong." Soul shook his head before continuing. "Even when you attacked that city or tried absorbing the kishin, it wasn't truly you making those choices. Medusa manipulated you into betraying us, and the madness she re-corrupted you with, twisted your mind into doing those terrible actions. No matter what you did, we always knew that wasn't the real you." added towards the end, his calm yet stern expression unchanging even as Crona's eyes became the size of dinner plates.

"W-what are you talking about, soul!? I-I-I'm the one who wanted to u-use BREW to seal Asura in the first place, how could this not be my fault!?" Crona Incredulously asked as confused horror filled his voice.

"For once I agree with the dumbass! How the hell could you not blame him for causing this!?" Ragnarök demanded, yet soon enough Soul and maka glared daggers at the obnoxious bully of a demon weapon, swiftly shutting him up.

"Let me ask you something Crona, did you know BREW and the book of Eibon would do something like that? Did you know that it would take us to another world?" Soul asked calmly.

Silence was the only response.

"Exactly, you didn't. You had no way of knowing this would even remotely happen, much less be able to stop it. Hell, even if you didn't decide to use BREW it would've probably done this anyway; You aren't responsible for this in the slightest." Soul elaborated to the tearful swordsman who still didn't seem to shaken out of his sorrow.

"B-but how c-can you be so calm? How could you not be angry at me or scared? I'm the reason why you went into Asura's soul in the first place, and got taken here. And now there's a good chance you can find a way back home." Crona choked out, still clearly engulfed in self-loathing for all he'd done to the scythe meister and her weapon. Soul however, knelt down until their eyes were level with each other and then he placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder.

Soul scratched the back of his head and stared at him with a more exasperated expression. "Jeez man, you got to stop being so pessimistic all the time, it's getting seriously uncool." Soul sighed in light exasperation. "Like I said, we have no reason to be angry at you for things that were out of your hands." Soul told the stunned swordsman whose jaw dropped by his friends understanding words.

He never expected soul to be so...so...understanding and calm about this. Shouldn't he be freaking out? How could Soul not be afraid anymore and keep a cool head in such a terrifying situation?

Yet crona could barely linger onto such thoughts as his stunned attention redirected towards the Death Scythe that was speaking to him.

"And if you think I ain't afraid about what's happening, then you're dead wrong." Crona released a small gasp and his eyes wide in astonishment, as soul spoke with a frown. "I won't lie to you, I'm actually scared for what's going to happen next while we're stuck in this freaky world. And it doesn't help my conscience is filled with thoughts of what the heck is happening back home. But even though I have no idea how long we'll be here, freaking out and losing my cool is far from the answer." The albino's expression soon became aflame with determination.

Yeah it was true, he was legitimately feeling fear about this whole interdimensional insanity they all got caught in. To even think of the possibilities of what they could be coming back to if they don't return sooner, was enough to make his blood run cold.

But dwelling in those bleak thoughts wouldn't help, he needed to be like maka and retain enough courage to stay strong for everyone else. Otherwise how else would he be considered the cool death scythe he and his meister worked so hard to become.

"If we're gonna find some way back home then we have to stick together, especially since we both care for my meister over there." Soul pointed to maka, to which the ash blonde gave a small smile and let soul continue speaking.

"You really mean that?" Crona blinked, as he tried to comprehend everything the scythe was saying to him.

Soul's eyes took on a more serious gleam and his lips flipped upwards."of course I do, but I get why You still feel shitty for everything else. But don't think your alone in this. Your Maka's friend. So that also means you're my friend as well Crona. And I'll be there alongside her to help you heal while we figure this all out; you just got to believe in us and more importantly believe in yourself." Soul finished his speech, and hopefully his heartfelt words could reach the guilty swordsman and snap him out of his funk.

Crona for the next couple of seconds had nothing else to say whatsoever. Not even a peep could come out of his throat. All he could really do was simply stare in silence with wide stunned eyes from Soul's speech. He couldn't believe that soul could not only be so easily forgive him but also was willing to comfort him during his own mental crisis. As crona could no doubt tell soul must be undergoing his own emotional crisis from this ordeal; but pushed it aside to provide him such empathetic and understanding words to him.

The pink haired swordsman could never have imagined the young death scythe to be as forgiving as his meister and so stable in such dire circumstances. And if was being honest, had always feared that soul only tolerated his presence for his sake. It would've hurt but understood why he held lingering resentment considering he nearly killed him and maka when they first met. But any lingering traces of these negative thoughts were completely evaporated, now such doubts were unnecessary to hold anymore.

Then again, he did say he believed in him back in Asura's soul, and risked entering inside the kishin's soul with Maka for his sake alone. So, it felt more than silly to have ever doubted his or maka's friendship being tattered to begin with.

Soon tears began to well up in his eyes, only these were tears instead born from joy rather than sorrow. His previously guilt stricken heart feeling warmed into a better state by how soul truly saw him as a true friend. Crona sat up and before either of the scythe duo knew it, the lanky teen tackled the albino weapon into a tight embrace.

The stunned pianist was too surprised by the sudden affectionate display by his friend to do anything but let himself be wrapped by the thin boy.

"Thank you soul…thank you for you and maka for still being my friends. Even though I still can't forgive myself for what I've done, I'm gonna t-try and stay strong." Crona glanced at maka with wisps of steel in his teary eyes. "For the person we both care about. That alone will give me enough faith to overcome the weight of my sins as best as I can." Crona muttered to the albino boy he continued to hug the death scythe.

Soul not expecting such a positive reaction from his speech could only sputter for a proper response to Crona's hugging, before deciding to just simply albeit awkwardly pat the pink haired boy's back.

"It's no problem man, even with the craziness of being sent to another world, we'll do our best to help you out with your problems, it's what friends are for." Soul told the timid swordsman who only blushed further by souls reassuring words, as slowly but surely did Crona's smile grow bigger than before.

The boys' hug lasted only for a minute longer before Crona finally let go. The pink haired boy did nothing and merely clutched his right arm's skinny bicep. All the while he blushed light pink in embarrassment at his burst of emotions moments ago, yet didn't realize how a warm smile still lingered on his face. Unfortunately, Crona's brief moment of happiness wouldn't last long as Ragnarök, who had been silent this whole time, started making obnoxious fake gagging sounds to clearly express his disgust at the warm moment between the boys.

"Ugh...I think I'm gonna get diabetes at this rate if I'm forced to witness anymore of this sweet little bullshit you two got going." Ragnarök said with utter repulsion in his voice before turning to his meister, and without warning pulled on both his ears like they were rubber. "But don't think for a second, I still ain't pissed off for how badly you've fucked me over in this. So, you better find a way to make it up to me asshole, before I keep my word and pummel your scrawny ass!"

"A-Alright Ragnarök I promise, just quit i-it!" Crona hastily told the sword as he pushed the pair of assaulting ball hands away from his ears.

"Yeah, you fuckin better! Otherwise I'm gonna make you wish you could go back to imprisoning yourself on the moon!" The demon weapon threatened one last time before retreating into the body of his meister. Thus, leaving the swordsman and death scythe alone once more in the hospital room.

Soul noticing Crona's small yet growing smile, immediately made the death scythe feel more relieved to see; he was emotionally stabilizing himself and not crumbling to his guilt over his past and their present situation. The last thing that either of them needed, was one of them breaking down at a time like this.

'Sheesh, since when did I have to start doing your job Maka?' Soul wondered, attempting to figure out how he'd been forced to take up the scythe meister's role of cheering up her friends whenever they needed it. As much as he didn't mind being the guy to keep everything cool and stable, he really wished Maka would finally wake up so they could figure out what to do next.

Suddenly before Soul even knew it, the groaning sounds of the very same girl he was thinking about rang in his ears. Crona and Soul swiftly turned around to see that Maka was finally beginning to wake up, the scythe meister blinked a few times before slowly sitting upright on the bed. Without any hesitation, Crona and Soul instantly dashed to the right side of the bed. Both boys stood near their friend, waiting in both relief and worry as Maka awoke from her fainted slumber.

"M-Maka are you okay!?" Crona asked in visible worry, the scythe meister only continued rubbing her eyes to shake off the remnants of her short slumber.

"I think so..." Maka sleepily muttered as she blinked a few more time before her green eyes fully opened and she took in her surroundings. Her restored vision revealed herself laying on the hospital bed with Soul and Crona standing near the right side of it. Maka looked perplexed as she clearly didn't remember being on the bed before.

Wait a minute, why was she sleeping to begin with? She didn't feel tired, so why did she pass out all of a sudden? She couldn't unfortunately recall anything yet as her memory was still a bit too fuzzy from... something she saw. But she just couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe Soul could bring some clarity back to her memory and help her remember what it was.

"Hey Soul, why was I sleeping? I don't remember much, but I think Crona wanted us to see something? Yeah, that was it." Maka affirmed to herself as the scythe could only stiffen from his meister's response. Maka turned her head to look at her demon weapon before speaking once more.

"So can you tell me what exactly happened?" The minute Soul heard that question, albino boy could feel his stomach drop; his red eyes wandered to see how Crona blanched from hearing the same thing he did.

'Shit...' soul mentally cursed, as he realized maka's memory was still foggy from fainting earlier.

At first, they thought waiting for her to remember would be a good option, but immediately they realized it was pointless to try delaying something like this. If anything, it would make the outcome even worse than it would originally be.

It wouldn't be pretty but it was honestly the best way to handle this delicate matter. God only knows how Maka would react should they go about this the wrong way. Soul then gave the swordsman a weak nod to signal what he was about to do.

"Guys what's going on?" Maka asked in bewilderment and caution from the worried expressions she saw on crona and soul. What the heck happened while she had fallen asleep to warrant such grave demeanors from these guys?

Soul released a breath from his mouth and looked up to his meister, a calm yet unusually serious expression showed in his red eyes. Her weapon's uncharacteristic expression only further added to Maka's anxiety and confusion before he finally spoke.

"Maka...I think looking at that will help refresh your memory." Soul cryptically answered her, as he pointed his finger towards the clear window on her right side.

Maka looked at Soul with a raised brow before she decided to comply and turned her head to see the window and what laid beyond it. At first all she saw was a perfectly normal city, one that looked the same as any other she'd seen. But as her eyes explored the view more closely, she finally noticed a glaring flaw with this seemingly normal image.

A faceless sphere of light was in the sky, in place of the cartoonishly laughing sun she'd had always seen. Maka could only stare in frozen shock at the unnatural celestial body, as a wave of recent memories came rushing back into her head. The fog of sleep immediately dispersed from her mind, as she instantly remembered everything that occurred before passing out.

'Oh...so that's what happened.' Maka recalled in numb shock as her brain tried processing everything she had unfortunately learned.

She must've passed out from the shocked terror of learning the truth. Normally she should've died of embarrassed from acting so out of character and actually fainted; but thanks to the sheer shock coursing through her, that emotion died down fairly quickly.

But how could she have forgotten so easily? Well to be fair, it was less of her actually forgetting about it and more along the lines of her thinking it was all one crazy dream.

Unfortunately, it wasn't something as blissful as that. She had no choice but to accept that this was reality and not some fantasy being played out in her head. This fantastical scenario was somehow real, and there was no easy way to get out of it.

'Why couldn't this be nothing more than a nightmare...a measly bad dream I could wake up from?' Maka wondered somberly. Oh she wished more than anything that she could've just woken up and found herself back home with all her friends and teachers.

Heck, she wouldn't even mind to see Spirit and his overbearing nature as she woke up. Instead, her eyes found only a grimacing Soul and a gravely concerned Crona waiting for her.

All thanks to whoever took control of the demon tool BREW and the book of Eibon and dragged them to this world that belonged in the pages of those captain charisma comics.

A pang of anger soon rose up in her chest from remembering the true cause of all this. How the spell book and that demon tool, just abruptly ripped them all away from trying to save the world against their will. Leaving them stranded in this unfamiliar and ridiculously hero centric world without anyway to go back home while her dear friends and teachers we're probably fighting for their lives.

Dammit...Dammit this wasn't fair at all. She and soul didn't belong here, none of them did. What was the purpose of leaving stranded in some other world when trying to save their own? What was the purpose? Some kind of sick joke? Eibon playing a cruel test on them? But alas the attempts to seek an answer just kept getting muddled as her spark of righteous anger got dulled but in some ways still persistent. It was the only other emotion capable at the moment to run through her mind, besides the thunderstruck emotions momentarily jamming the gears in her head.

"So, it wasn't a dream then?" Maka slowly muttered with equal parts disappointment and the same sorrow that lined her expression.

"Unfortunately it doesn't seem that way." Soul answered his meister.

"I guess that was pretty silly to still believe." Maka sighed out as her saddened jade orbs landed on her lap.

The albino cythe however could sense that a storm of emotions was brewing inside of her. The only reason Maka didn't seem to explode or act on them, was due to her strong-willed nature; a trait that Soul greatly admired and respected bout his meister. But he knew they needed to help her cope with this and give Maka shoulders to lean on as she gave herself the time to release her emotions. Hell, even he needed to do the same and give himself the time to let everything out.

But he wouldn't let himself until he knew Maka was ready to do the same. It would not only be pathetic as hell but also the most uncool thing imaginable. He was Maka's death scythe, her demon weapon, and he would be there for her and help her through what's she's going through inside her heart.

Thus, with a sympathetic expression, Soul slowly stepped forward towards the railing of the hospital bed's side. The scythe meister didn't seem to notice him approaching her bed, yet subtle movements in her eyes looking towards Crona and soul's direction proved otherwise.

"*sigh* alright Maka look, I know this is more than overwhelming, but it'll-" Yet before Soul could finish his sentence the door to their hospital room suddenly swung open.

---

AT THE SAME TIME

Eizo and Atushi along with the other adults continued walking down the hallway of the hospital's third floor at a speedy pace. The group neared ever closer to the vigilante's room, with only another minute of walking left before reaching their destination.

"So Eizo, what should I be expecting once we go in there?" Atushi asked out of curiosity, wanting to be prepared for anything when interviewing these vigilantes.

"Oh, They're a colorful bunch that's for sure." Eizo commented as he began listing off the vigilantes one by one. "The girl named Maka appears to be a firecracker, someone who's willing to take the lead. While Soul or that's what he calls himself, seems to have a more laid back kid. And that boy Crona, seems a bit different from his friends, but from what I've seen he's mostly a very timid boy." Ezio summarized to the mangaka writer, yet his voice sounded more like he released a sigh it out towards the end; knowing full well that particular vigilante was a very complicated story.

Ōkabo raised a curious, if not an almost suspicious eyebrow, from Eizo's summarization of the third vigilante. The mangaka had a sneaking suspicion that this vigilante was more than just "a little bit different". But he decided to leave it alone for the time being. He did like surprises, so maybe this "Crona" boy like his friends would be something to blow his expectations out of the water.

In less than a minute they reached the hospital room where the trio had been put when they were admitted last night. Eizo wasted no time in being the one to open the white doors as he, Atushi, mirko and those two other cops walked inside. The detective and mangaka writer were greeted with the sight of the vigilantes huddled around one of the hospital beds as they turned to face them in surprise.

Eizo looked at the children and widened his eyes from what he saw. Crona and Soul were now standing over the right side of the hospital bed; While Maka had remained sitting on the bed as he saw her last time. Yet it looked like she had gotten up, if Maka's casted foot being removed from the bed's sling was any indication. But what took all of Eizo's attention was the expressions that each of the teens wore.

Crona seemed fine for the most part, but at the same time he still had very evident solemnness in his features. But when Eizo glanced closer at Soul, he could see that boy was definitely not the same case as his pink-haired friend.

The albino's calmness appeared as nothing more than an illusion, one that hid the shaken emotions that were flowing inside him behind his scarlet eyes. It was clear that this guy was having a hard time keeping his calm demeanor together. Eizo's surprised gaze then drifted towards Maka's sitting form and he deeply frowned when he saw her current state.

The ash-blonde girl appeared somehow even worse than Soul was, there was no way she could mask the fog of dazed shock she was enveloped in. She appeared so despondent and almost lifeless; it was almost as if this girl just went through some kind of an unspeakable tragedy, and only now was she trying to process the grief of her loss.

'What the hell happened to them? They look so hollow.' Eizo wondered in astonished concern, as he wondered What in God's name could've transpired while he was gone?

They were pretty heartbroken from being unable to find their supposed home and school, but he at least thought they'd mellow out enough to be spoken to more thoroughly. But instead of getting calmer in that time, the complete opposite had occurred as they all looked so shook to their core's.

'Lord only knows what I would've walked into had I arrived any later.' Ezio dreaded the dark possibilities, all of which were none too pleasant to imagine. If he hadn't come here with Ōkabo sooner, Eizo seriously doubted they'd be in any condition to be interviewed. Eizo resisted the urge to grimace as he now feared if they were even in any condition right now to be spoken to.

"Is everything alright in here?" Eizo said slowly with a thin veil of caution laced into his voice as he asked the trio in front of him. The death scythe and swordsman, after recovering from their surprise of the detective's sudden entrance, looked at the man with calmer albeit slightly annoyed expressions.

"We're good, thanks for asking. But might I ask why exactly you're here right now?" Soul questioned with a minor spike of quiet annoyance in his voice. Seriously of all the fucking times for this guy to come barging in, this was easily the worst possible moment right now.

Especially considering his meister was still in such a delicate state of mind. Soul glanced for a split second at Maka to see that while she was still dazed in shock, she seemed more responsive, as she now looked at the detective with a more stable and relaxed expression than before.

Eizo managed to notice the subtle irritability in the boy's voice, but let that slide. Clearly something very important was going on here, and while he felt a bit guilty for interrupting whatever it was; he couldn't afford to delay this interview any further. He needed answers and he needed them effective immediately.

Thus, with a single cough in his hand, Ezio stepped aside and allowed for Atushi to enter the center of the room. Mirko stood next to eizo, to not get in the way of the officers rolling in the TV, nor barge into the mangaka artist as he walked inside. The middle-aged man soon entered the room and plopped his book bag on an over-bed table, then looked up to inspect the three teens. Looking at the three teens as if they were portraits of art displayed in a museum, and he was a critic analyzing every detail he saw.

"Well, you weren't wrong about them being a colorful bunch, that's for sure." Atushi commented in Japanese. "Though didn't Ezio tell me the pink haired kid had a muppet attached to him?"

"Muppet? What are you-oh, does he mean that little thing attached to that pink haired boy?" Johnson questioned to himself in English, however it wouldn't be long before within almost a millisecond, a violent splash of black blood emerged out of Crona's back.

The black liquid ripped a hole through Crona's hospital gown, as the miniaturized demon sword fully formed out of his meister with anger quite evident in his arrival.

"Hey! Who the fuck do you think you are calling me a fucking muppet!?" Ragnarök roared as he waved his little arms in fury. The little demon's angry and sudden appearance startled his meister along with Atushi and the two officers. Soul, Maka, and Eizo however weren't really fazed by the brazen creature. The former was accustomed to the imp's loud behavior; while the latter had been hardened to dealing with such outbursts from criminals and villains he'd arrested over the years with similar attitudes.

"Ragnarök, stop yelling so loud!" Crona scolded his peeved weapon, who didn't seem to be really paying attention to his meister. The sword only continued to "glare" with his X shaped irises at the middle-aged manga writer; mumbling something about the man being a "dipshit." Then he swiftly retreated back into his meister's body without another word to anyone else.

The man soon afterwards began to collect himself before returning to a calmer demeanor. "O-Okay then...good to know that was true I guess, though I didn't think its foul mouth was gonna be that bad."

"You think that was bad? Then you should've been here half an hour ago, the little guy's mouth could make a sailor blush." Ezio scoffed in Japanese, he knew the full extent of Ragnarök's foul vocabulary should he be triggered badly enough.

"Sheesh, a-anyway foul language aside, I've got to say, so far I'm quite intrigued by what I see Eizo." Atushi told the detective in Japanese. "These American vigilantes do seem different from most I've ever seen; they kind of look like characters straight out of fairy tail. Or hell, maybe even some of my own characters I've got in the works. Already this is shaping up to be quite a case Ezio." Atushi then walked over and stood next to the TV that was now positioned directly in front of the trio where Crona and soul stood.

"Um Mr. E-Eizo, who is this man? And why is there a TV here?" Crona asked in confusion at all the commotion happening in such a delicate moment. That and Crona didn't think he could handle having this weird man continue to stare at him so much.

It was getting kind of creepy now...

"To answer the first question, this man here is how we're gonna finally get answers to your predicament." Eizo told the swordsman in English, as the mysterious guest pulled out a notepad from his pocket and began writing while maintaining his gaze on the trio. "His name is Atushi Ōkabo, a civilian consultant who specializes in interviewing suspects in hard to crack cases. He'll be elaborating on some things and give us a clear understanding of what you guys know and what you're talking about."

The trio looked at each other and back with uncertainty of how this interview will clarify this whole situation. True they may now know the unbelievable truth of what was going on, but they didn't. And as much as they wanted to clarify, it was clear that anything's else they could say might just deem them as a bunch of crazy teenagers rambling nonsense.

That is if they haven't already.

"What do you need us to do?" Maka asked Ezio in a quiet voice as she stared at the television set with a bemused expression.

"We just need one of you to volunteer and let him use his quirk on you, and we'll get everything we need out of this interview to see what we should do next." Ezio elaborated in simple yet efficient detail. The scythe meister then straightened her posture as she turned her head to face the detective with a set of calm and almost firmer green eyes.

"I'll do it." Maka finally answered the detective as Crona and soul could only look at the two-star meister with astonished expressions.

"Maka are you sure about this? We don't know what this guy's powers are gonna even do to you. So maybe you should think about this before-" But before Soul could try to talk his meister out of this decision, Maka brought up her hand to stop her weapon from talking.

"Soul, I understand why you don't want me to do this, but if this can help us...help them understand what's happened, then I'll do whatever it takes to make it easier for everyone." Maka softly told her nervous death scythe.

Soul frowned and wanted to continue trying to reason with Maka, but in the end he acquiesced to his meister's wishes. He was smart enough to know that even though Maka was still pretty shaken up by what they'd found out, she still wouldn't let herself fall apart so easily.

Crona took a step forward and gave Maka a quick nod. "O-okay m-Maka, if this is what you want then me and Soul won't stop you."

Though it took a hard amount of effort for soul and Crona to see clearly, they could find a ghost of a smile had etched itself onto Maka's lips. Giving the swordsman and death scythe reassuring comfort to some extent that Maka was still holding out strong for now.

Detective Eizo meanwhile, as he watched this moment between the trio play out, became more at ease to know these kids were less shook than before. Even if his presumptions about that crona kid was correct, he still felt the need to help them. And hopefully with ōkabo's quirk and their cooperation he could finally start getting the answers to find their home.

"Alright then Maka, if you're really volunteering, we're only gonna need you to get comfortable while Atushi does his magic." Eizo told the scythe meister as she responded with a nod in return.

But before Eizo gave the mangaka consultant the signal to begin the interview, he glanced at Maka and her friends one more time. The trio before him despite being more stable, he could still clearly see despondency that may have eased up but still remained evident within their expressions.

He could just ignore it and keep moving forward with the interview. Anyone else in his position would've probably done the same thing. But he wasn't anyone else, nor could he so easily ignore the distressed states of these three kids who only wanted to go back home.

He had to try and do something for them.

He was an officer of Japan, and that meant more than just taking down villains and throwing away the key. He may not be a pro hero like All Might, but Eizo also had the job of bringing hope to others in need of help. Thus, he decided to do the best thing he could think of to hopefully bring their spirits back up.

"But before we do this...I just wanted to let you guys know that we've contacted the American embassy. Unfortunately, they've been pretty busy so it's gonna a bit longer for the results to come." Ezio with a neutral expression lied to the trio in front of him, with Mirko's face becoming baffled from the massive lie she just heard.

'What the hell is eizo doing?' Mirko wondered incredulously for why he'd outright lie about what he really found from the embassy.

"But the good news is that your contacts are now their primary focus, so we might be finding them much sooner than before. Then afterwards we'll call them, work out your what we'll do from here and hopefully send you kids on your way." Ezio assured the trio in a soft voice, yet that didn't help push back the growing lump of shameful guilt getting caught in his throat with every word he spoke.

Eizo knew what he was doing was something only a heartless scumbag would do. That giving false hope to these children and delaying the tragic truth of what they really found out was just needlessly cruel. But he had to try and give these kids something to believe in for now. At the very least, it would give them the motivation necessary to press on with this interview and let Ōkabo use his quirk on Maka to find out what was going on.

The scythe meister didn't say anything, she only gave the detective a weak nod in response to his announcement as did Crona and soul.

Had that news been told to them half an hour ago, it might've brought some comfort to relieve their anxious worries. But unfortunately, Eizo's assurances didn't help them at all with curbing the pain in their hearts to any real amount. The three teens knowing full well that the detective's efforts to find their friends and loved ones were only going to be a waste of time. After all, how can you find a list of people who didn't even exist in the world, to begin with?

Even so, Maka couldn't help but felt a small bit of gratitude for the detective at least trying to help them out. But at the same time however, she couldn't help but let out a faint, bitter chuckle at the twisted irony of how horrifically wrong Eizo was.

Maka then without further delay, shuffled to the center of the bed and with her legs crossed sat upright on the bed. "Alright then... so you just want me to sit here and relax?"

Ezio nodded. "Pretty much Albarn, just stay calm sitting up like that and Atushi will take care of the rest."

"Okay." Maka muttered almost robotically as she shifted around and got more comfortable. readying herself for whatever strange phenomenon that was going to occur.

With that out of the way, Ezio then turned his head towards Atushi standing near the TV set. "Alright Ōkabo, we can start the interview now." Ezio told the mangaka artist in Japanese.

Ōkabo, who'd been waiting patiently, put away his notepad and eagerly clapped his hands together. "Alrighty then, let's get this show started, shall we?" Atushi sighed out, now finally ready to do what he came here for. "Now normally I'd have to get permission from a lawyer and that biz to do this. But clearly these guys are very different from what I usually do in interviews, so...we'll just get right to it. Before we do this, I think I should go ahead set up my other payment."

Ezio raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless nodded in understanding. Watching as the mangaka writer took out of his book bag a large video camera. The mangaka artist placing the camera on a stool directly near the tv; giving the camera a nice perfectly clear view of the television screen.

"Hold on a second, just what the heck is guy gonna do to Maka anyway? You said he has one of these quirks, right? So does he have some kind of psychic powers or something?" Soul inquired, as he would definitely like to know what this guy was exactly gonna do to his meister before letting her go through with it.

"W-wait, if he has psychic powers d-does that mean w-we're gonna watch m-m-Maka go to the..." yet before Crona could finish Ragnarök once again made his unwelcomed appearance.

"Go and take a shit?" Ragnarök sneered.

"Ragnarök be quiet!" Crona shouted in embarrassed outrage, the demon sword guffawing as he avoided the punches of his red faced meister. Yet it wouldn't be long before a rectangular object fired at high speeds towards the sword's cranium.

The once laughing imp now wailed in agony, as a book shaped dent was made on the left side of his head by a peeved and blushing scythe meister.

"Pig." Maka murmured before readjusting herself back on the center of the bed.

Ezio sighed in exasperation at the swords irritating behavior, yet still seemed to entertain some people here. As the stifled laughter of Mirko and the two cops were well heard by Ezio.

Such immaturity...

"No Mr. Evans and Mr. Gorgon, Atsushi's quirk doesn't make him a psychic nor will we see those kinds of...inappropriate images." Ezio exasperatedly corrected the skeptical teens and a greatly embarrassed Maka. "I'll admit his quirk is quite bizarre-downright freaky as hell, but all he'll be doing is letting us see Maka's most important memories, nothing more and nothing less."

Calmness washed over the trio after hearing that, each of being very relieved to hear that there will be no massive invasions of privacy like that happening.

"Okay, I think we've delayed this long enough. It's time we start this interview already." Maka then deeply inhaled and exhaled through her mouth as she closed her eyes.

She was ready now.

"She's good to go." Ezio signaled to the mangaka artist in Japanese. Atushi then walked a few steps towards the opposite side of the bed where Soul and Crona were, and then raised his hand as if he was reaching for her.

Within seconds, his entire hand turned into translucent glass before numerous hand sized mirrors shot out of the palm of his hand. The mirrors phased themselves into Maka's head almost like water, and with no one being even near the TV, the screen suddenly lit up.

"What the-?!" Johnson yelped in startled surprise as Furamasi flinched back by the TV's self-activation.

"Holy shit!" Mirko gasped, as she witnessed the swarm of glowing mirror shards fire straight into the girl's head.

"What the hell is he doing to Maka!?" Soul demanding to know why fucking mirrors were coming out of the guy's hands and being shoved into Maka's head!

"Seriously eizo what the hell is this guy's quirk doing to her!?" Mirko agreed as she wasn't anywhere near expecting this mangaka's quirk to be so damn unnatural!

"It's alright you two, I promise you that atushi's quirk is completely harmless so just calm down." Eizo assured the concerned albino boy, who at first seemed reluctant to listen but eventually relented.

"And to answer your question mirko, this is just how atushi's quirk begins to activate. It's called: window to the soul. It allows him to basically collect various important memories of a target and project them all into any smooth surface." Eizo elaborated to the group.

Mirko was taken aback as her eyes widened in surprise by the true nature of this mangaka's quirk. Okay now she was kind of impressed by the sheer effectiveness of this man's quirk. No wonder everyone thought this oddball was their ultimate weapon. The man could literally show any poor bastard's dirty secrets on a single screen for everyone to see!

God, she could only imagine how jam-packed Tartarus would be if this guy worked more with law enforcement. But then again, she wouldn't be able to kick villain ass as much. So, in way she was glad the otaku just kept drawing manga while she kept fighting villain's.

The two cops and pro hero all backed away from the flatscreen as suddenly the shards of energy that previously entered maka's head fired out and shot straight into the televsion. The shards one by one placed themselves onto the screen like a puzzle being assembled together until they completely covered the television in a bright white light.

Crona and Soul continued to watch with wide eyes flicking at the TV and back at Maka, either of them unable to think of what to say at the bizarre phenomenon their friend was undergoing. Ezio had of course seen his quirk in action before, and even then, was still amazed by how it worked. But, he also couldn't blame everyone else for reacting so startled by Atushi's quirk.

Soon the glowing light on the TV screen began to dim down as The first thing that was shown was a five-year-old Maka being tucked into bed and read a storybook by a young man with red medium length hair.

Ezio presumed this was Maka's father, if his fatherly interactions towards her was anything to go by.

"Hey Ezio Is this thing muted? Why can't we hear anything?" mirko asked in Japanese the same question everyone pretty much had. Noticing how not a single noise or sound heard on the television set.

"That's unfortunately a limitation of his quirk. Only Atushi can get a full view of his target's memories. We on the other hand can only see her memories, not hear them. So, it'll have to be up to us to interpret what's going on as we watch." Eizo explained to the cop along with everyone else in English before continuing to watch the "interview".

The image faded out, as the next one showed a now ten-year-old Maka standing between the same redhead man and a woman who looked almost exactly like the smaller girl; meaning this woman was Maka's mother.

But judging by the angry tears sliding down on the younger Maka's face, it wasn't a very pleasant memory. The older ash blonde woman shoved a document in front of the redhead's face, as the man proceeded to begin begging quite pathetically for forgiveness; but judging by her livid glare wouldn't budge.

Eizo was able to make out the document briefly shown, and cringed in pity at finding them being none other than divorce papers.

So, it seemed her mom and dad had a divorce. A nasty one too by the looks of it. That would probably explain a couple things about the ash blonde girl, including why she became a vigilante to begin with.

Soul grimaced when he saw the muted scene of kami divorcing spirit. While he heard about it from his meister once and a while, he never thought he'd see what was probably one of the worst moments in Maka's life. No wonder she held such spite for men for a while. Any girl would've when learning what her crappy old man did and destroyed the happy family life she once cherished.

"Maka..." Crona muttered in sympathy as he witnessed with great sadness the day Maka's family was irreversibly ruined.

The screen then showed an older Maka now wearing a trench coat and white gloves talking to none other than the same albino that was presently in this room.

The two on the TV were seen talking in a room with an old-style piano sitting in the middle as the boy then played on the instrument for Maka.

'this must've been the first time those two met.' Eizo concluded from the way the memory showed them talking.

Soul's mouth curved into a fond smile at watching their first meeting and the day they became partners play out in front of him.

The scene then faded out as various images were shown, but now it was as if the tv was set to fast forward; as they appeared and disappeared much, much faster than the last three. Another trait of Atushi's quirk, the more important the memory, the longer it's shown. Anything else that isn't as important is skipped over so to speak.

The tv slowed down as the television stopped at the image of Maka and Soul in his scythe form fighting a monstrous clawed creature in an urban area. Then the screen immediately switched to showing the pair fighting a voluptuous purple haired woman who wore a witch outfit, while she was firing flaming pumpkins at them.

"Those were good times." Soul murmured to himself in nostalgia.

And Crona...well he was far too busy keeping Ragnarök at bay to pay much attention. The impish sword was perversely trying to get a closer look at Blair's buxom chest shown very clearly on the tv screen.

'So, Soul and Maka really have fought villains before.' Answering Ezio's and the two top pro heroes' question as to why these kids seem so experienced in combat. Yet when Ezio looked at the screen again, his eyes like the other adults, widened into saucers at the sight of what was in the night sky indicated on the tv.

That being a yellow crescent moon...only this one had a creepy grin oozing blood and a single large crater with a big eyeball inside.

"I'm sorry, but what the fuck is that?" Mirko muttered in shock, almost feeling tempted to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

Ezio blinked to also make sure his eyes were functioning properly, but unfortunately, it was seen above in the background. W-what the hell was this? Were they in some kind of Halloween theme park?

But those cartoonish buildings looked too realistic to be in a theme park, so what the hell could explain that... thing hovering in the sky?

Before ezio could further question on why the moon had a grinning smile, the screen then showed various new clips.

Soul and Maka walking into a castle like building with three cartoony skulls in the middle. Okay so this bizarre place must be that Shibusen academy they were talking about if children around they're age coming in and out of the building were proof.

Maka and Soul then were seen talking to a person made up of a tattered piece of pitch-black cloth with many jagged edges; decorated with the same cartoony skull mask seen on the school's front.

'Okay...so this must be that Lord Death they've been talking about.' Ezio assumed by how he looked like the grim reaper, albeit much more cartoonish looking than he ever expected.

Mirko on the other hand held a incredulous expression. 'You gotta be fucking me…this is freakin cereal mascot is the oh so mighty lord death these brats have been talking about? Tch, what a joke.'

The scene faded out, as the next memory showed the pair talking with a muscular spiky blue haired boy dressed like a ninja with a star shaped birth mark on his left shoulder. And next to him was a tall, curvaceous, pitch-black haired Japanese girl wearing a kind smile in similar attire as she walked with him.

Next to them was a golden eyed boy wearing a black suit, with three white lines on his black hair. Alongside him were two blonde girls in cowboy outfits; the older one being mature and laid back while the younger girl seemed goofy and childish.

A few clips showed Maka and Soul either hanging out or fighting battles with all sorts of foes alongside these people, such as a zombie, a highly skilled doctor with a bolt in his head and even a werewolf.

The blonde twins turned into handguns for the checkered boy use, while the black-haired girl became a pair of chained sickles for the ninja to wield.

Wait a minute, they can transform into weapons too?

But...that didn't add up at all.

True quirks can be similar to others, but four children possessing similar weapon transformation quirks that work almost exactly the same is more than a coincidence. The only way anyone could have a quirk that function remotely identical was if if they were siblings or cousins.

But obviously, none of them looked like they were remotely related, so how the hell can these kids have quirks so similar to Soul's?

Then another scene was displayed on the screen...

Maka and soul were in a gothic church confronting none other than Crona. His outfit looked slightly different, but there was no mistaking that choppy pink hair and those sad ebon eyes.

"Great. Just what I need to see, the night my life turned upside down when this pussy met you fucks." Ragnarök ranted while watching how badass he used to be before the cow entered his meister's life.

Crona said nothing, and probably didn't even hear his weapon for that matter. The swordsman continued watching the tv with wide terrified eyes while his skin turned pale white as he revisited this dark past.

'P-please No... Why of all memories did this one has to be shown?!' Crona lamented in panicked terror. The boy gripping his right arm like a stress ball as he tried staving off the panic attack trying to rise up.

Mirko and eizo watched the battle play out and were growing more concerned by what they were seeing. At first, the rabbit hero assumed this was an extreme spar, but the growing lethality of the fight didn't support this theory very well. As between the bloodlust swimming in crona's eyes and the ferocious attacks he launched, this kid was fighting to kill.

Maka on the screen continued to fight against Crona with all she got, but the fight was looking to be against her favor. The dual was about to have its victor as Crona was shown about to strike a vulnerable Maka with his sword.

But not before Soul ran in the way and took the blow for her.

With the exception of Crona and Soul, everyone's jaws dropped in horror as the television displayed Soul's chest getting brutally carved from Ragnarök piercing his flesh.

"Holy shit!" Mirko exclaimed with a horrified expression as she saw the albino getting slashed by the sword meister.

"Oh my god!" Johnson shouted as he watched the gruesome scene play out before him, his partner looked a tad green from the large splashes blood coming out of Soul.

Ezio stared in frozen shock at the horrific moment being shown with his hands tightened into hard fists.

'But why? Why the hell would Crona do this?' Wasn't he friends with Soul and Maka? Hawks said how loyal he was to them, so why was he trying to kill them?

But Eizo also remembered how Hawks also told him how Crona was potentially insane. But after seeing this, Eizo now feared that the number three pro hero was incorrect in his assessment.

'I don't think the question now is if he's insane, but rather, just how insane is he...' Ezio started to seriously doubt Crona was just some mentally unwell vigilante; beginning to fear that Crona wasn't just some trigger addict. But now that this boy truly was some kind of a psychopathic villain.

The screen then shifted to the two fiercely fighting once more, now dueling in a dimly lit and ancient room. But unlike before, Maka on the tv seemed to be much stronger than the last time she fought Crona. Yet her erratic and wild movements as she fought the swordsman made it become very apparent that something was terribly wrong with Maka.

Her wide toothy smile and those sickly green eyes brought chills down the audience's spines. Ezio most of all was growing extremely disturbed from seeing Maka in such a psychotic state.

"What…the actual fuck?" Mirko muttered with stunned eyes, as she saw this girl cackling like a total psycho, with a smile far too wide, as the three cops looked extremely uncomfortable.

The quirk possessed screen changed the memory a split second later. Maka and Crona no longer fighting as they were before. Instead, the two teenagers were kneeling on the ground hugging each other in a warm embrace. Maka, now appearing much saner, was softly speaking to a sobbing Crona while they continued to wrap each other in a tender hug.

Crona, having managed to calm himself down and suppress the suffocating guilt within him, looked at the tv screen once more. A ghost of a smile started to form on his pale lips from seeing the day he made his first friend.

The four adults on the other hand, only grew more confused by what they were watching and the abrupt switch that just occurred. So many questions on this alone filled in the detective's confused mind, and as much as he wanted answers to this; Ezio had a bad feeling there wouldn't be many explanations to what he was witnessing.

Afterwards many brief clips of Maka's memories began to play at a faster pace than before.

Maka along with her two other friends dressed in winter clothing were now fighting an formal dressed old man with a huge spherical torso and giant muscular arms in a jungle like temple. The battle showed a fierce struggle for victory against the brute, before the three were shown fleeing and a white light enveloped the screen.

The white light quickly faded away, as the next memory showed Maka horizontally cleaving apart a vaguely humanoid clown-like creature with Soul in his scythe form. But now the weapon's blade was a massive luminescent curved halberd, that sliced the creature like butter.

Now Maka was in a gothic castle, engaged in an epic battle with a regal dressed young woman with a spider themed outfit. The woman appeared in a spectral form, as multiple demonic spider legs protruded from her back while a cold look hung in her eyes, that promised nothing but despair. The ash blonde wearing a long black dress charged at the arachnid with her massive scythe and with a single slash, dealt a killing blow to the spider woman.

Eizo's eyes grew wide with astonishment the whole time he witnessed the teenage duo clash against these monstrous foes. But what was far more concerning, is seeing the duo kill a few of these villains.

What kind of hero school is this shibusen for letting children face off against such dangerous villains? And even worse, allow them to outright murder them no less!? How have they been able to get away with this without getting shut down and charged for putting their students in mortal danger and letting them kill villains?

If Ezio had a long list of questions before about these vigilantes, then that list only became so much longer now as he watched...whatever this had become.

All the while mirko couldn't help but whistle in awe of the prowess these two held. Damn she knew these two were impressive, but now she was starting to see these kids might be more badass then she thought!

Crona watched in amazement at seeing on this esoteric screen his friends grow so strong throughout so many battles. Seeing Maka and Soul not only destroying one of Asura's clowns, but also managing to defeat his aunt Arachne by themselves.

It was incredible to see his friend become more powerful from each trial she faced. Yet at the same time cause a pit of regret to form in his stomach for not being apart of her adventures.

The television then showed a mysterious tattooed woman taking place of the dead spider woman. Her yellow snake like eyes displayed nothing but malice, as she seemed be to mocking a furious Maka and soul.

Eizo could instantly tell this woman was not their friend in the slightest, and more likely one of their enemies. However, to his surprise he glanced at the teens to see crona heavily trembling and his eyes were hidden behind his bangs; while soul hatefully glared at the screen with both boys having tight fists.

Whoever this woman was, she was obviously despised. And from seeing that sinister grin on her face, he had a strong feeling it was for a good reason.

Mirko immediately tensed at the sight of this malicious woman on the screen, her hardened battle instincts practically screaming that this person was beyond dangerous. Probably dangerous than any other villain she ever took down throughout her whole career as the number seven hero.

Afterwards the screen skimmed out a string of various memories of Maka and her friends traveling through various strange and outlandish places which seemed eerily connected. The audience however was quick to notice something was very different about the children as they wandered through these strange lands.

Their genders had switched...

No they were not seeing things, as much as they wanted to, cause as much as they didn't believe it-and almost confused them for other people, they looked too similar to think of anything else. These really were the same teens, only transformed into the opposite sex. Everyone in the room had no words, their shock reached an awkward peak as the eyes of all but Soul were now wide as saucers as they stood frozen like stone statues.

"W-what...w-w-why is M-Maka a-a b-boy?!" Crona's squeaked with his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. Steam flew out of his ears and his face was beat red as he saw Maka now inverted as a boy and Soul as a girl. Ragnarök's laughter soon erupted from his invisible mouth as he laid over Crona's head, his small fist banging against the child's skull as he laughed hysterically.

"OH, MY G-GOD! T-This-this easily makes up for the shit you and the cow put me through, shark boy hahahaha! Nice ass you got on your girly self-there! Damn shame your flat like the cow though! Or should I say that wimpy bull, hahahaha!!! Fucking hell, I should've known she'd look as lame as this loser if she was a dude!" Ragnarok gestured to his immensely shocked meister. "Damn, what i'd give to have a camera to record these glorious images!" Ragnarök mocked between his hysterical laughter at the duo's gender swap.

Normally Crona would've scolded his weapon to stop laughing at Maka and Soul, but his brain was still short circuiting from seeing his friends as their opposite genders. W-while s-she didn't look...b-bad as a..a b-b-boy; crona easily preferred only knowing the scythe meister being a woman rather than have this disturbing image be seared into his poor brain.

H-how the heck was he s-supposed to handle knowing this!? Or more importantly how could he see Maka the same way without...this popping up in his mind now?!

Soul immediately looked down at white floor in utter embarrassment while ignoring Ragnarök's mocking voice. His face uncharacteristically started to blush from the humiliation of this cursed knowledge being shown; the scythe desperately tried avoiding the gazes of everyone in the room.

Why the hell did this guy's stupid power have to see this as an important memory? He and maka already lived through this extremely uncool experience once in the lust chapter, he did not need to see it again! Especially with all these people seeing it no less! Great, just fucking great. Now all everyone could see what he looks like as a chick. 'For fucks sake, can this screen just skip this damn memory already!?' Soul mentally growled in embarrassment.

Thankfully mercy was given to Soul as the immensely embarrassing and awkward moment was finally finished. The bizarre image fading out as a new memory replaced it.

This time Maka was seen alone in a school hallway with various "students" with creepy grinning faces surrounding her, the scythe wielder fell to her knees and broke down into tears.

Soul's eyes narrowed in grim understanding of this memory. Immediately he figured out this was the infamous illusion within the envy chapter, that had a major hand in shaking his meister so badly to her core and nearly destroyed all her confidence in herself.

Crona gasped in shock and was almost about run to hug the image of Maka sobbing; only to remember this was only a memory that had already happened.

But even if this had occurred already, he was still shocked by what he was seeing. He'd never seen Maka break down so badly. Or ever for that matter. He always knew Maka was such a strong person-stronger than he ever could be, so what made her cry like this?

Afterwards the screen showed Maka having recovered from her breakdown and fighting that chainsaw man again. The villain bursted into a large explosion only to come back as a woman and began gaining the upper hand. Yet at some she(he?) seemed to have a massive tantrum and slump down lifelessly as the pair barely survived.

The tv then went into fast forward once more, until the quirk possessed screen slowed down and displayed a new image.

This time it was displaying Maka in a snowy city street with a massive black dome encompassing the center of the urban area. The tv revealed the ash-blonde girl and that doctor with the bolt in his head along with a pink-haired girl fighting off against... Soul?

Why were they fighting Soul?

But as they kept watching, realized the albino was in a state of derangement, one eerily similar to the burst of insanity Maka was seen in minutes ago. But what was most shocking was how a very large eye like structure protruded in a certain angle out of the boys chest and left shoulder.

Ezio was once again in baffled shock from seeing Soul go completely insane and attacking his friends. What was happening to Soul? Why was he suddenly acting like a rabid animal attacking Maka and his allies?

Crona however knew very well what was wrong with Soul, the small domes of black blood was all he needed to figure out why the albino scythe was now infected with madness. His heart began to race and his skin paled from the horrible realization that his mad blood was responsible for this.

"S-Soul I'm so-!" But before Crona could finish his apology soul put a hand on his shoulder.

"Crona its okay, we'll talk about it later if you want. Alright?" Soul whispered to the guilty swordsman, who looked reluctant to obey but soon nodded in acceptance. Understanding this wasn't the time to talk about such topics.

Driven mad for some reason, Soul continued attacking Maka and those other two people, but his rancor halted as the eye like structure disappeared from his body; and soul the albino boy suddenly regained control of himself. Immediately afterwards Maka walked up to Soul and proceeded to bash and kick the crap out of the albino boy.

Ezio was once again left stumped by this abrupt switch in mental health. Why the hell were these kids acting insane one minute and in another they went back to normal like it never happened? Did they have some kind of bipolar disorder? Or did it have to do with the nature of their quirks?

Or something else entirely.

Unfortunately, that had to wait as the tv once again showed several shorter clips of Maka's memories.

Maka was having a conversation with her father, which ended with the redhead giving his daughter a unique silver ring.

The scythe meister once again in the same church she first fought Crona, talking to coincidentally enough, the very same swordsman; But appeared completely different from even the first time he was seen in Maka's memory. The boy talked with maka while looked far more unnerving than the last time he appeared on the tv.

The memory quickly shifted to Maka in her original attire and using the angelic wings on Soul's scythe to fly with that blue haired ninja to the night sky as well.

No, wait a minute…

"ARE THEY FLYING TO THE MOON!?" Mirko and johnson shouted in baffled shock, as they saw the girl and her friends tag along as they flew to the grinning moon.

Ezio didn't want to believe something so impossible, but they were in fact flying to that grinning crescent moon!

But how the hell is that possible!?

Shouldn't they have suffocated from flying away from the atmosphere and into the airless void of space!?

Another memory flashed to the screen, showing Maka was indeed walking on the pale-yellow ground of the moon. The girl traveling with her scythe towards the moon's mouth.

Both the blue haired ninja and Maka then fought off a dozen clown like creatures like the one Maka had battled previously. Maka helped the screw lodged doctor and a blonde eye-patched woman stave off the monsters.

Maka and the brawny ninja boy were then seen fighting off against none other than Crona. The swordsman relentlessly attacked the duo with his three swords and then firing swarms of black thorns. But throughout the battle, Crona held the most inhuman expressions any of the extremely disturbed adults had ever seen in their lives.

With a certain demon weapon perfectly summarizing what most people in the room thought of Crona in this scene.

"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH YOUR FACE?! " Ragnarök screamed in uncharacteristic horror. The sword never imagined his meister could possibly become the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his life. Forget needing to absorb Asura to become a kishin! Those creepy as hell faces would've been more than enough to make anyone go crazy with pants-shitting terror after seeing that!

Seriously, how could he not remember something so nightmarishly terrifying as this!?

"I...I don't know." Crona murmured timidly, trying to not look too affected by this. But even he felt chills fall down his spine at seeing himself that inhumanly twisted on the moon. Not wanting to see a single second of this nightmare fuel any longer, Ragnarök immediately dived back into his meister's body faster than the wind.

An epic clash continued to ensue between the three kids as Crona used his black thorns to rip a...tooth off the moon, and fling it directly at the two teens. But shockingly enough, the buff ninja boy was able to not only catch the moon's tooth but also throw it away like it was nothing.

Maka's father arrived and transformed into a large black scythe for Maka to wield in battle. After a fierce struggle, Maka defeated Crona and took him down by slicing through his wall of thorns.

Crona on the screen then began to have a mental breakdown, but something odd happened...

Four scarf like tendrils ripped out of Crona's body and entombed him into a spherical cocoon. Within seconds the cocoon opened up, but instead of Crona, a new figure emerged out of the sphere.

From what the observers could tell, this unknown figure was a very tall, pale, lanky man wearing numerous long white scarfs, a red and black pinstriped blazer and long baggy pants. Perhaps the most notable thing about him was how his head was tightly wrapped in a long scarf, with three vertical eyes emblazoned on the strangely skin-like material that covered his face.

The minute this mysterious man appeared instead of Crona, Maka and her friends immediately began to attack him. Next the new opponent summoning a spear like weapon out of his mouth that fired a blast of hellish flames towards Maka and her comrades.

However, the trio persevered and counterattacked, as the blue haired ninja now wielding a katana with shadow's attacked this powerful man. Afterwards the boy with white lines in his hair joined in and attacked the scarf wearing man, yet it still didn't even the odds by much.

The man displayed numerous demonic powers which battered the teenagers, yet they still managed to fight against this overwhelming foe. Accordingly, the scarfed foe spat out that spear edge out of his mouth again. Only for the ninja to bite its tip and swallow the fiery attack that came from it.

But instead of immediately dying and being scorched alive from the inside out, the ninja boy literally spat out the massive explosion from his mouth like it was a gob of water.

As if what they saw wasn't already insane enough to witness, the checkered boy went through some kind of a transformation. His suit morphed into a tattered pitch-black cloak and his white lines turned into energy rings that hovered above his head.

Consequently, this new transformation seemed to give the boy a massive boost in power, as he fought fight the red suited man far easier than before. But even with the golden eyed boy's new form, he and his friends still didn't seem to be enough to defeat the man.

Suddenly the red suited man appeared before Maka, his left arm reared back and before she could do anything, he launched it towards her.

Eizo's and mirko's jaws fell agape and their eyes became wide as dinner plates.

Within seconds the arm brutally pierced into Maka's stomach, brutally stabbing clean through it...

This gruesome image filled the entire tv screen, as everyone in the room became frozen in absolute horror.

"Dear god..." Eizo whispered in Japanese, the horrified detective feeling sick while watching the little girl on the tv was viciously stabbed by this...this monster.

Mirko's face paled as the horrified pro hero watched the gory image, doing her best to keep the bile rising in her throat down. 'What the fuck…what kind of sick bastard does this to a goddamn kid?'

Crona stood there in numb horror, his pupils were reduced to tiny specks and his cheeks tinted a nauseous green from witnessing the gory scene. It took every ounce of will for the swordsman to keep his stomach's contents inside him and not throw up; from witnessing the image of Maka getting gruesomely stabbed in the chest by Asura's left arm.

'Maka almost died... she almost got killed so she could save me.' Crona knew Maka went through so much pain and trouble to reach him inside the kishin, but he didn't think it had almost cost her life. He just wished all her courage and effort hadn't gotten both her and Soul into such a terrible position.

The TV eventually shifted away from the gory memory, showing that Maka had miraculously recovered from the mortal wound. but now her outfit underwent a dramatic transformation.

The ash blonde wore a formal black skirt with additional layers, dress shoes similar to ballet flats, and angelic wing-like pigtail decorations and strapless forearm gloves. Soul's scythe form had also changed, and now he appeared to be a large black scythe with piano keys merged into his curved blade.

Everyone in the room (except for a proud Soul) was stunned in amazement by Maka's transformation. Crona was especially stunned in mesmerization by the elegant beauty the black blood gave Maka in that battle. He never could've imagined the wicked substance that flowed through his and Soul's veins could ever bestow Maka with such a graceful transformation.

Maka alive and adorned in this new black dress appeared to act as a great boost of power for the young woman. However, the red suited man only hysterically laughed at her, and most likely mocking her from his lip movements.

The trio continued to valiantly fight back against their powerful foe with all the effort they could muster. Sadly, even with their combined strength and the power boosts; the three warriors still weren't strong enough and were promptly pummeled into the ground by the demonic villain's power.

But soon various others familiar and new revealed themselves either on the moon or even back on earth, and attacked the monstrous man together in a united assault. Giving the perfect opportunity for the ninja and the checkered boy to hold him down and allow for Maka to charge into the air with her piano scythe in hand.

Maka played on all the scythes piano keys before, she stabbed into the scarfed man's chest, with a brave battle cry till everything went black.

Nothing but pitch black was seen for almost a minute, before presenting Maka and Soul on the screen wearing casual attire, talking to Crona within the mysteriously empty void.

Maka and Soul seemed to urge Crona to come with them, but the boy reluctantly refused with a pained and remorseful look on his face. Maka gave him a book that when opened a mysterious cube came out of its contents and floated under Crona's hand.

Crona and Maka then tightly hugged each other, and as they let go, the book suddenly sprung to life and floated above the trio. A bright light suddenly spewed from the book while the cube went back inside its pages. The book then morphed into a door-like construct with three tape like arms which sprang out of it and grabbed the three teens, dragging them into its doorway.

Leaving nothing but a blinding light till the screen showed the three teens in a park's forest talking amongst themselves, walked out into Fukuoka city's busy street before the TV shut itself off.

A deep and long silence immediately followed as the atmosphere within this small room became so thick from the overwhelming tension, a person could literally slice it like a butter knife. The four adults couldn't move as they simply chose to stand with saucer wide eyes and pale complexions from the entire experience they just witnessed.

Yet in what felt like hours in mere minutes, the heavy silence was broken by, the ghostly pale white elephant cop, as he slowly turned to look at the detective with a stunned expression.

"C-chief...w-what in all that is holy did we just w-watch?" Johnson shakily asked the pale detective who slowly snapped out of his frozen stupor from the other cop's quiet voice.

"Yeah I'm with the big guy here, what the fuck did we actually just witness?" Mirko demanded, yet her tone was more subdued than she would've preferred.

"I...I don't know." Eizo muttered, turning his head to see that Ōkabo had stumbled a few steps back from where he stood and panted for a minute. Apparently the man felt winded from using his quirk for such a long period of time.

Maka soon opened her eyes and she looked around to see the stunned faces of the cops as well as the concerned looks of Soul and Crona.

Eizo wasted no time in confronting the civilian consultant and what his quirk had showed them all.

"Ōkabo...what in the living hell was that?" Eizo demanded in Japanese, yet the middle-aged man said nothing back. Atushi only recovered enough to slowly walk to where he placed his video camera and bent down to turn it off.

"What was that?" Atushi repeated breathlessly with his hair hiding his eyes. "Oh, I'll tell you what that was Eizo..." Within a millisecond he raised his head up, revealing the ecstatically happy grin on his face and golden stars that filled his eyes.

"THIS IS THE MOTHER OF ALL TREASURE TROVES!" Atushi excitedly shouted to the stunned detective.

"EXCUSE ME!?" Everyone( except for the very baffled teens) shouted at the same time. Eizo and mirko being equally baffled outrage at the manga artist as he suddenly began dancing and laughing like a madman.

"It's fucking incredible! Glorious! This has easily given me the best source material I've ever encountered in my entire life! So many ideas to work with, so much to expand on! I could never have come up with even a single piece of this...THIS ART!" Atushi exclaimed in gleeful joy and before anyone could blink, he ran over to Maka and grabbed her hand.

"Thank you miss! Thank you and your friends for coming here and giving me the greatest feast of ideas and inspiration I've ever had!" Atushi profusely thanked as he wildly shook Maka's hand to the point she began feeling that she was on a roller coaster.

"S-soul? What's happening right now?" Crona asked uncomfortably, watching in fear for Maka's safety as this crazy man kept enthusiastically shaking Maka's arm.

"Honesty, I'm not sure." Soul replied in worry for Maka as well. The scythe got ready to rip the crazy man away from his meister before he tore her arm off.

Eizo and mirko only stood as the former gaping at Atushi's temporary fit of joyful insanity, while mirko was looking ready to explode like a volcano in outrage. All while the two quite frankly terrified cops started to back away from the robust woman as they sensed her furious aura.

Atushi finally let go of Maka's hand and quickly ran over to his video camera to collect the footage it captured. "And I've got to thank you too, Eizo! I honestly thought by coming here I'd only get something to merely improve my current work, nothing more. But with this goldmine!?" Atushi ecstatically gestured to the video camera he held. "I've got more than enough source material for an entire new manga series! This could be some of my best-no, my greatest work yet!"

"W-what about your payment? Do you want us to send it by check or-?" Furamasi asked.

"Keep your damn cash!" Atushi exclaimed to the startled Furamasi, raising his video camera in front of the cop as if it was a bar of solid gold. "The money I'm gonna be making with this material once it gets out, will easily be worth more than what you would've ever played me. Man, I'm gonna have so much to do when I get back home!"

"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" Mirko roared, causing everyone to flinch at the steeled volume of her voice. The rabbit hero beyond fed up with this mangaka as she marched to the man and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You ain't going anywhere until you start explaining what kind of fucked up insanity did your quirk spew out!"

Atushi was very quick to snap out of his euphoric high and began sweating bullets at the furious rabbit hero glaring daggers at him. "Oh..uh e-eizo a little help here, man?"

Eizo shook his head and gave his own highly annoyed glare at the man. "Sorry but I wholeheartedly agree with mirko here. You better not even think about leaving, till you tell us just what the hell that was all about."

Atushi nodded frantically. "A-Alright, alright, I-I'm sorry about my behavior. I just kind of got caught up in the moment you know?"

Mirko and eizo however, did not seem amused at all and continued giving him flat, impatient glares. Once rumi let go of the mangaka, Atushi took his camera from the stool before walking away, leaving Maka, Crona, and Soul in utter confusion at what had just occurred.

Atushi walked toward Eizo and mirko, gesturing with his head towards the corner of the room. The pair understood the gesture and followed him and stood to the farther parts of the room, away from prying ears. Atushi released a short sigh as he and the veteran detective stood far away from everyone else in the room. "I'm guessing you two have a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Damn straight, So, start telling us already who or what in god's name are these vigilantes." Mirko tersely said as she gave the mangaka a hard impatient glare.

Atushi crossed his arms and turned to look at the pro hero with surprisingly a serious expression. "Miss mirko, I assure you these kids are not vigilantes, nor should they be charged for anything that occurred yesterday."

"And why's that?" Eizo questioned, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Because I think it would be pretty fucked up to punish a bunch of kids who just came to our world without any explanation." Atushi retorted without any indication of falsehood in his voice.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Eizo blinked in baffled shock, while mirko couldn't make a response and simply stood slack jawed from the unbelievable response she just heard.

Atushi slowly nodded. "I know this sounds insane. Hell, I'm still having a hard time believing it myself; but everything that screen showed was undeniable proof...that these children came from another world eizo. A world that's far, far crazier and fantastical than our own. Where people can either transform into weapons or use unique abilities through their souls." Atushi explained to the very skeptical detective and pro hero. Both of which were still trying to understand what in god's name he was trying to tell him.

"You mean...all those people who could transform into weapons?" Ezio asked with his eyebrow still raised up.

"Exactly!" Atushi snapped his fingers and turned on the camera to begin playing back everything it had recorded. "While they're radically different from quirks, they are still comparable. And eerily akin to our hero schools, they go to these shibusen academies so they and those chosen to wield them, called meisters; learn to use their powers to protect the world from all these monsters." Atushi further explained as he showed Eizo the paused images of the castle school and the teens fighting various foes.

Mirko raised a skeptical brow and scoffed at what she was hearing. "I'm sorry but do you honestly expect me to believe this load of bullshit!?"

"Then how did three teenagers capable of taking on the likes of you and hawks, suddenly appear without there being any information or identification on them whatsoever?" Atushi retorted with a disbelieving expression. His stone cold eyes left mirko stunned before growling in frustration when she couldn't come up with an answer.

"Atushi, what are you trying to say? Are you telling me that these kids actually came from some other dimension?" Eizo asked numbly.

"An alternate earth more likely, but yes. Maybe it's another universe, a different timeline, who knows?" Atushi shrugged calmly as he spoke to the older man. "But what I do know without a doubt, is that these kids did not willingly come to japan. They were forcefully taken here by some powerful grimoire while they were trying to save their world." Atushi showed Ezio the image of the teens being dragged into that book before heavily rewinding the video back a minute or so.

"Save the world from what?" Mirko incredulously asked, yet she already had a feeling what he was talking about.

Atushi presented his video camera's screen to him, with a serious expression. "From this devil...kishin Asura." Atushi pointed to his camera's screen, and paused on the image of the sinister red-suited man with three vertical eyes on the scarfs wrapped around his face. "A godlike incarnation of madness that was trying to drown their world into perpetual insanity. Thus, it was up to the best warriors of shibusan, including Maka and Soul and their team, to defeat him before it was too late."

Eizo and rumi couldn't believe what they were hearing. How did a case over a bunch of vigilantes possibly turn into a case of finding out three teens from a supernatural dimension landed on japanese soil? It was utterly ludicrous. Yet that same statement would probably be said a century ago about superpowers and heroes existing.

"And what about Crona? If Maka and Soul were trying to save the world as you put it, then how does he fit into all this?" Eizo sternly questioned the manga writer with a cold gaze. "Cause almost all the clips involving that kid showed me that he isn't one of the good guys.

"Ezio-"

"He's a villain, isn't he?" Both men turned to see mirko with a steel cold expression on her face. "I should've fucking known…so he really is some psychopath! And to make it fucking better he's some monster that tried to kill everyone there!"

Atushi flinched from Mirko's darkly accusing tone but willed enough courage to answer with an unsure expression, to try and ease her outrage before she did something irrational. "I'm not...I-I don't think so. You've got to understand, Crona did not want to do all those terrible things we saw in Maka's memories, not once." Atushi defended the child.

"Funny, because all those demented expressions we saw that boy make, prove to me otherwise." Ezio coldly retorted. Equally as unconvinced by what Atushi was saying about Crona compared to the creepy shit he'd seen on the television.

"Listen I get why you're both thinking this way, but Crona never had the choice to not be what he was." Atushi fiddled with his video camera, rewinding to a certain point, and then showed the pair the paused image of that tattooed woman with snake like eyes.

"This woman was Crona's mother, if you can dare call her that, and she's what forced him into becoming the man you two saw." Atushi revealed, causing mirko and eizo to widen their eyes greatly in surprise.

"This evil bitch viewed her son as nothing more than a tool. A means to achieve her goal of creating another being like Asura. She tormented him his whole life till he went mad from the abuse and made him commit numerous atrocities since he was a child. Until the day he met Maka and fought her again inside shibusen." Ōkabo then played on his video camera the scene of Maka and Crona hugging each other to Eizo.

"Maka was his first friend, the first person to have shown him genuine compassion and see him as a human being, instead of some slave like his mother had." Atushi explained but spat out the word "mother" in hateful disgust of the sneering woman on the camera.

"Alright so if this guy has such a tragic backstory, then why the hell did he go back to being a cold-blooded killer again?" Mirko demanded, not fully buying the sob story she was being told here. Yet if this was remotely true...she couldn't really blame the guy for turning out this way.

Atushi took a long exhale and his expression turned grim. "Medusa manipulated crona to coming back to her through his trauma, and somehow erased Crona's memories of Maka and the happiness he shared with her and the other students." Mirko and eizo's eyes widened in shock as the mangaka artist spoke. "Thus allowing the snake to revert him back into her pawn once more."

Ezio's eyes quickly narrowed at this new piece of information. The veteran detective was not very pleased by what he heard from Atushi about Crona. He was honestly beginning to consider if the unstable child really should be locked up in Tartarus before he hurts anyone else here in this world.

It seemed to be that way for the rabbit heroine as she held a grim glare pointed downwards as she seemed to be in deep thought. Rumi was growing more unsure of what to do about this mess. On one hand, the smart and usual way would be for her to subdue the kid, and lock him up in tartarus to prevent him from hurting anyone.

But remembering what hawk's said about the kid and this new information on his abusive past, should try rehabilitating him. If he never willingly wanted to hurt anyone, to begin with, then would giving him a chance be the right thing to do?

Seeing rumi's conflicted expression, atushi decided to drive his point deeper. "Yes, crona did try to destroy the world as well, but after failing to absorb asura and being trapped inside his soul, crona had an epiphany and changed. And wanting to fight for maka, sought only to atone for his sins." Atsushi elaborated to a shocked mirko and eizo, as the mangaka just confirmed the existence of the soul before moving on. "But even after everything he did, Maka and her friends still attempted to save him. If he really was a villain, then why would those children go through so much for him?"

"They were probably being idiots in denial and couldn't see what their friend had become." Mirko cynically answered back, but Atushi only shook his head in disagreement with the heroine's claims.

"Wrong." Atushi sighed in disappointment before looking back at the pair with a solemn expression. "Yes, he was-and possibly still isn't the most psychologically stable, but he isn't evil. If he truly was...then he wouldn't have prepared to seal himself away with Asura on the moon."

"Wait, that's what was happening in there?" Eizo's eyes grew wide in surprise. Neither he nor mirko could've expected that boy to have planned something so...heroic as sacrificing himself to be trapped with something so monstrous on the moon.

All for the sake of his friends no less.

Atushi somberly nodded. "The boy may have done horrible things, but he really did want to redeem himself and help his friends save the world. That's what those youngsters were trying to do this whole time. To get back home and save it from that monster kishin Asura."

Eizo didn't say anything this time, only remaining silent and his features twisting with frustration as he recounted everything he learned from before AND after seeing Maka's memories. his mind rapidly tried to come up with a reasonable explanation that would counter the insane possibility that Atushi was trying to make him believe.

They could just be a bunch of kids who have schizophrenic disorders, and were simply sick in the head. This could especially be the case, since they were all shown to have gone through phases of insanity. But the problem with that theory was how Atushi's quirk filters through any mental health issues in a target's brain, to show only the clear truth of what the target knows and has seen.

So even if Atushi tried lying, there was no way he could deceive them about the memories his quirk apportioned onto a television screen.

Giving eizo no other choice but to accept the impossible.

Maka and Soul truly fought a godlike entity...and almost got themselves killed just to save someone they still saw as a friend. Who was getting ready to help his friends defeat this kishin by sacrificing himself. But just as they were about to go along with the plan to save the world, that book snatched them away and took them to another dimension without any explanation.

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this but…I'm starting to think Atushi might be telling the truth." Eizo muttered with disbelief evident on his features, still finding it hard to accept all of this insanity.

"The hell!? Eizo please don't tell me your actually buying this mangaka's bullshit about these brats being from another fucking dimension!" Mirko told the contemplative detective in outrage.

"What other explanation is there? Think about it for a second mirko. The way they suddenly blinked into existence yesterday, their insanely powerful skillsets, their impossible ignorance of quirks and heroes-and that interview of maka's memories alone! It all adds up, and I think you know it." Eizo firmly replied, and with every point he made, the rabbit hero found it frustratingly hard to think of any other possible explanation.

And eventually rumi released a long sigh as her frustration ebbed away as mirko stared at the two men with reluctance in her eyes. "Goddamnit…that otaku really is telling the truth about those kids isn't he?"

Atushi somberly nodded. "I am."

With that final confirmation from the mangaka the number seven hero felt a rare sense of numbness wash over her, as she had to accept what was being told to her. That the two vigilantes who beat her last night and that swordsman hawks fought actually came from another world. It sounded so damn ridiculous and downright asinine but…all the overwhelming evidence she's seen and heard only supported this stupid as hell claim.

She knew as someone who's experienced fighting, there was no way in hell a normal freakin teenage girl and her partner could beat someone like her. Even if those kids from a top notch hero school in america, it still be impossible.

"You have got to be shitting me…so what the hell are we going to do with these guys now? Cause last time I checked they ain't no protocol's for something as ludicrous as people coming from another universe!" Mirko exclaimed with a baffled tone, and cluelessly shot her hands up at this mess she somehow got caught in.

Eizo on the other hand was working the gears of his old brain to find a much needed answer to that question himself. Behind the doors in front of them lied three kids from an alternate reality, with nowhere to go and no way to return to where they came from.

'And judging from their expressions I saw before, I think they already know what's going on.' Eizo grimly realized, as he called back to how they reacted to his lie over the real results from the embassy.

It honestly wasn't surprising considering how with a sun and moon that looks so cartoony, it be easy for them to tell something was wrong.

But there awareness of their dimensional displacement still didn't help in matters, as he still had no idea what to do.

They had no family or friends, nowhere they could safely sleep, no money to even afford basic necessities. No foreign permits were in their possession to allow them to stay in the country itself or any kind of country for that matter. Heck, they didn't even have any legal papers or social security numbers to verify who they are.

They had nothing absolutely nothing.

Hell they wouldn't even count as illegal immigrants here, they basically phantoms that had never existed in their world to begin with.

So what the heck could some old detective two years away from retirement do to fix this disaster?

"Eizo?" Atushi called out the detective who'd been standing silent for a minute now.

Eizo snapped out of his deep thinking quickly however, and raised his head back up to meet the manga writer's eyes. His expression had calmed, but it mixed with an air of seriousness.

"Ōkabo, you've got to tell me everything else you've learned about this other earth and these kids' lives. I need to know what I'm dealing with before I go forward and see what to do next." Atushi quickly nodded before Ezio continued. "Afterwards mail a copy of the interview to the police station as soon as possible when you get home. I'll take care of the rest; we need to handle this dilemma as delicately as possible before i decide to alert anyone else of this or not."

"The hell are talking about eizo? Shouldn't we just fill in hawks about this and let the HPSC or government take care of this?" Mirko questioned with hidden incredulity, but was only met with a grim expression from the balding detective.

"Because I think I have damn good idea how they'd react to something as fundamentally groundbreaking as this, mirko. People fear what they don't understand. If the government were to learn the truth about those kids, they'll just be locked up in some facility and be experimented on for how they have their powers without possessing any quirks." Eizo frowned before scratching the back of his head.

"As for the HPSC, they're quite connected to the government so that could potentially lead to the same result if I ain't careful. Especially since crona ruffed up their poster boy pretty badly, and probably won't let that slide."

"But like you said, with hawks involved, I don't think it's going to be very possible to conceal the truth to the HPSC for long." Ōkabo grimaced, unsure how it would end should he tell hawks about the truth of these kids from another dimension.

Eizo sighed. "You're not wrong there, but no matter what happens, like hell I'm gonna let those three suffer after going through so much." The veteran detective finished with a steel rising in his face, unwilling to allow such fates for people who risked their lives to save their home.

"So what will be your game plan then should things go to shit?" Okabo questioned with a risen brow.

"I'll figure it out later, you don't need to worry about it too much, you've already done more than enough today for me and especially those kids." Eizo thanked the mangaka artist while extending his only real hand, which Atushi gladly shook.

"It's no problem Eizo, you just help those kids as much as possible, alright? They went out of their way to stop those robbers and saved all those people when that building collapsed. They have the hearts of good people, heroes even. They deserve to be helped in any way possible." Atushi told the detective with a solemn gaze that met Ezio's own.

"Trust me, I will." Ezio quietly told the mangaka writer as they shook hands. "Just call me later, so you can tell us more of this other world."

Atushi let go of Ezio's hand and nodded back. "Got it, and don't worry, I'm gonna put this to good use." Ōkabo lightly patted the video camera. "I'll be making one helluva manga with this interview, though do you either of you want a piece of recognition as characters when I make the first chapters?"

"Thanks but no thanks bud, I ain't some desperate attention hog like that newbie mount lady. Go ahead and write your little manga, I don't need any part in it." Mirko waved off with a disinterested frown, clearly not interested in being apary this otaku's upcoming crackpot manga.

Ezio shook his head and lightly chuckled. "Nah it's okay man, I don't have a bloated ego either. Just make sure you write a happy as hell ending, their story should at least be told with a satisfying conclusion." Eizo said towards the end with a rueful smile.

The manga writer returned Ezio's smile with a bitter smirk. "You got it. I'll put every ounce of effort into my work." Atushi then took his camera and headed straight for the floor's elevator.

Once the mangaka had left the detective released a long tired sigh, as mirko stood with her hand on her hip and glanced at him. "I'm also pretty damn curious to see how the hell you're gonna help those kids. While they may not have any charges on them anymore, they still have nowhere to go."

"I'm wondering the same thing too, believe it or not. But for now i think i can make a plan once I better understand what kind of backgrounds I'm dealing with here. Which will probably be some of the most intriguing and confusing minutes of my entire life." Eizo told the rabbit hero with a casual voice tinted with exasperation towards the end.

"In the meantime i need you to keep watching over those three, till i finish talking to ōkabo and learn enough to know what to do next." Ezio told Rumi while he walked towards the room's exit. Mirko however was not at all pleased by this, as her rabbit ears shot up in anger while her red eyes widened in outrage.

"What!? You really think after i had to learn we're dealing with kids from another fucking dimension, I'm gonna stand around and be some fucking guard dog again-!"

"Mirko, please...I'm asking you as a friend to just listen to me. I know this has been a lot to take in, but someone needs to keep an eye on them and make sure they're doing okay, both physically and especially mentally." Eizo grimly explained to the stunned brawny heroine.

As much as she wanted to yell at the old man and say she wasn't keep standing around doing nothing, mirko unfortunately knew he was making the right call here.

Thus with a tired sigh, mirko ceased anymore complaining and stomped out of the room to wait outside and gave these teens some privacy.

Eizo then walked over to the still stunned pair of cops who didn't seem to notice him until he was only a few feet away. "Furamasi, Johnson! Go downstairs to the cafeteria to clear your heads up, and while you're at it, bring up the best meal they can serve to these children. They could use something to eat after everything they've been through."

"Yes sir." The duo numbly answered the man simultaneously, but before they could leave, ezio placed a firm hand on furamasi's shoulder.

"And one more thing…if you ever breathe a word of what you saw to anyone outside of this room, you can kiss your careers as officers goodbye, understand?" Eizo threatened the pair in a quiet yet extremely stern tone.

The cops fervently nodded before quickly leaving. The duo so shaken, they didn't even bother saluting eizo as they practically ran out of the room.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to discuss what we just saw, so in the meantime...I'll give you kids some time to yourselves." Eizo quietly told the two meisters and death scythe with saddened eyes, before turning back and exiting the hospital room.

---

With the sound of the white doors closing shut, it signaled to the trio how they were alone once again.

The room was filled with another empty silence, right where they'd left off before the detective came in. Crona quivered where he stood while Soul scratched his head uncomfortably from the tense moment. Maka stayed where she sat without really moving much, besides occasionally fidgeting. The trio stared at each other in silence, trying to figure out what they should say to each other.

Or more specifically what could be said.

But what could they speak of?

What could they say that would even remotely help each other deal with the massive revelation that struck them so hard?

Crona managed to calm his silent jittering, but he still kept a snug grip on his right arm in an attempt to control his storm of worries in some shape or form. His knuckles began turning a corpse-like white on his already pale skin. The swordsman swirled his dark colored eyes left towards where Soul stood nearby for some kind of sign for action. The scythe turned his head to meet Crona's anxious gaze, both boys felt so unsure about what they should say to Maka, who remained sitting still on the bed like a statue.

Maka sat on the white quilt of the hospital bed without any idea of what to do or say. The ash blonde girl fumbled her fingers through the thickly soft blanket underneath her and her green eyes remained glued to her crossed legs. The heavy lump blocking her throat made it difficult for Maka to bring herself to speak. Her mind rattled further with anxiety, fear, and sadness as it spun around in a haze of worried thoughts. She tried to collect herself as best as she could and get her soul's erratic wavelength under a more stable form.

But even with all the courage Maka could gather in her heart and soul, it didn't feel nearly enough to fully cease the flood of emotions inside her.

Maka turned her somber eyes towards her right hand where her mama's wedding ring rested on her finger. The very same ring Spirit gave to her before he left for his mission with all the other death scythes to the moon. At first, she saw this trinket as a piece of her mother giving her good luck and protection while she fought to save the world. Something meant to give her the courage and hope to overcome the kishin's overwhelming madness.

But now? Now this ring only served to feed the homesickness that was flowing through her heart. Maka felt her eyes grow wet with unshed tears at the mere sight of her mother's former possession on her finger.

'Mama...' Maka thought of her dear mother in longing. The scythe warrior finding a small spark of willpower to push back her tears and remain as she was before. Yet even with her composure being mended into this fragile state, she still couldn't drive off the worried and downright frightening thoughts her mind down spiraled into.

What if she'll never be able to see her mama again?

What about everyone else for that matter?

Maka already felt intensely worried for their friends since a single day passed. But the mere thought of being stuck here any longer while her world was in grave danger of being brought to ruin by the kihsin, made their stomachs sink in anxious perturbation.

'What's going to happen to everyone? I know blackstar and kid would somehow survive, but what about afterwards? If the kishin is allowed to run rampant any longer…' Maka repressed a shudder, unable to even dare finish that dark thought as icy spikes of raw dread rose further within her stomach and made it grow taut with worry.

Her other friends and teachers were no doubt wondering in panic about what had happened to them. Or why they haven't gotten outside of Asura yet. No doubt if they managed to somehow escape from the moon, they must be scrambling to find a way to save them.

But the cruel reality was it would all be in vain.

She and soul were now stuck in a place where shibusan couldn't reach them.

'I want to go home...' Maka thought in pained sorrow, as the hole in her heart only grew vaster with every minute. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted to go back to school. She wanted to be with her friends and hang out with them like before. Her bottom lip wobbled in her sadness and drops of tears started dotting her eyelids.

Hell, if she searched deep enough within her heart, she could find that a tiny piece that almost missed her father.

Despite the deep resentment she will forever hold against that creep for cheating on her mother, in the end, he was still her father. She could never forgive that man for what he did, but he was still the person who raised her; and as a child he was someone she once highly respected before betraying his wife's trust.

But at least the one good thing that lecher did the last time she saw him, was give her what was now the last piece of her mother before all this had happened.

And now...he was gone, just like everyone else.

But as Maka remained caught up in these increasingly depressed thoughts, Crona had gathered enough courage within himself to no longer stand in silence. The pink haired swordsman shoved away the fear residing inside him, and hardened his resolve to see this through.

Thus Crona took a few cautious steps forward until he was close to the bedside. Gulping down the fear clogging his throat, the swordsman raised his saddened onyx eyes towards Maka and spoke.

"M-Maka I...I'm sorry." Crona said in a sad whisper to the distraught girl. "I'm so sorry for w-what's happened...you went through so much j-just to save me from asura...from myself, a-and…" Maka's melancholic orbs hiding underneath her hair subtly shifted towards Crona; and immediately softened once she saw him. All while Soul silently looked at the shambling Crona in pity. "All you and Soul got was being dragged with me to this place without any way to g-get back; while everyone was still fighting to stop the kishin and w-waiting for both of you to come out. T-they could be d-d-dead r-right now and it'll be because of me, it's my-"

But before he or Soul knew it, a gentle finger was placed on his lips before he could continue any further. "It's okay, Crona...don't blame yourself for this." Maka softly told her pink haired friend. "You're not responsible in the slightest for getting sent here, and I could never dare blame you for what's happened."

Crona's brows knitted into a perplexed expression, confused by how Maka's strangely calm attitude. "Y-you don't hate me?" Crona muttered in baffled surprise.

Maka tilted her head to the side in confusion, her expression turning puzzled. "What are you talking about? That's so silly, I could never hate you Crona, not in a million years."

Crona blinked for several seconds while his stunned onyx eyes kept staring at Maka nervously. "But the reason why you're both s-stuck to this other world was because you risked your lives to save me. You shouldn't have bothered with trying to rescue my worthless life."

Maka soon scooted herself closer to the edge of the bed where Crona and Soul stood. Maka firmly placed both her hands on the swordsman's thin shoulders, her eyes grew stern and were directed towards shaking Crona's gaze. "Don't say that Crona, don't you dare say such horrible things about yourself. I won't let you." Maka's grip then turned soft as did her eyes. "I would've fought Asura over and over just to rescue you from that terrible place, and nothing will ever change that." Maka softly said to her quivering friend, the boy's trembles mixed in with the brief trembling in her own arms that she tried to get under control.

She couldn't appear weak any longer. She had already fainted like some scared child in front of them already, and brought nothing but utter shame to herself for acting so pathetic in front of Soul and Crona. She had to be strong for them...or at the very least appear to be. Her friends' well-beings were easily more important than her own.

She pushed her lips to turn upwards, forming a false bright smile on her face as she began gently rubbing Crona's shoulders. "So don't worry Crona, everything's going to okay. We're all gonna be fine." Maka assured the two boy's as she quietly gulped down a fearful whimper that tried to come out of her mouth.

"I'll admit this is way beyond what I ever expected to happen, but I know there's a way to undo all this and ho back home. So please don't give up crona, there's still a way we can fix all of this. I know there is, you just have to trust me." Maka continued cheering up the sword meister from his guilty conscience, trying to keep the trembling threatening to emerge at bay. The young teen using every ounce of will she had left to try and remain positive and strong willed; refusing to fall apart in front of her friends.

Crona continued staring at Maka in puzzled surprise, unable to understand why or how Maka was acting so cheerful and casual about something this serious. Soul on the other hand grimaced at what he saw; knowing easily that smile worn by Maka was certified bullshit to hide what was truly going on inside her.

He had known Maka for over a couple years now since he became her demon weapon. Giving the albino death scythe more than enough time to know how Maka worked. He'd seen her at her highest and lowest points as a meister, and no matter how hard she tried, maka couldn't fool him into believing this mask she put on. A part of him respected her for trying to remain like herself and not look weak, but this desperate act she was putting on for them clearly wasn't good for her in the long run.

While he couldn't lie and say they could use the emotional support...Maka clearly needed it more than they did. He wanted maka to stay strong, but this was not the way to go about it.

The tremors in her forced smile grew harder to repress but she managed to push away the uncertain fear, and retained her hopeful facade to comfort her friends. "Getting stuck in this alternate reality is only going to be a setback in stopping the kishin. It's just like any other challenge we've faced before. So the best plan for now, is to find somewhere we can live and maybe get some jobs to sustain ourselves for the future. And eventually I could start looking for maybe one of those quirks that can replicate what BREW and the book of Eibon did and get us back home in a jiffy!" Maka planned out in a falsely cheery tone. Her equally fake smile this bull came out of, was barely kept together on the girl's mouth as she spoke these plans.

Maka in actuality, knew the chances of finding something like that to get back home were slim to none. And she understood even more that living here was extremely more complicated than how she made it out to be.

They had no family or friends in this foreign land, nowhere they could safely sleep, no money or whatever the currency this world used to even afford basic necessities. No foreign permits were in their possession to allow them to stay in the country itself or any kind of country for that matter. Heck, they didn't even have any legal papers of identification or social security numbers to verify who they are.

They had nothing...absolutely nothing.

They wouldn't even count as illegal immigrants here; they were basically phantoms that had never even existed in the world to begin with. Daring to wave these major problems off and outright lie about how easy this was, made Maka feel so sick to her stomach.

"Yeah, it seems kind of far-fetched but we'll find something, I'm sure of it. It may take a while to get back to our world but I believe without a doubt we'll do it." Her facial muscles faintly shook and the lump in her throat grew worse as she forced out these words. "We've got nothing to fear guys, things are going to be A-ok." Maka's voice nearly cracked from saying this, but her forced smile still remained, as did her ability to hold in her emotional turmoil.

If she managed to do the impossible and stab the kishin to save one of her friends, then holding in the raging storm of of emotions inside her, to comfort her friends should be nothing in comparison.

But unfortunately Crona and Soul weren't really comforted by Maka's comforting assurances as they watched her in bewilderment and worry at the smiling ash blonde girl.

But Soul already knew behind Maka's false brave and positive attitude, was a girl completely overwhelmed by everything she's learned all at once. And while he knew Maka had tremendous willpower, it was clear she was using it to barely managing to bottle up the turmoil she truly felt right now.

No doubt what was flooding her heart and mind was shit loads of worried uncertainty for the future, and sadness from finding out they'd been taken to another world with no way back.

Anyone would be swimming in panicked terror for what was happening to them. Hell, the fear of what had happened to their friends and teachers had been haunting the young death scythe as well. But he could also see another trait stirring up, one that had always made Maka stubborn to express what she was truly feeling. Always wanting to put up a brave and strong front and not look weak to those who were close to her. He understood why, but this wasn't good at all for her in the long run.

She needed to vent these frustrations, before all this frustration and fear overwhelmed her.

Soul knew in his heart that it was time to address this, so he took a step towards Maka while she still holding onto Crona's shoulders. After releasing a short sigh, the tired death scythe directed his gaze towards his meister.

"Maka." Soul asked, watching as Maka let go of Crona's shoulders and turned her head to face him with that same fake as hell smile.

"Yeah, Soul?" Maka cocked her head.

Soul's scarlet eyes were glued to Maka's forest green ones, the death scythe and his meister kept staring at each other for a few moments before the albino boy broke the silence and spoke.

"Maka look... just do us a favor and stop it already." Soul quietly told Maka with a calm yet almost pleading tone in his voice.

Maka frowned and her brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about Soul?"

"Don't play dumb Maka. You know what I'm talking about." Soul retorted with his tired red eyes as he continued to stare at Maka's tired eyes hiding as looking perfectly fine. "You can try and lie to me and Crona, but I've known you long enough to see that you're trying to hide away your emotions and comfort us through a brave face. We appreciate what you're trying to do, but you can't keep bottling up your true feelings like this. It's not healthy Maka."

Maka was left stunned, her mouth was momentarily agape by Soul seeing right past the facade she was trying to hold up. But she honestly felt stupid for not realizing her own death scythe would've quickly noticed something was wrong with her. But that still didn't stop a part of Maka from feeling outright annoyed with her weapon's perceptiveness.

"There's nothing wrong with me, I'm fine, really." Maka lied right through her teeth, the scythe meister never imagining she would repeatedly lie to one of her close friends like this.

"Do you honestly think anyone is going to believe that nonsense, when you freakin had a panic attack like everyone else?" Soul spoke incredulously, not buying the crap his meister was trying to feed him with to ease his well founded worries for her.

The ash blonde's smile finally started to fall, as her lips flipped down into a unreadable frown as she sighed and looked down at her lap. "You're worrying over nothing Soul. I admit, I was really shaken up before, but I'm more than well now." Maka waved it off casually, though the tiredness in her voice was subtly evident.

Crona wasn't convinced in the slightest by Maka's assurances, holding a doubtful gaze at his smiling friend. With Soul growing frustrated with his meister's stubbornness and shortly exhaled through his mouth.

"Maka, you aren't fooling anybody here. It's so damn obvious you're not fine that even someone as dense as Blackstar would've noticed." The mere mention of one of their friends whom they left to fight Asura while crippled, made Maka's hands begin to lightly tremble and her heartbeat quickened.

"Soul I-" Maka tried to speak, but was cut off by her weapon.

"I know better than anyone here that you're probably the bravest person I've ever met. You're strong, through and through. But even you have your limits with what you can handle." Soul retorted with a mixture of stern yet subtly layered concern within both his voice and face. The scythe hoping more than ever that Maka would cease her persistence on this act, and let herself release her true emotions.

Unfortunately, Maka's stubbornness seemed stronger than the pianist prodigy thought, as the scythe wielder looked up with an emotionless face. One that didn't display legitimate anger or frustration like he expected, just a face that looked simply drained. As if she was reaching her limit and just wanted to shut herself off.

"Soul for the last time...I am. fine. So can you quite bothering me about this?" Maka tersely asked the pianist, yet she could feel an ache in her facial muscles begin to form faking her true feelings for so long.

Soul's eyes narrowed into a glare to match maka's fed-up glare. "I'm just stating the facts, if you have a problem with that, then maybe you should be honest with yourself instead of this crappy act your pulling."

"Well thanks for your concern, but you don't need to waste your time on me. I just want to figure out and way to get us out of this stupid hero-obsessed reality and save everyone before it's too late."

"Doesn't everyone want that? But like hell I'm gonna just pretend like-"

"Soul." Maka uttered with legitimate venom and frustration lining her voice. Causing both boys to momentarily pause in surprise by this sudden turn.

Maka's eyes widened once she realized what she just did, before softening her expression and let out a sigh. "I'm...I'm not in the mood to argue Soul. I just...I just need to be alone, so I can figure everything out. Is that too much to ask?" Maka said with all the worn out sternness she could muster in her exhausted voice, all but hoping her weapon would stop bugging her already.

But even then, the sides of her lips shook ever so gently and she could practically feel her limbs at this point trembling with all these repressed emotions she tried sealing away. And unfortunately, Maka wasn't able to hide it as well as before, much to her trepidation.

This wasn't good...she couldn't keep this up for much longer.

Soul only grimaced at Maka's refusal to let herself truly release her emotions, yet he couldn't say he didn't fail entirely. The albino scythe could see the faint trembles in her body and around the corners of her lips. Maka's mask was cracking and would only take a stronger push now to finally break it. He just didn't know how to approach this without pushing her too far if he wasn't careful.

Crona had stood quietly the entire time while Soul and Maka talked, and finally took action. Maka managed to hear the sound of bare feet walking on the smooth floor, and turned to see Crona now standing directly in front of her; his eyes remained somber like puppy eyes.

Maka looked at Crona in confusion for getting so close to her all of a sudden. But before the ash blonde girl could ask what was wrong, Crona immediately tackled her into a tight embrace. Crona rested his head on the space between her shoulder and neck while rubbing gentle circles on her back. Meanwhile Maka just sat there in stunned silence because of this affectionate action she'd received.

Soul stared at Crona in perplexed astonishment by the swordsman's unexpected embrace towards Maka; but soon calmed down once he realized what Crona was up to with this tender action.

"C-Crona? What are you...?" Maka trailed off, her green forest eyes were wide with stunned shock as Crona simply squeezed her lithe body tighter in response. The scythe meister could only remain frozen in shock by this sudden hug, before she soon heard her friend speak in a gentle voice.

"It's okay Maka, I know that things are r-really scary right now. I know you're hiding your pain so you can give us a shoulder to cry on...w-which I'm almost felt tempted to take up." Crona admitted to Maka, as he continued to comfort his friend.

Maka felt a twitch, the crack her in mental wall budged even further.

"But I can't let myself cry while I keep seeing you hurt yourself like this, I can't handle watching my best friend crumble from the inside while pretending to be fine. I want nothing more than to see the strong woman that's helped me so much...but not like this. Not if it means hurting yourself in the process. No matter what your thinking, y-you need to know Soul and I will always be by your side through all this." Crona assured his ash blonde haired friend as she quietly gasped at the swordsman's heartfelt declaration to her.

The many emotions whirling inside her mind instantly froze up like ice. The storm of sorrow and anxious fear became far less intense, until it condensed and mellowed into a sealed flood of pent-up sorrow and frustration.

A muffled whimper escaped from Maka's throat, one that only the swordsman could hear clearly while soul's ears faintly caught the sound. Maka's mask was beginning to crumble, the swordsman's soft words and warm hug combining as an ultimate weapon to break down the stubborn wall Maka placed against her repressed emotions.

"So, all we're asking you is to please let it all out. Please don't hide your emotions from us anymore and pretend to be okay. You don't need to make yourself look strong if you can't handle it right now, maka. Neither of us would dare judge you for it, since we know how brave you really are." Crona gently told the now trembling scythe meister, her eyes becoming misty and the ability to control her tears was waning fast. Crona knew he was close, he had to keep pushing further.

"We want to help you through this just as much as you want to help us Maka. You gave me the courage to try sacrificing myself for you and our world, so in return, let me give you that same courage to help get through this together." Crona gently told Maka as her body shook in small trembles. The tall teen beginning to feel wet droplets fall on his back where the scythe meister rested her head.

It seemed his words were getting through to her, as she was on the verge of shattering the wall that kept the chaotic storm penned in. But Maka was still too bullheaded to release it all, that is until Soul intervened.

Soon enough the albino scythe slowly walked towards Maka and Crona until he stopped inches away from his two friends; the pianist looked down at Maka with a warm expression on his face.

"Crona's right Maka, we're all here for you through this mess, feeling the same things you are. To be quite frank, I'm on the verge of falling apart from the fact that I don't know what the hell is going on back home. Or if all our friends made it out alive... and if I'll ever see them again myself." Soul's voice trembled for a millisecond as he said that last sentence, but continued on.

Maka's hands trembled as Soul made his passionately warm speech to her, driving another wedge into the girl's resistance. She felt her grip slipping, the trembling in her hands and body couldn't stop.

"But It's like what I told Crona, we as humans have something the kishin could never comprehend, that being the belief in our friends and those we care for. And that's what we need to do right now. To believe in the best for each other and that we'll make it through this no matter what happens." Soul a placed a hand on Maka's back while keeping his warm expression towards her. "We're in this together and nothing is going to stop us from finding a way home." Soul declared to a stunned Maka as he walked closer and eventually joined in on the group hug.

The death scythe soon added his own warmth and heartfelt care for his two friends onto this combined hug. Soul out a small sharp smirk and whispered to Maka's ear a single sentence. "After all its what cool friends like us do for each other."

At that moment Maka's internal wall had at last crumbled away. Releasing the flood of pained emotions within as she grabbed her two friends held Maka's them closer to her. Maka's eyes soon began to finally flood with rivers of tears as she finally let herself cry out her pent-up tears.

---

For six whole minutes Maka simply sobbed and released all the pain she was feeling. Violent shaking and heart-wrenching sobs were being coughed into Crona and Soul's combined chests.

Crona's heart-rate escalated with the ache in his torso as he comforted his best friend, thin tears beginning to quietly fall from his cheeks while he cried in Maka's shoulder. He knew to some extent he was responsible for this. Soul may have told him otherwise but the former demon swordsman knew he was what triggered this series of unfortunate events. None of this would've happened he hadn't absorbed the kishin in the first place, Maka wouldn't have had to force themselves to enter asura's soul to save his worthless life. And as a result, BREW and the book of Eibon would never have been used in the first place.

It was all still his fault.

'But even so I'll set things right, I promise to do everything in my power to help Maka and soul get back home.' Crona declared through his tears, wanting nothing more now than to fix his mistakes and atone for the disaster he's caused his two dear friends.

Soul meanwhile had also quietly let a few tears be released as well but even with his own internal baggage being let out, he still kept some part of his composure. He would need to be strong for his meister and be able to protect her in this new foreign world. Which meant being the same cool demon weapon he'd always been to her since the day they met.

Maka's grip on the boys had turned tight and desperate, believing as if she would fall into an empty abyss of loneliness if she let go of either of them. Even if that didn't happen, she still wouldn't dare to let either one of them go. So much had happened to them these past two days, more than Maka ever thought possible.

They were transported into whole another dimension while trying to save their world and defeat the kishin. Only to have something so insane and illogical abruptly occur at the worst possible moment imaginable.

Now they were left stranded in this other reality without any conceivable or certain way back to their own.

How could she not be terrified?

Especially since she had no idea about what happened to her world or kid, Blackstar and everyone she caree for, before they got kidnapped to this strange realm across space and time.

This single yet strong fear lingered on the scythe meister's mind along with a list of other uncertain questions that continued to run through her brain and heart like an active storm. One that was currently releasing its repressed contents through her sobs and seeping tears as Maka only hugged her friends tighter than before.

"C-Crona...Soul..." Maka whimpered while she dug into Crona's shoulder, the right top of the boy's gown was wet with hot tears while Maka's gown fared no better, with the swordsman's own tears wetting its thin fabric surface.

"It's alright Maka...just let it all out." Soul whispered calmly to Maka's ear, continuing to rub her back slowly in soft circles as he comforted his crying friend. All while Crona did the same while ushering quiet yet wobbly words to assure his best friend everything would be fine.

The trio kept their group hug while they were sitting on the bed, releasing all the pain and heartache from the fact that they were now trapped in another world. One strange land completely unlike their own, for who knows how long. But as their souls continued this soothing resonance towards each other and kept the courage ignited within their hearts; they knew that whatever happens they'd figure it out eventually.

Once Maka's breakdown had finally ended she moved up from the combined embrace of Soul and Crona to shakily speak. "I'm sorry, I-I tried-I tried so damn hard to be strong like I always am. B-But I just..." she stopped to release a hiccupped breath. "But I-I'm scared...I-I don't know what to do or where to start." Maka said as she placed a hand on her forehead, as her voice was still thick with fresh tears.

Soul quickly wiped away a few tears before looking back at Maka with a determined expression. "It's like you said Maka, we're gonna have to find a way to live here until we find a way back home." The scythe summarized to his tearful meister.

Maka looked at her scythe with baffled eyes and shook her head violently, her medium length wheat colored hair whipped back in forth down her neck. "But it's not that simple Soul! We don't have anything! Not a single penny in our pockets or anything to prove we even exist! How are we supposed to survive here without having that!?"

Crona's brows collected together, in gentle understanding while leftover tears remained on his face. "You're right. It's probably not gonna be anywhere near as easy, but we'll find a way to make it work Maka, I know we will." Crona said softly to his uncertain friend, his voice was barren of his usual stutter and instead remained calm yet firm.

Maka's face then drifted away from her friends faces down to the bed she sat on. Her face twisted into a distraught expression as tears leaked out from her eyelids, the Albarn daughter's soul was still infested with a cluster of doubt and fear over the future of residing in this alien earth, particularly the actual length of said residence.

"But even if we do find a way to live here..." Maka stopped to take a shaky gasp for air. "How long a-are we going to be stuck here for? W-what if we can't find a way back? What if we'll n-never-?"

But before Maka could finish, Soul quickly raised up his hands from her back to frame her face, tilting her damping face right to have her tearful eyes meet his stern ruby colored gaze. "Don't finish that sentence Maka, because you know that isn't true in the slightest. We are going to find a way back home no matter what it takes." Soul said in a gentle yet firm tone, his hands remained softly placed on her weeping face.

"How? Neither the book of Eibon or BREW came with us to this place, s-so how are we supposed to return to our world?" Her gaze stayed uncharacteristically doubtful towards her weapon, with a few tears still present on her cheeks.

Soul's expression then became tainted with minor uncertainty, but still kept his stern determination. "I don't know yet, but if we managed to cross between dimensions in the first place there's definitely got to be a way to get back." Soul said in a more certain voice, using his thumbs to wipe away his meister's tears before curling his lips into a sharp smirk. "And with the most badass meister at our side, you better believe we're going to find it eventually."

Maka was at a loss for words, left in stunned amazement by her weapon's optimistic attitude over their dire situation, and especially at the praise he gave towards her. But eventually Soul's encouraging words kept ringing through her head, until eventually the fog of doubtful fear began to dissipate; allowing Maka to finally see the truth in what her weapon was telling her.

He was right.

She shouldn't be allowing all this fear for her friends make her act so pessimistic. This wasn't as hopeless as she was making it out to be. Sure, finding a way to survive in this other earth would be more than challenging, but nowhere impossible. And even if it seemed that way, she, Crona, and Soul could still manage to find some way to live her until they could uncover a way to return to their reality. She'd already done the impossible before, and not only survived getting nearly killed by Asura, but later she managed to wound the literal incarnation of madness and fear.

So why wouldn't she overcome this as well?

Soon after these positive thoughts surfaced more frequently within her mind, did her Grigori soul's wavelength begin stabilizing itself. The empowering courage and optimism displayed by her two friends became downright infectious to the scythe meister, as she began to feel her heart spark with the courageous willpower she was so famous for.

Much to Crona and Soul's joy, a small smile started to form on Maka's lips as she wiped away her previous tears. "You're right soul, I can't-and I won't give up like this. Not with all our friends and teachers still waiting for us back home." Maka said with her smile broadening by the minute. "Even if we don't know where to go from here, I'm sure we'll work it all out somehow." They needed to be there for each other in this world. After all it was like Soul said, they were all in this together now, so no matter what comes to divert their efforts to go back home, they'll beat it back.

They still had absolutely no idea how to get back to their world, and they obviously couldn't rely on the same method to get home. But even so, they wouldn't give up so easily. They WILL find a way back, they just needed to work to find one. Maybe there really was a "quirk" somewhere in the world that could control dimensions or utilize teleportation in some manner.

It was a long shot, but it was still a start to their journy back home nonetheless. She did mean what she said before, and do everything she could to find one. Even if meant scouring through every single archive of information the world, for even the smallest lead's she could find. In the end, she and her friends would find their ticket back to their universe, all they needed was time.

Maka got rid of the last remnants of her tears and looked back at her friends with a wonderful smile, only this one was far more real than before. "But I'm really sorry about how I acted before, especially when I... fainted." Maka's expression soon turned bashful as her cheeks began to blush into an embarrassed shade of red. "Y-You shouldn't have seen me like that, I know our circumstances were bad but it's still no excuse for acting like such a crybaby." Maka still couldn't believe she actually fainted of all things. God, she almost felt like dying out of embarrassment! Just what the hell was wrong with her?!

She was supposed to be that courageous and strong woman everyone sees her as; but in the span of two days, she was reduced to crying her eyes out and fainting of all things, like a scared damsel.

Crona looked up at Maka with an expression of gentle understanding, while leftover tears lingered on his face. "I told you, it's okay. Your reaction to all this was understandable." Crona's expression then turned more courageous, yet also brimmed with strands of fear in his ebon eyes. "I still find myself terrified of what'll happen next, and those points you brought up a minute ago have been practically swirling around in my mind."

Crona's brow becoming stitched together in this fear, but in moments soon shifted into a firmer and more determined. "But it doesn't matter how afraid I am, my faith in my friends and especially in you easily outweighs that fear." The swordsman assured Maka without a single sign of his stutter showing itself. A major sign of having every word spoken come from the bottom of his heart.

"Crona..." Maka muttered, the ash blonde meister felt so deeply touched by his dedication towards her and his indomitable care for his friend's wellbeing. Absolutely baffled to imagine how this kind, patient boy comforting him was the very same one to have committed so many sins back in their world.

"Damn man, since when did you become so good with these uplifting speeches?" Soul remarked as he quickly wiped away the remaining tears on his face before anyone could see. In response to Soul's compliment, Crona lightly blushed in embarrassment, not being used to such compliments from his albino friend.

Maka only continued to stare in astonishment at the two boys with her broad smile. Still she felt unable to fully believe that she'd been gifted with such faithful friends who could bring her spirits back from the lowest point.

And that was supposed to be her job for crying out loud!

'Jeez, I really needed to snap out of it and start acting like my good old self again.' Maka thought in disappointment with herself, and was more determined to stop crying like a baby and act like the mature and courageous meister she was.

Yet even with her lionhearted will, Maka knew she probably wouldn't be as brave without Crona and Soul being here for support. She felt more than glad that she wasn't alone coming to this alternate earth. Had these two not come along with her into the book of Eibon to this place, she probably would've had a far worse breakdown if that was the case.

But Maka didn't want to delve into any scarier scenarios or fearful doubts any longer. All she wanted was to continue this heartwarming moment between herself and her two best friends. Maka's lips curved further into a happy smile, she tackled her weapon into a warm and tight embrace. Soul was caught off guard by his meister's affectionate actions, but after recovering from his surprise he returned the hug his friend was giving him.

"Thanks Soul...I-I really needed that." Maka whispered to the albino boy's ear as she hugged him tighter. "I don't know why this happened to us, but we'll find how to undo it." Maka's forest eyes soon hardened and became ignited with her indomitable spirit. "And when we return to everyone, we're going to show that three eyed bastard the true power of human courage." Soul finally heard his meister sound much more optimistic than before, and released a sigh of relief he didn't even know he'd held in this whole time.

Soul was beyond glad to hear Maka was finally going back to the cool meister he always knew. The albino teen highly doubted though she was one hundred percent right now, as while Maka was a very strong willed and brave woman; she was still human. So even she would still probably remain shaken by this to some extent. But he knew she'd fully overcome it eventually, after all she shrugged off a mortal wound from the freakin kishin for Death's sake!

If Maka could do all that without falling to asura's madness or crumbling under fear, then like hell being sent to another world would make Maka fall apart and lose hope.

"Sure, thing Maka, I'll always have your back." Soul quietly told Maka as he continued to hold onto her petite body with equal warmness.

The death scythe and his meister beginning a soothing, strengthening resonance between themselves through the bond they shared. Keeping at bay any lingering fear remaining within their hearts, the two former spartoi students became more fearless in the face of this uncertain future more than ever.

Meanwhile, Crona only looked on at the sight of his two friends embracing each other with a relieved smile worn on his face. The former demon swordsman was so happy to see that his friends were already starting to recover. There was still so much they were uncertain of, and so little they knew on what to do now. But even if they had this whole new world against them in their mission, he was certain they would easily beat the odds and get back to their world.

And the reason why they'd survive was very simple, while it was very recent, it was quite frankly the most important lesson he'd ever learned in his life. It was the reason that led him to path of redemption for himself and why he, Maka, and Soul wouldn't give up so easily.

It's because they not only had bravery ignited within themselves, but it was because that very same courage is being fueled by something just as important. Unity in the belief that they'd be able to succeed in their goal together. So long as they could keep their faith for one another strong, they could accomplish anything no matter the odds.

Something that for once in his life, Crona could handle doing with ease.

---

AT THE SAME TIME

Rumi has always considered herself a woman very hard to shocked. And this was born from her overall tough nature and someone who doesn't act weak in the face of any obstacle or danger whenever she was on duty. Yet everything she saw and heard today had finally been enough to make the the seventh best hero in japan utterly shocked.

She thought she was simply dealing with a c of some teenagers being a bunch of idiots and committing some vigilantism. But once she had actually heard their story in that first interview, she was quick to assume they were batshit insane.

I mean seriously, who the hell can blame her?

Who wouldn't think they were nuts when they were spewing about such nonsense? Like how that girl kept talking about their home in death city, the stupidest name she'd ever heard a city being called, and how their school was run by the grim fucking reaper! And don't even get her started on that bullshit about their friends being on the freaking moon!

But when eizo brought in that mangaka, she at least hoped that guy could finally bring some clarity to this whole mess she got herself caught in. Only to be blasted with the mother of all fucking bombshell's and learn these kids, were actually residents from some other freakin universe!?

She wanted to deem what she heard as nothing but a load of shit, but between that viewing of maka's memories, and the strange amount of skill and power they possessed, she couldn't find any other explanation.

It was just so much to take in, and the whole time she stood here, mirko was hoping eizo could find some kind of solution to this mess. And afterwards she could just go back to her hero duties and simply forget all about this utter insanity, and pretend it never happened.

But then her ear's managed to catch what was going on inside that room of their's, and made her annoyed at her own quirk.

As much as she loved her rabbit ears' ability to let her hear so damn well, it came with its faults. Like how with such sensitive hearing and being a pro hero in such loud cities would make it utterly agonizing at times. And whenever some asshole villain or more recently vigilantes, used some loud quirk or explosions, she made sure they'd regret it.

To this day that group of bombers she took down a month ago were still in wheelchairs. All three of them permanently regretted triggering the number seven hero's hatred for loud noises. That's why she had to sometimes wear special earplugs to prevent hearing loss sometimes. But even then, Rumi feared she would inevitably suffer from ear infections due to her quirks sensitive hearing one day past her prime.

It was fucking bullshit.

She didn't even want to eavesdrop on a bunch of interdimensional teens in the first place, But the super hearing from her rabbit ears made it hard for her not to listen in on the emotional maelstrom going on inside that room.

And needless to say, it only made things so much more complicated than she could've ever imagine.

Rumi stood nearby the door to the trio's room and listened to every heartfelt word spoken to each other, and the breakdown one of them seemed to have. And the whole time she listened to the emotional discussions going on inside that room, the more she had to contemplated her view on these kids and what the hell to make of them. On one hand these teen's were technically a bunch of aliens from another world, capable of taking on the likes of her and hawks and fight them on an even level. She had every right to be cautious about them, given they're capable of taking on the like's of her or hawks on an even level.

And with one of them "apparently" being a former world ending villain, for all she knew, they could easily turn into a problem for hero society if they weren't handled properly.

But also knew that in the end these were just a three scared children who didn't know how they ended up here and just wanted to go back home. And were probably just as confused and worried about this whole mess, than she or anyone else involved could be.

Rumi widened her eyes and stopped her thoughts in their tracks, the rabbit hero taking a minute to rehear what she just said in her head. But why on earth would she think that? Yeah she sympathized for the poor brats, and what she's been hearing was truly something else, but why was she thinking this way? Yet maybe it had to do the fact she felt something...familiar, as memories from a long-gone era in her life came flashing back.

An era where things weren't so black and white as they were now. Where vigilantism became a far more frequent occurrence due to the symbol of peace only just starting his career as a pro hero. Where people with quirks just wanted to do the right thing and not sit in the sidelines doing nothing.

She was one of them at some point in her life.

A young teen who didn't give a damn for the consequences of breaking the law and just wanted to be someone who could fight against villainy and crime.

Rumi tightened her right hand into a fist while pinching the bridge of her nose with her left one. Now wishing she could just punch something to vent her pent-up frustration. 'Since when did my life get so fucking confusing...' Rumi pondered in exasperation at the crazy bullshit she got caught up into. Wishing more than anything that she could just go back to the simple routine of running around the city and beating the crap out of any villain around.

---

CENTRAL HOSPITAL SECOND FLOOR

"Sorry it took me so long to reach you, I was preoccupied talking to the detective you assigned here." Hawks apologized to the person he was talking to on his phone. The number three hero sat on the left side of a bed in his and Mirko's hospital room while writing his release forms.

"It's alright Hawks, you were injured pretty badly so it's understandable why this call came late." The voice of a middle-aged woman spoke on the other end.

Hawks sighed as he wrote the paperwork. "Ma'am it wasn't as bad as you think, all I got was a couple cuts here and there nothing more, nothing less."

"Really? Because from what my sources are telling me not only did you require stitches, but your wings feathers were all used up fighting on of the vigilantes. So, tell me, does that sound like a couple of cuts here and there?" The woman sarcastically questioned the number three hero, who silently cursed at the numerous resources this woman had at her disposal.

"I've dealt with worse than that ma'am, and besides my wings will grow back in two days so I won't be out of commission for too long." Hawks assured his boss, hoping that she'd finally lay off his back over this topic and move on already.

"If you say so Hawks, but I don't think either of us can brush off the vigilante who managed to do this to you in the first place; nor those other two for that matter." The woman answered back as Hawks' eyes hardened into a grimace and the hold on his pen turned into a vice grip.

"Trust me I know." Hawks replied, his voice turned into a more serious tone.

"Good, those children have caused a lot of trouble in such a short amount of time. You'd be surprised how hard it was to suppress all the videos and news reports being made on this incident." The HPSC president said in an almost tired tone of voice, clearly expressing the effort that was put by her and her coworkers to cover up the events of last night.

"The people aren't gonna be too complacent about what happened on shigyama street being swept under the rug like that." Hawks retorted with a raised eyebrow, unconvinced that there wouldn't be tabloids demanding answers.

"Don't worry, we've fed those vultures in the media minor positive footage of those vigilantes. Hopefully it'll withdraw any remaining bad publicity and get things back to normal." The woman casually replied without much worry within her tone, already seeing that particular matter resolved.

"Well if that's taken care of, we should start figuring out what to do with those three Americans upstairs." Hawks recommended to his head superior.

The older woman made a small sound of agreement "Indeed, normally vigilantes wouldn't be too much concern, but the camera footage I and the rest of the board saw; has made us simultaneously concerned...and greatly fascinated." The woman said with an impressed tone in her voice towards the end.

Hawks narrowed his eyes, knowing full well what kind of footage she and the rest of the HPSC saw. That being through the numerous miniature cameras that were planted within the feathers of his wings. The cameras were only used for the HSPC to observe and gain intel for any situation or major operations he was involved in. Those very same mini cameras were on his wings the night when he and Mirko fought Maka, Crona, and Soul; giving the HPSC a clearer view of what happened than any of the numerous news networks in Japan.

"Yeah, I figured you would say that." Hawks said while moving on to fill out the second release form sheet. "Did you manage to find anything else on them?"

The woman gave out a disappointed sigh on the other line. "Unfortunately, what we found was no better than what the American/Japanese embassies uncovered, which was basically nothing." The woman spat out in dissatisfaction of what she could dig up or lack thereof. "There's not a single piece of information on these three children. We couldn't even dig up anything on the quirk registries in both countries; It's almost like they just popped into existence yesterday."

Hawks scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they did."

"Hawks. I am not in the mood to play these kinds of games, especially with such an important topic like this." The head of the HPSC rebuked in annoyance at Hawks' joking antics. "Besides, vigilantes who can use their quirks with such skill can't just appear from nowhere. Trust me when I say we intend to find out who these children are, and that's where you come in Hawks."

Hawks' expression once again turned serious. "So, what is it you want me to do exactly?" The number three pro hero questioned.

"It's quite simple, we're going to need you to keep them under your watch and by extension ours." The old vixen ordered the winged man, who raised a bewildered eyebrow at such a request.

"And how's that going to work out?" Hawks asked curiously.

"It's like I said there's nothing we could find on Maka, Soul, and Crona. They basically have no identification whatsoever, that includes not having any birth certificates or passports. Thus, they're stuck in the country; and with no luck finding their families they don't have any legal guardians." The woman explained in detail to her organization's sponsored hero.

"Thus they pretty have nowhere to go, and will have to fend for themselves." Hawks presumed by what his boss was telling him.

"Exactly Hawks." The older woman replied.

"So, what are trying to say? Do you want me to adopt them?" Hawks asked with incredulity beginning to form on his face and appear in his voice.

"No...At least not for now." The woman quickly clarified. "Just confirm what will be happening to them. If they end up in the foster care system, we'll pull a few strings on our end to make sure they get a decent guardian near you. Giving us the perfect opportunity to keep them under our direct supervision to study their behavior and more importantly their full capabilities." The HPSC president replied, highly suspecting that what she saw these children, particularly Crona, displayed last night wasn't the full extent of their quirks' powers.

Hawks nodded to order he'd received, completely understanding the reason for the precautions and plans laid out by the HPSC. They may be kids, but he and his superiors saw what they were capable of, they were simply too dangerous to be left unchecked.

"Alright then ma'am, I'll get right to it." Hawks told the older woman. "Though I've got to ask, what do you plan on doing next after you gain enough intel on them?"

The other line went silent for a couple moments before she answered him back. "We'll assess their potential, and if the results are promising; we'll try to recruit them into the HSPC's specialized hero program." The HPSC president told Hawks who grew more astonished by what he was hearing. "Those children showed true heroism in the face of danger when that building collapsed. Maka, Soul, and even Crona saved lives and did it with upmost proficiency despite some hiccups occurring. I believe with our resources we can train them to be some of the best pro heroes society has seen in years like we did with you."

Hawks' mouth was momentarily agape before closing soon after. The number three hero was not expecting the head of the HPSC to be so impressed by these teens to the point of wanting to recruit them. Then again, if they were able to contend with the likes of him and Mirko then there was no doubt whatsoever, they could be great heroes in later years.

Except... there was one thing however that still concerned him.

"What about that boy, Crona? I'm pretty sure out of all three of them you saw the most footage on him, and particularly his... unwell mental state."Hawks grimaced as he could already see the HPSC being afraid the pink haired teen would be a threat rather than an asset.

"I won't lie, that one greatly worries me, especially since he has more than enough strength to easily overpower someone like you." The HPSC president admitted. "But that just further proves why we need to do this. Once we get a psychological evaluation on him, we'll set up protocols and procedures to keep him stable as possible. It be such a shame to see such a promising young man be ruined by his psychological problems."

Hawks agreed with his boss's decision, the boy seemed like a good kid and if he and his friends decided to take up the HPSC's offer, they may provide the help Crona needs to overcome his mental illness.

"But they're still a bunch of kids who are scared and don't know what's happening ma'am. Even if they have potential, I don't think they'll accept your offer so easily, nor so soon." Hawks countered in minor doubt of this all going perfectly smooth.

"You're not wrong. We can't force them to join us. And strong arming them would be a terrible idea. But perhaps with their less-than-ideal situation weighing them down, they'll want to take the opportunity we're presenting them." The old woman said to the skeptical number three hero. She believed even if they didn't join the HPSC program, so long as they became heroes, society would greatly benefit from these teenagers.

"Okay, I'll see what we can work with, and perhaps find out what Eizo learned about those kids from the special interview they're conducting." Hawks told his superior who seemed to be taking note of what he just said.

"Excellent, if that's all I won't take up any more of your time Hawks. I hope you make a speedy recovery and report back when you learn anything else about Maka, Crona, and Soul." The old vixen told the fierce winged hero on the other line. "This is a grand opportunity to further reinforce the era of peace we have, and I do not want to let it slide."

"Understood." Hawks said before the HPSC president shortly hung up. Hawks put his phone away and continued to sign his release forms for tomorrow morning.

The number three hero couldn't help but think of all the commotion Maka, Crona, and Soul had caused in a single day; but he knew it would probably be wiped clean by the HPSC due to their newfound interest in the trio.

"Things are gonna get really interesting around here." Hawks muttered to himself while continuing to wonder what to expect in the future from these foreigners. He didn't know why, but Hawks had a good feeling that whatever came from these vigilantes would be very exciting to see.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTE

HELLO MY FELLOW READERS! WELCOME TO THE FOURTH CHAPTER OF SOULBOUND HEROES! I truly hope your enjoying this story and the emotional parts that occurred in this chapter as the trio finally realize they have been sent to another world.

Yes, my first true OC in this fanfic is indeed based off the author of soul eater Atsushi Okubo, not only because he's one of my favorite manga writers; but because I thought out of respect to make him apart of this story, by being a character who helps to reveal that the characters made by his real-life counterpart are in another world. But while Atushi won't be appearing very often in this story, he will return for a few chapters far later in the story.

And as you can see, it would appear that Maka, soul and Crona have attracted the impressed attention of the HPSC's president and Hawks. Now before you say anything, I assure you I have no intention of making the HPSC be deemed as this wholly evil, corrupt organization our protagonists will have to contend with.

No, I plan to instead write the HPSC to be more realistic and overall a neutrally antagonistic component in this story; who only wants to keep the peaceful order society has achieved but won't be afraid to do some shady activities to do so. Like how I no doubt believe the HPSC covered up endeavor's abusive history with his family and what happened to his...son. (If you're a manga reader you'll know what I really mean.) after all can you imagine the chaos that'll occur if the number two heroes dark past ever got out? But for now, the HPSC will be keeping a close eye on Maka, soul and Crona and intend to see if they meet their expectations for their plans later on.

But of course, things aren't gonna be as smoothly planned as they think they will...

For Maka's breakdown, some of you may think her passing out from finding out the truth may have been a bit exaggerated and almost out of character. But let me ask you this. If you found out you were abruptly taken to another world with no explanation; all while your loved ones were in mortal danger, wouldn't you react the same way? But Maka bottling up her emotions and trying to be strong for her friends was something she'd no doubt do, due to Maka putting others before herself. Thankfully Crona and soul were able to help her release all that emotional baggage like themselves and accept what's happened.

Unfortunately, before I move on, I have to address something I've been noticing in reviews, that being how not many reviewers really talk about what happens in the chapters.

Don't take this the wrong way! I don't mean to sound ungrateful, since I love the encouraging reviews you've given me! Every one I get that comments on how they like this story warms my heart to know you guys love what I'm writing. All I'm asking is that you also try to comment on what you think about the content in my chapters. Those kinds of reviews I get are extremely helpful to not only improving my writing; but also allows me to see what flaws there are in my story to either improve or fix and learn what you want to see in future chapters.

Other than that, I'm very satisfied with the positive reception I've been receiving with my first story, as not only have I not been attacked by any flamers; but it has gotten more reviews, follows and favorites than most new stories would usually receive. So, from the bottom of my heart thank you so much for liking this story and I promise to work hard to get out the content you are enjoying in this fanfic.

Now with that out of the way it's time to respond to the batch of last chapters reviews!

EXODIA98: Yep, indeed and I hoped you've enjoyed the update

YELLOWPIKMIN88: well, the answer to Crona's knowledge of their dimensional displacement is pretty answered in this chapter and I'm glad you think that way of my story thanks you so much!

Also, about returning to their friends and families...can't spoil anything but...We'll cross that bridge eventually...hopefully.

PHANTOM THIEF OF HEARTS: I got to say thank you SO MUCH for your constructive criticism, you have no idea how helpful it was to me. I'll admit your review made me feel like an idiot for not realizing the major character and plot flaws in my first two chapters, but don't worry, I have fixed these flaws and made the parts you've criticized to be much better than before.

Honestly, I can't believe I didn't realize how I made those blatant mistakes...

Thanks to you though, I've edited out those parts and rewrote them with hopefully much better writing so I highly recommend you reread them to see what you think of them now.

But about what you thought on the pairings, it's made me...think about some things. I'll discuss them later on but for now I may have opened up to some possible changes in the story.

I am glad to know my story was interesting enough for you to read the whole thing when you intended to just read the first chapter, thanks a lot man!

ALEXIS: Je suis heureux que vous pensez de cette façon sur mon histoire et j'espère que vous apprécierez ce chapitre. Aussi oui, j'ai fait en sorte de garder le lien étroit maka et l'âme ont ou autrement je serais probablement en faire OOC qui est quelque chose que je vais éviter à tout prix. Et je suis content que vous aimez les navires que j'ai fait, mais j'ai peut-être l'intention de faire quelque chose de plus... naturel à l'esprit, mais pour l'instant merci pour le compliment. Aussi, je suis heureux de vous entendre profiter ragnarok Dans le l'histoire et croyez-moi, j'ai l'intention de faire un peu plus de développement de caractère entre lui et son meister.

English version: I'm glad you think of my story this way and hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, yes, I made sure to keep the Maka and soul connection tight or otherwise I would probably make it OOC which is something I will avoid at all costs. And I'm glad you like the ships I made, but maybe I intend to do something more ... natural in mind, but for now thanks for the compliment. Also, I'm glad to hear you enjoy Ragnarök in the story and trust me, I plan to do some more character development between him and his meister.

MAIBILARO: here's the newest update.

KING KIND: Ummmm...thanks, I guess?

GUEST: Thanks for compliment man!

HATCH TO NOWHERE: Oh yeah, Maka is definitely gonna get stronger while she's in the BNHA world, and I wouldn't say Maka is as weak without soul but she still does suffer from needing him to properly fight. After all, when Crona temporarily took away her and Blackstar's ability to wield their weapons with his thorns venom, Maka couldn't really do anything expect dodge and watch Blackstar fight him; until spirit came to be her weapon to take down Crona. And as you can see my hero academia isn't structured to fit that kind of 24/7 duo combat style, especially against the villains coming eventually.

But don't you dare accuse our precious Eri of becoming evil.

Yes, a lot of development for Soul and Maka will be made once they head to U.A and Crona will probably learn to heal but don't expect it to be an easy process.

And as for Maka learning soul menace...once again I can't spoil anything but your suggestion has greatly interested me and I might be very tempted to do it in the story.

Finally for the horrors of Crona's poetry, trust me I got so many hilarious plans set up for that, once we reach that part of the story.

GUEST 3: you'll just stick around and see.

GUEST 4: can't really answer that due to spoilers.

GUEST 5: again, can't really answer that without spoiling the story, but I can agree being in BNHA will give Crona a new start and a way better alternative than being trapped in the mad blood sealed moon.

RANDOM ANON: well, that's the thing, they have seen it it's just that with all the commotion going on they haven't gotten the time to truly see it nor put more thought to the difference. Though if I were to make a guess, I'd say soul eater takes place in the late 2000's.

GUEST 6: Yeah Maka, soul and Crona are easily more powerful than most students in U.A at least for now. Though I will say, once they train hard enough some of them can be a challenge for them. With Todoroki, Bakugou and Izuku being the only ones both in this story and in canon having the best chances out of class-1A of beating them.

But even that might not be enough.

Hell, not even most of the top ten pro heroes could beat Maka, soul and Crona, the only ones who could stand the most chances are all might and endeavor.

With the only real villains that could be a big threat to our heroes being either upper to high end nomu or AFO.

And that's due to MHA being a more realistic anime universe compared to soul eater, who's power scaling borders on marvel comics level of power such as Thor and the hulk.

Thanks for the positive feedback and the criticism I got in the last chapter and that this latest one will be very enjoyable. And I hope the reviews will finally start popping up more frequently like the first chapter.

But anyway, sorry for the long authors not and please favorite/follow and especially review. Feel free to suggest any more ideas or comment/critique any flaws in this chapter. That is as long as there's no haters/flames otherwise it will be fine.

Next time: with the truth now uncovered Maka, soul and Crona wonder what they'll do now they are stranded in another world. But thankfully Ezio and someone else may be there to help adjust to their unique circumstances.

I'll see you all in chapter 5.

Shados960 out!