As Gopher neared the practice site where the scythe miester was said to be, she mildly wondered why Noah wanted this specific girl. Rarely had he ever asked for a specific piece to add to the collection. It was usually a more impulsive sort of quest, like passing candy in checkout lane. The only exception had been Justin, but that was a strategic move to protect their location from Shibusen; even so they had initially found him by accident. So, what was so important about this Maka?

She arrived to the area and peered at her target from behind the leaves of a nearby tree. The blond girl was yelling at a scythe... how strange. Though, come to think of it, Justin might have mentioned once or twice that he wasn't the only one who could transform into a weapon. The blond shouted at her scythe a bit more before she mounted it and spread her grigori wings.

...grigori wings?

She had grigori wings! Gopher frowned, why would Noah want this, this child when he had her. She was just as good, no, better than this Shibusen twat. Heck she had bigger, stronger wings, and an enchanted wavelength even. So why would Noah need another girl with a grigori wavelength for the collection? Unless... he wanted to replace her. Fear shot through her body; Noah had been distant lately, but she had chalked it up to his work taking up his time. If he really did want a new assistant, then Gopher was becoming obsolete. She'd never get her chance to get into the book. She could lose everything she worked for to some insignificant child.

"Not if she's in pieces." Gopher muttered. Of course, Noah wouldn't want a servant without a body and he was far too busy to build a new one for anyone. Surely this child didn't have the patience or cooperation to survive a transmutation, so Gopher's body was as good as safe. Yes, she would tear that little intruder to shreds and steal her soul for Noah as instructed, that would prove she was the better fighter.

Maka said something to her flying companion and the other girl flew on ahead. Perfect, now was her chance to strike. She extended her wings and launched herself into the air. Maka looked her direction in surprise and dodged Gopher's first attack.

"How is that possible?" The weapon shouted. Maka concentrated and saw Gopher's soul. An unnatural wavelength that seemed to radiate dark magic, gold cemented together the conflicting flares in her personality.

"She has a grigori soul!" Maka exclaimed. Gopher cringed; unlike witches she couldn't disguise her wavelength. Everyone couldn't keep their thoughts about it to themselves.

"How disgusting, peeping into other people's souls. I can't see why he wants someone like you." She fired another barrage of feather shaped arrows.

"How can you hate me so much?" Maka asked incredulously. "We've never met." Gopher frowned, couldn't this girl take a hint? How dare she scrutinize her over a wavelength. Was that why Noah wanted her? She could see souls? Oh, how this insect abused such a gift. She would give anything to make Noah notice her again, but this girl...

Maka rushed, well, tried to rush at Gopher for an attack. Gopher easily dodged the attempt and shook her head.

"You're too slow." She closed her eyes. "You don't know how lucky you are." She felt the energy course through her. The threat of Noah's betrayal fueled her anger. She concentrated the energy in front of her. Why would Noah want to replace her? "Noah-sama!" She fired. Maka narrowly dodged the beam attack. The blond shouted something while Gopher recovered from the exertion of her attack.

Larger white wings shot out from Maka's scythe, her soul stronger for the fight. Gopher bit her lip at the transformation.

"You think you're so tough?" Gopher shouted. "You can't even withstand my feelings. To think that he'd want someone like you..." She shot another blast. "It makes me so jealous!" The scythe miester's attitude changed and she charged for another attack. "I want a chance to enter the book with my own book mark too!" She had to deflect the scythe with her arm and counter quickly. She had worked too long and too hard to let some little girl take it all away. She focused again, harder this time, and shot a blast of her own wavelength to bring the miester down.

Kid leaned against cold brick wall, suspended by his wrists in chains. It was dark and arid, no visible place to sleep even if he was unchained. His only consolation was that he was in the middle of a symmetrical dungeon. He tugged at his bands to test their strength. While he could rotate his wrists freely, his arms remained firmly above his head.

He sighed at the thought of his friends in danger while he was helpless to stop it. Noah had sent someone after Maka. Hopefully she was alright, but he didn't know the extent of their power. Then there was Patty and Liz, had they made it out of the castle alive? He worried over what had happened after he left. Did they defeat Arachne? Did his father know where he was? Had they found Chrona?

His face blanched at the thought. Other than him, Maka, and maybe Medusa; nobody had actually been looking for her during the mission. She could have been trapped somewhere or taken away like he had. If only he had tried harder, he could have forced her to stay. His shoulder tingled at the sight of previous detachment. What if Chrona didn't want to be found? There was no way she'd want to be rescued by a weak shinigami who couldn't even protect his own arm.

Despite the mental images of her look of disgust at the sight of him, the way she'd shout at him to go away; he couldn't help but imagine the way her hair would flit about her shoulders and the striking blue of her eyes. But the image was hazy, hard to define. It had been a few weeks since she left, and he could no longer see her face clearly in his mind. Yes, it would have been nice to see her again, even if she did hate him. And for the first time since Chrona left, he let himself miss her.

A loud bang startled him out of his thoughts. He looked up at the figure who stood in the doorway. The girl stared wildly about the room only to have her gaze rest on Kid.

"Who are you?" She asked slowly. Kid stiffened, that was the voice of the assassin that was sent after Maka. He smirked at her shortness of breath.

"Maka gave you a sound beating, did she?" He chuckled. The girl growled, strands of limp, black hair fell in her face.

"I asked you a question; who are you?" The girl hissed at him but made no move to leave the door.

"What, your leader didn't tell you?" Kid asked snidely. "As arrogant as that man is, it wouldn't surprise me."

"Why you pretentious little-" She lunged forward but stopped short. Her hands clutched a long cut in her side, and she fell to the floor. Biting back a sob, she pulled herself from the ground and readied herself for a more planned assault.

"Hey Gopher," Justin called down the hall. She turned to the doorway; her puffy red eyes highlighted in the lamp light. "Gopher I-" Justin stopped when he saw Gopher's meek attempt to hurt the shinigami, a trail of gold tinted blood on the floor. "Gopher, what are you doing?" He looked to the wound and Gopher's bloodshot eyes.

"Go away," Gopher shouted. "I have a pest to take care of." Justin grabbed her wrist.

"Not now," he pleaded, "Noah wouldn't like you hurting his collection."

"But-"

"Besides, you're hurt." Justin insisted. "Why don't you just go lie down in your room and rest." He led her out of the room. Gopher looked over her shoulder and glared at the shinigami.

"But, that was my room." She pouted.

Shinigami-sama sat in his mirror room with a room full of guests chatting excitedly around a coffee table. Sid and Spirit had recruited the Chupacabra witches for the future mission, since they would do anything to clear their charges of witchcraft. Somehow it ended up as a cocktail party. He watched the illusionary butterfly glide by.

"So, about my son." He attempted but was cut off by Arisa.

"Who wants more champagne!" She cheered, happy to be free from her charges.

"My son-" Shingami tried again.

"Oh, Sid wants some, don't you Sid?" Spirit teased. Arisa leaned in between the two with a glass and a refill ready.

"I was never a drinking man in life." Sid declined and tried to lean away from the bosom that was unsubtlety pointed in his direction. Charming people was how these girls survived; it wasn't fair to take advantage of that.

"Would you please listen!" Shinigami roared. "My son has been kidnapped by someone with the Book of Eibon! Do you know what that means? He has a week to live, by now closer to SIX DAYS! We do not have time to mess around with this stupid nonsense!" The raging shinigami was tapped on the shoulder. Humans could be so frustrating when time was of the essance.

"Hey." Black Star stated, "I brought you something." He held out a frog. The shinigami growled in frustrations and stormed over to his mirror to brood. Students were not allowed in his office without an appointment and Black Star of all of them had managed to sneak up on him. Maka was at his side as, both had been just as worried about Kid as he had.

"Black Star-" Sid began but was cut off by the frog.

"Get your hands off me!" The frog wriggled out of his grasp and landed on the floor. There was a puff of smoke and the frog was transformed into a young girl. "The indignities I suffer for people." She muttered. The two other witches trembled in their seats at the sight of a real witch and from Shinigami's previous outburst.

"What exactly do you want us to do?" Risa asked. The Shinigami turned and faced the group.

"We'll need a rescue team to enter the book." He held up his hands to stop any objections. "We have a copy of the book here, without the protective spell. With the witches help, we should be able to send a small group into the book to find my son. It would be like walking around the same theme park in different states if you know what I mean. Different rules will apply to the team, but if he's in the book you will be able to find him and pull him out on our end."

"Where's the book?" Eruka asked. Before Maka could speak, Black Star stepped forward.

"Spirit checked it out, during the exam Maka misplaced it while cleaning; but she found it today." Maka's confused look met Black Star's silent hint.

"Yes, I found it in the bathroom under some magazines." She handed over the book. "I read a bit of it too, I hope you don't mind papa." Lord Death was the one to take it from her, his gaze lingered on the cover.

"This book has caused more pain than you would want to know." Maka wanted to say something, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see her father watch Shinigami through sympathetic eyes.

"You'll know when you're older." Spirit whispered.