Maka checked her phone for the millionth time that day. The display read 8:03pm. It had long since grown dark outside. After her lengthy bath, she had been hungry. The nice bathroom had bolstered her faith in their hosts to the point she had dared to go downstairs and try the offered dinner afterwards. That had been a mistake. Her stomach was more than a little upset. That was partially due to the dubious food she had been served and partially because her partner still had not deigned to show up.

The meister was starting to worry. Soul could take care of himself. Any criminal picking him as their next victim would be in for a very rough surprise. Nonetheless, Maka was worried. Worried and upset. She had so not forgiven him for his stunt at lunch, and leaving her in the dark like this was not helping his case. She had to do something. Searching for him with her perceptive abilities as a meister was a possibility, but the sheer amount of souls in this big city would undoubtedly make it quite difficult. Regardless, it was her best bet. Soul would have some explaining to do after she found him.

She left their room, she descended the stairs, she crossed the lobby. Standing just outside the hotel's front door, Maka closed her eyes and tried to feel her partner's soul. It was hopeless. There were thousands of people all around her, each with their own. Her agitated mental state wasn't helping her concentrate, either. There was no way she could find him like this. Frustrated, she opened her eyes. It took a few seconds for her brain to process the sight in front of her. He was right there. Leaning against a motor cycle. Smiling. He casually called out to her.

"Hey!"

Anger and relief battling for control over her thoughts, Maka debated how she should react.

"Hey."

In the end, relief won out. She didn't have it in her to get mad right now.

"How long have you been here? I was worried."

"Couple of minutes, maybe an hour. Or two."

His actions continued to be incomprehensible. She posed all her questions at once.

"Wha- Why didn't you call me? I would have let you in. What were you even up to all this time?"

"You know, this and that. Had some errands to run."

For the first time, the object he was leaning against registered in her brain.

"I can see that..."

"Oh. This. Yeah. Figured we wouldn't wanna take the tram, so I rented a bike."

Why couldn't he just run these things by her? Well, he wasn't wrong about the tram. And they would need a ride to hunt down their target. She got his leather jacket out of her bag and threw it at him.

"Here. It's cold."

Soul barely caught it.

"Thanks."

The events of lunch loomed over them, still. A big talk would need to be had, eventually. But it didn't have to be now. A small kishin-hunting workout seemed like the perfect way to vent some stress before dealing with that ordeal. Maka walked over to her partner.

"Do you know how to get to the area Wes showed us from here?"

"Nope. Not a clue."

He sounded weirdly proud of that. Maka sighed.

"Just drive. I'll direct you."

Said and done. Soul mounted his bike, and she got on behind him. Fortunately, the streets were still quite busy, which prevented him from going particularly fast. That, in turn, meant Maka didn't need to face the difficult question of whether to hold on to him or not. It wouldn't have been a big deal, normally, but things between them were weird enough as it was. What's more, the wind was so loud in her ear that, even at this comparatively low speed, they wouldn't have been able to talk much. Maybe the bike had been a good idea, after all. Every so often, Maka tapped her partner on the shoulder to tell him where to go. It really was loud, so she had to shout and point.

Around fifteen minutes later, they had entered the supposed hunting grounds of their mark. It didn't take long for Maka to feel its presence. The souls of kishin-eggs were different from those of humans and weapons, no matter how powerful. Even in the busy city, this thing stood out above everything else. It was close. She signaled her partner, and he stopped the bike. Guided by her perception, she led them off the main road and into a residential district. This area was far less flashy than central city. There was graffiti everywhere. Half the street lamps were either out of order completely or hanging on by a thread. Garbage spilled out from broken trash cans and into the dirty streets.

She spotted her mark hiding in the shadows behind a gas station. Maka considered her approach. They'd found themselves in a parking lot. Safe for a few cars, it was empty. That made fighting easier. This would do. Having noticed them approach, the creature stepped out into the dim moonlight. Their opponent looked bizarre, even for a kishin-egg. Its head was some kind of beast. A lion or a wolf. Below, its body appeared vaguely humanoid, but there was thick, green smoke surrounding it, so Maka couldn't really tell. That was fine. In spite of its numerous victims, their opponent's soul was nothing special. And a head was as good a target as any.

"Soul."

"On it."

Before she could finish her sentence, Soul had already transformed. Every time they had an argument, Maka worried he might burn her hands again the next time they went into battle. Just like every other time since then, it turned out that was not the case. He felt good. Light. Powerful. Familiar. The enemy came directly at her. She was happy to meet it head on. Nimbly avoiding its fangs, she swung her scythe upwards in return. Soul's blade cut through the mist and the right side of its face. The creature howled in pain. No longer eager to face her in close combat, it took a step back. Maka would not let it get away. She immediately rushed forward to close the distance. Suddenly, the creature's green smoke expanded. It had enveloped her before she knew it. The voice of her partner rang out from her weapon.

"Careful, Maka! Fall back!"

He was right. The fog could be poisonous. She jumped upwards to escape the cloud, landing on a nearby rooftop. Thankfully, their opponent had not used this opportunity to escape. It seemed content watching them from below. Soul sounded worried.

"You feeling okay? That definitely wasn't normal smoke."

"I... think so."

To her own surprise, she felt fine. If the gas had been toxic, the effects seemed to be delayed. That just meant she had to finish this quickly. The cloud below them was dissipating. Maka wasted no time going back on the offensive. She dashed off the roof, aiming to use the momentum for a powerful slash. Their enemy threw up another smoke screen. She was getting frustrated.

"Stop HIDING and FIGHT ME."

She swung blindly into the mist. The smoke potentially being poisonous didn't matter anymore. She'd already inhaled so much of it. All that mattered was burying her scythe in that thing's disgusting head.

"Maka! Stop! What the hell's wrong with you?!"

"Be quiet!"

He was annoying her. She was the meister. Where did he get off thinking he knew so much better?! Using her distraction, the kishin-egg launched a surprise attack, flinging itself at her back. Maka managed to avoid its claws, but when it followed up with a concentrated stream of gas, she could only use her weapon to deflect it. The creature disappeared back into the mist.

"How are you gonna tell me to shut up when you're the one getting destroyed by this absolute nobody?!"

He was seriously pissing her off. She'd put up with so much for him already.

"Fuck OFF, Soul! God, you're unbearable today."

The words had left her mouth before she could stop them. Something wasn't right.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! It must be awful having to deal with such a terrible partner all the time!"

"Soul."

"Since you're so perfect, I guess this must all be my fault, huh?!"

"Soul!"

"WHAT?"

"I think there was something in the gas."

"What are you on about? You look fine to me."

She had to fight off another wave of anger.

"No, I think it's like those candles professor Stein used, remember? The ones that heightened our emotions."

Soul seemed to be thinking it through. This was bad. That day, of all days, they were seriously vulnerable to this kind of attack. The gas was bad news, and she'd just exposed her weapon to that massive stream of it. Her partner's voice had lost some of the edge, but he was clearly struggling to stay cool.

"I think I get it. So what do we do?"

"He's physically weak. Not a threat if you get your act together."

That was not how she had meant to phrase that. She could swear she'd said we and our! Soul grumbled.

"Fine. Whatever. Just finish him."

'He' was once again observing them calmly. Maybe this thing was more intelligent than it seemed, waiting for them to self-destruct. At this rate, that was a very real possibility. Soul's wavelength had been erratic all day, he would snap sooner or later. That thing needed to die now. Using resonance in their current state was dangerous but so was prolonging the fight any further. She synced her wavelength to his as they exclaimed in unison:

"Lets go Soul Resonance!"

It was working. Not quite as smooth as it usually was, these days, but it would suffice. Maka was confident a simple Witch Hunter would be more than enough to finish this level of opponent. They synced their breathing. Emptied their minds. Soul's blade grew into the massive, translucent arc of their technique. Once more, Maka closed in on her foe. There was no way he could avoid it at this range. No way to defend against such overwhelming power.

"Witch Hunter!"

Just as they were about to connect the hit, the glowing arc cracked. Their resonance hadn't been steady enough, after all. The attack went slightly off track, smashing into the ground. Massive amounts of rocks and dust were thrown into the air. Maka involuntarily started to cough. When her vision cleared, the kishin-egg was nowhere to be seen. They'd let him get away. It was infuriating. Soul transformed back, stating the obvious.

"He got away."

The calm in his voice was like nails on a chalkboard. He wasn't calm. It was fake. He was fake.

"Oh, really? Thanks for your helpful input. Maybe if you hadn't butchered that attack we could have taken him out."

She was yelling and gesturing wildly.

"Maka-"

There was a feral need building up inside of her.

"Aren't you even slightly upset about this? We failed! We couldn't take out one pathetic low level kishin-egg!"

"Maka, the gas-"A primal, all-consuming urge to crush that calm facade of his.

"OH SHUT UP ABOUT THE GAS! WHO CARES?!"

Soul flinched and fell silent. That wasn't enough. That wasn't nearly good enough.

"Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting. Some of us are just used to failure, I guess."

Every word was laced with poison. Cheerful, bubbly cyanide.

"Maka, don't do this."

There was anger in his voice. Subtle. Powerful. Her words were getting to him. It only excited her more.

"I suppose it's no big deal. You can just run away again. I hear you're good at that."

Her breathing was growing ragged. The words erupted from her throat.

"Maybe your parents were right. Maybe you are a useless, good-for-nothing excuse of a son."

"...you don't mean that..."

He was furious. This was it. Like an animal, she had licked blood. All that was left was to go in for the kill.

"You're a loser, Soul. I wish Wes was my partner instead of you!"

He looked up at her, eyes wide open. She knew she'd hit her mark. Every word was a knife in his chest. Finally, finally, he rose his voice.

"You looked pretty happy damn happy in the arms of this 'loser' earlier. That some kind of fetish?"

A pathetic retort. Full of holes. Begging to be torn to shreds.

"What? When you forced me to cover for your sad lie? Did you honest to god believe any of that was real?"

No reply came.

"That I enjoyed being touched by you?"

His defiant glare wavered.

"That anybody could want someone like you?"

His shoulders sagged.

"That I would actually love you?"

His head fell. He looked broken, as though his strings had been cut. When he spoke, his voice was rough. Holding back tears.

"You're right. I am a failure. It's normal you would prefer Wes. Like everybody else."

Without another word, Soul walked over to his bike, got on, and took off. His reaction had caught her off guard. Several seconds passed as she watched him leave. Maka's lungs were on fire. Her vision flickering. This wasn't right. He should've gotten angry. She'd wanted to see him lose control. They were supposed to fight. So why did he... As whatever madness she had been afflicted by slowly left her body, it began to dawn on her what she had just done. She knew Soul's weaknesses. The cracks in his armor. Of course she did. She needed to, in order to protect him. To be there for him.

Yet, her behaviour just now had been the complete opposite. She'd stuck her finger into every wound on her partner's soul. She'd pushed and twisted and turned until he came apart. And for what? It had been a lie. Every word. Nothing but lies. She had never seen him shed tears before. Never heard that strained voice. The image of Soul, slouched over, about to cry, had been etched into her eyes. It would never again leave her mind.

Maka felt miserable. She wanted to die. Tears ran down her face. A few, at first. Then more. She began to sob. It was a desperate, ugly kind of crying. Her despair was overflowing. She hated herself. She hated everything. She'd ruined it all. He was the only man she'd ever trusted. He'd trusted her, and she had repaid him by ramming a knife into his back. She had betrayed him. She was scum.

No better than her father.