Life and Death

Death lurks

Since the rooms that were at the academy were just two, one of them being Crona's, what was left of Spartoi decided to sleep on the same room, in case someone tried to attack them, they could fight them. While everybody was sleeping, Maka was wide awake and thinking about everything. She tried to close her eyes and fall asleep but she couldn't. Maka decided to leave the room quietly, and walked to the roof of the academy. She sat there, glancing at the city and thinking everything way too much. "Maka?" someone called, as the blonde turned around to find Liz. She sat next to her, seeing her sad face. "You're still sad about that fight with Soul, huh?" She asked. "I really messed up. I don't now what to do Liz, I'm really scared he won't talk to me ever again." she said honestly. "I know I'm not the best giving advices about relationships, but I don't think that'll happen. I always thought that in partnership, both parties have to calm and emphatize, try to think the way the other one does, instead of getting angry and start fighting. But it's Soul who we are talking about, he'll probably forgive you if you talk sincerely to him." Liz said, as Maka looked at her wide-eyed. "That... is actually a pretty good advice." she stated, as the solution of the fight started to come through. "Thank you Liz, but why did you come up here?" Maka asked. "I couldn't sleep, I keep thinking about Kid. What if he doesn't make it, Maka? She's all Patti and I have..." she explained through the sorrow in her heart. "Liz... he is the son of Lord Death, and he has gone through worse than this, I am sure that he will end up as good as new. Besides, he has you and Patti next to him, supporting him. If you don't lose the faith in his recovering, he will be okay. Don't worry." Maka hugged Liz tightly, who just hugged back. She stood up, thanking Liz again before running back to the dorms. She almost gasped when she saw Soul coming out of it. She looked at him, as he did as well. "Hey... I just woke up and you weren't there... I wanted to make sure you were okay." Soul explained, Maka didn't say a word. Instead, she ran to him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry, Soul. I should have listened to you before snapping at you. I was in denial and I shouldn't have screamed at you like that, I'm sorry." she apologized, burying her face on his neck. She let out a sigh of relief when he hugged her back, carresing her hair. "I'm sorry too. You have a lot going on, and I should be comforting you instead of making you even more stressed." Soul pulled away, putting his forehead against Maka's. "I'm just scared... I don't want anything bad happening to you." Soul admitted, as she smiled. "Nothing bad will happen to me, I've got the coolest weapon." she chuckled. "Let's go to bed, okay?" Soul said, kissing her nose.

At the DWMA's infirmary ~

"Stein?" a voice sounded. He turned to be greeted by Marie. "What happened to BlackStar and Kid?" she said, looking at the two meisters laying in hospital beds. "Sit here, Marie. I think you should now." he demanded, as Marie seated in front of him. "Kid and BlackStar have black blood inside their body. It's a long story, but I'll just resume it; there are two witches in Death City." he said, as Marie gasped. "Yeah, and they managed to somehow get the black blood inside their bodies." Marie shook her head. "But that's impossible. If they were here, they'd have to use soul protection, and they'd have to release them to use their powers. You would have sensed them." she opined. "That's what I'm trying to find out. How did they do that, while they were still having soul protection?" once he said the question out loud, something came into his mind. All the investigation he made with Maka started to come clear, as the answer hit him like a truck. Stein stood up, earning a confused look from Marie. "I know!" he exclaimed, walking towards the whiteboard again. "Stein, what is it?" she asked. "The witches must be working with a very, very strong meister. Look, if a meister has enough power, it can be used to cover witch's souls, making them look like normal souls." He drew two forms that looked like souls and wrote Witch inside them. Then another soul and wrote Meister. Stein circled the two witches souls and an arrow pointing to the meister's soul. "The Meister concentrates all his power in hiding the Witches' souls, making them look like humans, and without using their own power. They don't have to use soul protection and they can use their powers. That techinique is called Concealment of Souls, but it's very rare, only a few meisters around the world can manage such a thing, including Lord Death. If we are dealing with this kind of person, things could get ugly." he frowned, looking at the whiteboard.

The Next Morning

The sun was now shining brightly in the sky, as the students from the DWMA were making their ways to class, but there were a few meisters who weren't in class. Liz and Patti Thompson, Maka Albarn, Soul Eater and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa were standing in front of Lord Death, also with Stein and Marie, and they just explained everything to him, as he just sighed. "That does not make any sense, in order to be able to introduce black blood into bodies, the woman and the little girl would have to be witches, therefore Maka would have noticed them." he stated, as Stein coughed. "Actually, Lord Death" everyone looked at him. "I think there's a way the witches could have done something like this without using soul protection and without being noticed. By Concealment of souls." once Stein said its name, Lord Death gasped. "What is that?" LIz asked, as Lord Death looked at his students. "Only five meisters in the whole world can manage Concealment of souls, me included. Their powers are so strong that they can manage to hide another souls, making them look like human souls." he explained. "So one of this meisters is using Concealment of souls with these witches?" Soul asked. "I didn't think it could be possible, that trick was banned years ago because people used them to help witches kill people, so it's not used nowadays. But that's the only way thing are making sense." he said. "By the way, Maka, where's your father? I haven't seen him today." Lord Death asked, as Maka sighed. "I don't know. Probably he'll be at Chupacabra's." she looked down, as Soul looked at her sadly. "Guys, let's go to class while Stein and Lord Death talk things out." Marie said, leaving with Liz, Patti, Maka, Soul and Tsubaki. Lord Death sighed again. "How's Kid?" he asked, worried about his son. "Holding on, we'll just have to wait until we defeat the witches... You think it'll be harder than with Asura?" Stein asked, fearing the answer. "I doubt it. This meister isn't a kishin, what worries me is how we'll find him." Lord Death said.

At Crescent Moon Class ~

Maka sat at her usual seat, next to Soul. "Hey." she heard, then felt a hand on her knee. She turned to a pair of deep red eyes, comforting red eyes. "Everything will be just fine, don't worry." he whispered, not wanting to drag the attention of the class. She sighed. "Soul... I've been thinking, a lot. What if it really is Kai?" she asked, making Soul frown. "We can't jump to conclusions, okay? We have to stay focused." he advised, as Maka nodded. She looked over the big classroom, searching for a certain brunette, but she didn't find her. "Where's Tsubaki?" she asked, as Soul shruggered.

At th DWMA's infirmary ~

Back in the infimary, BlackStar opened his eyes. It took him a while to realize where he was, or what he was doing here, but he calmed down when he saw the girl he loved sitting right next to his bed, waiting patiently for him to wake up. "Tsubaki" he called, as the girl just stood up, her eyes almost watering. "BlackStar, how are you feeling? do you need anything?" she asked, as he chuckled. "I'm fine, you'll need way more than this to beat a guy like me." he stated, making Tsubaki laugh, who hugged him. "I'm glad you're okay." she said. BlackStar pulled away, then looked at the bed next to him, where Kid was. His skin was yellow-ish, and it looked like it was hard for him to breathe. BlackStar frowned sadly. "He doesn't look good." he said, still looking at Kid. "Stein's doing his best, but we don't know if he'll make it." Tsubaki responded, looking at him as well. "Come on, don't be like that. We are talking about Kid, he isn't the kind of guy who gives up without a fight. He's not as strong as me, but I know he'll be just fine." BlackStar assured, holding tightly onto Tsubaki's hand.