There was so much blood. Too much blood for anyone to survive, she thought, unable to look away. Her heart thudded in her chest, drowned out the sound of screaming that she vaguely realized was her until finally the thudding turned into a resounding crack and the church doors flew open, splintering before the might of her father and Stein. She could still hear the thudding, could hear it slowing even as her vision started to dim around the edges, the red so much brighter, so much more and it was all her fault.

It's the same refrain over and over again, and he was sick of it. He's too weak on his own, he's nothing without his meister - just useless flesh and bone, useless steel, unable to fight, unable even to protect her from being attacked. He rubbed at his chest and watched as Black*Star walked away, leaving rubble in his wake. Useless worthless she's gonna die one day and it's gonna be your fault you could be better stronger but just don't want it enough scared little weapon. He clenched his teeth around his response, around speaking out loud to the voice that had been haunting his soul for months now.

It wasn't like it was saying anything new.

She waited. He died, cut down like he always said he would be. Knowing it was going to happen didn't make it any easier. Sometimes, she would play his words back, over and over, and she'd feel the rage rise up in her chest because why would you say that kind of thing to a child? Why would he kneel down and look her in the eye and give her that little half-smile and say,

"I live by the sword, and I'll die by the sword, but I'll always be here to protect you."

She missed him so much, every day, and all she could think was, You fucking liar.

So, she waited. She listened to the meisters and the weapons around her; she learned from Kim and from Black*Star until she couldn't anymore. She watched as the rest of her universe began to unravel, as the kishin tried to gobble up the world around them, and when she closed her eyes at night, all she could hear was his voice.

I'll always be here to protect you.

Every year, she felt herself getting more powerful. She didn't know a lot about her heritage, and not even Kim could tell her some of the things she wanted to know. Was she growing in power with age? Or was it the madness of the Kishin fueling her powers? Death himself had no answers. Maka, her green eyes dull, just smiled and said she'd see what she found during her research. She never came back with concrete answers, just a shrug of her shoulders and another promise to try.

She stopped asking after a while, started sinking into her magic, learning what she could and couldn't do. What she couldn't do, she found a way around.

Angela waited until her 18th birthday, when the moon was new and pitch dark and she could feel her magic twisting through her veins, sinking into the fabric of the world around her. The crumbling stone walls were almost invisible in the night, but it didn't matter to her. She could pick out the spot where his blood drenched the ground no matter the light, or how many years had passed.

And she thought,

You lied, Mifune, but I'll fix it.