This was probably a horrible mistake.

Tsubaki smiled sweetly at a two large men she'd come to recognize as nothing more but hired goons. They'd been kind to her in the past. Well, if not kind than at least civil which is more than she could say about three quarters of the rest of Arachne's people.

One man waved at her as she strolled past as nonchalantly as she could manage with with her pounding heart and dry mouth.

This was probably stupid.

Someone had seen her now, and they'd seen her doing something she hadn't been ordered to do so she might as well do something stupid now away. Even if she didn't, just her walking through a strange hallway or being in Arachne's mansion without being summoned was subject to interrogation.

Her pace quickened as she bit she lip. That was a stupid thought. It didn't even make sense.

She finally reached the small grey door, industrial looking in a home with such consistent Gothic design. She shook her head, taking a minute to… she didn't know. Maybe to try and build confidence or maybe just clear her of mind of useless thoughts like interior design. Really, it was probably just to stall for even one more second.

Arachne scared her.

Of course she did- if she hadn't Tsubaki would never have come to work for her. Well, that and Masamune. Her impulsive, power-hungry older sibling had pledged a lot more than he could actually deliver to Arachne and after failing a few important tasks, was sentenced to death.

Not that that was a rare thing for Arachne to sentence people to, but when he came to Tsubaki, begging her to leave the family dojo and join the underworld to save his life… her father had warned her a soft heart was her greatest weakness. It had gotten her into trouble countless times.

Like now.

But enough was enough.

Tsubaki's betrayal would cause both she and her brother to become dogged by the organisation, if they even got the chance to escape at all. But she had already given them too much of herself, already paid her brother back ten-fold, delivered more than even she had promised. It was time to do something selfish- even when the selfish act was hardly selfish at all.

She drew in a quick breath and pushed the door open, she knew the scientists schedules, and no one would be around for a few more hours today.

It was dark when the door shut behind her. A faint green light shone down on the messy laboratory: stacks of servers and various computers whirred quietly along almost all the walls, a huge screen in the middle of the far wall was dim, a blinking icon underneath a dark screensaver. There were long tables of various gadgets, some in progress and some organized nicely, completed, waiting to be deployed.

She walked slowly, soundlessly, breath hidden. A nervous habit, but by no means a bad one. It was across the lab, a vial of thick black ooze. It was prepped for testing already, in a syringe with a long needle attached. She swallowed hard as she approached, tentatively reaching out and picking it up.

BLACK BLOOD: CAUTION

Was written in bold typeface across the side of it. She drew in a quick breath and turned the needle towards her thigh, poised to inject.

"For Maka." She whispered, raising her arm in the air.

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"I know you know what's going on and I'm telling you I-"

"Maka, enough." Her father narrowed his eyes, the words hissing out of his mouth. It stopped her in tracks, ferocious expression fading.

"But I… My friend is missing. She wasn't there this morning when I woke up and I know she-"

This time her father just stood to his feet and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Maka stared after him for only a moment in stunned silence before she kicked the wall roughly, her normal 'punching hand' still bandaged although feeling much better in the few short days preceding her 'wall incident' than any broken hand should. Whatever Tsubaki used worked and worked fast.

It was only a few moments later that she followed him out of his study and stood in the big, modern living room. Her eyes trailed over to the couch, the place she and Soul had hid behind what felt like an eternity ago. He had leaned towards her… he had… Her hand came up to her mouth absently and a cold ache seeped through her body. She felt numb.

"You stole them. From me." Spirit's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she deflated slightly.

"I know." She muttered, "I'm… sorry."

"Maka, that doesn't-" he stopped, sighing and leaning against the wall, rubbing one of his temples. Finally he sighed, "You have Black Blood, don't you?"

She opened her mouth but closed it again, shifting her weight. She couldn't look at him.

"We don't have a cure for it, Maka." His voice was low and quiet. It made her feel sick, her goofy, philandering father being so serious just wasn't right. She took a minute to realize that she should be more upset about her mortality- the fact that any option she thought she might have was dissipating faster than she could comprehend.

When she exhaled she noticed her rib-cage was shaking, but it wasn't fear. It was anger.

"Death." She said definitively.

"For the- don't talk about it like that. We'll figure something out you're not going to-"

"No," she shook her head, "I mean, your boss? You work for the government, right?"

Spirit sort of shrugged, tilted his head and rubbed the back of his neck, "I know we don't talk about it, I'm not supposed to, but I guess there's not really any harm now. You seem to… know a lot about what's going on in Death city."

Maka strode over to the kitchen table, pulling out a chair and sitting definitively. She stared at the chair, waiting for Spirit to sit and expand further. He looked at her for a long moment before sighing and pushing himself off the wall. He slumped down into the chair, one arm hanging over the backrest.

"We call him Death as sort of a… code-name. To be honest I don't even know his real one. We don't know everything about his plans- not even close. We get a mission, we carry it out. He gives us the tools we need to do 's simple. Or… It should be but…" His dead drooped backwards, staring up at the ceiling, "Something big is obviously going on and I'm just a dumb little pawn like everyone else."

Maka hummed, hand on her mouth as she considered what he was telling her.

"There's something else," She said, eyes narrowed in thought, "Your safe, where I… borrowed… your Soul Perception from-"

Spirit groaned loudly but she continued on.

"The combination, was that your decision?"

"No," he said, looking at her again, "It's a custom code for my unit, given by Death himself."

"It's the same code those people I was with used for all their encryptions. I remember the main one-"

"Soul Eater?" Spirit interrupted. Maka's expression darkened and she tried to control her voice when she responded with a quiet,

"Yes. Him." She exhaled a shaky breath before continuing, "He was really… disturbed that they were the same. Thought it meant something more."

"It probably does." Spirit leaned over now, elbows on the table, "There's a lot of things my group can't do, for legal purposes. Arachne, her empire, it's protected with legal loopholes and expensive lawyers. The way we get evidence against her… well we've never known too much about it. We can do things in the public eye: stop brawls, try and walk in on a shady deal or something, but she's not stupid, obviously. If death did have another group of people off the books, then... "

He stood up quickly, startling Maka.

"But it can't be true. Black Star, Soul Eater, Kim, Ox- these are criminals, one's that the law has been chasing, that I've been chasing for years. They do deplorable things for their own sense of justice. Like what they did to you!" he pointed at her and she fidgeted, feeling small, "They chewed you up and spat you out and they don't care! They aren't sorry for it."

"I don't know, dad." The words even surprised her, "They didn't seem like bad people. It's just…" She looked down at the hands, holding her palms up, "I don't understand why they'd let this happen to me. Especially him. They hate Arachne. I know that. They don't mean to hurt other people. They think they're helping but…"

Her hand balled up into a fist.

"But they're children. They found some power and now they feel like they don't owe an explanation to anyone, they know they can do the things you and your people can't-"

She was crying. She didn't know when that had started, but her throat burned and thick black poured down her cheeks.

"But it's not fair. It's not fair how he did this to me- I trusted him. I trusted all of them! He promised…"

Spirit and Maka never had a very close relationship. Physical affection of any caliber just was not a thing between them, but now, as he knelt in front of her and held in an awkward but necessary hug, she let him.

"Tell me what's happened to your friend," her father said quietly.

"Tsubaki," Maka sniffled, "Left yesterday morning, saying she had something really important to do and that she'd be back in a few hours. I haven't seen her since. I know it's Arachne- one of the men at the warehouse was fighting her and I think he knew she took me away with her and I can't let get get killed because of me and I… I have… No one else to turn to."

Her father frowned, releasing her from his embrace and looking at her square in the face.

"You're strong." He said, "And we'll figure this out together.

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Tsubaki exhaled slowly, letting her back slide down against the cold concrete. She stared at the thick black bars she sat behind now and shook her head.

"Of course." She muttered, "Of course this happened."

"Well, at least the scenery in here's not too bad." From on top of the bunk in the same cell, Black Star winked down at her. She rolled her eyes,

"I don't really know if this is the best time for something like that."

"Eh, we're alone, we're both wildly attractive and we're both going to be executed in no time at all- where will there ever be a better time?" He laughed loudly at his own sentiment and she couldn't help but smile. He was right. In a situation like this, what better to do than have one last laugh.

What brought her to this exact moment she should have seen coming. Or, at least something like it.

As she held the Black Blood out in front in of her in the lab, ready to plunge it into her vein, a firm hand grasped her wrist.

It had been years, probably more than ten, since someone had successfully snuck up on her.

She had gasped, pulled back instantly and swung her leg in a devastating kick towards the man. The vial of Black Blood smashed on the ground, but the man caught her ankle in his strong grasp before it could connect.

"I don't think," he said through gritted teeth, the kick obviously not an easy thing to have blocked, "I took a sword to my chest to save you just so you could kill yourself in some other weird way."

Black Star stepped into dim green light from the shadows, releasing her leg and letting her right herself.

"You-" she whispered, but he put a finger to his lips, instead taking out his phone and typing something quickly into the screen. He held it up to her.

We shouldn't talk. Too loud.

She nodded slowly, eyes narrowed at him. He took the phone back and this time spent a little more time tying. Time she spent getting more and more panicked about what would happen if she was caught here. Finally he showed it to her.

My group doesn't know I'm here, but I'm looking for the same thing you are: Black Blood cure. Work together?

She fidgeted uncomfortably, shaking her head without even considering it.

"Well, that's stupid." He whispered this time, "Don't you want to save Maka?"

The door didn't burst open. It wasn't like they were suddenly caught and in trouble and someone had heard them, no, nothing like that. The door had opened slowly, a man in a white lab-coat flicking on the light disinterestedly while staring down at this clipboard. He had to do a double-take when he saw Tsubaki and Black Star, frozen in front of him.

It was only a moment after that that he had slammed his fist into the 'EMERGENCY' button on the wall.

And so they were here, sitting in a cold cell, left to do nothing but contemplate their mortality.

"This blows." Black Star flopped back onto his bed and Tsubaki hummed an agreement,

"Yes." She sighed, "This certainly does."

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Hopefully I can update soon, I know I keep leaving you in terrible, anxiety ridden situations but ehhhh ehehehehe. It is my passion ;P

Follow me on tumblr if you wanna, my blog url is in the last update/is just the same name my username. We can chat or whatever!

Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review if you like, they make me so happy and so do you~~~