Marie moaned in pain, her arms stiff from being unable to move for days. The circulation was almost cut off entirely to her right arm, the fingertips beginning to turn blue.

'I should have known better than to try to transform my arm. I was warned by that witch.' Marie thought miserably, still angry at herself for believing the witch was lying. 'Truth from a witch? That's not something I wanted to believe in.'

She strained against her bonds again, feeling them tighten, and sighed. 'Franken, you had better get here soon. I don't want to go any longer without food or water, you got that?' She lowered her head and looked at her knees. 'Death, but I am so sore.'

A sudden noise interrupted her just as she was about to fall asleep and Marie cursed. 'As if keeping me cramped up in a small cell with no food and no water wasn't bad enough the bitch hasn't let me sleep in three days.' She shook her head. 'Franken, please, hurry.'

Stein cursed, pacing through the lab again. 'I'm sorry Stein, but I simply cannot send Spirit with you. With the kishin on the loose still I need my Death Scythe close by at all times.' He replayed Lord Death's words over again. 'I wish I could, we all want to see Marie home and safe, but right now if the kishin were to reappear we have to be ready to face it.'

'Marie's a death scythe too!' He had argued. 'You'll be stronger with her here than with her being held captive by a witch!'

'I'm sorry, Stein. We can't afford to send anyone.' He had heard the sadness in Lord Death's tone, but it didn't matter- he had stormed out of the room without saying another word. Now he stood in his lab, unable to come to Marie's aid. Going alone against that witch would be suicide.

'But you would do it for her.' The voice came, and Stein sighed. 'Only for Marie. You'd go to your death if you thought you had a chance to save her.' Stein spun, searching for the source of the voice, coming face to face with Medusa. 'I don't understand, Stein. What does she have? What does she do for you that I couldn't? I know you can't have an intelligent conversation with the twit, but you'd risk your life for her.'

"Medusa, you're dead." He growled.

'You should know.' She pouted. 'After all, you're the one that killed me.' She took a few steps and wrapped her arms around his neck, raising her lips to his. He stood still, impassive as she ghosted through him before pulling back. 'You've made your mind up, haven't you, Stein? You're going to your death.'

He didn't say anything, just grabbed his lab coat and left. Her voice followed him out of the lab. 'I'll be waiting for you on the other side. I love you, Stein.' He reached up and almost violently twisted the screw in his head, trying to drown her voice out.

Marie's lips were cracked and parched and her voice was nearly gone. It had now been four days since she had been taken and she was desperate for water, food, and the ability to stretch her legs. Her tormentor sat cross-legged outside her cell, a glass of something that was obviously cold beside her; a plate of food balanced on her lap as the witch sat there eating.

The fingertips on her right hand were numb, and had been for a day. They were also a distressing shade of blue. Marie flexed her hand a little, her stomach growling loudly.

The witch giggled. "Hungry, are you? I imagine that using Izuna wasn't the best of ideas, now was it? You still lost, you were captured, and now you're tired, hungry, and thirsty." Marie just hung her head.

'I will not give her the satisfaction of answering.'

"Oh come now, surely you don't think anyone is coming after you. You haven't eaten in days, or drank anything. Have a bite, take a sip." There was a gleam in the witch's eye as she pushed the straw of the cup through the cell's bars.

Marie licked her lips. Death, she was thirsty. Shaking her head she looked down. "Better to die than become your slave because of a spell you put on whatever those are." She managed to whisper.

"Suit yourself. Just remember, you have use to me even if you're dead. At least alive and a slave you still have the false hope of rescue." The witch laughed and took a long swig from the cup, exhaling contentedly after. "It is quite good though, and I personally know how painful it can be to nearly die of thirst." She wriggled the straw through the bars again. "You sure you can't be bothered to chance it?" She said with a smirk on her face.

"Franken will find me." Marie whispered. The witch just laughed.

'Spirit cannot help me. Lord Death won't allow it. Azusa cannot help as she's in East Asia already. Nygus and Sid are on a mission. That leaves… no one.' Stein stopped in his tracks. 'There truly is no one left to help me retrieve Marie.'

'You go to your death, Stein.' The voice slithered into his thoughts.

'I go willingly, then.' He thought stubbornly, twisting the screw. The voice didn't bother him again.

A few more steps and he realized what he had to do. "The Spartoi have been sent after Chrona. Surely they would willingly take a break to help me retrieve Marie. I would only have to have a couple of them for help. Black*Star and Tsubaki are gone hunting for Chrona. Kid would be too likely to speak to Lord Death. That leave Soul and Maka, both of which I believe would be more than willing to help me.'

Almost at a run the silver-haired meister headed for a certain apartment.

Soul and Maka heard the pounding on the door a second before it swung open. Soul saw Professor Stein standing in it, out of breath. "You forgot to lock the door, Maka! How uncool! Professor Stein's here!"

Maka came in the room. "Professor Stein, how can we help you?" She asked, looking worriedly at the Professor.

"Marie was taken four days ago. Lord Death can't, won't do anything about it." Stein started. "There is no one else I can turn to. I know that going alone against this particular witch would be suicide."

"So you want help to rescue her. That's totally cool, we can help." Soul interrupted before Maka could say anything.

"Shibusen stick together after all." Maka added with a smile. "You know where she is?"

Stein just nodded. "I've known the whole time." Both children caught the pain in his voice, but neither one mentioned it.

The witch had left the food and drink sitting, just in reach, outside of the cell. All Marie had to do was take it. Marie desperately ignored the sustenance sitting just within reach. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall, and tried remembering better times. She failed. Every time she closed her eyes she would hear one of the witch's bells go off, completely shattering her concentration.

'If you are ever taken, eat and drink if they offer it. Even if it is drugged, they're keeping you alive for a reason, and you need to stay strong for when rescue comes.' Sid's voice echoed in her head. 'Take note of where you are; memorize the twists and turns of how to get out of where you came from.'

Marie almost chuckled. 'I can get lost going to the bathroom.' She thought to herself. 'That one didn't do me any good. What else was there? Oh yes…' Sid's voice started up again. 'Always keep hope. Shibusen don't leave their own.' She smiled weakly.

'He will find me.' She thought desperately, darkness finally overcoming the sound of the witch's torment.

Maka and Soul followed Stein out of the apartment after packing a backpack of supplies, locking the door.

"We could ride on Soul's bike." Maka said dubiously. "I think he has a sidecar somewhere…"

Stein just shook his head. "While I want to make haste, there's no way that the three of us would be fitting. Just follow me."

The two teens fell into step behind their Professor, all set on saving Marie.

Marie opened her eyes, blinking to try to remove the crust that had nearly kept her from opening them. She couldn't feel her right hand, and her left hand and arm were a mass of pins and needles. Shaking her head she would have collapsed if she hadn't been propped against the wall already, weakness and dizziness overwhelming her. A whimper escaped her, tearing out of a throat so dry that she could barely stand the effort of uttering even that simple sound.

'This is it, Marie…' She thought to herself. 'You have to remain strong. Franken will come. He'll bring help…'

"Ready to eat something, hammer?" A taunting voice asked her. "Or maybe you'd prefer something to drink? Like I said, I know what you're going through. I didn't have a captor offering me sustenance though. Oh, no. My Shibusen tortures saw that I didn't get it on purpose."

Marie looked up at the witch as she continued talking. "You see, I'm more civilized than they were. I don't want you dead, though I can use you that way too."

'Red.' Marie thought to herself. 'The witch has red hair. Her dress is green. Her eyes are blue. She kind of looks like Spirit.' A smile tugged at cracked, dry lips, and an even dryer tongue slipped over them. 'I wonder what her other form is. She looks perfectly normal like this.'

"Don't believe me, hammer? Just look." Marie followed the witch's finger, looking in the way that she was pointing.

Marie blinked at the sight that she was witnessing. There were skeletons of various animals walking through the door that the witch had pointed to. Unfortunately, between the pain, hunger, and thirst Marie was in no shape to appreciate what she saw, and the only thing that happened, much to the witch's dismay, was that Marie shook with silent laughter.

'Franken would love to see this...' She thought as the darkness claimed her again, the witch's bells going off.

Stein slid down the embankment with Soul and Maka directly behind him. He could feel Marie's soul from here. He could feel the desperation in it, and could almost feel the pain that was resonating through her being. Twisting the screw in his head Stein found the door that he knew was there.

"Professor Stein?" Maka asked and he turned to look at her. "How did you know that that door was there? Neither Soul nor I could see it and we were pretty close behind you."

Stein stopped, the door halfway open. "Because, Maka, I built this place."

A/N: So I decided to split this into two chapters so that it wouldn't be an incredibly long one. I hope that this has you intrigued. I'll get the next chapter up probably in a day, maybe two, and then we'll see if I keep the storyline alive or not. It all depends on you, the readers/reviewers.

Thanks for reading! Love you all.

I don't own Soul Eater.