99 Souls

3rd Night

---

“Hey! What up? Glad you could make it!” the Shinigami greeted in his usual goofy manner as Professor Franken Stein walked into his room.

“What can I do for you, Shinigami-sama?” Stein asked.

The Shinigami was silent for a few moments, as if trying to think of the best way to put his thoughts into words, “I'm sure you've felt it; the rising force of insanity in the world.”

“Of course, how could I not?”

The god of death paused again, trying to find the best way to emphasize the importance of what he was saying, “After the birth of the first Kishin, Shibusen was created to make sure that tragedy was never repeated. It's why the students hunt down evil humans; those who would follow in his footsteps must be destroyed. But somehow one of those humans has eluded us, and is now far closer to becoming a Kishin than any other since the school's founding.”

“I suspected as much. Do we know who this person is yet?”

“No. All we know is that it's someone wielding a demon sword, and we're not even sure if the weapon or the Meister is the one consuming the souls. That itself isn't really new information, but there have been strange reports out of Europe lately. Apparently large groups of people have been disappearing during the evenings in Italy. The death scythe of that region believes our target may be currently hiding in Florence.”

Great. Hadn't he just put out an extracurricular mission assignment in that area? He'd need to remove it quickly.

“I ask of you Stein... before Kishin wakes up, please stop it with Death-Scythe-kun.”

“Right,” Stein nodded, “That's why I came back to Shibusen. Leave it to me.”

He turned to leave, wanting to get started immediately.

“We cannot allow Kishin to be reborn ever again,” the Shinigami stated, though whether he was speaking to himself or to Stein even he didn't know.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This one!” Maka shouted excitedly as she grabbed an assignment from the board. She handed it off to her partner who immediately started reading it over.

“Maka, this one’s way below our level,” Soul griped, “A cool guy like me shouldn’t be dealing with these small fries! Let one of the younger teams handle it.”

“But it’s in Italy!” Maka insisted.

“And?”

The girl could hardly believe what she was hearing, “You know I’ve always wanted to visit Italy! The art and the culture and the scenery; I can’t wait!”

“It’s an assignment, Maka, not a vacation,” Soul sighed.

“Oh, since when do you care about the academics of these missions?” the technician chided him, “You just want those 99 souls. It’s a wonder I can get you to attend class on most days. Anyways, I figured that after those last couple of assignments we’ve earned ourselves an easy target. What do you think, Soul?”

Soul looked at the specs for the mission again. They’d be hunting down Sonson J., a killer who’d been terrorizing a place called Emerald Lake, which was somewhere in Florence, Italy. “Eh, why not,” he told his Meister.

“Great!” she shouted happily, punching her arm into the air for emphasis, “I’ve heard Florence is beautiful this time of year!”

“Italy’s also known for its romance,” said a voice from behind them. The pair turned to see who was speaking, and Soul found himself face to face with Maka’s father, Spirit “Death Scythe” Albarn.

“You’d just better make sure to keep your hands to yourself, punk!” the redhead informed him, trying to sound threatening.

“I already told ya, I’m not interested!” Soul snapped.

“Oh, so my daughter’s not good enough for you, now? And just exactly what’s wrong with her, huh?” Death Scythe growled.

The white haired teen fired back, “Make up your mind ya crazy jerk!”

“Why you little-” Whatever Death Scythe was going to say was cut off abruptly when his daughter took out one of her heavier books.

“Maka Chop!” she cried as the spine of said book smashed the older man in the head. He fell to the floor in a heap with a shiny new bruise on both his head and his ego.

“Come on, Soul,” the girl ordered, “We’ve only got a couple of hours before we leave. It’s your turn to cook dinner, right?”

“Yup,” the weapon agreed, and they turned to walk back to their apartment.

“Maaakaaa,” Spirit groaned pitifully, “Papa just wants to keep you safe.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Death Scythe was not having a good afternoon. First his daughter had slammed him in the head with a book (when he was only trying to protect her honor), and then when he'd gone to the nurse's office to get patched up (and maybe find a cute nurse) he'd found Stein there waiting to tease him. And now the professor had just given him the worst news he'd had since his ex-wife had said she wanted a divorce.

“Florence!?” Spirit asked, “That's where Maka is!”

“I was wondering who had taken that mission,” Stein mused, fiddling idly with the bolt in his head “I was hoping to take it down until this matter was settled, but by the time I'd received this information the assignment was already taken.”

“What are we waiting for?” Spirit cried, “My little girl could be in danger!”

“Maka's a strong girl, Senpai. I'd be more worried if it was one of the novices out there. With any luck she and Soul will finish the mission without running afoul of the demon sword,” the professor gave him a creepy smirk, “I agree that we should leave immediately, though. Our target moves quickly, and we may not get another chance like this. It'll be good to work with you again after all this time.”

Death Scythe ignored the last comment and walked toward the exit, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Too easy. Sonson had been little more than an amateur with a butcher knife. They hadn't even actually had to fight him, really. He was so inept that when they'd rushed him he'd died with one simple slice. The whole ordeal had only taken about 5 minutes, and now they had their third soul.

“Anyway… Shall we go home?” Soul asked his partner after some light conversation, “Wait for a bit at the entrance. I’ll bring the bike around.”

“Wait soul…” Maka ordered, an odd look etched on her face.

“Hm? Is something up?”

The girl was staring off toward a building in the distance, “……That church…”

The weapon rolled his eyes, “Oi,oi… If you’re going sightseeing, do it another day!” The only reason they weren’t home already was because Maka had lead them all over the city while they were tracking Sonson. While the technician’s soul perception ability wasn’t yet at its peak, she had improved drastically since their last mission, and the weapon had a feeling she’d been leading them along the scenic route just to look around.

“That’s not it…” Maka replied. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to figure out just exactly what it was she had just felt, “The soul reaction from a weapon and a technician are coming from the church… and fifty or so human souls feel like they’re surrounding them.”

Soul was a bit dumbfounded, “Hey… you can even understand that?”

“…This is the first time…” Maka replied, still trying to concentrate. This was, as she said, the first time she’d ever been able to read wavelengths so accurately, “The humans are probably that gang, ‘Materazzi’, that runs around in the church every night… but what happened? Materazzi are definitely bad, but not evil enough to make Shinigami-sama’s list.”

“You might as well leave it alone,” her weapon said dismissively, “It doesn’t mean someone is trying to hunt. Tonight’s Saturday night, you sure they haven’t all got the fever?”

“Idiot!! Don’t be so irresponsible,” the technician scolded, “As Shibusen students we can’t let it go. It gives me a bad feeling! Isn’t it too late once something’s happened!?”

Soul had a bad feeling, too, and it was telling him they should stay away. But his meister had made up her mind, and he knew she’d go check it out even if he decided not to. He’d be damned if he was going to let her go and face who-knows-what without him. Besides, she did have a point, “Alright, got it!”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immediately upon arriving in Florence, Stein used his soul perception to try and locate their target.

“Any response?” Death Scythe asked.

“No, but I really wasn't expecting any,” Stein replied.

“So how do we find this guy?”

“This particular person tends to absorb many souls when they strike,” the professor informed him, “That will be the telltale sign. I'm told there's a church around here where the Materazzi gang meets each night. That may be a good place to start,” Stein’s lip twitched upward, “I can’t wit to dissect him!”

The older weapon grinned, “Maybe we'll see Maka on the way! I'd like to at least be able to warn her that there could be trouble. Then maybe she'll see that her papa's doing something useful!”

Stein smiled wickedly, “Or maybe she'll think you're not up to the task and try to tag along.”

“I... I...” Spirit's lip quivered as he though about the likelihood of that statement, but he quickly recovered, “Then I'll just have to show her what a real death scythe can do! C'mon!” With that, he sped off into the city, leaving Stein to follow after the crazed man's dust cloud.

As they neared the church of Santa Maria Novella, Stein reached out with his soul perception. What he found was not what he expected. He felt the presence of two weapons and two technicians, and they appeared to be engaged in combat.

He turned to his current partner, “Senpai? I have good news and bad news.”

“Did you find our guy?” Death Scythe asked.

“Yes. That's the good news.” Stein explained. Before he could tell his weapon the bad news, a scream ripped through air.

“SOUL!!”

Death Scythe's head snapped toward the entrance to the chapel. He'd know that voice anywhere, though he'd never heard it sound so horrified before.

“Maka!” he shouted, “I knew it! So help me if that punk she calls her weapon has hurt one hair on her head I'll-”

“Be careful!” Stein interrupted, “Our target is there as well.”

Spirit's eyes went wide as his expression switched from angry to panicked, “That's all the more reason to get there quickly! Let's go!” And with that he raced into the street, Stein hot on his heels.

As they ran, Stein informed his weapon of the general position of the people in the room. Using that information, Death Scythe formed his arm into a blade and slammed it through the heavy wooden chapel door. He hoped fervently the person he’d just skewered was the enemy and not his beloved daughter.

Stein, meanwhile, had decided the quickest way in was to bash down the door. With a swift flying kick he not only broke the door into splinters, but also slammed into the enemy.

“Papa has arrived!!!” Death Scythe shouted as he stepped through the broken down door. He’d hoped that his rescue efforts had impressed his daughter. Those hopes were promptly dashed when he saw that both she and Stein were totally absorbed in something lying on the floor, not even bothering to look in his direction. That something was a white-haired boy lying in what appeared to be his own blood.

Spirit looked down and studied the teen who now had a large gash across his chest. Being a similar weapon, he knew that there was no way he could have received that injury as a scythe. He would have had to have been in human form, and not even trying to block the attack. Had Soul really used his own body to shield Maka from that sword? As much as he hated to admit it, the evidence (and the bereaved look in Maka's eyes) was all the death scythe needed to believe. He'd have to give the kid more respect from now on. After all it just wouldn't be right to keep calling the kid who'd just saved his daughter's life a punk.

That was for later, though. For now they had another job to do. He briefly wondered if he'd have time to beat this new brat senseless before Stein finished... him? Her? Well, it didn't really matter. Nobody hurt his daughter and got away unscathed