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Description
Weiss stared at the bowl in front of him. It was full of a strange brown liquid with little chunks floating in it. Manfred sat at the other end of the table, grinning triumphantly. He had taken it upon himself to be the cook for the trio, preparing meals that tended to be less than spectacular. Today's dish was something he called "Kidney-Berry Surprise."
That's certainly… surprising, Weiss thought. He couldn't identify what it was at all, and he definitely didn't want to eat any of it.
"What's wrong?" Manfred asked after eating a huge spoonful of the stuff. "It's delicious!"
"I'm sure it is," Weiss said, hesitating. "I'm just… uh… waiting for Penelope to get here. It wouldn't be polite to eat without her, would it?"
Manfred shrugged. "I guess you're right. But you know what? That's okay: It's better cold. Where is she, anyway?"
"In the aerospace lab, working on getting the satellites up and running."
"Still? It's been weeks since she started on that!"
"The local scanners haven't picked anything up yet. Those satellites are looking like our only chance at this point."
"Whatever. I still doubt she's even in this-"
"I found her!" Penelope came running into the room, waving a computer printout in her hand. "I had to set the scanners to some really odd settings, but it worked! She's not even that far from here!"
"That's great!" Weiss stood up, using his chair as a crutch. "When can we go get her?"
"You're not going anywhere, bucko."
"But-"
"No buts! You'd only slow us down. Just leave it all to me and Manfred."
"But the Kidney-Berry Surprise," Manfred whined.
"Forget about it! Go get some supplies ready."
"Yes ma'am." He sulked out of the room.
"Hey, Penelope?" Weiss asked after Manfred left.
"What's up, Weiss?"
"Why are you doing this? You've spent the past few days in that room trying to get those satellites to work, just so we can find May. There's no reason for you to do that…"
"Of course there is. I mean, I do owe you a huge one. I should be your personal slave or something for what you've done for me. I also want to meet May, she sounds like a really great person. But I think the real reason is that I want to see what you look like when you're happy."
Weiss was taken aback. "What?"
"Well, you've been pretty mopey lately. It seems like you're always brooding over something, you know? I know that's because May's on your mind… I want to see the real you."
"Penelope… Do you realize who you're looking for?"
"Yes…"
"I don't think you do, by the way you've been acting."
"What do you mean?"
"Penelope, May is the girl I've been living with for years. I… I love her. And now… the way you look at me… and you 'want to see me happy?' It's pretty obvious that-"
"No!" She stood up, her cheeks flaming, as she looked around nervously. "That's not it, not at all!"
"Oh, really? Then how do you explain all of that?"
"I can't! Not now, at least. I should get going before your girlfriend moves too far from where I located her, so I'll be able to go and find her, and bring her back here to you! But, you know, don't bother thanking me or anything! Just sit there getting suspicious because I care about you!" Penelope stormed off before Weiss could see the tears forming in her eyes. She met up with Manfred and practically dragged him out the door.

The coordinates that the satellites had reported led Manfred and Penelope downtown, to an unfinished skyscraper. When construction started on the building, it was hailed as something that would solve the city's problems, both social and economic. However, Soul Collectors had begun to infest the Neutral Realm, and resources needed to be put into fighting them. As a result, the project was put on the back burner, and the unsightly skeleton of the unfinished building loomed over the city, with some seeing it as a symbol of an impending descent into chaos.
They spent the better part of an hour searching for May, but to no avail. There wasn't even a trace of the girl anywhere on the construction site. There were no scraps of clothes, hair, or even footprints that could help them track her down.
"I don't understand," Penelope said, leaning against a cement pillar. "MAY said she was right here, so where is she?
"Beats me," shrugged Manfred. "Maybe the satellites are wrong?"
"I ran every diagnostic I could on them. They're working perfectly."
"Well, maybe May moved?"
"If that were the case, there'd at least be footprints. It doesn't look like anyone's worked on this construction site for months. Besides, the scanners showed that she wasn't moving, and I watched the readout for a few minutes, just to make sure it wasn't a false positive. I figured she must be unconscious, or… well…"
"Dead?"
"Let's not think about that. I don't think the scanners would pick her-" She stopped abruptly. "Did you hear that?"
"Huh? Hear what?"
"It's really strange, almost like-" Penelope heard the sound again. It was the sound of someone crying, but it sounded twisted and nearly inhuman. She turned around to face where the sound was coming from, and fell down, stunned by what she saw behind her. A girl with stringy, jet black hair, a long, flowing dress, and a plain white mask stood just a few feet away from her. She stood slightly hunched over, looking at the ground.
"What are you doing here?" The girl gasped, trying to compose herself. "I… really don't think you should be here. Didn't anyone ever tell you… not to play in construction sites?"
Manfred helped Penelope get to her feet. "Is that… a Soul Collector?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so," he replied. "I've never heard one talk like that, though…"
The Soul Collector sobbed, then suddenly lunged at them. They jumped away, tumbling into the dirt.
"The mask, Penny! If you destroy it, the whole thing goes down!
The Soul Collector flew impossibly fast towards Manfred, clutching him around the neck with smoky black tendrils. Penelope grabbed a nearby pipe and swung it at the creature, but it deftly dodged the attack. Dropping Manfred, it swung around and turned its attention to Penelope.
"You're not very smart, are you?" As it spoke, it drifted closer and grabbed the pipe out of Penelope's hands. "I really don't think you should have done that." It tossed the pipe to the ground. "You had a chance to escape, but you chose to..." It stopped abruptly, completely still for a brief moment. "Where did you get that?" A single tendril shot out of the Soul Collector's dress, grabbing onto Penelope's locket. It examined it, and then started to wail, thrashing about and losing most of its physical shape, turning into a mass of black smoke.
Seeing an opening, Manfred struck at the mask floating within the fog with the pipe. A large segment of it broke off and disappeared into the dirt. The Soul Collector shrieked and regained its form, striking him to the ground. It flew into a rage, blindly attacking Manfred.
Penelope got up, her thoughts racing as she watched Manfred being brutally beaten. She knew she had great abilities in combat, but had never used them consciously: MAY had always controlled her actions when she was in danger. Running through her arm's functions in her head, she remembered that she could use a powerful laser designed for cutting through concrete. She carefully aimed at the mask jerking back and forth, and fired a short burst. It cleanly sliced through a good portion of the remaining mask, causing the Soul Collector to stop its attack as it clutched at its face.
"Why?" it asked, its voice mournful. "Why would you do this to me?" It crept closer to Penelope, slowly lowering its hands. "I waited for you for my whole life, Penelope. For years, I had nobody. No family, no friends, nothing." Behind the broken mask, Penelope could see the face of a beautiful girl with pale white skin. Her face was stained with tears, and her eyes stared right into Penelope's, causing her to hesitate. The darkness of the Soul Collector's body spread underneath Penelope while she was distracted.
"You abandoned me. You, Father, Mother… You all left me to rot here. I was so sad… but now you're back, and I can have you all to myself."
The slightest hint of a smile formed on the Soul Collector's face as tendrils from below wrapped around Penelope's legs, pulling her to the ground as it leapt on top of her. Still staring into her eyes, it plunged its hand into her chest. It appeared as if the arm just ended where Penelope's body began, but she could feel it inside of her, pulling something out of her. It was horrifying, feeling herself slip away from her body into the darkness of the Soul Collector.
"What a soul, Penelope!" The Soul Collector sounded almost happy as it slowly dragged the essence out of her body. "I'm proud that you could keep it so pure, so white… there's hardly any darkness in it at all. It will make a wonderful meal…"
Penelope tried to steel herself, but she could feel herself slipping away faster than she could comprehend. Desperate, she tapped into her arm's backup energy reserves. With that sudden extra force, she was able to overcome the Soul Collector's grip and break away from the tendrils holding her to the ground. The Soul Collector was stunned, so she took advantage of the opening and grabbed its face. She drained all of the energy she could into her palm. The result was a bright flash of light as the Soul Collector flew away from Penelope and landed, motionless, in the dirt.
When he was sure the danger was gone, Manfred slowly got up and examined his wounds. There were many fresh, red bruises and welts where the Soul Collector's tendrils had lashed at him, and a few deep gashes, but there was nothing severe. Seeing Penelope lying just as still as the Soul collector, he hurried over to her.
She was awake, staring at the skeleton of the building above her. Physically, she was uninjured, but the discharge of energy had disabled her arm and eye, cutting her off from the constant stream of information she was normally exposed to. She was dazed, but slowly, she was recovering. Seeing Manfred standing above her, she smiled weakly.
"Manfred… You're okay." She spoke quietly, in what was very nearly a whisper.
"You're worried about me?" he asked, bewildered. "I'm fine, but what about you? That thing nearly… We almost lost you."
Penelope shook her head. "I think I'll be alright. I'm just a little tired, that's all. But when it was… inside me…" She shuddered. "I felt so empty…"
"But… you're fine now, yeah?" Manfred was worried. He didn't know what might happen if the process of taking a soul was interrupted. "That emptiness is gone, right? You don't feel strange at all?"
"Having energy mechanically drained out of you feels pretty strange." With a bit of effort, Penelope was able to get to her feet. "That Soul Collector… is it dead?"
"They're not really alive in the first place," Manfred said as they went to examine the slowly disappearing body. "I think we did it, though. It looks deader than dead."
"Should we call it a day, then?" Penelope looked to the west, where the sun was setting. "It's getting late, and we should clean ourselves up before anything gets infected. If May's lasted this long, she can probably wait another night. What do you think?
There was no response.
"Manfred?"
"We… won't need to look anymore…"
"Why? What are you talking about?"
"This Soul Collector… it's… it was May."

Description
Weiss stared at the bowl in front of him. It was full of a strange brown liquid with little chunks floating in it. Manfred sat at the other end of the table, grinning triumphantly. He had taken it upon himself to be the cook for the trio, preparing meals that tended to be less than spectacular. Today's dish was something he called "Kidney-Berry Surprise."
That's certainly… surprising, Weiss thought. He couldn't identify what it was at all, and he definitely didn't want to eat any of it.
"What's wrong?" Manfred asked after eating a huge spoonful of the stuff. "It's delicious!"
"I'm sure it is," Weiss said, hesitating. "I'm just… uh… waiting for Penelope to get here. It wouldn't be polite to eat without her, would it?"
Manfred shrugged. "I guess you're right. But you know what? That's okay: It's better cold. Where is she, anyway?"
"In the aerospace lab, working on getting the satellites up and running."
"Still? It's been weeks since she started on that!"
"The local scanners haven't picked anything up yet. Those satellites are looking like our only chance at this point."
"Whatever. I still doubt she's even in this-"
"I found her!" Penelope came running into the room, waving a computer printout in her hand. "I had to set the scanners to some really odd settings, but it worked! She's not even that far from here!"
"That's great!" Weiss stood up, using his chair as a crutch. "When can we go get her?"
"You're not going anywhere, bucko."
"But-"
"No buts! You'd only slow us down. Just leave it all to me and Manfred."
"But the Kidney-Berry Surprise," Manfred whined.
"Forget about it! Go get some supplies ready."
"Yes ma'am." He sulked out of the room.
"Hey, Penelope?" Weiss asked after Manfred left.
"What's up, Weiss?"
"Why are you doing this? You've spent the past few days in that room trying to get those satellites to work, just so we can find May. There's no reason for you to do that…"
"Of course there is. I mean, I do owe you a huge one. I should be your personal slave or something for what you've done for me. I also want to meet May, she sounds like a really great person. But I think the real reason is that I want to see what you look like when you're happy."
Weiss was taken aback. "What?"
"Well, you've been pretty mopey lately. It seems like you're always brooding over something, you know? I know that's because May's on your mind… I want to see the real you."
"Penelope… Do you realize who you're looking for?"
"Yes…"
"I don't think you do, by the way you've been acting."
"What do you mean?"
"Penelope, May is the girl I've been living with for years. I… I love her. And now… the way you look at me… and you 'want to see me happy?' It's pretty obvious that-"
"No!" She stood up, her cheeks flaming, as she looked around nervously. "That's not it, not at all!"
"Oh, really? Then how do you explain all of that?"
"I can't! Not now, at least. I should get going before your girlfriend moves too far from where I located her, so I'll be able to go and find her, and bring her back here to you! But, you know, don't bother thanking me or anything! Just sit there getting suspicious because I care about you!" Penelope stormed off before Weiss could see the tears forming in her eyes. She met up with Manfred and practically dragged him out the door.

The coordinates that the satellites had reported led Manfred and Penelope downtown, to an unfinished skyscraper. When construction started on the building, it was hailed as something that would solve the city's problems, both social and economic. However, Soul Collectors had begun to infest the Neutral Realm, and resources needed to be put into fighting them. As a result, the project was put on the back burner, and the unsightly skeleton of the unfinished building loomed over the city, with some seeing it as a symbol of an impending descent into chaos.
They spent the better part of an hour searching for May, but to no avail. There wasn't even a trace of the girl anywhere on the construction site. There were no scraps of clothes, hair, or even footprints that could help them track her down.
"I don't understand," Penelope said, leaning against a cement pillar. "MAY said she was right here, so where is she?
"Beats me," shrugged Manfred. "Maybe the satellites are wrong?"
"I ran every diagnostic I could on them. They're working perfectly."
"Well, maybe May moved?"
"If that were the case, there'd at least be footprints. It doesn't look like anyone's worked on this construction site for months. Besides, the scanners showed that she wasn't moving, and I watched the readout for a few minutes, just to make sure it wasn't a false positive. I figured she must be unconscious, or… well…"
"Dead?"
"Let's not think about that. I don't think the scanners would pick her-" She stopped abruptly. "Did you hear that?"
"Huh? Hear what?"
"It's really strange, almost like-" Penelope heard the sound again. It was the sound of someone crying, but it sounded twisted and nearly inhuman. She turned around to face where the sound was coming from, and fell down, stunned by what she saw behind her. A girl with stringy, jet black hair, a long, flowing dress, and a plain white mask stood just a few feet away from her. She stood slightly hunched over, looking at the ground.
"What are you doing here?" The girl gasped, trying to compose herself. "I… really don't think you should be here. Didn't anyone ever tell you… not to play in construction sites?"
Manfred helped Penelope get to her feet. "Is that… a Soul Collector?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so," he replied. "I've never heard one talk like that, though…"
The Soul Collector sobbed, then suddenly lunged at them. They jumped away, tumbling into the dirt.
"The mask, Penny! If you destroy it, the whole thing goes down!
The Soul Collector flew impossibly fast towards Manfred, clutching him around the neck with smoky black tendrils. Penelope grabbed a nearby pipe and swung it at the creature, but it deftly dodged the attack. Dropping Manfred, it swung around and turned its attention to Penelope.
"You're not very smart, are you?" As it spoke, it drifted closer and grabbed the pipe out of Penelope's hands. "I really don't think you should have done that." It tossed the pipe to the ground. "You had a chance to escape, but you chose to..." It stopped abruptly, completely still for a brief moment. "Where did you get that?" A single tendril shot out of the Soul Collector's dress, grabbing onto Penelope's locket. It examined it, and then started to wail, thrashing about and losing most of its physical shape, turning into a mass of black smoke.
Seeing an opening, Manfred struck at the mask floating within the fog with the pipe. A large segment of it broke off and disappeared into the dirt. The Soul Collector shrieked and regained its form, striking him to the ground. It flew into a rage, blindly attacking Manfred.
Penelope got up, her thoughts racing as she watched Manfred being brutally beaten. She knew she had great abilities in combat, but had never used them consciously: MAY had always controlled her actions when she was in danger. Running through her arm's functions in her head, she remembered that she could use a powerful laser designed for cutting through concrete. She carefully aimed at the mask jerking back and forth, and fired a short burst. It cleanly sliced through a good portion of the remaining mask, causing the Soul Collector to stop its attack as it clutched at its face.
"Why?" it asked, its voice mournful. "Why would you do this to me?" It crept closer to Penelope, slowly lowering its hands. "I waited for you for my whole life, Penelope. For years, I had nobody. No family, no friends, nothing." Behind the broken mask, Penelope could see the face of a beautiful girl with pale white skin. Her face was stained with tears, and her eyes stared right into Penelope's, causing her to hesitate. The darkness of the Soul Collector's body spread underneath Penelope while she was distracted.
"You abandoned me. You, Father, Mother… You all left me to rot here. I was so sad… but now you're back, and I can have you all to myself."
The slightest hint of a smile formed on the Soul Collector's face as tendrils from below wrapped around Penelope's legs, pulling her to the ground as it leapt on top of her. Still staring into her eyes, it plunged its hand into her chest. It appeared as if the arm just ended where Penelope's body began, but she could feel it inside of her, pulling something out of her. It was horrifying, feeling herself slip away from her body into the darkness of the Soul Collector.
"What a soul, Penelope!" The Soul Collector sounded almost happy as it slowly dragged the essence out of her body. "I'm proud that you could keep it so pure, so white… there's hardly any darkness in it at all. It will make a wonderful meal…"
Penelope tried to steel herself, but she could feel herself slipping away faster than she could comprehend. Desperate, she tapped into her arm's backup energy reserves. With that sudden extra force, she was able to overcome the Soul Collector's grip and break away from the tendrils holding her to the ground. The Soul Collector was stunned, so she took advantage of the opening and grabbed its face. She drained all of the energy she could into her palm. The result was a bright flash of light as the Soul Collector flew away from Penelope and landed, motionless, in the dirt.
When he was sure the danger was gone, Manfred slowly got up and examined his wounds. There were many fresh, red bruises and welts where the Soul Collector's tendrils had lashed at him, and a few deep gashes, but there was nothing severe. Seeing Penelope lying just as still as the Soul collector, he hurried over to her.
She was awake, staring at the skeleton of the building above her. Physically, she was uninjured, but the discharge of energy had disabled her arm and eye, cutting her off from the constant stream of information she was normally exposed to. She was dazed, but slowly, she was recovering. Seeing Manfred standing above her, she smiled weakly.
"Manfred… You're okay." She spoke quietly, in what was very nearly a whisper.
"You're worried about me?" he asked, bewildered. "I'm fine, but what about you? That thing nearly… We almost lost you."
Penelope shook her head. "I think I'll be alright. I'm just a little tired, that's all. But when it was… inside me…" She shuddered. "I felt so empty…"
"But… you're fine now, yeah?" Manfred was worried. He didn't know what might happen if the process of taking a soul was interrupted. "That emptiness is gone, right? You don't feel strange at all?"
"Having energy mechanically drained out of you feels pretty strange." With a bit of effort, Penelope was able to get to her feet. "That Soul Collector… is it dead?"
"They're not really alive in the first place," Manfred said as they went to examine the slowly disappearing body. "I think we did it, though. It looks deader than dead."
"Should we call it a day, then?" Penelope looked to the west, where the sun was setting. "It's getting late, and we should clean ourselves up before anything gets infected. If May's lasted this long, she can probably wait another night. What do you think?
There was no response.
"Manfred?"
"We… won't need to look anymore…"
"Why? What are you talking about?"
"This Soul Collector… it's… it was May."