A/N: Don't own Soul Eater :( Uh, this should be taken with a pretty high T rating. Please R&R!
"No!" the young man yelled as his comrade fell to the ground. His enemy laughed, maniacally, as he threatened the rather scared young man. However, the young shokunin stood his ground, though the obvious presence of the man standing before him was vastly more mature than his own. His stance, which usually towered over his opponents, looked like nothing more than a shadow compared to the foe he was about to fight. The two enemies stood atop a large plateau on top of a hill, with nothing but a small hut with a large padlock on the door accompanying them.
"She's done for now."
Nineteen-year-old Franken Stein glared at Kenichi Matsuka, a near Kishin warrior, who was wielding a sharp, glistening knife. The words that Matsuka had just said willed him on to kill the man and save the girl. He could sense that it wasn't a buki; there was no soul presence, but it was still a weapon. A weapon Matsuka had that Stein didn't. One thing that Stein could tell was that the knife was not normal. It had some property which Stein couldn't pinpoint.
Lying, incapacitated and bloodied on the floor, was Stein's only hope of a weapon. Spirit Albarn, another nineteen-year-old and a newly created Deathscythe, had abandoned Stein in the past to partner with his wife, Kami. However, Stein was extremely adept at matching his soul wavelength with virtually any buki. Unfortunately, the ability was rendered useless by Spirit's incapacitation. As Spirit lay on the ground, unconscious, a cry rang out from the small hut which held the hostage. Stein's eyes quickly darted over to the small crack in the hut's wooden door where he could see the girl's face.
The large green eyes were red and filled with tears. Stein bit his bottom lip as he tried to drown out the crying. The one-year-old girl cried, babbling something which Stein recognised as her code for her father.
"He's going to be okay. And so are you, Maka. I'll make sure of it." Stein made sure he emphasised those last words with a glare at Matsuka. He just chuckled.
"You are strong… but you are incredibly naïve!" Matsuka said, charging at Stein with the knife. Stein deftly dodged his attack and shot his soul wavelength through his palms and into Matsuka's upper back. He fell over, his face skidding on the dust and dirt on the ground. Matsuka stood up, a look of absolute disgust and hatred on his face. The dirt and small rocks on the ground had scraped his face, the scratches covering his left cheek. Matsuka held his hand to his face. He looked at his slightly bloody hand and smirked maniacally.
"That's a bit rough, isn't it?" Matsuka said, his tone becoming more and more insane every time. Matsuka swiped at Stein, as he blocked his attack, the tip of the knife digging into his arm. Stein stepped back, let Matsuka take a swipe, before charging at him at full speed, his arms outstretched. He plunged his hands against Matsuka's chest and delivered what was usually a battle-ending soul wavelength. It knocked Matsuka around, badly. Stein walked over to him, thinking that the blow had incapacitated him. Stein was about to grab Matsuka's knife and finish him once and for all. Matsuka may have been a strong opponent, but he was quite mortal. However, Matsuka sat up, causing Stein to bolt backwards in utter surprise. He dusted himself off and simply smirked. Stein stood in shock. He could see all of the wounds that had been inflicted by his last attack. Yet, Matsuka was not even put off by it.
In actual fact, he was smiling.
It was odd, Stein thought, that Matsuka seemed to become more and more powerful the more he hit him.
"It's madness. He's sadistic." Stein thought. The only way to defeat his was going to be with one blow. It was virtually impossible for him to do without Spirit. He couldn't stop fighting now as Maka began to cry louder, the screaming nearly impossible to ignore.
"Maka, Papa's okay. I promise." Stein stared over at her, trying to sound as calm as possible. Although, he wasn't quite sure how much was getting through to the one-year-old. All he knew was that she stopped crying when he talked to her. He figured something was working.
"Touching." Matsuka retorted. He pulled out the knife and lunged once again for Stein. He dodged, but didn't anticipate Matsuka's reflex. He spun around and wrapped his arm around Stein's neck. Stein grunted as Matsuka dug his knee into his lower back, rendering his lower body virtually paralysed. Stein was a skilled martial artist, but Matsuka was widely known as the best.
"Don't you dare." Stein said, continuing to struggle with his upper body, thrashing and writhing to try and get him to release his grip. Matsuka chuckled.
"Oh, you stupid, stupid boy." Matsuka said, wielding the knife above the flesh of Stein's neck. Stein gulped. He really felt like screaming, running and hiding away. But he couldn't. He had to save Maka.
"Do it." Stein glared, his green eyes seeming to pierce through the very depths of Matsuka's soul. Matsuka's slight moment of hesitation was enough for a mysterious force to charge at him, jerking him backwards and tightening his grip on the knife. The blow had incapacitated Matsuka, for a short while at least, in a similar way to Stein's earlier soul wavelength. Spirit had come to as Stein had held his ground. However, Spirit's attack had come at a price.
Stein had fallen to the ground, and was holding his hand, now covered in blood, to his face. He coughed and yelled in pain as his facial muscles moved. Spirit looked back at him.
"Stein!" Spirit said, looking at the bloodstained face and hair of the meister. He knelt down next to him.
"Stein, what happened?" Spirit said, still breathing heavily.
"He.. the knife, it... it slit my face." Stein said, choking back tears.
"Stein... I'm... I'm so sorry. Let me look." Spirit said, acting more like a doctor than Stein, who was training to be one. Stein flinched slightly as he removed him hand from his face, closing his eyes as he did so. Spirit's face turned to shock.
"Stein... Oh my... That's..." Spirit said, speechless. Stein looked up, covering his face with his hand on his face once again. He had only one option if he was to stay alive and kill Matsuka. He had to make a tourniquet. He looked down at his shirt. He looked up at Spirit.
"Don't look." Stein said, turning away from Spirit.
"Really? We're trying to kill the man who kidnapped my daughter and you're being self conscious?" Spirit asked, glancing worriedly over at Matsuka, who seemed to be stirring.
"Shut up, Spirit." Stein said, slipping off his shirt, taking his hand off of his facial wound as little as possible. He threw his shirt to Spirit.
"Rip this into strips, about 5 centimetres across." Stein said, walking over to Matsuka and putting his foot on his sternum.
"Why me?" Spirit whined.
"Just do it, Spirit!" Stein glared, trying to keep Matsuka from awaking. Spirit quickly ripped the shirt into strips then passed them to Stein.
"Here." Spirit said.
"Right, you deal with Matsuka while I patch this up. Then, we'll finish the bastard." Stein said, taking his foot off Matsuka's chest and preparing a strip of bandage. Spirit nodded and began to punch Matsuka in the face. Stein raised an eyebrow.
"I meant just stop him from standing up." Stein said, getting a strip and holding it taut in his hands. Spirit nodded and placed his foot where Stein had before.
"Here goes." Stein said to himself, knowing that the pain that would ensue after bandaging up his face to the point where it wouldn't bleed would be barely tolerable. He quickly looped the bandage around his face and along the near diagonal slit. He screamed in pain as the bandage slipped into the rather deep cut, touching the open wound.
"Shit." Spirit said quietly, looking over at his obviously suffering ex-meister. Stein took a deep breath as he felt light-headedness set in. He took one of the strips, folded it into a small square and bit down on it, hoping to subdue the pain. He took another bandage and tied it around above his nose but under his eyes, and then another one below his nose but above his mouth. He took one more strip and looped it around his head and along the scar once again and pulled it tight, the pressure hopefully stopping the bleeding. He then spat out the bandage that he was biting down on and clenched his fists. Stein's face once again turned serious as he turned to Spirit, who was trying to keep Matsuka from standing up. He had regained consciousness.
"Spirit." Stein said, holding his hand out, indicating that he was ready for Spirit to transform into the weapon.
"Nice job." Stein remarked, before Stein walked up to him and took a hold of the handle of the scythe.
"Oh, look, you've got your little friend back. Isn't that sweet?" Matsuka said, maniacally. Stein decided to try to reason with him one more time.
"Just give Maka back and I'll spare you. That's all I want." Stein lied. He was going to kill Matsuka either way, but it would have been nice not to have a one-year-old's life hanging in the balance.
"Aw, all you want is to save the girl, eh? Well, all I want to do is get at her with this." Matsuka chuckled, holding up the knife which was still glistening with Stein's blood.
"You sick bastard! If you ever lay a hand on that little girl, I swear to Death himself I'll kill you, if it's the last thing I do. Because she's already worth infinitely more to me than you'll ever be worth to anybody." Stein replied, wielding Spirit in front of him.
"Well, if that's the way you want to play..." Matsuka said, smirking.
"Just shut up and FIGHT!" Stein said, taking a long swipe at Matsuka. He ducked under it, just, and thrust his knife at Stein. Stein smirked slightly, seeing an opening, and swiped hard at the back of Matsuka's head, knocking him to the ground. Stein looked at his weapon.
"Souls' Resonance." They said in unison, as Spirit transformed into a larger, broader scythe. Stein silently said the technique they used, as not to alert Matsuka to a possible defence. With one large blow, Stein smashed Spirit into Matsuka's left shoulder and through to out his right thigh. Matsuka's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he simply, vanished, disintegrating into nothing, leaving a soul, hanging in mid-air. Considering the damage that he had inflicted, Matsuka went down pretty easily.
"I'm surprised the bastard even had one." Spirit said. Stein went over to the soul, and, whilst examining it, saw a key.
"Maka!" Stein thought to himself, taking the key and rushing over to the hut. In the heat of battle, Stein and Spirit had forgotten what they were fighting for. Stein breathed a sigh of relief when the key fit into the lock. He turned it open and pulled to door open to see Maka, lying on the floor, asleep. He knelt down on the ground as Maka blinked open her big, green eyes, a colour which was not dissimilar to his own.
"Maka. Thank Death you're okay." Stein said, picking up the little girl and holding her close to his chest. He stood up with her over his shoulder and saw her head pop up. She unexpectedly was not worried about the bandages which covered Stein's face. She tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth.
"St-Stein." She stuttered, looking at him quizzically. Maka was able to say basic words such as "Mama" and "Papa," and was beginning to string together sentences, but she' d never said a name before. Stein smiled at the little girl and walked over to Spirit.
"I think I have something that belongs to you." Stein smiled at Spirit, handing over his daughter.
"Maka! Oh, Maka, I'm so glad you're safe." Spirit said, stroking Maka's hair. Both Spirit, holding Maka, and Stein began to descent down the hill.
"You know, she said my name before." Stein said. Spirit looked at him, puzzled.
"No, she didn't." Stein replied, laughing slightly. Maka looked at Stein.
"Hey, Maka, what's my name?" Stein asked Maka.
"Stein." Maka said, sleepily. Stein smirked at Spirit.
"Shut up." Spirit said, defiantly. Maka heard. She sat up slightly and looked Spirit straight in the eye.
"Shut up, Papa!" Maka said, laughing wildly. Stein smirked as Spirit tried to stop Maka.
"NO! No, no, Maka, sweetheart, you can't say that." Spirit said, his eyes wide.
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Maka giggled.
"Good luck explaining that one to Kami." Stein said. Spirit went to retort but instead, his face became solemn.
"Thank you, Stein." Spirit said.
"What?" Stein asked.
"If you weren't there, he would have killed Maka." Spirit replied.
"If you weren't there, I'd have been killed along with Maka." Stein said.
"Stop being so modest, Stein." Spirit said. Stein looked over at Maka, who had fallen asleep on Spirit's shoulder.
"That's okay, Spirit. I'll... I'll see you around." Stein said as they reached to bottom of the hill. Stein went to say goodbye to Maka. He brushed his hand against hers. She latched her hand around one of Stein's fingers. Stein smiled.
"Goodbye, Maka." Stein said, quietly, as he pulled his finger from Maka's grasp and she fell back to sleep.
As Stein finally reached his small apartment in the middle of Death City, he sat down at his desk, which was piled with both medical and general science textbooks. He looked at a picture on his desk. It was his graduation photo, from nearly two years ago. It was him, along with other members of the E.A.T. class. He recognised all of the fellow members of his home class, Class Crescent Moon, who he hadn't seen for so long. Some of the members he wished he had seen, others he was glad were gone. He looked at Marie Mjolnir, the blonde buki who could transform into a tonfa. He always thought she was quite pretty, but his fascination with science, which was often misconstrued as an obsession, usually got in the way. He recognised the prodigal Yumi Asuza, who was nearly 3 years younger than everyone else, and a real stickler for the rules. He then saw Spirit, Kami and himself. Spirit and Kami were a typical, loved-up sort of couple. He'd never realised how much he looked like a third wheel until he looked at the photo again. Unbeknownst to all of them, Kami was pregnant at the time. Stein smiled as he put the photo back. He felt his wound strain as he did so.
Stein noticed a kit that he usually used for practising sutures. He figured that he couldn't keep these bandages on forever. He took a deep breath as he thread the suture strand through the needle. He unravelled the bandages from his face. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the wound was still open. He grit his teeth as he began to stitch up the wound which covered his face.
He felt an odd sensation in his stomach as he continued to stitch. A smirk grew across his face and he began to chuckle as the needle pierced his skin continually. Little did Stein know that Matsuka had put a small, specific portion of his soul into that knife. The part which was prone to one thing; insanity. When it sliced Stein's cheek, some of Matsuka's madness had travelled into Stein's body. When Stein had finished stitching, he came around and dropped the needle in shock. He hadn't used any numbing agents.
"Wh-What's happening?" Stein said, running his fingers through his hair. He laid the side of his head down on his desk as he closed his eyes, trying to shake off the odd feeling that had just run through him. Little did he know what Matsuka's seemingly normal blade would do to his life.
And thus, Franken Stein's madness was born.