Stein wandered down the long corridor leading to the Death Room, wondering what Lord Death could want to see him about, things had been reasonably quiet since he had returned to the Academy. As he reached the end of the corridor his gaze swept the room, Lord Death was addressing Maka, Black Star and Death The Kid, all of whose partners appeared to be in weapon form. Stein coughed quietly to announce his presence; Lord Death subsequently turned around.

"Lord Death, you asked to see me?" said Stein,

"Ah Stein, I have an important mission for you, I want to take Death Scythe and find The Dragon Witch, I understand that this may be a difficult mission for you since…" the Grim Reaper began,

Stein interrupted " No, Lord Death, I am more than capable of handling this mission"

"Good, I knew I could count on you, Now I would like you to take Maka, Kid, Blackstar and their weapons along with you for their remedial lesson, They will mainly watch but try and assist you in any way they can" answered Lord Death cheerfully,

The next day

Maka watched her professor thoughtfully, what had Lord Death meant?, Professor Stein was the best meister to train at the academy, so why would this be difficult for him…

"Um, professor? Can I ask you something?" said Maka

"of course Maka, what's up?"

"what did Lord Death mean? Why would this mission be difficult for you?"

"My weapon partner disappeared fighting the same witch we were sent here to kill, nobody knows what happened to her, I arrived an hour after we lost contact with her to find no trace of Electra or the witch…" Stein inhaled one shuddering breath before continuing, "she wasn't a student of the academy as such, her capabilities outweighed any other student. Electra was a weapon, but I could have sworn she had meister blood, she used her soul wavelength like no weapon I have ever seen before, she could attack with her soul wavelength directly, without need of a meister, that was the reason she nearly killed me the first time I met her…"

Maka was struck dumb but found her voice in time to say "please, professor, tell me more"

Flashback

Franken Stein listened to the mission briefing with little interest until he heard the fateful word, Kishin. The Academy forces were to attack a little known island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, its

inhabitants were the Sirens or the Fallen Angels, a powerful group of samarai, who it was said, were creating a kishin.

The academy forces surrounded a cave in the centre of the island, but Stein held back, his brief was to collect the soul of the kishin egg, the rest would deal with its guardians. All Stein could hear were the metallic crashes of weapon against weapon , then, silence, it was time for him to play his part.

Holding his scythe loosely in his left hand Stein sprinted towards the mouth of the cave, only to find a scene of utter carnage, there were no enemy troops to be found, dead or otherwise, only the unconscious bodies of the academy forces…

"You came to kill me, didn't you?" a voice came from the back of the cave "that's what most people want…"

A small figure emerged from the velveteen shadows, a small girl of about 13. Stein froze, it had to be a trick, this child could not be the kishin egg, could it?

The girl interrupted his thoughts "I can see what you're thinking, I'm not a kishin,"

Another voice came from the shadows "You are kishin, Electra, nothing will change that, now kill them and eat their souls! You don't want me to hurt you again, do you?"

The girl's hand subconsciously jumped to her throat, which bore the marks from a hand having closed around it and not let go for some time. "No…mother" the child whispered

The child stepped forward, muttering something under her breath, a line of bright white light arched from her tiny hand, moulding it's self into the shape of a bolt of lightning. Before Stein could react she plunges the light into the ground, where it exploded into a single circle of light sending Stein and Spirit flying into the cave wall.

"Was that her soul wavelength?" asked Spirit

"how…?" Stein had no idea whether or not this was even possible, his research into kishin souls had never come across anything like this,

"she would make a good experiment subject though…" Stein thought to himself "no… it's a kishin, think of all the human souls it's eaten, I could never bring it into Death City"

A puzzled look flashed across the child's face "What? I told you, I'm not a kishin" tears spilled from her large crystal blue eyes "I never ate a single soul, I couldn't do it… they said I had to, or they'd kill me…"

Having regained his strength Stein got to his feet…

The present

Maka's eyes grew wide, This Dragon witch beat someone as powerful as that? She looked up at the Professor, whose eyes were blank, staring at the ground, his eyes fixed on one spot he continued "Lord Death told me to bring her back to Death City, I trained her as her meister, but I wasn't a student at the academy co I couldn't go on her mission with her. She would have been a Death Scythe had she succeeded, but this has nothing to do with the mission, we can't afford to dwell on the past"

It took them most of the day to find the castle where the Dragon witch was said to be staying, once they were there Stein turned to face the students,

"Spirit and I are the only ones that will enter the castle, you are under no circumstances to follow us, ok?"

"Yes, professor" chorused the younger meisters,

Stein walked cautiously through the open doors, which slowly closed behind him of their own accord.

A familiar voice came from somewhere above him "I always knew you'd find me one day, Stein, you haven't changed a bit"

"Electra?"