This is just a little monologue about Stein. Please leave comments, whether good or bad!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Soul Eater's characters or plot.
Stein was, being a man of science, cool and concise. He had no time for tricks or imagination; the data would tell the story he wished to know. When needed, he was deadly and malevolent, and many feared him in this state. Unfortunately, many could infer that, in fact, he was in this state of mind much of the time, being for his odd hobby of dissecting different creatures in class. This being the case, Stein lived up to the role as best as he thought he should. He was not evil; he had already promised himself long ago to never consume a human soul, no matter the consequences at hand. But he was not caring or happy; he simply didn't understand how to be.
To Franken Stein, life was considered an experiment. In the years of teaching, he gathered info on the fighting techniques many of meisters and weapons alike. He studied the growth of souls from childhood to adulthood, watching how certain events and people affected the stability of each person and their soul. His relationships with fellow teachers and students alike were quickly turned into tests of human will and this odd concept he had learned of called love. He knew the basics: a feeling of compassion or closeness to another creature or object. But the term was thrown so loosely around, he had trouble pinpointing his exact thoughts on the subject. The sad fact was, nobody had actually said these words in direction to him, and, if you had never experienced the feeling of being told that someone in fact loved you, how could you understand the notion of such an emotion?
As Stein grew up, he gained familiarity towards the people around him. Shinigami, of course, was someone Stein developed some feelings of closeness towards. After all, initially, he was nearly the one who raised Stein, being that Stein really didn't recall having any memories of his parents. Shinigami was the one who found a couple who were willing to take care of the rather unstable toddler until he was old enough to enroll in the DWMA and move into the dorms with his partner, Spirit.
Spirit was such an odd matter that Stein never quite understood why he became rather, not entirely doting, but shall we say, used to, the womanizing red-headed teen. Sure, there were many occurrences which nearly ended in a near expelling from the DWMA, if that was even possible. Stein honestly didn't see what why Spirit ran to tell the headmaster; so what if he may have drawn a few dissection plans onto Spirit while he was sleeping? If it was all in the name of science, there shouldn't be a problem. This was the explanation he had given to their science teacher, and she had agreed readily. Then, quickly squealing that her husband knew where she was, ran out the door.
Through his years of training, Stein was introduced to many other students through Spirit, including Marie, Kami, Sid, and others who would usually run the other way when Stein came down the hall. He even Spirit's demented wingman at the bars, but he quickly learned that alcohol didn't mix well with his minor case of madness and was quickly replaced. So, on led a sort of bonding formed from teasing and threats. After a few years of being Spirit's meister, Spirit moved on to being Kami's weapon, leaving him weaponless. However, they agreed to live together while Stein worked on his Soul Menace and Spirit worked at gaining the status Death Scythe.
As school came to an end, Stein found out that Spirit had a situation Spirit had no idea whatsoever of how to deal with; Kami was pregnant. Stein knew naturally that Kami and Spirit were now, not only in a meister and weapon, but walking the streets as a couple, but somehow Stein somehow thought Spirit would have the sense to not go and get her pregnant. Obviously, in this state, Kami could not wield Spirit, though they had already hunted down 99 kishin souls and witch's soul need to turn Spirit into a Death Scythe. Luckily, as Stein observed, they had a circle of acquaintances to support the couple in their troubles. It wasn't a huge surprise when Spirit and Kami decided to get married and seal the deal. Only about half a year later, the now married duo had a healthy baby girl with bright green eyes they named Maka. The marriage lasted an unpredictable, rickety road for a few years before coming to a sudden halt when Maka turned five. Soon after, after a long fought dispute of who would take custody of Maka, Kami left Death City, Nevada in a huff; she only promised any contact to anyone in her hometown to her own daughter in the form of letters. In her dust, Kami left behind a sniveling, distraught Spirit and a young daughter, who despite her age, seemed to pinpoint the cause of the fights at her father. This caused a fast destruction of the thin father-daughter bond that had been forming, which was notice by all their friends with Maka's insistent glares. Then came along Black Star.
Now, before we get any farther, Stein's thoughts on children must be addressed. To him, children were often seen as guinea pigs more than the growing, playful youth we think of them as. He was a quiet, independent man, and having loud toddlers running in the halls of home wouldn't help this genius scientist work his experiments. It certainly is lucky that Stein never had any interest in raising a family of his own, though; not only did he have little compassion for his own species, but his home filled with glass testubes, who-knows-what frozen in the freezer, and strange green substances was definitely not a suitable environment for kids to grow up in. So, with the facts stated, though he was momentarily involved with Marie, it ended rather soon when her insistent thoughts on marriage came out; it was out of the question.
However, Stein made an exception for Maka. At first, it was because of her parents, who were both very successful hunters of the kishins. It was an interesting test to see, not only whether she would be a meister or weapon, but the rare, powerful Grigori soul which Maka had. But as she grew older, Stein noticed sparking intelligence in those green eyes, so similar to her mother's, and an attitude both stubbornly passionate about life. In fact, though he would never admit it to anyone, Stein found himself wishing that he would have a daughter like Maka, who seemed to have gained only the good from her parents. Maka never met him until later in her schooling, where she put up a rather impressive against him with her weapon partner Soul, but he made sure to keep tabs on her development as she grew older.
Black Star had a very strong soul from his very birth; he, despite his overly-large ego, was an amazingly talented meister. Stein knew that the genes inherited from the Star Clan had a large factor in Black Star's abilities; the Star Clan, though vicious and blood-thirsty, was well known for their ferocity in battle and strength. Black Star became an interesting subject to study. Documentation of a member of the Star Clan being raised in a warm household did not exist, and the aspect of having such a high end assassin in on Lord Death's side was extremely helpful. They found out soon enough that Black Star had a conceited character, but after observing his friendship with six year old Maka, they knew that he had a nature that was not only useful in combat.
It was, without a doubt, strange how this group of friends banded together. Stein could see the turmoil that would boil to the surface far before it happened. Their personalities would usually repel from each other: Black Star would naturally try to take up leadership with his ego, but Maka would not stand for that. Death the Kidd and Soul would clash in certain situations. Tsubaki and the Thompson sisters had very different personalities, but because of Tsubaki's shy kindness, there would not be much trouble between the three different characters. Honestly, in the beginning, he was sure his inference that the small group of students would not be able to stand each other forever would remain forever. But, then came that silly feeling: love.
At first, he could ignore the fact of it existence. How on earth could a single emotion keep a group of misfits together? But whenever he sent out the team, Stein could see that no one was ever worried about traitors. Somehow, they trusted that imaginative feeling. When Soul gave up his body for Maka, Stein was sure it was just simply because of the code they had been raised by; but then when he ran into the pair after the accident, it was impossible not to see how attached Soul and Maka had become, how much stronger their resonance had become
In the end, Stein wished that he never felt any sort of concern or consideration towards his students. He would always insist in that calm, calculating manner that love was simply a thought that humans had told themselves was real; Stein thought that it was hilariously funny that we think that something like love could protect them from anything or anyone.
Now, on his death bed, with his much older students and friends crowding around, it really was undeniable. Stein could wish all he wanted, but in a lifetime of insanity, the mad scientist had finally wrapped his head around that impractical, ridiculous idea of love.