Samara yawned as she stared blankly at the projector in the front of the class room; she was new, had transfered from the Belarusian sect of the Death Weapon Meister Academy about a month ago. They had little 'stations' for students to train at all over the world (without a partner) and the best from those stations-which really wasn't much at all-were sent to the DWMA to train more and get partners to turn into Death Scythes, or to turn into Death Scythes themselves. It was the middle of the school year and it would be hard to adjust, but... Well, she did have some friends there-a family friend, she called him Uncle Stein, was a teacher there. There were still some single weapons, she was sure, who would be able to resonate with her. She had really wanted a gun, but the there were only three there-the Thompson sisters and Stephane Hunter.

The Thompsons were self-explanatory. They were the weapons of Lord Death's son, Death the Kid. The perfectionist, OCD, over-acheiver Reaper with the stripes. Samara knew him only by reputation, as with the Thompsons. The Thompsons themselves were a duo of thugs pulled straight off the streets of Brooklyn-or so she'd heard.

Stephane Hunter had been taken as a weapon. Apparently, her meister, a blond, green-eyed boy named Alex, had been her best friend for ages and when they found they were Weapon and Meister, they just had to be partners! Samara had become fast friends with Stephane, though they didn't have compatible souls. Samara had never met Alex, but from what Stephane had told her, the two were like siblings.

Apparently, Alex's parents died in a car crash when he was young. Stephane's parents found him at the crash site, in the backseat floorboard of the mangled car, crying. They pitied him and took him in. Samara knew nothing else about the incident. Not even Stephane knew much about it, Alex didn't like to talk about it. Stephane had heard him muttering in his sleep, though, about a red-eyed Kishin egg.

The intercom came on. "Samara Romanov, to the Death Room, please. Samara Romanov, to the Death Room, please."

She frowned as the other students in her class made little 'ooh's and 'aah's. She stood and grabbed her bookbag, slinging it over her shoulder and leaving. As she neared the guillotine path, she adjusted her fur coat nervously. What did she do? She chewed on her nails as she walked underneath the sharp guillotine blades that she imagined would fall down upon her at any second. Nervous habits...

She hesitated going in the Death Room, what if it took her too long to find a partner and she was getting kicked out? What if she got sent back to Belarus? Oh, god. Dad's gonna be so disappointed in me.

Some of her nervousness dissapated when she saw the silly, cartoonish mask of Lord Death and his long black cloak. "Hiya, Samara. How have you been?"

She smiled nervously and looked around. Spirit was there, as always. He was Lord Death's personal weapon, the only Death Scythe that was actually a scythe! "I've been good," she said. "And you?"

"Things have been perfect!" Lord Death chirped as bounced up and down, obviously eager. "Samara, do you know why you're here?"

"Am I in trouble?" the small Slavic girl squeaked out in her light russian accent.

"No, no," Lord Death chuckled.

"We found you some weapons," Spirit said. "Winstons, come on in,"

Samara blinked. Once. Twice. Then let out a squeal. "YES! Finally! Yeeeeessssssss!" she yelled out as two boys came in.

They were tall, lanky. They had firey orange hair and pale skin with freckles. The brother on the right had bright emerald green eyes, while the one on the left had darker olive green eyes. They had small noses-at least, compared to Samara's. The one on the right was wearing a dark lavender shirt, while the one on the left had a bright, bright halloween purple shirt.

The one on the right waved excitedly. "'ello!" he greeted. His voice was smooth, sweet. Velvety. He sounded shy, but didn't really look that shy. "My name is Cameron Winston!"

"I am Frederick Winston," the other said. His voice was more sharp and not as melodic as Cameron's, but they both had the same thick Scottish accent. He gave a slight gentlemanly bow and kissed her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Madame Romanov~!" He winked.

He's a smooth one, alright, Samara thought with a chuckle and gave a mock curtsy. "Pleasure to meet you two as well, Winstons."

Cameron puffed his cheeks out in a mock pout. "Fred, you get all the girls!" he joked.

"Yeah. You get all the guys," Fred snickered, earning an indignant look from his brother.

Samara looked between them. "So you two are my weapons?" They turned to face her and nodded. She smiled at them. "Great! So, Lord Death, when do we start?"

~4-2-4-2-5-6-4~

Alex rounded the corner, in a fast sprint. Finally stopping in the safety of an alley way, he panted and put one hand on his knee to rest, the other holding a Hershey Cookie Dough candy bar. He'd skipped class again and Stephane was looking for him. He unwrapped the candy and took a bite.

He never liked the Academy; after all, it was because they were too slow that his parents were killed. He remembered it like yesterday, they had seen a teenage-looking... something presumably dead on the side of the road. He remembered clearly what the person looked like, shoulder-length black hair, bony and ambiguous body-like it had been starved. Grayish skin... That 'person' was very unhealthy. His parents had looked over at it, saw the person lift his or her head, and for some reason stared, not seeing the truck coming in at the intersection and then CRASH!

The car they were in had crumpled up and his parents were killed instantly, as was the truck driver. Alex hid in the floorboard, carefully looking out to see if the person would try to help. That person-if it could even be called a person-was waiting. It planned for this. He saw, what now seemed like a creature to him, stand, ribcage showing through its tight black shirt, and walk over to the truck. It swiftly pulled out the dead man and ripped his limbs off before eating them whole... like giant French fries...

The creature opened its gaping mouth as rows upon rows of titanic, needle-like teeth jutted from its mouth and ripped the man's torso and stomach apart. When the monster was done with the truck driver, still thin as a skeleton, it stalked nearer and nearer to the car. It broke the windows and ripped Alex's deceased parents out, dragging them somewhere. Possibly to save them for later.

When he grew older, he did his research. A Wendigo. It had taken his parents to eat before a three year hibernation. The strange thing was that it was a Canis lupus cannibalis, or a Wolf Wendigo. Wolf wendigos were native to Germany. Felix cannibalis, the much more calm and civilized Cat Wendigos were native to the United States.

So what was a Wolf Wendigo doing in Nevada?

"Alex!" Stephane's voice. Alex frowned. He was always getting her in trouble doing this, but he couldn't help it. He'd much rather sit outside, sulking and eating candy, than be in Sid's class, listening to the zombie drone on and on about combat techniques, instead of what they were supposed to be learning, which was Self Defense, and smelling decaying flesh. All the while, he had to listen to Maka and Soul bicker about everything that came up in conversation, and the oh-so powerful Reaper boy complaining about his hair, while some blue monkey screeched about surpassing God.

It's not like he didn't like the Meisters, he didn't know them and he was sure they were nice, but... they were kind of annoying. The classroom was for work, not hair.

Alex stood shakily and tore back off down the street, careful not to choke. He just wanted to run, run as fast as he could away from the Academy. Wendigos were the most human, most dangerous kinds of Kishins and they let one go free! They let many Kishin go free!

He heard a rumor that a couple of new kids like them were Kishins that had infiltrated the Academy. Their names were Alice and Brandon. Two mysterious new students that had shown up out of nowhere. Currently they were working on a 'mission' in Russia.

I bet, Alex thought. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Alex," Stephane murmured in her whispery voice. "Let's get back."

Alex frowned, but complied. He nodded at the taller girl. "OK, Steph. Let's get back."

~4-2-4-2-5-6-4~

"Alex Sinveil and Stephane Hunter, to the Death Room, please. Alex Sinveil and Stephane Hunter, to the Death Room, please." Alex glanced up at the ceiling when the intercom came on, his green eyes looking rather dull and bored.

Stephane, who sat beside of him in Sid's class, stood. She slung her hot-pink bookbag, which matched her coat and glasses, over her shoulder and lightly tugged on Alex's hoodie. "Come on, Lord Death is calling."

Alex muttered something to himself and pulled his hoodie over his head. "I hate going to the Death Room."

"I do, too," Stephane said. "But we wouldn't have to if you didn't run all the time."

"I hate this place."

"I know."

The rest of the walk was filled with tense silence. Stephane was almost certain they were getting expelled, Alex hoped for it. Stephane brushed her light pink hair out of her face, outstretching one hand to open the door. Like always, she barely had to tap it. She suspected that the door reacted to human life force, which is why it opened so easily.

Alex scowled when he saw Death's mask. "Hi, Lord Death," he grumbled, not looking at him, but instead at the blonde behind him. A small girl, not even 5 feet tall, he had never seen before. She had violet eyes and was wearing a heavy winter coat lined with ermine fur for some strange reason. Stephane wore a coat, as well, but it wasn't as heavy.

Girls.

Next to the girl were two lanky boys with red hair and green eyes. They were standing, talking to each other about whatever popped into their thin heads. "Hello, little Alex~!" Lord Death greeted in his cartoonish voice, earning a glare from the boy.

Stephane gave a little bow. "Good evening, Lord Death." She smiled.

"Hello, Stephane~!" Lord Death replied. "Do you two know why you're here?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. Because I've been skipping so much, right?"

Lord Death nodded. "Yes, yes. Both of your grades are very low, so I'm offering a chance to make it up. You'll be working with a new student, Samara Romanov." Alex cocked his head slightly to the side. The name sounded familiar.

Oh, yes! That was Stephane's friend. She spoke about her often.

The blonde stood up. "Pryvitanne," she greeted.

"Hi," Stephane chimed while Alex just blinked. "Finally got a weapon, huh, Sammy?"

Samara grinned. "Yeah! Can't wait to start using them!"

"You will," Spirit cut in. "Tomorrow, for a make-up assignment. We've found an increase in Zombie-Kishin in Salt Lake City, Utah. They're the lowest kind of Kishin, so it should be easy for no-star Meisters like yourselves."

Alex scowled at the remark. "I'm a one-star meister," he muttered. "Samara's the no-star."

Samara rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Well, I suppose that's true..."

Cameron shook his head. "Not a single soul," he said.

"But that will change soon," Frederick finished, flicking his wrist to point up toward the ceiling.

"Doesn't matter," Spirit replied. "One-star, no-star. Both of you are still too weak to go against a full-fledged Kishin egg yet."

"Now, now," Lord Death said in his cheerful voice. "Don't be mean, Death Scythe." He turned to the kids. "Though Spirit is right, I'm sure the two of you can handle this pesky problem easily! That means together, ok? Going solo would be too risky for the both of you!"

Samara nodded, while Alex just gave a quiet, 'ok'. Stephane smiled. "Let's go get ready, Alex," she said. "We'll meet back up with Samara later to plan this out."

Samara nodded. "Sounds good to me," she said. "Cam, Fred, let's go." The redheads nodded and followed their short meister out of tyhe Death Room. Stephane yawned, stretching, and gestured to Alex that they needed to leave as well.

~4-2-4-2-5-6-4~

Samara had a large mansion at the outskirts of Death City. Her parents, residing in Moscow, Russia, sent her some money every week to pay for the house, the bills, groceries, etc. She also had a steady job waiting tables at Death Bucks for some pocket money, but now she had weapons she wouldn't be able to work as many hours. She didn't particularly enjoy the job, anyway. She had to wear this stupid French Maid uniform, while the men had to dress as these fancy butlers at some five-star restaurant.

For the ladies, of course.

Samara sat down on the satin couch with a sigh, looking at the dirty uniform. She'd be glad to tell her boss that she wouldn't be working as often, and the best thing was he couldn't do a thing about it because she was an academy student, and academy students had special privileges. The only thing her boss, Mr. Bonair, could do was agree... probably rather angrily.

Before she could deal with her boss, however, she had to make sure the Winstons knew who their boss was. She looked over at the front door to see the redheads walk in. "Helloooooooooo!" They grinned.

"Hey," she said. "Took you long enough. I thought you were right behind me!"

Cameron rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well we saw some really cute weapons-"

"-and we had to talk to them-"

"-so we invited them over-"

"-is that ok?"

Samara blinked once, twice. "You what? You what?!"

"Well, we also invited that other girl..." Frederik said.

"What was her name again?" Cameron asked.

"Stephane." Samara scowled.

"Ah yes! And her little meister." Fred grinned.

Samara stood with a sigh. "Tell those girls they won't be coming over. Stephane and Alex can, but it is my house and I don't want parties of any kind. Any kind!"

Frederick frowned. "Aw..."

"You two are going to get jobs and help pay the rent and bills around here," Samara said. "So there's gonna be no time for parties!"

Cameron puffed his cheeks out. "But-"

"Look at it like this," Samara replied. "Ladies love men who work."

Frederick pouted. "Fine. But after we get those Zombie Kishin things."

"Good. Now go cancel your party." The Scotsmen sighed and stood, leaving. "And go get Stephane and Alex!" Samara called out to them.

"Fine!" they yelled back, jogging away.

~4-2-4-2-5-6-4~

Alex collapsed onto the couch, a bag of popcorn in one hand, a Root Beer in the other. He set the Root Beer on the nightstand next to the couch and picked up the remote. "Hey, Steph!" he called.

Stephane, who was in the kitchen of their small, two-bedroom apartment, walked to the livingroom and put her pink coat on the back of the couch. "Yeah, Alex?"

"We got any movies? Nothing good's on." A knock at the door.

Stephane chuckled. "I'll check later. Someone's here." Alex grumbled and got up from his spot on the couch. The thin boy walked through the kitchen and into the hall. He looked through the peephole.

Cameron and Frederick.

He sighed and opened the door before gesturing to them to come inside. "What do you want now?"

"Samara told us to get you!"

Stephane smiled at them. "Come in, boys. I'd love to get more acquainted with you."

Frederick licked his lips. "I'd love to get more acquainted with you, too- ow!"

Cameron elbowed him in the arm. "Stay focused!"

"All right, all right," Frederick muttered, rubbing his arm.

"Anyway," Cameron started, glancing at Frederick. "We're inviting you over to our new mansion!"

"No is not an acceptable answer," Frederick said with a flirty grin. Alex frowned as the redhead twins weren't going to give him and Steph a choice. The blond meister sighed and relunctly got up to get his shoes.