A Sound Soul
Madness. If there was one thing that Doctor Franken Stein was known for, it was his madness. After all, only a madman would perform experiments on himself. Only a madman would dissect his weapon. Only a madman would fall in with a witch. Yes, that Dr. Stein was mad. It was a miracle he hadn't become a Kishin. Lord Death must have scouted him as a meister for the DWMA so the students wouldn't end up hunting him someday. The Reaper must have been trying to protect the world from the likes of Franken Stein.
That was how people saw him and Stein knew it. It made sense really. A sound soul resides in a sound mind and a sound body. After all his experiments, one simply had to look at the bolt in his head to know he didn't have a sound body and that his mind was clearly beyond sound. stein stood on a precipice. One swift push and he would surely fall and be lost within his madness. But what they didn't know or see was the tether around him. Around his soul. And that tether was what prevented descending into madness. And her name was Marie Mjolnir.
No one else saw what he saw. No one else had seen the light Marie had brought into the labs when she moved in. They hadn't heard how she hummed, flitting around the kitchen as she made the two of them tea. Hadn't felt the caress of the soft blankets she would wrap around his shoulders when he fell asleep grading papers or scribbling down experiments. Nobody else had ever eaten the sandwiches and biscuits she would shove into his hands or sometimes force into his mouth when he forgot to eat because he was so wrapped up in his work. Others especially hadn't experienced how she would pull him into her lap and run her fingers through his hair to calm him when his mind wouldn't stop racing, making him unable to sleep. When that happened only her soft murmurs and fingers gently combing through his hair would calm him enough to sleep.
Maybe it was the power of the soul resonance they shared as meister and weapon. Their souls' connection, it could explain the effect she had on him. Yes, he was talented and could alter his soul's wavelength to resonate with any weapon. But, only with Marie, Stein had never had to alter a thing. Their souls just seemed to resonate perfectly. Lord Death had originally paired the two, believing that her soul would have a calming effect on his. It had worked perfectly, everything about her soul soothed him, especially her kind soul.
Stein had never been one to let himself be swayed by emotions. That was more Marie's forte (after all she had briefly considered marriage to a toilet). But, with her, he found himself giving into the feelings he'd never had before. Feelings that had not seemed possible for him to feel. It had been these feelings that had led to his actions that night in the desert. Maybe it had been her unwavering faith in his innocence, even when he'd doubted it, himself. Or perhaps he'd realized the incredible nature of her pure devotion to him. But whatever it was had led him to kiss her for the first time. To join himself to her. With his body. With his soul. With everything he had.
Stein had engaged in sexual intercourse with her a woman before. It had been pleasurable, on the primal instinctual level. But whatever feelings he was supposed to feel... it had been beyond him. In truth, it had only occurred because he'd been curious what Spirit seemed to enjoy and obsess over so much. It was purely experimental. Sex with Marie was different. When he'd been with her it wasn't an experiment. Somehow, being with her... it was so much more than the physical. When he'd been inside her, feeling the way her body had fit his so perfectly, it had all made sense. She was the perfect fit for him in every way. She was meant for him. She was perfection. When he was with Marie, as their bodies moved as one, they weren't just having sex. They'd been making love.
That night he'd discovered something. Yes, he was mad. Maybe he didn't have a sound mind or body for his soul. But Marie, she had that and more. So long as he had her in his life he'd always have a sound soul. She was all he needed. He didn't even have to test his theory. What had resulted from that night more than proved it. Not long afterward a second soul had found a home in Marie's body. Such a small, sound soul could never be produced by someone who would become a Kishin.
Yes, people were still worried. After they'd begun to share the news with others, many people had approached Marie, telling her to get out. Stein was a danger to her and their unborn child. They were wrong again. Even if he was in danger of descending into madness again, Marie and their child tethered him to reality. With them in his life, he had a sound soul.