A/N: So I was reading the story Hour Glass by ..Was and very, very much enjoyed it, and was disappointed to hear she was going to be unable to continue writing it. However, I'd been wondering for some time whether the story would be more fun to read not knowing what's coming next, or to write it. So very quickly asked if I would be allowed to continue it. Obviously I got permission, or this wouldn't be here.

I tried to follow her same layout of how she did stuff, so one thing I noticed was there wasn't really any… gore at all. Blood in battles of course, but dissections off screen and stuff, and without any description/explanation, so I'm assuming that was intentional and am minimizing that, but with what was happening next I don't see how it could continue to be true. Well, you'll see. Also I'm following the Stein's POV Spirit's POV alternating thing.

But anyways, thanks lotses to ..Was for letting me continue teh awesome story! Hope you like it! And thanks to my friend for editing and revising!

Obligatory link to the original: .net/s/5855598/1/Hour_Glass

(As a last note, I don't know if the battle in chapter 8 was at night, but I wrote thinking it was, so now it messes things up if it wasn't. So just so you know, it was at night.)

Disclaimer: Soul Eater isn't mine, (and this story is only partially XD) but Stein will be as soon as the duct tape and tranquilizer gun I ordered arrive.

Stein's POV:

I couldn't take my eyes off Lord Death as his scythe transformed and they settled in for battle. I'd never so much as seen Lord Death wielding a weapon, and now I was going to get to see him use it. I could feel a smile slowly creeping its way onto my face. Oh, all that I could learn from this…

"I can't imagine what you plan to accomplish by this," Shinigami-sama said. "But I certainly don't see any point in chatting, so let's begin, shall we?" The witches head tilted down and she gave a wide, toothy smile and then leapt through the night sky. Shinigami moved back and to the side and then swung a feint before curving around and swinging back. The witch managed to dodge, but barely, and was thrown slightly off balance. Shinigami swung towards her again, so she came at him with a panther claw that she knew wouldn't make it, but it forced him to block.

I was completely absorbed as the battle went back and forth when I was surprised by a tap on the shoulder. I turned to Spirit, and to my wonder he had a look of worry on his face.

"Stein! We have to get you out of here!" I was now more confused. My eyebrows drew together and I tilted my head slightly.

"Why? No. I want to…" A drew a sharp breath as suddenly the memory of what he was talking about came back to me. I cupped my left hand around the injured side of my face, careful not to touch the wound. Now that I was thinking about it, it hurt like hell. I tried to keep my face smooth as scrunching it up in pain only made it hurt worse. Sprit draped my right arm around his shoulders and he started to help me up.

"C'mon, I've got to get you to the clinic."

"N-no." now that I was conscious of the pain, my sentences came between gasps as speaking caused the small muscles in my face to hurt even more. "…Lab." Now it was Spirit's turn to be confused.

"What?"

"Take me … to the lab. The school only has a nurse. They'll have to … to call the hospital. It'll take time."

"You think you can do it?" I gave a small nod. "But you have hardly any experience operating on people!"

"Do it!" I shouted angrily. Not only did I not have time for explanation, but that was one explanation I did not want to give.

When we arrived I let go of Spirit and stumbled in despite all the blood on me. Being a facial wound, it bled prolifically and no doubt looked far worse than it was. Even so, the injury was still severe, such was the amount of blood covering myself and my clothes. And now the floor. I looked down at myself and made a mental note to make a new set of clothes.

I stumbled around and started gathering up the tools and equipment I was going to need and then hurried to the bathroom, leaving Spirit behind. He watched me go, a look of anxiety and worry on his face, but he knew as well as I that there was no way he'd be able to watch what I was about to do. I pushed open the door and dropped all the items I was clutching to my chest onto the edge of the tub. A scalpel? Why had I brought that? Force of habit I suppose. I grabbed a syringe of painkiller and injected some into me. Pills would take several minutes to work, but I didn't have several minutes. I wasn't going to be able to so much as touch the injury if I didn't first dull the pain.

Now I looked in the mirror. It looked like half of my face had been ripped off. However a quick rinse showed otherwise. I saw now that there were three cuts where three of the claws had scratched across my face. Two of them should require not more than cleaning and bandaging, but the third was deep and looked severe. Possibilities started flying through my head: nerve damage, facial deformation. I was going to have to be careful. My hands clenched into fists. Myself. I was going to have to operate on myself. I've never done this before. Saying that I wasn't scared would be a lie. No one operates on themselves! It looked like a not-overly complicated case of cleaning and stitches, but all the same. Thought if I were going to, it would require local anesthetic and a chemical to slow blood flow which would be administered by an IV and started before the procedure. And lying down and using a mirror setup to see would be best… But I don't have time for that now. Nor do I have time to plan it all out. I stopped the flow of thoughts into my head.

I brought my face up to the mirror and looked closely at the deep cut. I could see inside; under my skin. I could see the muscles, just like I could with anyone else I dissected. I could see all the delicate little facial muscles as I shifted between various expressions. And as I looked the blood seemed less like a torrential cascade of life-giving fluid and more like the beautiful red liquid that pools in the wake of my scalpel and got on the fingers of my gloves as I worked. I grinned and reached for my scalpel.

Spirit's POV:

It felt like I was waiting for hours, but the clock told me otherwise. Every time I checked the time, two minutes had gone by. While I didn't wait by the bathroom door, I stood nearby incase he cried out or needed help. While it wasn't a life-or-death situation I was waiting for, it could still be pretty bad if Stein slipped up. This was a dumb idea. I shouldn't have let him do it. I don't know why I did. He definitely doesn't have enough experience.

Eventually I heard a "thump," and I rushed in to find out what happened. Stein was sitting against the wall beside the sink with his head on his chest and his eyes closed. On his nose and lower face some blood soaked gauze was taped on, and above that was a perfect line of stitches running from his hair line to behind his left ear. At this point the red, swollen skin underneath made it very clear that the stitches alone were holding that side of his face together, but hopefully with time that would get better. I gave a small smile.

"Well, at least it looks like you did a good enough job, you idiot." There was no response. Carefully I reached down and put one arm behind his knees and one behind his shoulders and lifted him up. "Look at the mess you made," I told the unconscious Stein. Shaking my head I carried him out and into his bedroom. I laid him down on his bed and went to find a pair of aspirin to leave with a glass of water beside his bed.

The Next Morning

Stein's POV:

I finally made myself wake up when I could no longer ignore the ache. I'd woken up in the middle of the night and taken the aspirin, so I needed to get up if I was to get more. I groggily started making my way out towards the bathroom. I had left it quite a mess. I started to rub my eye, but a sharp pain reminded me that it was too close to my injury.

I entered the bathroom and stopped. The place was… spotless. The path from it out into the entry room was as well, and all my tools were gone from the tub. I made my way into the kitchen where Spirit sat eating, and as I entered he looked up. He gazed at me for a moment, and then asked "How are you feeling?" I contemplated the question a minute before responding.

"Not too well. Though all things considered it could certainly be worse." Spirit's shoulders loosened and his eyes shifted. I gave my best attempt at a smile. "I'll be ok." He turned back to his food, and this time when he spoke his voice had a more authoritative edge.

"You're not doing that again." He stuck a forkful of food into his mouth. "Next time you're going to the hospital." I smirked slightly in amusement.

"Yes, Senpai," I exaggerated with copious amounts of sarcasm. I took some aspirin and then sat down across the table from Spirit and laid my head on my arms.

"Are you still tired?" he asked incredulously. "You slept for ages! So long I was worried! But I didn't want to wake you."

"Really? How long did I sleep?"

"All night and all day. It's six o'clock now. This is supper I'm eating."

"Hmmm… that sounds about right. My body would need extra energy to help with the healing process, and given the huge amount of blood I lost…"

"Oh shut up." But he tried to hide a smile. "By the way, a couple of the teachers from the Academy stopped by to check on you. They also brought new of the situation with the witch." That woke me up.

"News of the situation? That doesn't sound like events were very conclusive."

"They weren't. The witch got away, though badly injured, but her plan was more than to simply attack Lord Death. The Academy staff thought it seemed pretty uncharacteristically unwise for a witch of her caliber to just outright challenge Death himself to a fight, so there were patrols at all the entrances to Death City and around the Academy."

"Did they stop her plans?"

"Well, eventually, but I'm sure she knew that we would. You see, panthers came in through the sewers."

"Not exactly the first thing people would think of as coming through the sewers."

"Yeah, not really, but they are rather big, you know. Anyways, they were far away from any of our guards, so if took a long while for word to get to everyone. They weren't after the Academy; civilians were killed almost exclusively. It was a massive slaughter."

"OH! I get it! I see what the implications are here. She knew we would be able to stop the attack, but a successful invasion wasn't what she was after. It was just a preliminary attack made where it would hurt the sharpest. It will cause us to divide our people and to use up resources to help restore the city; to help those who lost family and to try to restabilize the job and economic systems of the city. Then she'll be able to come back for a second and likely different attack with the hopes of taking out the DWMA!"

"Y-yes." Spirit looked at me through suspicious narrow eyes. "You seem rather excited about that."

"Well, you know…" I kind of shifted in my seat. "Just the strategies."

"Yeah… well anyways, the battle is definitely not over." Spirit again busied himself with his food. "The Academy's goal now is to locate and defeat her before she can strike again, and there's no doubt we'll be helping out." He glanced up. "W-what's with the grin?"

"The ultimate battle with the ultimate witch. It's the perfect opportunity. I can do it; I'll get enough souls before then, and the next time I see that witch, I will defeat her. You'll be a death scythe, Senpai."

"What? Have you already forgotten what she did to you?"

"That's exactly why I have to defeat her." Spirit just looked at me, and then turned his head down towards his plate.

"…Hey, Stein?"

"Yes?"

"Want some supper?"

A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! It was awesome. Reviews are almost as awesome, so tell me what I did good, and tell me what I could have done better! (The latter as much as the former)