"I can give her back to you."
The words hung heavy in the air as Stein twisted the screw in his head, warily regarding the soul he couldn't quite sense.
"If I wanted her back, I would have brought her back myself."
The individual across from him smiled. It was a disturbing smile, one that stretched just a little too far, one that didn't quite reach the man's eyes. He adjusted his black suit's suit jacket, the smile stretching even further as he did so.
"Come now, doctor, we both know that the only way that you could have brought her back was like you brought back that Sid fellow. You wouldn't want your precious Marie to have cold blue skin for the rest of her unnatural life, now would you? I'll bring her back to you, good as new. Delicate, pale warm skin and all," the man said as he stepped closer to Stein, and the scent of something familiar yet wrong assaulted the scientist.
Stein's eyes narrowed and something twisted in his chest.
"All you have to do is agree to the terms. Just a simple yes. Then you'll have her again."
"You've neglected to mention what the terms to this are, you know," Stein said, the screw making another rotation inside his skull.
That feral, too large grin stretched across the dark haired man's pale features again. "Ah, yes. That little tidbit. To keep her, you have to give up someone close to you. Not just anyone close to you, no. The person closest to you other than her," laughter flitted briefly from him. "A soul for a soul, a body for a body. Understand?"
"Proof." Stein's statement hung in the air, drifting with the smoke from his cigarette as the creature across from him laughed.
"I'll give you proof. Her essence resides here, you know. It haunts the halls of this lab, her laughter buried in the walls, her tears in the floor. She is imprinted on this place an indelibly as you are," he said as he waved a hand around them at the stitched walls and empty spaces. "I would brace if I were you, and stand up."
Stein raised an eyebrow but rose from his chair, his left hand twisting the screw in his head. Laughter erupted from the man as light exploded around him; dark light that twisted, shooting past Stein, causing the scientist to immediately drop to a defensive stance, his attention on whatever the creature was that stood in front of him.
The light swirled through the lab, touching the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and he heard Marie's laughter. He heard the undeniable sound of her crying. He heard her voice calling for him; he could feel her touch on his shoulder. The light shot back to coalesce in front of him, and his eyes widened.
A humanoid shape was forming out of the light show, and in a flash of brilliant golden light he could see it; Marie's soul hung in the middle of the lights and Stein almost hit his knees. He stood there watching as the light rebuilt her body and then, in another flash of golden light, she was whole and complete. He darted forward, bracing her falling body with his own, hitting his knees with her chest pressed against his, her head resting on his shoulder as she took shuddering breaths.
Green eyes looked up and met black ones, the creature's too large grin full of sharp teeth. "You have one day with her to make your decision, Franken Stein. I'll return then, and then I'll take my payment or I'll take her."
Stein watched as the being, whatever it was, faded out of view. Marie stirred in his arms and he realized suddenly that she was naked. A quick movement divested him of his lab coat and wrapped it around her before he scooped the barely conscious death scythe into his arms and darted towards her room.
Her hand found his chest as he opened the door, and he looked down at her as she weakly called out his name. Both her eyes were open and looking at him, and the creature's words rung through his head.
"As good as new."
"Franken? What's going on?" Marie's voice was weak and tired as he laid her down on her bed.
"You… had an accident, Marie. You'll be fine, just rest for a moment, please." Stein said, his hand moving to brush the hair from her face as he marveled at her eyes.
"Accident?" Marie's gold eyes held his and he sighed.
"You… died."
The words fell flatly into the silence, and Marie's eyes widened. Long moments passed where she just stared at him before slowly, hesitantly lifting her arm into the air; she looked at it as if it were an unknown creature. A flash of light heralded her transformation, her arm changing into her normal partial form before reverting in another.
"I'm… I'm not dead, Franken."
Her eyes met his and saw the sorrow they held. There was no doubt in her mind that the man in front of her was telling the truth, that she had died. But for how long?
"You died three weeks ago, Marie… Shibusen held a funeral, we buried you. We've all mourned you." Stein's voice was almost empty, as if he was forcing himself to remain detached from his emotions.
"Then how… how am I…" the woman's head was reeling, "How the hell am I here?"
Stein was silent for a moment. "I can't tell you, because I'm not entirely certain myself."
The creature's words echoed in the man's skull and one hand crept to hold Marie's, gently closing over it even as the other twisted the screw protruding from his head. "You have one day to make your decision. Her, or the person closest to you in this world."
He had to choose between Marie and Spirit.
A/N: Yet something else that was prompted by XStrawberryDuckFeathersX; again, I have varied a bit from the original prompt, and decided to break this down into multiple chapters- going to try to shoot for 3-4 chapters for this.
I don't own Soul Eater.