"Say, how do you know Maka's old man?" Soul asked snatching a sandwich away from the pile Maka had set out for the group to share.
"Spirit? He's friends with my papa…" Milla smiled.
"What I'm more interested in is how you managed to get this job in the first place. I mean, Assistant Professor! I've never heard of such a thing!" Maka growled refusing to even offer a sandwich to Milla at all.
"I got this job because of my papa, too."
Thankfully Liz pulled an extra sandwich off of the plate and passed it over to Milla with a smile.
"And who did you say your dad was?" she asked.
"Oh my papa, well I thought it would be obvious, but it's Professor Stein."
The entire group starred over at her blankly, all of them paused in the middle of eating, their eyes narrowed in confusion. It had been obvious, hadn't it? They had the same hair, the same eyes. She was even tall like he was. Surely they could see the resemblance.
"Ha, nice one! Maybe having a younger Professor like her will be a good thing after all! At least she knows how to tell a joke," Soul laughed, slapping his hand on his leg roughly.
"Ha, ha…yeah that's really funny!" Patty joined in and soon enough everyone was chuckling at her.
"Just wait here, I'll be right back," she insisted gulping down her sandwich as she rushed back into the school.
Now that she remembered to use her soul perception when she took a wrong turn it was easy enough for her to find the classroom where Stein sat, grading a paper at his desk.
"Hey, I need you to come with me for a second," she mumbled grabbing the backrest of his chair.
Without waiting for an answer she pulled him away from the desk, dragging him out of the classroom still grading the paper in his hands. He didn't even try to get away from her or stop her.
"Where are we going?" he asked, writing something on the paper slowly.
"Just around. Did you take care of that badger?" she asked quietly, passing a weird blue man in the hallway.
"Evening Sid," Stein called out as they wheeled past, the blue man only glancing back at them in confusion. "No, I didn't. Spirit's missing too, I'm afraid your antics may have cost the poor man his life."
"I somehow doubt a badger killed a Death-Scythe. Here we are."
Skidding his chair to halt she spun him around to where he was overlooking the students all gathered around the trees on the school grounds, still in the middle of their lunches. All of them peering up at him as if they were expecting something to happen.
"Oh, hello there. Was there a reason I was drug away from grading tests to your little lunch get together?" Stein asked pulling a cigarette from inside his coat pocket.
"Stand up, please?" Milla asked.
"What for?"
"Just do it!"
With a swift kick to the already bent bar that supported the chair she knocked it out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. He took a moment to light his cigarette still laying on the ground before he slowly climbed to his feet, dusting off his lab coat.
"See?" Milla asked gesturing between herself and Stein.
Their eyes danced between the two, first to her, then to Stein, then back to her. Back to Stein. With each pass their expressions went from confusion, to contemplation, to utter shock.
"Holy hell! You weren't kidding! Stein is really your dad?" Soul shouted pointing at the two.
Even Maka seemed to understand the similarities between them, Kid, Patty and Liz all marveling at them as if they were some kind of world wonder.
"Great, now that we have that out of the way, can I go back to grading my papers now?" Stein sighed, blowing smoke into the air above their heads.
"STEIN!"
"Oh look, Spirit is still alive…"
Everyone watched as the redhead scrambled past them, clawing his way up a nearby tree faster than she thought any human should be able, the badger still nipping at his heels. Apparently Spirit had been the first thing it had encountered when it awoke from the anesthesia and it warranted he be the one the beast had to chase down.
"Stein, help! This belongs to you, doesn't it? You have to stop bringing wild animals into the school!" Spirit wailed.
To her surprise no one was paying any attention to the Death-Scythe in peril except for her and her father. The other students were all crowded around in a circle conversing about none other than how she came to be conceived. Their voices all hushed whispers.
"How do you think it happened? What woman would trust him enough to let him-" Soul mumbled.
"Soul! Don't say it!" Maka gasped, flushing red.
"Maybe he drugged her?" Liz offered.
"That certainly would make more sense. But then again, her age isn't aligning to when he should have conceived her…" Kid added, cupping his chin thoughtfully.
"Why haven't we ever seen her before?" Maka asked, her cheeks still red.
Milla poked her head into the middle of the group, interrupting their debate to try and help them understand how she came to be.
"You know, if you want to know, you could just ask. I was born in a lab," she muttered, nodding her head.
"Yes, she was a failed attempt at gene mapping," Stein sighed puffing on his cigarette as all the students gaped up at him in shock.
"How can you just say that?" Maka hissed.
"Well, it's the truth. I wouldn't expect any of you to understand right now. It's really not that important anyway. You should all be worried about poor Spirit. I think that badger really wants to eat him…"
Finally they all glanced over at the badger still furiously growling, trying to scale the tree to reach Spirit who had to climb higher just to avoid it's claws. Milla was the first one to take a step closer, fully prepared to try and chase the animal away until Stein reached out stopping her by the shoulder.
"Don't go over there or it'll turn on you next," he said digging in his pocket before he produced a small hollow tipped dart. "Just stay still Spirit, the more you struggle the more likely I'll be to hit you instead of the badger."
"What! Don't throw that! Stein, if you hit me it will kill me!"
"Don't be so dramatic, it's not going to kill you…"
By the time Stein had the animal tranquilized, Milla was helping Spirit down out of the tree without landing on his butt. It wasn't until he was on his feet, glaring down at the sleeping beast that Stein offered a solution to the problem Spirit hadn't thought to employ.
"You do realize that if you had just turned into a Scythe when you first came into contact with it, it wouldn't have been able to hurt you, right?" Stein asked lifting the badger up off of the ground where it fell from the tree.
Spirit's jaw dropped, tears streaming down his face as he realized that he was right! The entire situation could have been avoided if he had just used his brain. Milla chuckled at the redhead, her smile fading only when she realized that Stein was turning back to the school, his specimen in hand.
"Papa…" she gasped, causing him to stop mid step to peer at her, she wasn't suppose to call him that on school grounds. "Papa, please don't. Let me go set it free. Please."
She could see how the students were all gawking at them, the hesitation in Stein's step a little more than obvious. She had to remember not to cry, if she did that it would only make things worse, but it was hard. The sight of the limp animal in his arms, knowing what fate it would receive, it made a funny pain in her chest that seemed connected directly to her tear ducts. She was certain that he would turn away from her and take the animal back to its cage, her eyes falling to the ground to avoid having to see that look in his eyes. He was no doubt ashamed of her.
"Fine, have it your way. Just be sure it's far enough away from the main city and near a water source…" he sighed dropping the limp animal into her arms.
"Thank you," she mumbled, still refusing to cry.
"Class is starting soon, as soon as you're finished I expect to see you back. There are tests to be graded."
"So, how did your second first day go?"
Milla's eyes snapped up from the papers she was sorting, student tests into passing and failing category's along with a slew of other outdated papers Stein had apparently failed to put away properly, to Kaine who stood in the open doorway of the classroom. Now she understood why Lord Death insisted that he needed an Assistant. He couldn't keep anything organized to save his life, but somehow he knew right where everything was. That was how it had always been…
"I am a total failure. I broke the rule," she wheezed leaning back in his stitched chair. It was a miracle he left it behind for her to use while she worked.
"Oh damn, the rule huh? That's pretty bad. Wait, what's the rule again?"
He shuffled over to the desk, leaning forward on the papers to stare at her with his powder blue eyes. She had always admired Kaine's strange looks, how his eyes didn't match his crimson hair in the slightest, or the black streak of his bangs that always managed to cover half of his face which he swore he didn't dye. After being his partner for years she realized that was just how he looked, there were no tricks to it. If only he weren't so much shorter than she was she could have mistaken him for being handsome.
"The, don't call me papa in front of other people rule," she sighed pulling papers out from under his arms.
"Oh that rule. Yeah, how did that go?"
"He just gave me what I asked for. But I could tell he was disappointed with me. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
"What? Weren't you the one that said we needed to do this? No matter what we did back in the other school, we'll never be able to learn what we can from your old man, right?"
"Don't call him that. It's Professor Stein here."
"Are you two talking about me?"
Kaine suddenly went rigid, jerking up from the desk gawking at the doorway where Stein was standing, his glasses clutched in his hand as he closed the distance between them quietly.
"Professor," Milla said lightly, standing up from his chair in case he wanted it back.
"It's time to go, all of the other students are already gone. You can pick up where you left off tomorrow. And you, what are you doing here? You're not a student, or an Assistant…" Stein sighed sitting his glasses down on the desk, glaring down at Kaine.
This was usually how it went whenever they were in the same room alone with her. It was hard for her to tell if it was just her fathers urge to dissect the boy, or if he generally just didn't like him. Either way it usually ended with her having to put herself between them to keep Stein from tormenting her partner.
"He just came to pick me up, or would you rather I walk home alone?" she asked pulling Kaine with her toward the door.
"You could have just stayed at the lab, that way you could walk home with me everyday. But you insisted it wasn't necessary. If you're within the city limits you shouldn't need an escort," he stated sinking onto his chair.
"And if we had taken you up on that offer, how many days would I have to pull you and Kaine apart? The two of you living in the same quarters wouldn't work and you know it."
"Anesthetics work wonders for such situations."
"Haven't you had enough anesthesia for today, Professor? I'll see you in the morning…"
"Why does he hate me so much! Or is it just that he wants to rip my insides out and arrange them on a metal table, because honestly, I get that go jump off of a bridge vibe from him every time he looks at me," Kaine snapped flopping down on the couch in their small apartment living room.
"Does it look like I'm him? How am I suppose to know?" she asked sitting a cup of tea in front of him. Coffee for herself, tea never seemed to do the trick.
"Actually, you do look just like him…"
"That's not what I meant, Kaine."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're nothing like him, he's all crazy and shit. I mean he really let a badger chase a man around the campus today? Badgers could cause real harm if they're pissed enough-Milla? What?"
The word had come out of his mouth again. The only word that stuck a nerve every single time. She sat glaring over at him calmly and he realized he'd said something wrong, he just couldn't put his finger on it at the moment.
"Damn, I said the word didn't I? You know I don't mean it…" he whispered.
"Yes you do. You mean it every time you say it. And so does everyone else."
"Milla, come on he-he's not normal."
"You don't think I don't know that? That he doesn't know that? Just-you don't have to say it out loud, ok? I'm going to go out."
"Out? Out where? Do you want me to go with you?"
"No, just stay here. I'll be back to make dinner."
"Come on Milla, don't be like that!"
"Stay here."
Snatching up a bag of souvenirs she had prepared before leaving that morning for school, she shuffled out the apartment door and down the hallway quietly. She couldn't exactly be angry with Kaine. She understood better than anyone else he had a right to fear her father. A lot of people did. But that never seemed to stop the word from hurting her feelings. Her father was insane, there was no way around that. But she was so proud of him for the control he maintained, the effort he went through just to make it through the day as normally as possible. When he first learned she was coming back to Death City to study under him, he had offered her and her partner a place to stay in his laboratory on the outskirts of the city, but as she stood there staring up at the strange gray building she had once called home, she knew Kaine would have never survived there. The stitches that covered everything she could see, all of the walls, the arrows that at some times seemed just as random as the stitches. Kaine would have lived in a constant state of anxiety if they had stayed there. Without even bothering to knock she pulled the heavy metal door open with a bit of trouble, had he oiled the hinges since she'd left?
He sat in the main room of the lab as always, his back to the door, fingers floating over the keyboard in front of him as he worked on some experiment, one hand slowly reaching up to turn the bolt in his head before he went right back to work. As usual he didn't even turn to acknowledge her, this was commonplace. She was use to the lack of contact between them.
"I brought you some things from the other school. I thought you might be interested in a couple of the medical books I found. Also, I brought you some coffee, they opened a really nice café and they had the best espresso…" she sighed clicking on the light, it flickered a few times before it finally came to life illuminating the sterile looking room. "Are you eating well living here all by yourself?"
No answer. He did react slightly to the change in lighting, covering his eyes for a moment before he went right back to typing. She could see his reflection on the computer screen the closer she inched toward him, the words he was typing completely unimportant to her. She had learned at a very young age that his computer was off limits to her. Her especially. It didn't even occur to her anymore to try and read over his shoulder.
"I wanted to apologize for today, but really, you should stop bringing wild animals into the class to dissect. It's not really beneficial to the Meister's or the Weapons. I know that you know that, so why do you still insist on doing it?"
This time there was a hesitation in his typing, it was small but she noticed it none the less. And when he refused to answer her this time she reached her limit with him. Now he was well aware she was there and still ignoring her. Digging into the bag she pulled out the can of espresso she had brought for him and launched it across the room. It collided with the back of his head with a loud crack causing him to almost topple forward onto his keyboard before he turned to look at her in shock.
"Throwing metal cans at a person's head isn't a nice thing to do. What if you caused some kind of brain damage?" he mumbled finally speaking to her.
"As opposed to the damage it's already sustained with that through your skull? Why can't you just respond when I'm speaking to you?"
"I didn't think you expected me to. And thank you."
He scooped up the can of coffee from the floor reading over the label once before he sat it on his desk. Thankfully he didn't go back to whatever he was working on as she approached him, sitting out the books she had brought. He went over each label once, nodding at each before he stacked them next to the computer monitor.
"And to answer your questions, yes I am, and it's beneficial for everyone to understand the inner workings of living creatures. Knowing where certain vital organs are located could help in a battle with an enemy," he added leaning back in his chair.
"Animal and human anatomy are different."
"They wont let me cut open a human…"
She frowned down at him knowing very well if he could have a human specimen to cut open he would be overwhelmingly happy, it made her heart hurt. This man, who she admired so much, was so disconnected from human emotions it was unbelievable. She couldn't even recall a time when he ever said that he loved-
"Where is your partner?" he asked breaking her thoughts off as if he somehow knew the depressing path they were taking.
"He opted out for organ donating this year. And every other year until he dies. And even then he's left specific instructions that his organs are to go to a hospital… Sorry."
"What did he say this time that's made you angry enough to come here alone?"
Narrowing her eyes at him she shoved away from the desk heading back for the door. There was no way she was going to confide in him her irritations with other people if he couldn't even acknowledge her presence without some sort of violent outburst.
"I have to get back to make dinner. I really like the classes and the students. Thanks for letting me do this," she said waving back at him.
"And you get mad at me for avoiding questions…"
"We're just alike, aren't we?"
"No, we're not."
That calm undertone again. So calm it was almost eerie. She hated when he was clam…
"You keep saying that, but some days, I'm not so sure you're right," she sighed walking out the door, pushing it closed behind her with it's loud metallic groan.
There was a moment of complete silence before she could hear the typing resume, somehow the keystrokes were more violent than they had been when she first arrived.