Chapter 3: Dissected Feelings

The next morning Maka is pounding at my door.

"Up, up, Soul! We gotta get movin'. It's already 7:45!"

I leap out of bed pulling on my pants as I run through the door. Professor Stein is not a person you want to anger by showing up late. Absent is ok, because he figures if you aren't in class you must be off on special assignment saving the world, but show up tardy and you're liable to get dissected.

We are the last students to arrive and run to the open seats next to Kid just in time.

"Welcome, class." Professor Stein's low drool proceeds him into the classroom as he comes sliding in on his green office chair. "Today we are going to shake things up a bit."

"Great. I've been needing a challenge," Black*Star brags from the row behind mine in the auditorium.

"Shut up. You cocky bastard," someone shouts and I grin because I was about to say the same thing.

"Now. Now, class. There will be plenty of opportunities in the coming lessons to prove your toughness- so save it for dueling," Frank says. It never even crosses Professor Stein's mind to tell us to clean up our language. That's one of the reasons he's my favorite teacher. He's just so damn cool.

Standing up from his chair, he adjusts the ginormous screw in his head. Click, click, click

"You all have achieved some great things and you have worked hard to learn how best to resonant with your partner and as teams, but today you will not have the benefit of your usual routine. Each meister will come forward and draw the name of a weapon out of the hat and that person will be your partner for the rest of the term. If you get the name of your usual partner you must draw another name. No meister will be partnered with their usual weapon."

Murmurs break out throughout the auditorium. We have been taught that it is highly important to be consistently partnered with the person you work best with so that your training can be that much more accelerated; with great natural compatibility come more powerful attacks or so they've told us. This concept of trading partners seems to go against everything they've taught us so far and from the looks on my classmates' faces it is clear I'm not the only one thinking that.

Ox, our resident expert on every topic under the sun and then some, hops up from his seat in the front row. "Professor! Why are we doing this? We've always been paired with the person that we work most effectively with. It seems ludicrous after all this time that we should be forced to switch."

A lopsided smile forms on Stein's lips making some of his scars stretch in odd ways. "Yes, Ox we have always sought to pair you so that your attacks would be the strongest, but it is time that you learn some flexibility. All of you have resonated in larger groupings so you've had some experience partnering with unfamiliar souls. Now it is time for you to learn to do it one on one just as you would do in an emergency situation."

I blink. What was he saying?

"Weapons, it is possible that at some point your primary meister may fall in combat and it will be your duty to be available for other meisters should they need your help."

I feel kind of nauseous. I could blame it on the fact I didn't eat breakfast, but I know it's because I'm getting taken away from my meister. Maka is going to be someone else's. I think I may hurl, but I need to keep my cool.

I should be happy about this, I guess, since I have feel pretty useless in the past when I've ended up on the sidelines of a fight because Maka has been knocked unconscious or badly injured. I have the ability to turn my arm into a scythe, but the attack isn't powerful enough to do anything to anyone who is more than a common thug so if Maka is down for the count so am I, but I've never really thought about rejoining the battle as the weapon of another meister. I thought my duty as a weapon was to stay by my meister's side no matter what…or was that what I wanted to do because my meister is Maka. Which would be a better way to support her and the team? And what if the answers to those two things aren't the same? I don't ever want to be put in a position where I have to choose between her and the health of other DWMA students or innocent bystanders. Delving into this stuff is not going to be pleasant for me considering how confused I am about the nature of my devotion to Maka.

Sitting to my left, Kid has broken out into a cold sweat and the black dye he uses to try to hide the asymmetrical stripes in his hair has started to run down his forehead. "Patty…Liz…" he murmurs, looking lost.

"Aw, Kid! It'll be ok. You'll still be our number one go-to guy," Patty chuckles, but that doesn't seem to comfort Kid much.

"How will I be symmetrical without both of you? And what good will I be without a gun? I don't know anything about lances or fire arrows! Oh, no what will I do? I will be worthless…a piece of garbage-"

Kid tends to share his personal agonies more vocally than I do. I pat him on the arm. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd much rather stay with Maka."

"I bet you would," he says his eyes staring into mine as though he can peer into my brain and see all the details of my obsession with her. But before I comment, he continues his rant mumbling about the strength of his pinkies and how hard it has been to learn to shoot an upside down gun while on a overboard.

Professor Stein looks at all of us with a serious expression and continues, "The unfortunate reality of life is that no one lives forever and even if each of you finds your abilities greatly enhanced when working with a certain individual you must be prepared to fight at any time with any partner in order to survive."

To my right, Maka stares intently at the Professor her eyebrows slightly lowered, the way they do when she is really, really concentrating- I call the expression "the sponge" as she only gets it when she trying to soak up all the knowledge from one of our mentors or someone she considers super wise.

She looks so cute like that…

I gulp. What the fuck?! Can I not go more than a few minutes without having some inappropriate thought about her? I'm sure she'd find it insulting if I dared say something like that out loud. It's totally disrespectful of her abilities as a talented meister.

She turns to me and smiles. "Well, I guess I won't be working with you on this."

I nod not knowing what to say. I fight the impulse to hug her.

Soul, get a grip. It's not like she's was leaving the country or something. She's just gonna be partnered with someone else for a while.

"Don't worry, Maka. You'll do great," I encourage her. "What'd you need me for, anyway?"

She makes little sounds in protest saying how much I contribute and how she's going to be lost without me blah, blah, blah. If she goes on much longer I will cry so I lighten the mood.

"Just don't pick Excalibur." My joke distracts her as she now feels the need to scan the room for the obnoxious three foot tall master sword. "He isn't here is he?!"

None of the meisters look incredibly enthusiastic as they line up to draw names. I cross my fingers I won't be with Ox. If I have to be with a different meister temporarily (emphasis on the temporarily) I'd rather it be someone less book-wormy, I get enough of the straight-A crowd hanging out with Maka. I need someone a little cooler, maybe a little rebellious…

When the time comes for Maka to pull a name out of the hat she isn't watching her gloved hand as she picks. She's smiling at me across the classroom and I'm smiling right back to show her my encouragement.

I try to tell myself that this assignment will be a good thing for us. It has the potential to make both Maka and I more versatile and that could end up strengthening our partnership in the long run. But my stupid heart isn't listening to my brain. As she unfolds the slip of paper to reveal who will be her new weapon an ache arises from deep within my chest and I'd swear Maka senses it as at that moment she stops and looks back up at me.

Across the classroom, our eyes meet, but it's her gaze on my soul that is most comforting and affirms for me that whatever written on that paper is wrong.

I belong with her. She's my meister.