A/N: This chapter will be from Marie's POV! Don't worry, Stein will be back in the following chapter, I promise. Hope this gives you a little insight to Marie's manhunt. I do not Soul Eater, nor do I profit from this. It's simply for creative fun.

Marie smiled sweetly at her date, in spite of the fact that she was not enjoying herself in the slightest. He wasn't as handsome as he had been in his picture, and the receding hairline he was currently sporting had suspiciously been absent. She wondered if this man with all these supposed 'honest' and 'caring' qualities had in fact lied to her about a lot more than just his appearance. She couldn't help but think of how much better her night would have been had she chosen to laze on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn, a show about sharks and her roommate, Franken Stein.

Even now, as Mr. Steve Connors blathered on about some project in his business firm, Marie was transporting herself elsewhere in her mind.

She couldn't stop thinking about that look in Stein's eye. To anyone who didn't understand him the way she did he would have seemed polite and platonic, and yet there had been something in his eyes that had made her feel like a bashful teenager again.

His eyes were a dead give-away to her, even if Stein would exhaustively deny it. Behind the round glasses and the heavy-eyelids, his eyes were calculative and intelligent (which was to be expected), but they were also very intense. That was the problem with Stein, you either got little to no emotion from him, or far too much. There was no in between, no moderation. When he felt, he felt with such a force that it nearly suffocated her soul.

She should understand, then, why he felt the need to maintain a comfortable distance from anyone and everyone, even his own roommate and trusted weapon. But, alas, Marie wasn't altogether practical on these sorts of matters. Her hopeless romantic nature would not allow her to be. She often wondered if Stein could get it just right, could just understand that with a little bit of effort his feelings wouldn't be so frightening, that he could perhaps find love.

But whom would Stein love, then?

"Marie, darling? I've been boring you haven't I?"

Yes. "No, no of course not. I just have a lot on my mind."

"I've been being selfish, talking all about myself. Please tell me more about your hobbies, Marie." Mr. Connors reached across the table to stroke her knuckles—Marie wasn't feeling it. "And I must repeat myself, you look positively ravishing."

"Oh, thank-you. Again." She laughed awkwardly.

She couldn't help but wish for Stein to share that exact opinion. It still surprised her, the effect that this mind-numbingly unromantic man of logic and analysis still had over her. As a child, she had always imagined a prince on a white horse that would treat her with tenderness. Stein had never so much as looked at her with blatant lust or romantic affection—at least not in a way that she had ever noticed. Yet she had once found herself attracted to the lanky, awkward teenager with the social skills of an agoraphobic hermit, even to the point where she considered him her first love.

He had grown up into a handsome man, unconventional for certain, but still handsome. Stein was simply magnetic to her. His genius alone was enough to make him attractive; after all, half the men she had dated in her life were dumber than a bag of rocks. His body was littered with scars and stitches, some of them from battles and some self-inflicted, but even that seemed to enhance the appeal of his athletic figure—not that she ever got to see even the tiniest bit of it, as he was always wearing that confounded lab coat. Marie wondered what he'd think or say if she ripped that poorly sewn turtleneck of his off, and she found herself blushing, embarrassed by the lurid thoughts that crossed her mind.

"Marie?" Steve Connors, world's most boring date of the night, asked her again.

"Yes, well. I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy spending time with my students." She spoke pleasantly so as to not reveal her underlying indifference. He was paying for the meal and he didn't seem all that bad, so she might as well be polite and kind towards him. She glanced away from Steve, before adding an unintentional afterthought, "My roommate and I watch the nature channel often."

"Oh, your roommate, eh? She a bookish sort?"

"He." She corrected with a slight smile, "And yes, he's very bookish."

"Oh, you live with another man."

"Yes." Marie shrugged her shoulders, it had never been a big deal—but she was surprised to see relief in Steve's expression.

"Well, that makes me feel so much better that you have a live-in boyfriend."

"Live-in boyfriend, what are you talking about?" Marie's whispered in a baffled tone, her brow furrowed. She was absolutely confused as to how a live-in boyfriend was a positive thing in this situation.

"Well, I have something to confess—" And that was about the time when Marie's confidence in dating sites was completely obliterated.

"Jerry! Jerry Connors I see you over there, with that woman!" Marie turned to see some middle-aged woman shouting from across the room, shoving past all the tables towards theirs. "You sorry sack of, good for nothing—"

"Jerry? I'm sorry what is this all about?" Marie asked, holding her hands up defensively.

"This is all about you being on a date with my husband." The woman snarled at her, shortly before she smacked 'Steve' across the back of his head.

"Ok. Let me get this straight." Marie's voice was dead calm, but her hands had balled into fists, "Your name isn't Steve. You're married. And the picture on your profile is outdated. Was it all fabricated?"

"Well, yes." He spoke in a small, pitiful voice, "But I do think you're very beautiful and I thought since you were cheating on your boyfriend, then maybe—"

"You. Are. A. Pig!" Before Marie knew it, she had lost her temper. Her fist had become a hammer and she had smashed it into 'Steve's' face—sending him clean across the dining room. It took her few moments to compose herself, before she could face his perturbed wife. "I'm very sorry for the confusion, I would have never dated him had I known."

The wife still looked suspicious of her, but nodded in acknowledgement nonetheless. That gesture had at least made Marie feel a little bit better about the situation, even though she was feeling pretty horrible. Gathering up her broken pride, she left the dining hall with her head held high, even though she was embarrassed beyond belief.

Once alone in the cab, Marie told the driver Stein's address and hesitated a moment, chewing her bottom lip. Eventually she muttered in a watery tone, "And p-please…don't ask."

With that Marie dissolved into tears.