Aster looked over her class list as we walked down the hallway to her first class. Which happened to be my first class. As a matter of fact, I had made sure that we had all of the same classes, since there was no way in hell I was leaving her alone with a staff member if I wasn't with five feet.

"Who's Ms. Marie?" Aster asked.

"She's going to teach you things like Soul Resonances, fighting, and weapon skills. So basically, your going to relearn the crap you already know."

" Is she nice? Will she hurt me?" Aster had been on edge about starting classes, even thought she wouldn't admit it. She had been asking about all of her teachers and what they taught.

"She's kind of an airhead, but she has a temper. So you can bond over your anger issues at least.". I got a chuckle out of Twist who stayed on the other side of Aster. She took both of her elbows and jammed them into both of our stomachs.

"God Damn, you never have been able to take a joke, but you have always packed a punch." Twist winched in pain.

" Anyway, she's dating Stein thought so I'm not sure about what all he's told her." I replied,

Rubbing a hand over my hurting stomach. She flipped the bangs out of her eyes and looked down nervously. "O-oh."

彡Fallen Star

We walked into the busy room of the Advanced Weapon Skill class, I recognized a lot of people I knew.

Maka and Soul, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, an-

Wait, does Kid know about Aster and Twist?

I looked over at Kid and waved. He lifted his arm to return it and then noticed them.

He examined Aster and Twist and looked at them in disgust.

Aster's Star on the one wrist.

Twist's multiple uneven white spots on his head

Her bangs that swept to one side.

Before Kid had time to react anymore dramatically, Ms. Marie started class. I walked over to Tsubaki and sat down beside her. Aster and Twist did the same.

"Good Morning, everyone! Before we start class, I wanted to introduce two new students!"

She directed her gaze toward Aster and Twist, and a feeling struck my chest as I remember what always happened to new students in this class.

"This is Asteria Grey and Twist Delmore. Now, you all know what happens to new students." she smiled cheerfully and pulled out a little gold and black box with slips of paper in it.

"Uh, it's Aster, and what does happen to new students?"

"Oh, silly me, I forgot! When we get new student, them and their weapon have to fight a practice battle with another pair! It's just a way for me to evaluate your skills, so don't be nervous." She smiled

cheerfully as she pulled out a name. "And you'll be fighting Ox and Harvar!"

I knew how he fighted. He was good. I just hoped Aster didn't hold back.

Her and Twist met Ox and Harvar in the large circular floor. "Weapons, transform!" Twist turned into a pistol with the same design that was on his machine gun form. Unlike Kid, she held her gun with her index finger on the trigger.

"Fight!"

Ox made the first move and swung his spear around , aiming For Aster's stomach. She ducked and swept kicked him off his feet. When he was on the ground,

She hopped up and started shooting her soul bullets at him. He got up and started swinging again, Aster dodging and shooting at the same time.

She was very agile and ninja like adding a few punches, flips, and

kicks to him while she dodged.

He swung at her.

She fired back.

He punched

She kicked.

They repeated this process until he got a good jab at her stomach.

"Lightning King!"

Aster shook and sparked while she was being electrocuted, until he pulled it away after about six seconds.

Judging by the look on her face, she was beyond pissed. She backed up and looked at the floor with fury. Ox walked back for a second, taken aback by her reaction.

"Machine gun mode."

Twist changed into a totally different gun. He was the same machine I had seen earlier but this time there was a chain running from the trigger to the very end where the bullet was released on both sides. It had a white glow and the swirls on the sides where moving.

"Soul Resonance."

A glow came from both of their started firing rapidly Into the air. The white and black bullets would just stop mid air and it seemed as if she was making a picture in the air with her bullets. From what I recognized, it seemed to be the same never-ending swirl design that was on the sides of the gun.

In three seconds, it was done. "Twilight Terror!" The bullet picture in the air started spinning at rapid speeds. Once it reached maximum speed, the bullets rearranged themselves into a black and white tornado that swept up Ox and Harvar.

The screamed as the tornado swirled them around. "Release!" Aster said. The bullets dropped them onto the floor and formed a dome around them, much like the way the seats were arraigned.

"Fire!"

The bullets glowed white for a second before they shot themselves at Ox and Harvard all at once.

You could only recognize two things; the look of shock on everyone's faces and the screams you heard in the background.

She looked at Ox and Harvar's weapon form with determination and rage. Twist changed back to his owl-like self, only I noticed a chain running from his ear and his lip.

"Bravo! You two have such strong soul resonance, I can see why you were put in the advanced

class!" Ms. Marie smiled.

Their Soul Resonance was amazing. I had never seen someone do any of that. It was almost as if she used mind control on the bullets.

She walked over to back to her seat with pride and admiration.

She was good and she knew it.

Suddenly, I heard Kid lean down from his seat behind us "How did you do that? That was wonderful! I'm a gun meister myself, but I have never been able to control the bullets like that!"

" Well, I do alot of it, but twist and if defiantly have to work together! He can shoot the bullets with different levels of force, so he makes it to where he shoots them so they won't go farther than I need them to. I just hold them in the air and tell them were to go. If he shoots them with too much force, it's much harder for me to get them to stop and stay in the air!"

Its almost as if he didn't have his OCD or atleast forgot about it. He just chatted away with her and didn't even cringe at the sight of her bangs that swept to one side or the one star on her wrist.

"I guess me and my weapons have some work to do!" I looked over at Liz and Patti and gave them a look that said, "Haha, you have to work hard with symmetry boy! Sucks to be you!"

"But how do you have such control of the bullets?"

"Since your bullets are made from fragments of your soul, you still have complete control over them since they are still parts of your body. Like when you tell your body to get out of bed in the morning, your using your mind

to make it get up. You just tell them where you want them to do with your mind. Try it!"

Kid got Liz and Patti and aimed at Soul. With a concentrated look on his face, he shot two bullets. Right as they were about to hit his forehead, he screamed, " Stop!"

They both obediently obeyed.

"Come back to me." Both bullets made their way back to Kid and each fell into one of Kid's outstretched hands.

"That.. That felt great! I felt so powerful and in control!" He exclaimed.

I felt sad for a moment. Tsubaki and I couldn't do anything like that, only gun and archery meisters. I made me feel like she had something that could make her a goddess.

But Gods don't feel sorry for themselves. They fight until they have no reason to be sorry.

And that's exactly what I will do.

Fallen Star-

While we were walking to our next class, Aster and Kid were talking up a storm. They conversed about weapons, partners, fighting, everything.

Twist talking to Liz and Patti. His eyes lit up like a child when ever they asked him questions, laughed at his jokes. I think he had a particular fondness to Patti. Knowing him in the short time I had, I knew he liked girls he could just be cool with. The ones that would overshine him while he would smile in the background.

Idiot. Who would want to let someone else have the spotlight?

Why was I being so judgmental today? I wasn't being myself at al.

Maybe I'm just on edge about Aster starting classes. But why?

"Because you love her!" a little voice in my head said.

Before I could mental scold myself, I was occupied by hearing the chattering voices of Stein's class that was unusually chatty. Looking around for what everyone was fussing over, I looked at the large black box on Stein's desk with letters on the side that said 'Caution: Live Snake!'

Looking back at Aster, I could see that she had noticed it ,too.

She stopped just as she walked through the doorway and looked at the box with fearful eyes.

I walked back to her. "What's wrong, scared of a little snake?" I asked her. She looked around and replied. "O-of course n-not, crazy!" She readjusted herself, changing her expression to it's usual determined one. But, she grabbed my hand and put it in her shaking one.

We walked over to our seats as Stein began to start class.

"Ok, let's cut to the chase. Were dissecting this snake today. Now, I'm gonna bring it around to show it to you all so you can get a better look."

He opened up the large crate and pulled out a large, black snake I couldn't identify. Walking around with it around his neck, he inched closer and closer with every step.

The thing didn't necessarily scare me, but it did remind me of our days with Medusa.

When Stein got to my seat, I didn't pay attention to the snake. I only cared about the girl beside me. He apparently caught on, and went to her desk.

"Don't you like snakes Aster? They're harmless." He said happily.

"Get it away from me." Stein just laughed and inched closer. " Oh, Aster, lighten up. It's only a snake."

"I said get it away from me." She backed up and away from him, her eyes filled with fear. "Um, Stein, I don't really think Aster likes snakes," said her calm and cool new partner, his voice now shaky.

I leaned over to Twist and whispered," Is their something I should know about?" He replied, "Aster told me she has a fear of snakes, and that's one of her two, the other being the staff here. So I guess the combination freaks her out.

I looked over and the usually brave and headstrong girl that had transformed into this fearful little girl that I didn't recognize. Tears were almost in her huge eyes as Stein laid it down of her desk.

"Just pet it. It's really friendly." Stein said with a reassuring smile. "Bull shit." she whispered, too afraid to speak her usually loud tone.

I leaned up and got in Stein's face. "Stein, I swear if that snake does anything to hurt that girl, I will kill you. I'll even let you choose how I do it. I can either chop off that twisted little head or I can spike your coffee when your not looking."

"Black Star, you shouldn't resort to violence." He turned to Aster and looked at her sweetly. "Aster, Sweety, you'll be perfectly fine. Besides, learning to brace your fears will make you stronger."

She hesitantly reached out a hand and hovered it above it's head. "Don't do anything he tempts you to do Aster! Don't give -"

She closed her eyes and laid her hand on the snakes head. The whole class stared in awe as the girl open her eyes to see the snake just sit there. The expression in her face relaxed as she began to pet the snake. She smiled when the snake began to swirl around her arm laying it's head on her wrist.

That was until...

¡chomp!

Aster stared in fear at the fangs sinking into her wrist, biting down hard. Well, she did until she passed out.

"STEIN I SWEAR IF THAT SNAKE WAS POISINOUS I WILL KILL YOU. EVEN IF IT WASN'T I'LL STILL KILL YOU!"

Soul , Twist, and Kid held me back from killing the man, while Maka, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti tended to Aster.

"Hey, Steiny, why does Asties wrist have foam coming out of it?" The ever so innocent Patti asked.

A new wave of rage overcame my body. I charged at Stein. Soul transformed his arms into a scythe like barrier that kept me from choking him to death.

"IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HER, YOU'LL BE MORE THAN SORRY AND A GREAT GOD LIKE ME WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!"

"We need to get her somewhere to lay down! If she keeps sitting like this, that poison will spread, which could kill her. And we need something to put pressure on her wrist," Maka said.

I took off my white scarf and wrapped it around her wrist. Then, with the help of Twist, we lifted her out of her seat and I carried her bridal style out the door. But I stopped to give Stein one last evil look before I took of sprinting.

¡Fallen Star!

When we arrived at the apartment, I immediately sat her down on my own bed and layed her flat. I smoothed all of the hair out her face and checked to see if her eyes were open.

Nope, still unconscious.

Soon after, everyone filled in and started to tend to her. Well, Maka and Kid did, since they were the smartest ones out of us all. Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti helped by getting them the things they needed. Soul and Twist made food for us all since they had almost nothing to offer us at all and I sat there and held Asters mobile hand the whole time.

"Umm, Black Star, can I tell you something?" Maka asked. "Well, yeah."

She took a breath and started to explain. "That snake was infected by something that gave it a special form of poisinous venom.

I checked and that venom wasn't something that nature could have given it. It was man made. And is was made to kill someone specifically like Aster. Kid thinks he got all of the venom out of her arm, but even a small bit he might haven't caught can kill her." She looked sympathetically into my eyes.

I looked down at the ground trying to burn two eye shape holes into it. Which a god like me can do, since I'm just awesome like that!

"Can you two leave?" Kid and Maka nodded and left the room.

I pulled my desk chair over to my bed and looked at Aster. She was breathing, but was sleeping.

She looked so innocent, with her eyes closed and her hair swept over her face. It was nice when she wasn't trying to kill me.

But there was something about her in this stage just made me tempted. The headstrong girl that I knew, changed into this afraid and innocent little just by trying to overcome a fear. She was so stubborn, had a bad temper, and was really loud, but she was also, brave, determined, and strong.

And right now I was seeing another side of her that I. Had only seen twice before. Once when I first met her and once when we coming home that one night.

The one that was afraid and broken.

I wanted her to know that I would always be there to protect her. That she didn't have to be afraid.I wanted to tell her that, scream it in her face until she got it. But since she was currently unconscious, I had to think of the second best option.

I swept the hair from her face and looked into her closed eyes. Without waiting for more than a second, I laid my lips onto hers and kissed her.

"Get better, okay, you dumb ass."

"Okay, dip shit."

She awoke for a second and looked into my eyes, smiling. Before she fell back asleep, she kissed me again, cupping my check in her hand. I kissed back, but pulled back to tell her, "I love you."

Ahh, LOVE! Such a magical thing! This chapter was long because I kinda wanted to make it up to you all for not writing a long time. I hope you liked it! Oh, and I want to thank juvenual for the advice! I hope you saw a change in his protectiveness! ^^

This was definantly a more serious chapter I've written, but there fun to write. But I hate making Stein who's one of my favorite characters (right behind Black Star) the villain! -.-

You all are extremely nice! Thanks for being so supportive of this! Since you all are sticking with me, I want to give you all a name other than "you all." I want something that has to do with Alice in Wonderland (look at my pen name if it tells you that I am obsessed.) I want you all to come up with it and the name I choose gets ten of Alice's Cool points and a shout out! And I don't give my cool points to just anyone. So be creative!

Next Chapter Title sneak peak-

A Grey Star's first date! Its more of a lighthearted chapter, which I think you all will like (I'd also like a break from all of this serious stuff!)

And I'm sorry for posting the same chapter twice! I thought I deleted the extra! DX

Stay Lovely

~ Alice