"Come on, Lexi, we have to get your class schedule from Professor Stein," Soul said, walking toward class. "He's probably already talked to Lord Death about it. That's what they do for all the new students that come in the middle of the year. We don't really get that many new kids this late in the semester anyway, so you'll be kind of a big deal around here for a while."
She nodded as she walked, calm on the outside, but thoughts swirling like a hurricane in her head. 'Great, just what I need,' she thought to herself. 'More people to know who I am.'
"This place is incredible," she said, forcing the thought to the back of her mind for the moment. "How did Lord Death get those black balls to float over the school like that?"
"No one knows," he said, smirking. Almost everyone asked about it on their first tour of the Academy. "It's one of those secrets that Lord Death won't tell anyone. He's weird like that."
"So I've heard." She looked around again, watching as the students ran through the hallway to their classes. There were copies of Lord Death's mask on the walls, silently observing the students and faculty as they went about their day-to-day activities. Lexi wondered if he could actually see through the eyes of each mask, silently keeping watch over the school he so carefully created to defend the world.
The school bells chimed, and Soul pulled her into a lecture hall nearby. The class was loud, chattering as they began to take their seats. Black Star perched on the circular window ledge and shouting something about surpassing God (again). Learning quickly to ignore him, Lexi walked up to the front of the classroom to where Professor Stein was preparing a bird for dissection. Its legs, wings, and neck were strapped down to the table, and Professor Stein had shaved any feathers above the straps off for easy access to the skin.
"Stein-" She began, then rolled her eyes as Stein gave her a look. "Professor Stein," she corrected herself, shooting him a glare. "Do you have my class schedule?"
Professor Stein opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped when someone behind him spoke up, interrupting him.
"I have it," Kid said as he ran up to the pair, holding a piece of paper in his hand. Smiling at Lexi, he smoothed out the wrinkles in the paper before handing it over to her. On the top of the sheet was her name- Lexi, no last name- and a list of seven classes and their respective locations followed underneath. Lexi looked it over before nodding and looking up at Kid with a smile.
"Thanks," she responded. She folded it up and stuffed it in the pocket of her jeans before heading up the stairs to find a seat. Kid went to follow her, but Stein grabbed his arm to stop him. He paused, looking back at the teacher.
"I had the schedule on my desk," he said quietly to him, so no one else heard. There was a small, knowing smirk on his face, and Kid's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as blood rushed to his face.
"It's a revised copy from my father," he said smoothly. "There was an error, so he printed a new one and gave it to me to give her." Examining his face, Professor Stein released his arm. Kid straightened his jacket and headed up the steps to the seats, heart fluttering a bit when he saw an open desk in the row behind Lexi. He immediately set his books down there, not even noticing the looks Liz and Patty were giving him from across the room.
"He usually sits with us," Liz said, turning back to her desk after realizing that the glares were futile. "What's going on with him?"
"Can't you see? He likes her, big sis!" Patty laughed. Liz blinked, having not even thought of this possibility, and looked back at Kid once more. He was pretending to organize his books, though she could see that he was looking at Lexi, a look of pure awe on his face and a blush on his cheeks.
"…that actually makes sense," Liz said, a bit shocked. "Even though I've never seen him love anything other than perfect symmetry."
"She's gotta be perfectly symmetrical then," Patty responded, a giggle in her voice once more.
"I bet she has a horrible personality," Liz mumbled, turning back to her work. Patty looked up at her big sister, a bit confused, and was about to say something when Professor Stein cleared his throat from the front of the room.
"Settle down, class," he called, and everyone stopped talking to listen to him. "It's time to begin the dissection. Here, we have the rare bird…" as he spoke, he went to his desk to get his tools. Pulling out his scalpel and probe, he glanced at the top of his desk, just for a moment.
Lexi's schedule wasn't there.
After the final classes of the day had ended, Black Star and Tsubaki joined Soul and Lexi as they walked home to their apartments. Lord Death had assigned Kid a task outside of the city- something to do with a mass murderer starting to become a Kishin. As much as he had wanted to tag along and actually speak to Lexi, he had no choice but to follow his father's orders and leave with Liz and Patty. As the four teenagers walked, they spoke about many different topics, each as short and fleeting as the next. The school day, the weather, Black Star's obsession with being the "biggest man in Death City" (that topic came up a total of four times) before they heard footsteps behind them, fast and hard on the cobblestone street. They all turned around to see none other than Maka running toward them, her long black coat trailing behind her in the wind. Soul's eyes widened a bit in shock, and he took a step forward to meet her as she stopped running.
"Maka, what are you doing here?" He asked, looking her over with a slight frown. "The doctor said you wouldn't be leaving the hospital until at least tonight."
"I convinced him I was okay," she responded, slightly out of breath- although she was very healthy and a run didn't usually leave her panting, she still had the cut and the hospital was halfway across the city. Soul, of course, wasn't at all surprised, but instead a bit angered with her.
"You're still hurt," he argued, raising his voice a bit to let her know that he really meant business. "You shouldn't have gotten up until I got there. You should have waited for me."
"I didn't need to," she argued back. "And I thought you'd be happy to see me! I planned to be out earlier and make it for the second half of school, but convincing him took longer than I expected-"
"Soul's right," Lexi interrupted, taking a step forward toward her. "You could have underestimated how bad the cut was and made it worse."
"But I didn't."
"Then you're lucky."
"What are you still doing here, anyway?" she spat, voice dripping with malice- surprising even herself, but she kept speaking. "The Kishin's dead and I'm fine. You don't need to stick around anymore."
Lexi frowned, anger boiling inside her, and her fists clenched. Taking another step forward, she got in Maka's face.
"For your information, I enrolled at the DWMA," she said back, her voice practically an angry growl. "I thought for once in my life that I could stay in one place for a while. You don't seem to have a problem with anyone else around here, so what's your problem with me?"
"…shut up," Maka said, glaring at her and seeming to concede the argument. "Soul, let's go home." Grabbing the sleeve of his jacket, she started to storm off toward their apartment, but Soul stopped her.
"Maka, listen," he began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. This just got really awkward… he sighed. "Lexi's staying with us until she can find a place of her own."
"…what?" she asked, turning to him. "You never told me-"
"You were in the hospital! Besides, she saved your life. I figured we owed her a place to stay for a while. The guest room was open-"
"You know what?" she cut him off again, trying to calm down. "Fine. She can stay with us."
"Are you sure?" he asked cautiously. Just giving up on an argument wasn't at all like her. But she nodded, and although he wasn't completely convinced, he let it slide. Waving both of them to follow and saying goodbye to Tsubaki and Black Star, the trio walked home together, Soul in between them to keep them from killing each other. When they got inside, Lexi silently began making dinner, and Maka went straight to her room, mumbling something about studying and wanting to be left alone. Soul groaned.
'What did I get myself into?'
In her dream, she was standing on a street in a crowded city. The buildings around her were a monotonous gray, and although the sun shone brightly on the pavement, there was an odd pallor to the city. It seemed gloomy and lifeless, despite the people walking by on the street. Looking in a shop window next to her, she saw that she wore a white dress that went down to her knees. The fabric was light, and she could feel it blowing around her legs in the light breeze. There was a golden belt at her waist, and another circlet of gold on her head, as if she was wearing a crown. Her hair was curled and fell down her back like a waterfall. Looking at her feet, she saw she wore no shoes, and they had stayed surprisingly clean compared to the dirty sidewalk she was standing on. Turning away from the window- she had never been one to stare at herself for long- she turned right on the sidewalk and began walking toward the building.
She did this in every dream she had. She knew they were dreams, but they always felt so real, and she would often wake up in a cold sweat, hands shaking uncontrollably. She knew exactly where the tall gray building was, and as she reached it, she stared up at it. It had exactly 26 floors, with fifteen apartments on each floor. 390 apartments, plus the basement, and there were stairs to the metal door on the roof. After living in that building for eleven years, she ought to know it inside and out. She pulled open the wooden doors that faced the street and stepped inside.
The tiles were cold under her bare feet. There was no one in the lobby, and she crossed directly to the elevators. Stepping into one, she pressed the button for the eleventh floor, and leaned against the gray railing that surrounded the inside of the elevator as she was lifted up.
'God, elevator music is so cheesy,' she thought to herself as she rode up. The tune was familiar. The manager of the building just kept the same song on repeat all the time, so it was the only one that had ever played. Finally, after the doors opened, she stepped out of the elevator and onto tiled floor once more. Taking a left down a narrow hallway, tears pricked her eyes as memories flooded her head. Running down this hallway to catch the subway to school with her brother, meeting her parents in the hallway the day they brought her baby sister home from the hospital, and running the other way, toward the stairs, in a panic as the floors of the only home she had ever known became covered in blood.
'Stop,' she scolded herself, wiping her eyes with her arm. 'They won't want to see you if you're crying like a baby.' She got her emotions under control just as she stepped up to the front door of apartment 11D. Not even bothering to knock- this was her home, anyway- she opened the door and stepped inside.
Her mother, father, sister, and brother were sitting around their Christmas tree- the one they brought up every year from storage and set up together- each with a present in their laps. The family dog, Mocha- a brown and black Scottish Terrier- had his head in her brother's lap, chewing on a small dog bone. They looked up as the door opened, and Lexi's mother smiled warmly.
"You made it," she said, happiness showing in the laughter lines around her eyes. "We weren't sure if you'd come. Sit down, dear, and open your presents."
"I come every night," she responded, kneeling between her father and her sister. Her dad bent over and laid a gentle kiss on the top of her head, and she felt tears in her eyes again, although she held them back this time. Christmas was a time to be happy, not cry. At least, it was every year before her eleventh Christmas. Her younger sister, Alice, reached over and handed her a gift. There were four, each wrapped in the same silver wrapping paper. She opened the package carefully, wanting to savor each moment spent with her family, although she knew exactly what was inside. She pulled the top off of the box and lifted the handgun out. Alice was smiling widely, looking so excited to see her sister's face.
"I made it myself! I hope you like it," she said happily, giving Lexi a hug. Setting the gun aside- the original gift had been a handmade wax candle that she had made in class- she wrapped her arms around her seven-year-old sister and held her in the tight hug.
"It's great," she whispered into her hair. She hated it. But Alice pulled back, and her older brother, Max, handed her a small box, no larger than the palm of her hand. She opened this one and dumped out the six bullets into her hand.
"Thanks, Max." She smiled at him. She had loved the bracelet, but she knew what the bullets were for. Or, rather, for who. She set the bullets next to the gun and picked up her third gift. This one was from her mother. This gift was the only one that ever stayed the same. It was a photo of her with her family. Even Mocha was there, cradled in Alice's arms. During her run out of the apartment, she hadn't grabbed it. She wished now more than anything in the world that she had. She smiled warmly at her mother, the thank you she was too choked up to voice shown in her eyes. Her mother leaned down from the couch and kissed her head. She pulled the final gift into her lap- from her father- and unwrapped it. She couldn't remember what the original gift was, but she had found the knife she was now pulling out of the box on a beach in Miami. It had seemed like it was destined for her, with a flawless silver blade, a golden handle, and a silver gemstone at the end. The gemstone seemed to ebb and flow, but Lexi knew it was just a trick of the light.
"Thanks, Daddy," she said, holding it close. "I'll use it well." And she would.
She closed her eyes as she heard the scrape of the gun on the floor next to her and stood. "I'm sorry I never got to say goodbye," she whispered, her eyes welling up again. "But I love you all, so much… and I'm sorry." She turned to the man standing behind her.
"You again," she said, that defiant growl back in her voice. "Do we have to go through this every night? Haven't you caused me enough pain yet?"
The man, shrouded in shadow, said nothing as he loaded the gun. Her family was oblivious. She used to shout at them to run, used to try to disarm the man, but nothing worked. Their fate was sealed. As she watched, five bangs! echoed through the tiny apartment. Five holes appeared in five heads. Blood soaked through four heads of hair and one head of fur- he had even killed her dog. And as they slumped to the floor, the man leveled the gun and did what she wished he had done nearly seven years ago.
A hole opened in Lexi's forehead.
That's it for Chapter Four. I hope all of you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it. If you have any comments or even criticism, please feel free to review. I try to respond to all of my reviews. See you next chapter!