Title: Past Hauntings

Rating: T

By: ToastWeaselofDOOM

Summary: AU. Franken Stein has everything. A wonderful wife, a house, and a respectable job. But this could all change when a mistake he made fifteen years ago comes back to haunt him.

Warning: As this is an AU, character's might be a tad OOC in order to fit into society and general living. I've tried to fit their abilities into the story best as I could, but there is always a few people who freak over these things, so I warn you now. I repeated, CHARACTERS MIGHT BE A BIT OOC. This also contains a bunch of my favourite pairings including (but not limited to) SteinMarie, SteinMedusa, SoulMaka, MarieSteinMedusa, etc etc. My beta(s) are very busy and can't beta everything on time all the time, so sometimes chapters will be published unbeta'd.

If you have a problem with one or more of these pairings, or with it the characters being OOC, or with it not being beta'd, I'm implore you, DO NOT FLAME ME IF YOU CONTINUE ON AND READ THIS. It will have been your fault for not reading my warnings and A/N before you read. Thank you! ^^

A/N: This chapter. SO MANY MISTAKES. KIT WAS ABOUT TO KILL HERSLEF AND I ABOUT TO COMMIT SEPEKKU. But we worked it out, aru. :3

ANYWAY. I got you chapters of Past Hauntings for the Holidays!! Aren't you happy?! TWO CHAPTERS IN FACT. I know, love me and my inactive, lazy self. I'll try to update more freeequently~! Enjoy!

THIS CHAPTER WAS BETA'D by ~Desert(dot)Moon. Thank you for putting up with all of my mistakes in this, Kit! ~heart~

Chapter 9

Stein groaned and opened his eyes wearily. The night had been a long one; and as he looked around, he remembered why.

'Chrona,' he thought, gazing at the sleeping face of his daughter. She looked much more peaceful in sleep than out of it. Almost as if the loss of consciousness had rid her of all life's troubles.

Stein sat up in the chair and popped his neck nonchalantly. He had fallen asleep watching his daughter. She had asked him to stay and he had, but he didn't know what had compelled him to do so, and that bugged him slightly.

He rubbed a hand under his glasses; when he looked up, Chrona had shifted in her sleep. The doctor decided he was perfectly content with sitting in the chair and watching his daughter sleep. It wasn't as if he had anything to do today; he had weekends off.

There was a quiet knock on the door and it was pushed open. Stein's wife stood in the doorway, a smile on her face. "G'morning, Franken. Have a good sleep?"

"Yeah," muttered Stein, cracking his neck again. "Did you?"

Marie nodded. "I missed you."

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep here."

"I gathered." Marie's voice held a teasing tone, and her visible golden eye sparkled. "Oh, yes, I don't remember if I told you or not, but Maka is coming over for tutoring today."

Stein shook his head. "You either failed to mention it to me or I forgot."

"Well, I'm telling you now," Marie told him. "She'll be over in about forty-five minutes so try and be presentable, alright?"

"Yes, Marie," Stein said with a sigh. His wife crossed the room and gave him a kiss, then left again. "Oh, and there's coffee in the pot for you!" he heard her call down the hall.

"Thanks," Stein said, although he knew she couldn't hear him. He made to get up, but as he did, Chrona stirred; the man stopped and watched as his daughter rolled over, then sat up and blinked blearily.

"Good morning, Chrona."

The girl jumped as if a gun had gone off. She looked around wildly, but saw her father and calmed down. "G-Good Morning, Stein-hakase. . ."

"Sleep well?" Chrona nodded dumbly and scrubbed at her sleepy eyes.

"That's good." Stein stood and walked to and out the door. Chrona scrambled from the bed and followed her father as he headed down the hallway.

"G'morning, Chrona!" Marie exclaimed as the girl slunk after Stein into the great room. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Chrona's eyes widened. "O-Okay . . ."

Marie smiled. "Eggs, toast, and bacon alright with you?"

"S-sure."

"No need to stand, you can sit down while you wait." Chrona hesitantly took a seat at the counter. Stein, who had slipped out to get the paper, came back in with the roll of news. He took the plastic cover off of the paper and spread it out on the counter.

"What's new, Franken?" Marie asked, cracking eggs into a bowl.

"Arachnophobia has taken responsibility for another three murders," Stein replied, reading aloud from the headlines. "Guns and a chainsaw were used . . . all the throats of the victims were slit and the crime scenes were all cleaned with no blood, despite the brutality of the attacks. . ."

"How horrible!" Marie gasped. Chrona's eyes widened and she hugged herself as Marie poured the beaten eggs into a skillet. The sound of sizzling filled the kitchen. There was a knock on the door and Chrona started, barely containing a yelp. "Franken, can you get the door?"

"Sure." Stein moved from the counter and towards the door. He opened it to find the green-eyed Maka Albarn on the other side.

"Good morning, Stein-hakase!" she chirped with a smile. She turned and looked at the white-haired teenager straddling an idling motorcycle. "Okay, Soul, you can go! Thanks for the ride!" Soul flashed a thumbs-up, then kicked his bike into gear and roared off.

"That boy is going to get himself killed one day, riding without a helmet," Stein said with a sigh. "Come in, Miss Albarn."

"Thank you." Maka stepped inside and Stein closed the door. It was only after Maka had walked into the kitchen that Stein had realized his mistake.

"Ommygosh!" Maka gasped, dropping her bag of books on the floor in her shock. "No way!"

Chrona stared at Maka, and Maka stared back. "M-M-Me?"

"You're the girl I found in the alley!" Maka exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're alright! Well, my mom said you were alright but still—! What are you doing here?! Mom told me you lived in Los Angeles!"

Chrona's eyes widened and darted between Maka, Marie, and her father. Stein calmly took the situation under his control. "Chrona is staying with us while her family is dealing with some issues," he explained. "She'll be going to Shibusen starting next week."

Maka smiled happily and went over to Chrona and hugged her. "You totally have to hang out with my friends and me sometime!!!" Stein's daughter squirmed uncomfortably in her grasp.

"I don't know how to deal with girls hugging me!" she whined plaintively. "P-Please let go!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Maka released Chrona from her embrace. "A bit sensitive, huh?"

"I-I-I-I-It's okay," Chrona stuttered.

"Well, this is an interesting development!" Marie chimed in with a smile. "It's great Chrona will have a friend on the first day of school. Maka-chan, would you like something to eat?"

"Oh, sure!" Maka chirped, pulling up the stool next to Chrona. "Thank you, Marie-sensei!"

"No problem." Marie turned back to the stove and a few minutes later, she put two plates in front of the girls. "Eat up!"

"Thank you, Marie-sensei! It looks great!"

"Th-Thank you, Miss Marie . . ."

Stein's wife smiled before going to refill her husband's coffee mug. "Franken, do you want anything?"

"Besides a cigarette?"

Marie sighed. "You know you can't, and you know why, too."

"Doesn't mean I don't want one," Stein replied before taking a sip of his coffee and turning the page of his newspaper. "And I'm the one with the degree."

"Doesn't seem like it, sometimes."

Maka snickered, then leaned over to Chrona and whispered, "They do this all the time." Chrona nodded dumbly, not sure how to deal with this breach of personal space. Thankfully for her, Maka straightened and removed herself from Chrona's bubble.

"Let me rephrase that question," Marie said with a sigh. "Do you want something to eat?"

"I'm fine, Marie," Stein replied, looking back at his paper. "Coffee is perfectly acceptable."

"Alright." Marie turned from her husband to her student. "After you're done, Maka-chan, what would you like to work on first? You said yesterday there were several things you needed help with?""

Maka nodded, twirling the end of one of her ponytails around her finger. "I'm having trouble in Science and Math."

"I can help you with Math," Marie said with a smile, "and Franken can help you with Science, can't you, sweetheart?"

"Uh huh." Stein didn't look up from his paper.

The young Shibusen student smiled. "Thank you, Stein-hakase."

"No problem."

Chrona poked at her food morosely. She did eat some, as she was hungry, but not knowing how to deal with this alien concept of family and friends was putting her off her appetite. And Maka. She wasn't sure how to deal with her either.

The pink-haired teenager fiddled with the bandage on the temporary splint her father had made for her the day before. He was so nice, even though she had entered so suddenly into his life and no doubt become a burden to him. Chrona surveyed Maka and Marie discussed the second level of Algebra, a foreign concept to her. She'd only gotten to the first level of Algebra, and she'd barely passed that.

She was nervous. She wanted to scream, cry, do something, but she couldn't, not without making a scene and drawing unwanted attention that she definitely wouldn't know how to deal with. She needed a way out. Now.

She glanced around to make sure no one was looking at her, then dug her nails, which were sharp for this very purpose, into the wrist that wasn't bandaged. The pain brought immediate relief, but it wasn't enough. She dug deeper, and had almost broken the skin when a strong hand grasped her wrist and pulled her arm away.

Chrona looked to her left into the green eyes of her father. He shook his head sternly and frowned, reprimanding her silently. The girl shrank back, afraid of more punishment in the form of a strike.

But it never came. Stein simply released her wrist and went back to reading the paper. Marie and that girl, Maka, hadn't noticed a thing. They were too busy working through a problem together to pay any attention to what she had been doing.

The lavender-haired teen went back to picking at her breakfast. It was good; much better than anything anyone at home could make. Her mother tended to poison whatever she cooked, not enough to kill, but enough to make anyone who ate it sick as a dog the next day. Free was the one who usually did most of the cooking; at least his food was edible.

Stein closed the paper and reached for the television remote. He turned it on and flipped to the news channel. The news report brought Chrona a welcome relief from the plate of food in front of her. Maka and Marie finished working on Algebra II and Maka came over to Stein carrying her science textbook.

"Biology?" Stein asked, opening the book and flipping through it. "Aren't you a sophomore?"

Maka blushed. "I took Chemistry freshman year."

"Ah, I see. Now what do you need help with?"

Maka started to explain her issues with DNA, and Chrona zoned out again. She didn't care about school. Her wrists seemed to burn.

"Not hungry, Chrona?" The girl jumped and turned. Marie smiled at her and repeated the question. Chrona shook her head. "I'll put it in the fridge then, and you can eat it later, 'kay?"

"O-Okay . . ."

Marie smiled and whisked the plate away. Chrona went back to watching her father help Maka. Suddenly, the girl's green eyes light up as she understood what Stein was explaining. The silver-haired doctor smirked slightly and tapped the side of Maka's head.

"It's all in there," he told her. "You've just got to find it in here—" he tapped the book "—and put it up in your head. Unlike your father, who continues to this day to be ignorant about some things."

Maka nodded earnestly. "Yes. I will be smarter than my papa! Thank you, Stein-hakase!"

"No problem." Stein shrugged and went back to his newspaper. Not long after, the news channel chimed its "Important Update!" line. Everyone in the room turned to face the screen and listened.

"This just in!" the news reporter said excitedly. "The gang of criminals, formally known as 'The Vectors'—but who are now calling themselves 'The Witches'— has sent a CD to this news station with a message for the public! Please listen."

The screen cut over to a completely blank screen with a red symbol made of circles and triangles. Stein fumbled for the remote and turned up the volume. Everyone in the room stared at the TV.

"Our leader was brutally murdered by one of our own," growled a deep male voice, his voice magnified by the volume. Chrona gulped; she recognized the voice to be Free's. "We are hunting for that traitor. They have been warned that when we find them, we will kill them just like they did our leader. We'll kill them . . . and anyone who gets in our way."

The screen went blank and was soon filled with the anxious face of the news anchor. But Chrona heard nothing of what the lady said about the message and its untraceable origins, for she had fainted dead away.

A/N: DUN DUN DUN.