Finally, this chapter is up! Soon the next chapter will be here. All that I need to do is proofread and edit some stuff then I'll post it first thing tomorrow afternoon.

Jasmine98: Yeah. He's off to a bad start, but he's not really a bad guy. He cares about her and I plan to develop their relationship as the story goes on. I don't promise I'll be good at doing that but that's my plan.

This chapter focuses more on Stein and kind of goes into what I believe makes this story more exciting later. I already have plans for future chapters now that this chapter is down. I feel so psyched, and thanks for the support everyone!

The Next Day

Stein took a deep breath as he looked at the paper laid before him. His eye stared at the time of arrival and he glanced to his watch finding that the body was due five minutes ago. The corpse was approximately twelve hours old and had been discovered the previous evening dumped like a piece of garbage in the middle of a park hidden behind bushes. From what he read in the corpse's file on the person they had once been they were garbage. To be more accurate they were a prostitute.

Their life story was pretty short and rather typical, in Stein's opinion. Dropped out of high school, dealt coke to kids, was arrested numerous times for petty crimes, almost killed a person, did kill a different person, got acquitted in court, worked part time at a bar, and apparently worked most of whatever free time was available on the streets to get some cash for drugs and rent money on some crappy apartment. It was a wasted life, yet only one of many he'd read about. Now he was expected to cut into this body and find out whatever he could. Stein was more than happy to do it.

Nobody else was really interested. The only other person interested was Nygus, but she was hardly around. That's what happens when you take on two jobs. Stein thought. The same went for several others that worked with the police, such as Death who was top dog of the police as well as the principal of the local school. He was a great guy and evidently very energetic because he should have been buried alive under a pile of work long ago yet he seemed to find a way to finish it all and still have some free time on his hands. It was odd. Not that Stein thought on it much. He had other things to think on.

Things such as why the latest victim was late for their dissection. He was somewhat eager to get to work on the corpse. The newest victim of Mad Beast puzzled just about everyone on the case. It was mostly because the last four victims were nothing like the newest one. A second reason was because the cause of death had alternated somewhat. Typically serial killers stuck to a particular method, kept only a specific type of victim in their sights, and above all they kept in a specific range for a certain amount of time. Nothing seemed typical about this killer who had taken on the name Mad Beast.

He'd killed three women at first so it was presumed he targeted women, but that changed when his fourth victim came in. The fourth was male and shown a criminal record, unlike the first three who all seemed to have reputable pasts. That changed things up. Now things were changed again. The fifth victim was a woman who had a criminal record. It wasn't just the victims that made Mad Beast unusual it was how he disposed of the bodies.

They were all scattered far, far apart. The range of the killings was unknown especially since the first three victims discovered were just outside the city limits. The fourth was found in a dumpster in the city. And this one was dumped in the middle of a park. It all told the investigators virtually nothing especially since they kept going back and forth, and they had some detectives who second-guessed themselves. There were no witnesses, no good evidence, and clues were virtually nonexistent. Stein informed them of some useful things but he knew and would be the first to admit that what he found didn't help further the investigation even a bit. All they knew for sure was that the killer was most likely male, lived alone, and was a full-blown sociopath or psychopath. Hell, they could've been both.

Typical, yet there was nothing typical about the killer.

Then again there was hardly anything typical about anyone anymore. Stein considered himself to be as atypical as Mad Beast in some respects. One way was that he became rather calmed and somewhat excited whenever he got to dissect a body. It was wrong for him to enjoy it, but he knew that it was partly due to his dark mental state, which lead him to wonder just what his subjects last thoughts had been before death. It was strange—even he thought so—but it was something worth thinking on, wasn't it?

Secrets. How much they made one ponder.

"Hey, Stein," he turned to see a familiar redhead walk into the room, "umm...that body...isn't here yet, is it? You know I hate corpses, right?"

"Yeah, I know. The damn thing is late. It should have gotten here already, but I guess this is what happens when you let some idiots watch over delivering it."

"She," his friend corrected, "the body is a woman."

"Was a woman." Stein corrected in turn. "Now it is a corpse. No point in denying it, Spirit."

"Whatever. Look, I was just wondering if you know where Maka has been going after school. I'm kinda worried."

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because she and Crona are close friends, so I figured that if she was going anywhere-"

"Crona's been busy lately. She's got some idiot hanging around her."

"Oh, really? Would the idiot in question be a guy?"

"Yeah and he's getting on my last nerve. I found out from Marie yesterday that he's been taking her out and about and doing who knows what." he shook his head and sighed. "I wish there was such a thing as a license to kill."

Spirit laughed at that, agreeing. "I know what you mean. I think teen girls just like hanging around guys they know their fathers won't like just to get on their nerves."

"You mean that Evans kid your daughter has been hanging around with? I hear their getting pretty friendly with each other. You know you might have an infant whining at your place before you know it."

"Shut up!" Spirit snapped. He looked ready to kill and Stein knew he'd pressed the right button. It was usually funny to watch him come apart. "Maka's not like that! You don't have a right to say, or even imply it, so why don't you worry about your kid getting too friendly with our boss's son?!"

Scowling deeply Stein exhaled heavily. Since when did he ever share that last bit of information? Never. Meaning someone else knew and had told his redheaded friend about it. That was suspicious. "You know, I never mentioned who it was. How did you know?"

"Oh, uh, you know just a guess. You know, I think I should be going. I have work to do and stuff. Heh, you know how it is."

Grabbing Spirit by his shoulder Stein held on firmly assuring that his friend wouldn't move. He smiled and took on a friendly tone that he knew really bothered Spirit. "No, stay. I'd like to hear how you know who Crona's been getting close to." Almost looking like he was going to cry Spirit relented and said how he overheard Death talking in confidence with Sid about his son being 'love sick' over some girl and how he was wondering what to do about it. Having already known Stein was upset about something and guessing Maka and her friends were hanging around Crona he put two and two together and surprisingly got four instead of some wacky number that was far off from the correct answer.

"So he's in love with Crona, huh?"

"Yeah." Spirit nodded. "That's what I understand. He really likes some girl and was brooding and stuff yesterday. You've been acting really annoyed lately over some matters concerning your daughter. And then Maka's been somewhere with Evans and her other friends, so I figured she introduced them or whatever. It could just be an innocent misunderstanding you know. Maybe it's some other girl and I was just jumping to conclusions."

"No. He's been with her too much for it to be just an innocent little friendship. Besides, I noticed Crona has been acting a bit...off. Marie says it's normal. Apparently, she's got a crush. I don't care. I just don't want to end up with a knocked up, heartbroken girl moping around the house and possibly considering suicide while the guy responsible goes and hooks up with someone else."

"C'mon, Stein, I doubt Kid would do that. Out of all Maka's...guy...friends I trust him the most. He seems pretty responsible, and besides he has OCD and is usually too distracted by that to try anything."

"Up until he notices something that triggers his disorder." Stein reasoned. "What if he notices something about her body he doesn't like? What then?"

"You find a reason to worry over or analyze the littlest of things. Personally, I think you've been around too many corpses."

"Maybe. My job requires me to probe and pay attention to even the smallest of details. It just bothers me. Her with him. It's very troublesome and doesn't feel right. She seems too young to be involved with anyone in an intimate relationship."

"Yeah." Spirit sighed. And for a second time he said, "I know what you mean."

It was then that a gurney was pushed through the doors. A black body bag on top containing Stein's latest assignment made Spirit groan. The two men bringing it in left it next to all the square metal cabinets on the far wall that were used for storing the cadavers. They were like small storage units. And even though all of the units were meant to contain bodies, only a few truly did. Apparently, homicide wasn't the city's number one crime. It was apparently the fourth behind vandalism, theft, purgery, and rape. It was sad for the victims, yet fortunate for those who benefited from the misery. And in Stein's case fewer homicides meant less of a job so some people could understand why he'd be okay with his job, while others figured he was kind of psycho because he really seemed to like the dissecting part. He seemed to cut humanity out of the entire picture. There was no emotion, no empathy, yet there were also no screw-ups.

Spirit knew that. It sometimes gave him an uneasy feeling, but at the moment the corpse was what made him feel truly uneasy. He watched Stein as he waved the two men off after signing a form they had shown him stating they had delivered the body correctly and on time. It was a lie. However, Stein didn't want to complicate things. Spirit watched as the silver haired man unzipped the top portion of the bag, stopping at the dead woman's clavicle. It was a sickening sight for the redhead.

The skin was so white, drained of blood though some blue veins could be seen sprouted up from her skin. Her lips were blue, tinged black and cracked. Crusty, yellow gunk was at the corners of her eyes that were fortunately closed though both were horribly bruised. Her throat was slashed open revealing sliced flesh, dried tendons, and dead veins that were mostly drained of all blood though some still lingered, drying inside. Spirit gagged. He sounded ready to vomit.

His voice was choked and high pitched, "What the hell happened to her?"

"She was murdered." Stein said matter-of-factly, giving his friend a look that meant, 'isn't that obvious, you moron'. "It's never a pretty sight."

"No, you know what I meant."

"Yeah, so?"

"Never mind. I was just-"

"It appears to me, as though she were poisoned with some sort of toxic substance and her throat was slashed, obviously. It's done messily, so I imagine there was a struggle. Clearly, the killer is an expert, having severed her jugular in one try. Yes, very precise. Cutting major arteries open seem to be his favorite method. Though I doubt that fact will help anything."

"Please stop sounding so interested in this! It's creepy!"

"It's not my fault that I enjoy my work."

Shuddering Spirit started to edge his way from the room. "This case is probably going to kill me," he said chuckling nervously, seeming to be bordering on hysteria. "Corpses, reports, investigations, and shooting down the damned media at least a hundred times a day. Please, just please find us something that can help us end this damned case. I just want to put it behind me and get this guy in prison."

"I doubt anything I find will be of much use." Stein admitted. He continued unzipping the bag until he could see the nametag on the corpse's foot. He lifted it gently up examining it. "Clair Matthias. Hmm, isn't that name awful close to Blair?"

Spirit didn't respond, staring at the floor and appearing both embarrassed and sick at the same time.

"Ah well." He sighed moving to unlock and open one of the storage spaces. "Where was I? Oh yeah, now I remember. As I was saying, unless it's something major like skin fragments, pieces of clothe, hair, you know something out of place. Whoever this murderer is, he's pretty clean about all this. Honestly, you'd all probably further this case without me here. Autopsies haven't found anything so far."

He then lifted the body onto the metal slab with ease and great care. It was almost like he was lifting a human sized rag doll. It lay on the slab for a few minutes while Stein got the table used for dissections ready, spraying it with some chemicals and wiping it off. He turned on a light that shone down blindingly bright on the table. He put on a surgical mask, pulled on white rubber gloves, a green medical hat that covered his hair, and a clean white apron was tied around his waist. Everything was clean.

Everything was perfect thus far.

Whether or not the body could tell them anything had yet been determined.

"If you think that then why are you here?" Spirit asked from his place across the room. He was standing right by the door. Stein found it somewhat amusing that his friend was ready to bolt and he hadn't even got to the part that sent some medical students packing their first day. "If this is so pointless, then why are you even bothering?"

It was painfully obvious that he was getting even uneasier with each second he stood there watching Stein work. His face was blank. His body language was as cool as ever. Nothing gave away much emotion, save for the strange light in his eyes that seemed to get more intense. Stein pulled out all the medical tools he'd need. They looked sharp. The tools shined brightly underneath the florescent lights. They seemed to bring a sterile smell to the already sterile scented room.

Why is everything so clean? Spirit wondered. His heart rate increased. Spirit already knew and hated himself for thinking that thought. Looking back to his friend Stein chuckled and waved him off upon seeing he looked so close to throwing up.

"If you puke in here you're going to get your ass kicked." he warned. "And it wouldn't be just me. I advise you to leave if your stomach can't handle this."

"I-I am n-not!" Spirit lied.

"Why don't you go and file a report or something?" Stein said. It was an attempt to be rid of him, just as when he'd attempted to rid himself of Crona for one evening. That turned out bad. He would be the first to admit that but at the moment he wanted Spirit gone before he did something to mess things up. "Joe and Sid might need you to take some notes for them, or something. Oh, and Spirit, if you see Nygus let her know I already started on this one. It'll be finished, stored, and ready for the morticians by lunchtime today."

"Yeah, sure thing. Oh, and Stein?"

"Hmm?"

"Please don't talk about lunch." Spirit said with a groan. That gave Stein a smile as he placed a long, white sheet of paper on the dissection table. "And after you finish do you think you'll, uh, be up for taking on the normal world and getting something to eat with me? I still want to chat about some stuff. This will probably have you busy until then, right?"

"Yeah," the response sounded offhanded, "sure."

He picked up a scalpel like an expert surgeon, prepared to get to work on the cadaver. He pushed the gurney with the body bag off to the side, no need for that. He had his own gurney he used. It was just in case something happened and damage was done to the gurney, or body, during delivery. Normally the corpses came to him in perfect shape but sometimes people screwed up and wanted to point a finger at him. Using his own gurney after finding the body was delivered in good shape ensured, to him at least, that nobody would blame him because of a damaged gurney. He pushed the table with his tools over to the body, which now lay on the table prepared for the procedure. He took some brief notes then started the dissection making a Y shape in the dead woman's abdomen.

After all, Stein thought as he started to hum; thinking back to what Spirit had said earlier and adding his own thoughts to that statement, this won't be the last body we get if you guys don't solve this case.

Meanwhile...

"Thanks for taking me shopping with you, Kid. It's really nice."

"No problem. Besides, nobody else was able to come with me, and I need someone to help me out with some stuff." He then added, "I thought you'd like to do something. You did mention going to the mall yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yes, but what do you need help with, exactly?"

"I can't explain it 'exactly'. To explain it simply, every time I bring a girl with me they help me pick out some of the best clothes."

"Really? Huh. You mean like a good luck charm?"

"No!" Kid chuckled. He patted Crona's back gently. He stopped upon noticing her face started to take on a pink tinge and a vaguely anxious expression came over her pretty features. She is rather pretty today. He found his eyes looking between her face and new dress. It was a lot like her usual black one except that it had no collar and was blue in color with frilly, black cuffs around the wrists. Kid also blushed at realizing what he had thought and the fact he was staring at her so intently. Clearing his throat his tried to distract himself by continuing what he was going to tell her, excluding the fact that he also asked her because he figured that since his life was probably going to end when he took Crona home he had no reason to fear being close to her. All he had to fear was the fact he might offend or upset her without meaning to but not even that currently worried him.

"Don't be silly." he said with a small frown, removing all eye contact from her being. "I mean girls just seem to have a good eye for fashion. It's kind of like a natural talent."

"Oh. I never thought about that."

Truthfully Crona knew she had no business accompanying Kid. She had no 'eye for fashion', as Kid put it, whatsoever. If she were shopping Marie would always help her pick out clothes. The pinkette wanted to tell Kid this but was worried that if she confessed then he wouldn't want her to come with him, or maybe he wouldn't like her as much. Besides, she reasoned that he must not have a good sense for fashion otherwise he wouldn't need help. She guessed that she could fake it without getting noticed and it wouldn't hurt anything so she didn't mention anything to Kid. After all how could something as simple as shopping result in any sort of horrible consequence?

The answer came after they got to Kid's place.

Sorry to cut things off here, but I didn't want this chapter to drag on forever so I cut the rest out and will have it as the beginning of the next chapter, which will be up by tommorow. Thoughts? Comments? Was this good? Bad? Give me some feedback and please let me know if there is anything that needs to be corrected grammar/spelling wise because I didn't pay that as close attention this time around. Sorry if that bothers any of you. Anyway, I promise you guys that some stuff that doesn't currently make sense will later just bear with me for now.