Hi there! It's been more than a day since I've updated, so sorry for the horribly long wait. ;) Well, I must warn you that this is a... strange chapter. It's kind of like two mashed into one, but at the same time they go together so it kind of makes sense? I don't know, hopefully you'll like it though!

Chapter 11

The academy was buzzing with excitement. Not because of a new student or a sudden new enemy. No, this was much more exciting. This was the DWMA's annual Valentine's Day Dance!

And this wasn't just any dance. It was a rule (made up among the students) that one had to have a date in order attend this dance; anyone who went stag was labeled a freak for the rest of their attendance at the academy. Though the students mainly weren't so fierce to each other, things got scary when it came to Valentine's Day. No one really knew why… it just seemed like a competition for which boy could get the cutest and girl and which girl got the most invitations to the dance.

As with most romantic things, Evar thought this was ridiculous. She couldn't wrap her head around why students were so critical about a silly dance. It wasn't like it was the only dance they'd ever have. Getting vicious about it wasn't going to help anything.

The bell suddenly rang, pulling Evar from her thoughts and signaling the beginning of lunch. She grabbed her lunchbox from beneath her desk and stood up, heading out to her regular spot. At first, she'd eaten alone since she didn't really know the rest of the staff. Over time she was asked to join small groups of them, but never really fit in. She felt best where she ate now.

Stein had just lit a cigarette when Evar walked in, nodding at her in recognition when she greeted him. As he took a drag, Evar pulled up a chair and sat across from hit at his desk, throwing her lunchbox down in front of her.

"Do you ever stop?" she sighed as she looked at the cigarette.

Instead of answering, Stein blew a puff of smoke in her face, looking quite smug about it. Evar just batted her lashes teasingly.

"That's not nice," she said in a mockingly sweet voice.

"If you don't want to be around me, then don't eat with me," he challenged.

She shrugged and opened her lunchbox.

"No, you're fun to tease," she explained, "And if I wasn't with you, Spirit would be after me."

The woman shuddered. That man had been trying to win over since day one and still hadn't given up. When he set his eyes on a woman, there was no stopping him.

Stein smirked at this. Though Spirit was probably his friend, the scientist still had that eerie, unapproachable way about him, which Evar didn't seem to notice.

Evar reached over and plucked the cigarette out of his mouth, putting it out on the napkin next to her.

"I can't eat with it smelling like tar," she said when she saw his shocked expression.

The man just stared at her as she bit into her apple. No one had ever dared to take a cigarette from his mouth. And yet she had done it with such ease.

"You're weird," he muttered.

"You're one to talk," she shot back.

He responded by casually throwing a grape at her face, hitting her square between the eyes. The fruit rolled down her head and landed in the gap of her shirt directly between her breasts. Evar narrowed her eyes at Stein, who looked unfazed.

"Pervert," she grumbled as she reached down her shirt to fish out the grape.

At that moment, the door swung open and Spirit flew in, hearts in his eyes.

"Speaking of which," Stein chuckled.

"Evar, my lovely! Oh, how I've missed you! I'm sorry that we can't teach together, but my heart still beats for you! Evar I –"

Evar gaped in mortification as Spirit gawked at her, had hand in her shirt. For a moment it was silent, Spirit in awe, Evar in horror and Stein just because he could be.

The woman's free arm suddenly transformed into her electrically charged scythe, pointed directly at Spirit.

"Get out or I will kill you," she hissed.

Spirit put his hands up defensively, looking quite frightened by how close the scythe was to him.

"Hey now, don't be hasty," he said quickly, "I just wanted to ask something."

"Then ask it."

"Go to the dance with me!"

Again, silence.

To be honest, it wasn't horribly strange for Spirit to be asking her to the students' dance. All of the staff attended as chaperones and it was usually a pretty decent time. Occasionally some people went together, but it wasn't taken as near as seriously by them as it was by the students.

The silence was broken with Stein reaching over the desk and inserting his hand in Evar's shirt, picking the grape out.

"She's going with me," he said as he tossed the grape to the side.

Spirit's jaw dropped and Evar practically fell back in her chair.

"It was getting weird with your hand just stuck in your shirt like that," the scientist said casually.

"And what you just did wasn't weird at all?" Evar cried.

Stein just shrugged.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Spirit yelled, "What do you mean she's going with you? It's a couple's dance!"

"So?" Stein muttered, "We're going together. And quit it, Spirit, you sound like a child."

Spirit's jaw dropped to the floor with a thud. Evar managed to regain her composure, only to be freaking out on the inside.

I'm going to a Valentine's Day dance with Stein? And since when did he ask me? I don't remember accepting!

"B-b-b-but you can't be going with him!" Spirit wailed, "You just can't!"

"Well she is," Stein repeated, "Right, Evar?"

Evar looked over at Stein, who had a smug look on his face. When he gave her a subtle wink, she instantly understood.

He's saving me... He's doing this so Spirit can't ask me out... Oh man, Stein, I owe you big time.

"Yeah," she answered, "Stein already asked me. Sorry, Death Scythe."

Spirit stared at them for a while. Those two? And when did Stein suddenly start asking out women? He'd never even had a girlfriend.

"Fine!" he cried, "I hope you two are happy together!"

With that, the Death Scythe stormed out of the room angrily, slamming the door behind him.

"It's hard to believe that man is older than me," Stein said as he shook his head.

"You're the one who threw a grape down my shirt," Evar pointed out.

"I threw it at your head. It fell in your shirt by itself. You can't blame me for that."

She rolled her eyes as she took another bite out of her apple.

"You're okay with going to the dance with me, right?" Stein asked.

Evar looked at him surprised with the apple still in her mouth.

"Now that Spirit thinks we're going together, we kind of have to," Stein explained.

"Oh," Evar breathed, "Yeah, I'm fine with going with you. And thanks for saving me from him."

"No problem. I could tell that you didn't seem very interested."

She smiled and chewed on the piece of apple in her mouth. It was nice of him to be looking out for her like that. And yet, the fact that he'd only asked her to stop Spirit hurt a little inside…

It was dark outside, but Evar didn't mind. She'd been stuffed up in the academy all day and decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air. Crona was studying for a test and Stein was experimenting, so she was alone. Still, it was nice. It was a good time to focus on her thoughts.

Her feelings about Stein were starting to confuse her. Yes, he was her Meister and yes, he was a friend, one of the few she had in the city. But was there something else?

He was her first kiss, even if it meant nothing to him. She claimed it didn't matter, but deep down, her heart said something different.

It was so easy to be around him. And despite his quirks, she accepted him just as he accepted her. He had to care for her… he'd saved her life after all. Though she'd been unconscious, she'd been told that Stein had been furious after the kishin harmed her and killed it with his soul force. After that, he'd instantly gone to tend to her injury and helped her heal.

She reached behind her shoulder, touching her shoulder where the stitches began.

"I think he cares about me," she murmured, "And I care about him, too…"

"Excuse me, lady?"

Evar whirled around surprised, only to see a little girl standing there with big brown eyes.

"Oh!" she gasped, "I didn't see you there. Are you ok?"

The girl seemed like she was lost. She had on a cute pink dress with matching sandals that had white flowers at the big toe. Her dirty blonde hair was fairly long, falling down her back as if she were a young Rapunzel.

"Yes," the girl breathed, "I'm fine. Are you?"

She cocked her head at Evar, her eyes turning curious. Evar hesitated a moment. Something about this girl seemed odd… a girl her age would be terrified if she was lost in Death City at night. Yet this girl… she seemed entertained almost.

"I'm fine," Evar finally said.

The girl smiled, but not in a way a girl should. Her teeth seemed bared in a wicked grin, her eyes narrowing.

"You won't be for long."

Before Evar could react, the girl's hair flew up and wrapped around the woman, binding her arms and legs. When she heard the hissing, Evar began to scream. The girl's hair had turned into her snakes, just how hers had in her nightmare. Only now this was real.

One of the snakes from the girl's hair darted around Evar's neck, squeezing it tight to keep her from yelling. The other snakes began to bite at her skin and clothes, tearing them apart.

"It's not safe to walk the streets at night by yourself," the girl said, "You're really stupid, huh?"

Evar struggled to break free, twisting and turning every way she could. But it was no use. Her blood was drenched all over her from the multiple snake wounds and her clothes were in shreds. This was even worse than the nightmare.

The snakes all suddenly released her, except for the one around her neck. Instead, it rose into the air, lifting Evar a few feet above the ground. She grabbed and clawed at the snake, trying to get it off of her; if it didn't let go she'd be hung.

"Stein," she managed to choke out.

The little girl's eyes narrowed and the snake tightened around Evar's neck, making her gasp for air.

"He's not here to help you now," she hissed, "He won't come. He doesn't care about you. Did you honestly think he did?"

Evar glared at the little girl. No, this had to be a witch. A witch possessing the little girl's body; there was no other explanation for such powerful magic. And whoever it was, this witch must have known who Stein was, or at least heard about him.

"He doesn't know how to love," the witch continued, "It's impossible for him. Were you hoping that you'd be special? That you'd be able to make him fall in love with you and you'd live happily ever after?"

The witch's sadistic grin grew as Evar's choking became louder, the air obviously almost completely out of her.

"This isn't a fairy tale, princess," the witch murmured, "Wake up!"

With that, the snake flung Evar away, throwing her into one of the stone buildings that were all over the city. Evar cried out as blood spurted from her mouth, crumpling up once she'd fallen to the ground. And then everything went black.

Stein looked over at the clock. It'd been three hours since Evar had gone on her walk. Crona had gone to bed and even he had finished his experiments. What could she have possibly gotten into? She was probably fine, but…

Against his judgment, Stein left his laboratory and went out to look for Evar. She'd said she wouldn't be gone more than an hour and now it was almost midnight. Stein wasn't that worried about her to be honest; she was a grown woman and could handle herself. But if something had happened to her…

"Snakes… snakes… blood… pain…"

Stein turned his head slightly and was horrified to see Evar lying crumpled on the ground, chewing on a piece of her hair and mumbling to herself. Her clothes were shredded, but there was not a scratch on her and not a single drop of blood.

"Evar?" Stein called as he walked cautiously towards her.

Judging by her actions, she didn't seem completely sane and he didn't want to risk setting her off. He knew just how powerful madness could be.

"So many snakes… all over… eating me… I must be delicious…"

Stein knelt down beside her and noticed a red ring around her neck, as if something had strangled her. He placed his hand carefully on her shoulder, not knowing what to expect.

Her body went still, and the piece of hair in her mouth fell to the ground.

"Evar, it's Stein," he said, "What happened?"

The woman's head turned to him very slowly, as if it was a strain to do so. Her eyes were dilated, the big blue irises staring at Stein's face. She reached up with one arm and grabbed the sleeve of his lab coat so forcefully that he went down slightly along with it. The other hand went up farther, into Stein's hair and grabbing a fistful of it.

"Stein…"

Her voice. Something about it sounded off. It was still her voice, but now she sounded like… like a child's. It was so weak and helpless… She didn't seem like a grown woman anymore.

"Help… me…"

Stein didn't know what to do. It was apparent that something was wrong with her and something had happened while she was out. But because he didn't know what it was, he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

All of a sudden there was a blur of black and pressure around Stein's limbs. He quickly looked and saw that Evar's hair had wrapped around him, tying him up. But wait, that wasn't hair… no, it looked more like snakes. Snakes…

Medusa.

Something suddenly wrapped around his neck, forcing him to look back at Evar; another snake. To his surprise, Evar was crying and struggling to move. However, she seemed to somehow be bound to the ground, incapacitated, her hand still in his hair and the other grabbing his lab coat.

"I'm not doing this," she whimpered, "I promise… It's her. She's using these snakes to keep us both trapped here… I'm sorry, Stein."

The scientist jerked away, trying to escape the shackles to no avail. It was completely hopeless. He and Evar were stuck here until Medusa showed her face.

There was a yanking on Stein's neck as the snake wrapped around it pulled down, bringing his face right above Evar's.

"I'm sorry!" she wept, "I'm not trying to hurt you… no, Stein, I care about you, I wouldn't –"

The snake tugged down more, pressing Stein's face onto hers. They both made surprised noises as their lips met and at first tried to pull away. Being tied up by snakes and facing death was not the time to have a make out session.

But when the snake around Stein's neck refused to budge, the two realized that they were kind of stuck here and might as well make it enjoyable.

Evar deepened the kiss first, opening her mouth slightly and then closing it over his lips. Stein was instantly intrigued. He'd never done this before; now was the time to experiment.

His tongue pressed against her lips, asking for entrance. Evar was wary at first, but eventually allowed his tongue inside. What a curious feeling. Stein's tongue explored her mouth curiously, searching all over the place. Evar's nervously moved and went to touch his, not knowing what else to do.

Oh, how interesting!

Now this was new, how intriguing. Stein let her tongue play nervously with his, wondering if this was normal. It seemed more animalistic than human, but perhaps that was how affection worked. Odd.

He slid his tongue out of her mouth and found that the snake had loosened its grip on his neck only slightly, still confining him to keep his face on top of Evar's. But now he could experiment a little more.

His lips pressed against the corner of her mouth, where that soft patch of skin resided. Hmm. One didn't even need to directly kiss the lips to show affection. Fascinating. They continued away from her mouth slightly, only managing to reach her jaw line.

"Do you care about me?" Evar breathed.

Stein lifted his eyes from her jaw and looked at her calmly.

"I think so," he answered, "But I can't be sure."

Evar's face twisted slightly, almost into something of disgust or hurt.

And then the snake constricted so hard that Stein's neck snapped like a twig.

Evar jolted upright in bed, her hand flying to her neck. Even though it had been Stein's neck that broke in her nightmare, hers still felt sore.

"These nightmares are getting scarier and scarier," she breathed.

She rubbed her neck and realized that she was both sweating and shaking.

"It was pretty creepy," she murmured, "But that part where Stein and I were kissing… it was so… real."

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. She shouldn't be having dreams like that; Stein was her Meister, not her lover. That wasn't right.

"Maybe it's all this Valentine's Day hype that's got my brain in a romantic mood," she suggested, "Yeah, that's probably it. But besides that, these snake dreams are just… ugh. I'll have to talk to Stein about it. Maybe he'll know what to do."

Maka: It seems like Miss Elektra is acting weird lately. I wonder if Stein's doing something to her.

Spirit: Yeah! He's hypnotized her and experimented on her and convinced her to go to the dance with him!

Maka: That's not exactly what I meant...

Spirit: There's no other explanation! Why would a woman choose him over me?

Maka: I can think of plenty of explanations for that.

See? I warned you. After I finished that first part I went into "dream mode" and started going insane again. So, my apologies if these chapters are getting creepier, it's just me losing it. In case you couldn't tell, the second and third parts were a dream, even though they weren't italicizeed. There's a special reason for that that I'll explain later, but for now I'm just going to confuse you all. *cue Stein laughter*

Speaking of which, my ringtone is Stein's crazy laughter... yeah, I know what you're thinking. "She's so cool!" That is until I'm babysitting little kids and freaky laughter from my phone gives them nightmares.

Anyway, I guess that's it! Please review; as always, I love your opinions! TTFN!