"This is the worst day I've had since I was assigned Stein as a partner." Spirit grumbled as he sat hunched over, grudgingly accepting advice from Blair inside the lounge at Chupa Cabra's.
"It was an absolute hell," Spirit said slowly, staring down at the glass table, "the time I spent as his partner. That guy… he did…" Spirit was struggling to contain tears as the memories came flooding back, filling his head like sand would an empty jar. "…Experiments on my body. He used me as a lab rat while I was sleeping!" Spirit exclaimed, gritting his teeth as more tears spilled down his cheeks. "And this went on for five years!"
His two lady companions looked at him in slight astonishment, wondering how on earth he didn't notice in five years. "For five years? I can't believe you didn't notice anything."
"Oh wow! You must have been really stupid back then." Blair gave a little giggle, poking him on the back.
"The only strange thing I noticed was that new scars would appear on my body every day. If my ex-wife hadn't figured out what was going on, he might still be doing things to me! I can't stand to think about it even now!"
"But you were Stein's partner for five whole years; doesn't that mean your soul must have been compatible with his?" Blair asked, still trying to lighten the mood.
"You don't understand. It doesn't matter. If he has any interest in a weapon he can easily master it. He's much stronger and smarter than my wife. Sorry, ex-wife; the one who made me into a Death Scythe." Spirit took a deep breath, bracing himself for the words he was about to utter: "Stein's mad, but he's a genius."
"You must be Scythe-Meister Maka." Stein kicked Maka's back, propelling her forward and him backward so that his head crashed into the newly standing Black Star, sending the blue haired kid crashing back to the floor.
A distinct yet slightly muffled "Oww, my face!" could be heard, causing Stein to chuckle. He twisted the screw inside his head a couple of times, trying to remember where he had heard that name before.
"Hmmm. Let's see; Scythe-Meister Maka… Something's familiar about that name, if I could just put my finger on it… Ah!" He remembered now. "Your mother was a Meister and your Spirit's little daughter, aren't you?"
Stein watched, in subdued fascination, the interaction between the girl and her weapon.
"Who's Spirit?" The Scythe had asked, sounding a bit annoyed at being out of the loop.
"That was what my father was called before he became a Death Scythe." She responded rather irritably.
That's odd… Stein thought, turning his screw once more. Are things not so perfect between Spirit and his darling daughter anymore?
"But I want to know how you knew about that." She directed her statement at Stein, regaining her balance with Soul in hand.
Stein rested his chin on his hand, replaying several memories inside his head.
"I can still remember even now. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. Ah. So, you are indeed Spirit's darling daughter. And the daughter of the women who ended my greatest experiment. I wonder what kind of subject you'd make." The moonlight glinted off of his glasses then making them look opaque, and it sent a shiver down Maka's spine.
He just looked so damn creepy!
Stein chuckled, before gearing up for another attack. He heard the Scythe mutter: "it's okay, it's only a tap; I can take it." If only they knew…
He rolled at them, his hand outstretched. When it came into contact with the cool metal shaft that was the Scythe's handle, he twisted, sending a shock of his soul wavelength through both Weapon and Meister.
They were both sent flying backwards, and Stein watched with glee as they struggled to get to their feet. He stood up as well, pushing his chair off to the side.
It was time he got serious.
He twisted the screw a couple more times.
"Let's see here," He began plotting out loud, staring directly at his two opponents. "How should I begin my experiment?" He made a snipping motion with his hands, smirking as he sensed the confusion and terror roll off Maka in dynamic waves. She charged at him again, shouting as she did.
It was a futile attempt; he deflected this blow easier than his first attack, sending her back down to the floor. However, before she could greet the concrete slabs, he grabbed one of her pigtails, yanking her up, ignoring the gasps of pain coming from her.
Hair pulling was a bitch.
He threw her black coat to the floor and lifted up her shirt, unveiling her flat stomach. "Ah," He breathed out, peering down at it. "You have lovely skin. Simply lovely." He reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a marker pen, "Where do you think I should insert the knife first?" He drew a vertical line, followed by a horizontal one with an intersection in the top left hand corner.
He pulled her face up higher so it was level with his. "Let's see if I can turn your skin into sandpaper." He grinned maliciously, loving the look of fear and the sweat that poured from her.
"You're about to need a new pair of glasses, bastard!" He turned to see Black Star running at him, hands spread out like wings. "How could you have forgotten that I'm here?!" Stein looked at him in a bored fashion and replied monotonously:
"Easily."
"You're not the only one who can use Soul Waves to attack without a weapon!"
"What?" Stein's eyes widened in surprise; he was not expecting that.
"Black Star Big Wave!" Black Star jumped at him, his feet planting firmly on the ground before sending a bone-crushing punch into the Doctor's spine. Maka was roughly pushed forward towards her weapon as Black Star delivered what was sure to be the finishing blow.
Black Star's grin soon faltered when he realized that Stein had not moved a single inch from his attack. He gasped as he took a couple of steps back,
"A surprise from the wild boy." Stein lifted his head, but kept it hidden from Black Star.
"You deflected my Soul attack." Black Star stated, not quite sure how he had done that. Stein pushed his glasses up to the rim of his nose.
"Don't you remember how I checked your soul data when you first arrived here?" He turned to face Black Star, the moon glinting off of his glasses in that creepy way again. "When I did that I familiarized myself with you Soul's Wavelength so now I can adjust mine so that they match. When the wavelengths are the same, they cancel each other out so your attack is powerless. You see in the exact moment you attacked, we temporarily bonded. It's like connection between a Meister and their Weapon. That was a fun experiment, but now it's my turn."
He ran at Black Star, looming over him with a smile etched onto his mouth. Chuckling, he placed his hands on either side of the blue hair, using his Soul wavelength to effectively electrocute the kid.
He barely heard Black Star's concerned Weapon shout out to him.
When he was done, Black Star fell to the ground, stiff as a plank, blood spilling from his eyes and nose, splattering the end of Stein's lab coat and shoes.
He stepped back as Maka's weapon rushed to Black Star's side, trying to find some life in him.
He couldn't help but smile when Sid tried to convince them to turn back, or when Soul threatened to kill him.
"Right, let's go and get him Maka!" He declared, getting ready to transform.
The girl had other plans. "No way…" She sunk to her knees; her green eyes wide and trembling.
"What's wrong? Soul asked,
"This… this is impossible." She mumbled, more to herself than Soul.
Stein could feel her looking at his soul. The size of it alone was enough to petrify her, and that was without the added power he had as a level 3 Meister.
"The little girl can see my soul." He thought aloud to himself.
"I can't… the difference between us is too great." So the little girl is admitting defeat…
"Hey, come one! What's wrong with you, Maka?" Her partner rumbled, making her bow her head in shame.
"I can't." She repeated. "He'll defeat me!" Soul sighed before crouching down to face his Meister.
"What's the matter with you Maka? Why are you just sitting there? Get up!" Maka batted away the hand he had placed on her shoulder.
"Shut up! You wouldn't be acting so tough if you could see the shape of his soul like I can."
Stein twisted his screw, curious as to how this scene would play out.
Soul growled at her. "You're wrong, I wouldn't care Maka! All you saw was a single soul, right? You didn't see your future. You can't give up before you even fight." The albino Scythe grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her, "You're supposed to turn me into the strongest Death Scythe ever! You don't want that worthless father of yours to outshine us, do you? Look up and listen to me! Do you hear me Maka I'm talking to you?!"
Maka looked up at him slowly, her eyes wide. Even from his distance away, Stein could both sense and see the new resolve there.
Soul smirked. "Good. Now look over there and tell me what you see. He's been waiting patiently for you finish this temper tantrum. Isn't that so polite of the good Doctor Stein?" Maka smiled slightly at Soul, one he returned. "Come on, if we die, we die cool."
Maka stood up proudly, her eyes brimming with something near happiness. "Sorry about that. I'm better now."
"No problem." Soul transformed, going automatically into his Meister's waiting hand.
She twirled him in the air a few times before declaring "Let's go, Soul Resonance!"
Stein watched the resonance take place with a frown on his face.
The resonance of the souls. Meister and Weapon harmonize, the Meister passes soul waves to the Weapon, the Weapon then magnifies the waves and passes them back. They repeat this process until they create a soul wave more powerful than either is alone.
I'm impressed. She can use the Witch Hunter when she's still so young.
He watched them put everything into the resonance, building up until they reached their limit. He couldn't resist drawing them up on it.
"You're putting everything into one hit?" He questioned, even though the answer was obvious. "Come on," He yelled at them, "Let's see exactly how much your soul's can handle!"
Maka came at him, swinging Witch Hunter from below.
Stein caught the enlarged Scythe in his hands, but had to push his feet back in order to maintain his balance.
The lens in Stein's glasses shattered slightly.
"You can control the Witch Hunter, too." He praised her, "But I'm afraid your skills are too rough." With one last burst of soul wavelength, Stein shattered the Witch Hunter blade, sending Maka and Soul backwards.
They landed meters apart from each other.
Stein could hear Maka's panting as he walked toward her. He stopped by her head and crouched down. "You managed to remain conscious," Before he could reach out a hand toward her, Soul transformed from his Weapon form, appearing over his Meister in a very protective manner.
"Back away." He ground out, wincing form the pain he was in. "I won't let you touch my Meister."
"In that case I'll start with you." Stein's features hardened slightly and he reached out a hand towards Soul.
Soul closed his eyes on anticipation, only to open them confused seconds later when he felt Stein ruffle his hair.
"You earned a passing grade, good job." At this, they both gasped, looking at him as if he were crazy. "Your extra lessons have been completed." Stein withdrew his hand and smiled down at Soul. "You gave up your own body to protect your Meister. That's all you need to earn a pass from me."
Soul sat up from his stance over Maka, growing even more confused. "Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear the first time, I'll say it again: huh?"
"This was all planned out by Lord Death. He asked me to do him a favor. He wanted me to help you with these extra lessons." Soul recoiled, pointing frantically at Black Star who was being comforted by Tsubaki.
"But if you were in on it why did you kill Black Star?!" He cried.
Black Star limply lifted his head, slurring something that sounded like "I bet you think you're a funny guy, huh?"
"He's still alive? But what about Sid the Zombie?!" Sid lifted his hands in a surrendering motion, visibly sweat-dropping.
"Ah yeah sorry about all this. Back when I was alive I was definitely a man who would never tell a lie. But a lot of things have changed since then." Sid calmly explained.
"Oh you don't say! Then what the hell was the point of all this? To see if you could scare us to death?!"
From her position in a crumpled heap on the floor, Maka could only manage a broken half-whisper of "Seriously?"
Stein pushed his glasses back up, saying "It was just a test. But I confess it was fun scaring you kids like that; you should have seen your faces!"
"That man is seriously sadistic." Soul and Maka stated.
Stein jumped back onto his chair, spinning around a few times before facing the group with his hands in the air. "Hey everyone! I'm sure you're all tired, why don't you spend the night in my laboratory?"
There was an angry chorus of "That's a big fat no!" before they got up and left the premises as fast as they could.
Soul sat at his desk, his face in his hands, beside a miserable Maka. "I'm still worn out from last night."
"I dreamt Stein was using me in his experiments." Her head thumped onto the desk as she moaned.
"Tsubaki!" Black Star barked out, his voice filled with dread. "Was Stein a bigger star than me yesterday?!" Tsubaki looked at him incredulously,
"Seriously?"
None of them heard the approaching wheels of an all too familiar desk chair.
"I wonder if they've hired a new teacher to replace Sid yet." Soul wondered out loud. "Hey, maybe your dad will be out teacher again." He looked at Maka, who gasped in embarrassment.
"No, anyone but him!"
Soul, Maka, Black Star and Tsubaki all looked up when a familiar scene played out before them: Doctor Stein's chair tripping on the door frame and sending him sprawling before them.
He stopped, still on his back and seated on the chair, and pulled out a book from his pocket. "All right class, are we ready to get started?"
The look of pure shock on the student's faces was priceless.
"This isn't funny." Soul spat out.
"This might be the first time… I've actually wanted to see my father!"
"Damn." Black Star muttered, "That guy sure knows how to get attention."
Stein adjusted the screw a couple of times.
"We'll start by dissecting some frogs. Should be pretty exciting."
Once class was over, and all the students had left, Stein used his soul perception to search the premises.
He grinned when he came across a very familiar soul.
Spirit hung his head limply. "I screwed up. Maka isn't even at school right now." He was sat in the school nurse office, having what could effectively be referred to as a nervous breakdown.
"All this risk for nothing." He sat up, his hands almost tearing out the crimson locks that fell from his head. "The only place to see Maka is here at the academy, so I came… Sure, but coming here means I might run into him." The last few words had reduced Spirit's voice into nothing more than a tortured whisper.
"All I wanted was to see my daughter!" He complained. "Instead I'm staring straight in the face of danger. But don't worry Maka!" Spirit's eyes shone with fierce determination. "Your papa's not going to back down. I will overcome this obstacle, and when I do, you'll know how much I love you, you'll finally understand!" Spirit closed his eyes, hearing the welcoming and familiar footsteps of the school nurse.
"But before I do all that, I need to have the lovely school nurse heal my wounded heart and give me courage! Oh yes!"
The door opened and Spirit immediately threw himself at the nurse, hugging her bare legs underneath that white dress…
Except that her legs weren't bare.
Spirit cranked one eye open, quickly followed by the other one and then finally his jaw. All that came out of his mouth were incomprehensible stuttering as he stared up at the stoic face of Franken Stein.
"Hey there Spirit." He said lazily. "I've been looking for you." Spirit scrambled away from his as fast as he could, ending back up on the bed.
"Oh no!" He cried out, hugging his knees to his chest. "Not Stein!" He was a quivering wreck. "I don't know what you want with me but all the scars from your experiments have finally disappeared, I'm not afraid of you anymore, so there!" He let out a nervous laugh that stopped as soon as it had started. "I'm not afraid of anything, how do you like that, Stein?"
A wicked glint came into Stein's eye.
"Then I take it you noticed that I swapped the middle toe from your right foot with the one from your left foot."
Spirit's head whipped round to face him, followed hysterically by his body as he rushed to pull of his shoes and socks. "What?" Are you nuts?! He wailed at the man, "Why would you do something like that to me?!" He peered closely at his toes, inspecting them thoroughly.
Stein's face broke out into an enormous grin.
"Made you loo-ook!" He sung out, smiling. "You know that little daughter of yours, Maka, she's growing up quickly, huh?"
Spirit gritted his teeth in frustration. He was not aware those two had met yet.
"I'll be honest, when I heard you were getting married, I wasn't so sure about it." Spirit looked at him, surprised. "I thought to myself: There's no way this is going to work out. But then… I watched the two of you together, and you seemed so close that I was reassured."
Spirit's face went wide with shock.
"And then I thought: Those two have found a love that is sure to last forever."
Spirit bowed his head behind Stein, wondering how to tell him the news he clearly hadn't heard yet.
The room was silent for a few moments.
"Um, yeah, about that…" Spirit began, "You may not know this yet, Maka's mother and I… we actually got divorced last month It's… over between us." Spirit gulped.
"I know." Stein responded, causing an outraged Spirit to ponce and start strangling him.
"Damn it! I'm going to kill you! Heartless bastard!"
"Oh yeah and one other thing," Stein calmly announced, his voice taking on a much darker tone. Spirit stopped shaking him back and forth to listen, his brow furrowed. "It seems the demon sword has turned up."
Spirit glowered, "What?"
I felt bad for not posting in over a month, so here! (Sorry, I know this is basically a transcription of a whole episode, and the episodes are 5 and 7 for anybody wondering, but I just felt bad for not posting anything original and this was a lot longer than originally planned) I do still have two pieces for this under construction, but life and distractions kind of just got in the way. They're called 'Infatuation' and 'Subconscious' if anyone wants a hint at what they're about.
As usual, suggestions and reviews are more than welcome!