Stein held his daughter as she sobbed against his chest. He didn't need to read her soul's wavelength to sense how much distress she was in. He held still, despite the awkward position of half-kneeling beside the bed, and just let his daughter cling to him as she sobbed out her fear and pain.

Finally the cries trailed off to hiccups, and she was still against him. "Elsa, sweetheart, what's wrong?" He asked gently.

"I'm so sorry, daddy…" She whispered as she turned her face away from him, burying it into the pillow she had been laying on.

Stein reached out gently, brushing her hair away from the side of her face. 'Marie responds positively to that when she's upset.' Stein thought absentmindedly. Eventually her renewed sobs died down and he tried again. "Elsa, what are you apologizing for?"

"Daddy… I'm a monster…" She whispered so quietly that he almost didn't hear, her back heaving with tears again.

Stein felt a cold knot in his stomach. "Elsa." He said forcefully. "You are not a monster. You are not a freak. You are a wonderful little girl."

"I'm a monster, daddy!" She shrieked into her pillow. "What kind of person dreams about vivisecting their friends?!"

Stein was silent for a moment. "Elsa, you are not a monster for having a dream like that. It was just a dream, nothing more."

"What if I can't stop it…" she whispered into her pillow. "What if that feeling comes again and this time I'm awake and I can't stop? What do I do then?"

"You fight." Stein said calmly. "You fight with all of your strength to keep from giving into it."

Elsa turned to look at him. Her voice was suddenly that older, knowing voice. "You have to fight it, don't you?"

He looked at her soul then, seeing the tinges of madness all around it. "Every day, Elsa."

That voice continued. "You've given in, haven't you father."

He looked at his daughter, and then answered truthfully. "Yes. A long time ago. That's why it is so important to never repeat what happened."

In a heartbeat the madness melted away and he was left staring at his sobbing daughter, her voice back to its normal tone. "No one wants to sleep forever dead…" She whispered, repeating why she had promised to never do that to a person.

"That's right, Elsa. Which is why people like you and I must control our urges. That's why we dissect animals instead of people. Because it's the right thing to do."

She looked at him and what she said in that older voice chilled him to the bone.

"Maybe I don't want to do what's right."

"This is going to be your room, Sylvia!" James said, pulling her into the room that was next to his. "Mom decorated it for you!"

The room was tastefully done, but obviously done by an adult. The walls were pink, and there was a flower motif going around the bottom of them. The ceiling was blue with white fluffy clouds, and the bed was shaped like a house almost. The bedding was predominantly pink, with the multicolored pillows being the exception.

"Do you like it, Sylvia?" Spirit's voice came from the door.

"Yes, Spirit-sama." Spirit shook his head.

"You don't have to call me that, Sylvia."

"I'm sorry, Spirit-sama." She said quietly, not correcting her address of him. She stepped into the room and looked around. "Thank you for all the effort you've went to for me, Spirit-sama."

"You're going to be living with us, Sylvia. I'm not going to treat you any differently than I treat James." Sylvia glanced over her shoulder at the two.

"I… I'm not your little one." She said quietly, turning her face to look at the room again. She was staring at the dresser that held her clothing (which Spirit and Azusa had already retrieved from the DWMA) when she jumped as she felt a hand settle lightly on her shoulder. She looked up to see Spirit smiling down at her.

"That doesn't matter, Sylvia. From this minute on, you're an Albarn, and you'll be treated like one; even if you don't carry our last name." He knelt beside her and embraced her in a loose hug. Sylvia felt herself tense.

'This is the man that killed your mother!' She screamed inside her head. 'He took her away from you!' Then she heard the little voice answer, 'He's also the one who saved you from your mother. He's the one who fought for you after you killed your father, after he found you sitting in the ruins of your home holding your father's soul, mumbling for forgiveness. This is the man that took you in.'

Sylvia felt something snap. She clutched Spirit's suit jacket, burying her face in his shoulder and sobbed. She felt him just tighten his arms around her and murmur reassuring sounding words. She couldn't even make them out, but it didn't matter. This was the man who, while not a replacement for the foster father she had killed, would take care of her like one of his own, and that was all she needed.

James smiled, and went to his room while she was crying, grabbing the teddy bear that he had hidden so carefully. Returning, he walked over to the still sniffling Sylvia and held out the bear like an offering. She just looked at him.

"I think you need Buckets more than me!" He said, smiling. She looked at the bear he held out to her, and giggled slightly to see that it was wearing a raincoat and galoshes. She gingerly took it and smiled at him.

"Thank you… onii-san." She said shyly. He just grabbed her hand, pulling her away from Spirit and rushed out of the room.

"There's so much more of the house for you to see! Plus I have to tell you where dad hides the chocolate so mom won't find it!" Spirit's head popped out of the little girl's room and he sighed.

'I'm going to have to hide my stash again.' Spirit thought regretfully.

Stein stared at his daughter. "Elsa, never say anything like that again. Do you understand me? You don't want to ever walk down that path."

"Why not?" Her voice was still that older version of herself. "I understand, even if it's not all the time, that what I truly wish is to take someone apart. To learn from them what I can't learn from animals." Her eyes were cold and empty. "I need to dissect a human." Madness swirled suddenly. "I need to see the blood and the organs and the bone and sinew. I need to see the skin parting under my scalpel. Don't you understand, father?" A feral grin spread across her face. "I know that you do."

Stein reached out to his daughter then, taking her shoulder in his hand and giving her a small shake. "Elsa, come back to me." He said.

She laughed. Not her happy giggle, but a laugh that echoed oddly in the small room. "I'm right here, father!"

He stood and walked away from her, going to the door. "I'm going to get your mother." He said as he opened it.

"Mother is stupid. She can't see what we do." Elsa turned her head from him and giggled softly into the pillow. She didn't hear Stein's approach, though she couldn't have done anything even if she was. Before she could react she felt his hand gently touch her back and she spasmed, his wavelength surging through her. Before she could draw a breath it happened again and she lay limp, shuddering against the bed.

"D-daddy?" She said hesitantly, turning to look up at him. "Wh-what happened? Why did you do that?" Confusion clearly showed on her face, and Stein realized that she had no idea what had just transpired.

"Elsa?" He said quietly.

"Daddy? What-"

He interrupted her. "Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll stay you."

"What do you mean?" She asked, the confusion even more apparent.

"Just promise me, Elsa."

"I promise, daddy." She said, sincerely.

Stein sat in his lab, his head in his hands. He knew that they needed to watch Elsa for slips into madness, but this last one was a bad one. There was nothing he could think of to do to stop them either. Shaking his head, he slowly twisted the screw. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't feel the wavelength approach him until he heard Elsa's small voice.

"Daddy?" She said hesitantly.

He turned his chair to face her, and then turned to put his cigarette out in the ashtray. "What is it, Elsa?"

"I had this really weird dream…" She trailed off, almost as if thinking. "I just can't remember it."

Stein smiled. 'That is for the best, Elsa.' He thought to himself. "If you can't remember it, what makes you think that it was so strange, Elsa?"

"I don't know." She scuffed her feet together. "Can… can we take something apart… dissect it?" She asked timidly. "I really want to."

Stein looked closely at his daughter, seeing the small flecks of madness circling her soul but it was nothing like earlier. "Your back is still pretty bad, Elsa. It's not even been 24 hours yet. You should still be resting."

She pouted, and looked just like Marie did. He smiled indulgently. "I'm sorry, Elsa, but the answer won't change. You have to get better first. When you feel better, we can."

"Do you promise, daddy?" She asked.

"I do, Elsa." He said solemnly.

The next two weeks passed by slowly. James and Sylvia came over to visit every day, even though Elsa told them they didn't have to. After Elsa got her stitches out she decided to introduce the other two to a game she had thought up while she was pretty much grounded.

"It's called Don't Get Hit" She said cheerfully. "We're all special, so we have to have a special game, right? It's kind of like tag, except everyone is it and trying to get and stay away from everyone else. You can't get hit, because when you get hit you can't use that body part anymore, ok?"

James grinned, Sylvia looked a little nervous. "It seems like fun, Elsa." James said.

"Oh, yeah! We get to practice our powers, that way it really gives us an incentive to Not Get Hit! Just make sure that whatever you do won't hurt too much, or our parents may get upset." Elsa smiled sweetly. "You ok with that, Sylvia?" She asked when she noticed how nervous Sylvia was getting.

Sylvia smiled weakly. "I'm just afraid that I'll hurt you." She said.

"Don't worry!" James said, grinning. "It takes a lot more than that to hurt us!" Elsa threaded her arm through Sylvia's pulling her out the door of the lab.

"Alright!" Elsa proclaimed, climbing up to the top of the wall that surrounded her father's lab. "These are the rules: 1) If you get hit in a body part, you can't use it- if you're hit in the head, you're dead, and if you're hit in the chest you have to lay there for 1 minute before you can get back up! 2) No teams, and no teaming up, this is every man for himself! That is all!" Elsa hopped down. "We'll count to 10 then and then split up! Then we start hiding and looking for each other!" She said with a huge grin.

"1!" Elsa jumped down from the wall, landing on her feet.

"2!" James' eyes darted from side to side, seeking the best hiding position to begin with.

"3!" Sylvia tentatively raised her hand.

"4! What, Sylvia?"

"5!"

"Can we go inside?" Sylvia asked.

"6! That'd be great; it'd open up a lot more places to hide!" Elsa grinned.

"7!" The other two children prepared to run.

"8, 9, 10!" Elsa giggled, bolting away from them, running towards the back of the lab. James and Sylvia looked at each other and James just shrugged, darting in the other direction. Sylvia giggled, threading her way back into the lab.

Elsa slipped against the wall of the back of her father's lab, stifling the giggle. 'We have such a large play area! I should definitely be able to sneak up on James at least!" She took a minute to concentrate and was rewarded when a weak looking spark flickered around her right hand. She grinned, mouth pulled wide.

Sneaking around to the corner of the building, she glanced out carefully, looking for James' glow. She could see multiple glows inside the lab, so she knew that Sylvia was inside, her glow was fairly unmistakable, with its size, color and horns. Elsa shivered slightly. Even now Sylvia's soul gave her an odd feeling, like it didn't belong to someone as little or young as Sylvia.

She was so absorbed in looking that she didn't notice when James landed beside her, having dropped from the first floor roof. He smiled slightly, his arm transforming as he whispered her name. She flung around and desperately tried to dodge. This resulted in his shot hitting her left arm. It didn't do much besides sting and she grinned.

"I can still use my right!" She shouted as she charged back at him, and James' eyes went wide, looking at the energy arching around her hand. He sidestepped, narrowly missing her hitting his stomach. She giggled.

James brought his arm up again, firing a succession of high staccato shots. Elsa's eyes went wide as she realized that she couldn't block them all. She flipped herself around, arching her back, and tried to protect herself from them. James couldn't help but smirk as the shots hit her and she sighed, lying back on the ground.

"1 minute." He said, "That's the rules that you made up. Seems a little long, doesn't it?" He asked, standing over her.

She giggled. "I guess so, James."

"Have you seen Sylvia?" Involuntarily Elsa's eyes darted towards the lab. "So she went inside? Awesome- and don't worry, I'll see you in a minute!"

'49 seconds.' Elsa thought absentmindedly.

Sylvia slipped into Elsa's room, and had seen the entire incident with James and Elsa. She couldn't help but giggle as she tried to stay away from the window enough to not be seen, but to see.

James slipped into the lab, trying to sense where she was. He could get vague impressions, but he wasn't practiced enough yet to be 100% accurate. Twice he managed to find Stein, who only raised an eyebrow and asked James what he was doing.

"Um…" James said, nervous. "We're playing a game!"

"What game?"

"Don't Get Hit!" James said and darted away. Stein just smirked as he turned back to his research.

"That is why you are here, after all, even if you don't realize it children. You're learning to work together." He whispered to no one in particular.

Finally James was certain that he had found Sylvia, and he crept into Elsa's bedroom. The… feeling… was coming from underneath the bed. He stealthily moved over to it, getting down on his hands and knees to look under it. There, pressed against the back wall, was Sylvia. She saw him and let out a small eep as she back pedaled.

James dove under the bed; his arm already transformed, and tried to get a shot off. His wavelength dissipated harmlessly against the bed leg when it missed the startled girl. He came out the other side of the bed in time to see Sylvia leap out the window.

"No!" He screamed as he rushed over to it, only to see Sylvia flitting off, her human form shed in lieu of her chibi-dragon form. He couldn't help but shake his head as he lined up a shot and fired. Thanks to the distance though, the shot never made it to her and he just sighed. It was then that he became aware of the presence behind him and turned to face Elsa.

"I missed the first time, this time I won't." She said, her voice older and cold. "Then I think I'll dissect you." A feral grin played at her lips. "That would be fun wouldn't it?"

As her hand descended on him, James did the only thing he could- he let out a shot that caught Elsa square in the chest, knocking her back across the room as blood sprayed from her mouth, and he tumbled backwards out of the window.

Sylvia had stopped, knowing that she was outside of his range to watch how it played out with Elsa and James. Something told her that there was a problem with the way they were playing when she heard Elsa's words and then watched as, without holding back, James shot her. Sylvia reacted without thinking.

Suddenly there was a monstrous creature, nearly eye level with the second story bedroom that James was falling out of reaching a wickedly clawed hand at him. James screamed and a now herself Elsa looked out the window and joined it. The creature grabbed him, holding him up close to its eyes for a second. Its greyish-purple eyes.

"Sylvia?" James whispered in awe.

A throaty chuckle escaped the beast as it stretched its muscles, its tailing wrapping around its taloned feet as it folded its wings against its back.

"Impressed, onii-chan?" James could swear that he saw a smirk on the dragon's features.

A/N: Can I saw rawr? Because I really want to!

RawR!

I hope that you've enjoyed the game we played :) Thank you, Fall-chan for letting me use your wonderful Sylvia-chan. Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing for me. And thanks to Fall-chan for beta'ing for me!

I don't own Soul Eater or the precious little Sylvia. However, James and Elsa are mine! /rawr (again) ;D

Love you all!