Chapter 4: Stein or it's all fun and games until someone is dissected, part II
Turns, turns, turns.
Marie was like a storm, Stein concluded, turning the screw in his head for the third time. She had left home earlier saying she was going to pick up Victor at Kilik's and had come back in record time. 2.3 times faster than usual, to be more specific. She also had Maka and Soul's twins with her, which was an odd occurrence. Stein was pretty sure that Maka had forbidden him to watch over her children unsupervised.
Something about his experiments with Spirit-senpai.
It was a good thing he had acquired useful data back then because twenty years had passed and he was still receiving shit for that.
And, truth be told, he was not even sorry.
Marie blabbed something about teaching Kamiko a lesson, and then she stormed out of their home, fast and furious, her soul wavelengths erratic because of her fury. Hmm, fascinating, he thought, turning the screw one more time. Things always got interesting when Marie was so worked up. Sex with her was always amazing, undoubtedly, but it was something more when she was like that. Yes, it was something to consider for later.
He carefully stashed that information and turned his attention to the three children looking up to him, expectantly.
They were all covered in sand, and he briefly wondered what they had been up to with the shamans. The twins were holding Victor's hands and looking around the lab, curious and suspicious. Hmm, typical Maka's reaction. His own son was patiently staring at him, waiting for something.
Oh, right.
Waiting for him to talk first.
"Did you have fun?" he asked. Marie had taught him that it was important that their son knew they cared about his feelings and well-being. It was what made him know that he was loved.
Stein knew that Marie loved him simply because she was still there with him. As long as she stayed, that meant she was happy. Of course, he could see in her wavelengths what she was feeling, but it wasn't so simple with kids. Children's souls were hard to read, even for him.
So, he had to communicate with their son. With words.
"Yes, we did," Victor smiled, calmly. "We built sandcastles." And then, he pulled the two kids' hands gently but forcing them to take a step towards him. "Sound, Aika, do you remember my papa?"
Victor usually called him 'dad' or 'father', but Maka's kids called Soul 'papa', just like she did with Spirit-senpai. His son was using words they were more familiar with to ease them. Smart, very smart.
He smiled a little, genuinely proud.
Sound tried to hide behind Victor, but he gave him a shy smile and mumbled "Hello, professor Stein."
Right: Sound was the youngest, shy, and gentle.
Aika stared at him with her big, red eyes. "You're weird," she blurted. Yes, the older one was the red devil, he remembered Black*Star saying. "We're dirty," she continued, still eyeing him expectantly.
Hmm, that was also right. They needed a bath. Should he bath them? Victor could take care of himself, but it would be weird – for him and the twins – if he tried to clean them alone. He just needed to make that sound fun, right? When Victor was younger, Marie was always repeating how important it was to make chores enjoyable for children.
"I'm going to prepare a bath for the three of you," he affirmed. It was better if they didn't perceive any possibility of negotiation. He didn't know how to argue with a three-year-old.
"Can we play in the bathtub?" Victor asked, and he noticed that was an expectation in his voice.
"Of course," he said, relieved for choosing a good option for them.
"We bath together?" Aika asked, hugging Victor's arm.
"Yes," he confirmed.
The children cheered and he let out a relieved breath.
So far, everything was under control.
He could do it.
He could not do it.
Soul thought that, after becoming the father of twins at the age of twenty-three and succeeding in keeping his children alive for three whole years, he would be able to manage any level of chaos the world could throw at him. Yet, a single glance at Marie's face was enough for him to know that, right there, right now, there was a situation he couldn't handle.
"They're fine, Soul, they're with Victor," she answered his previous question without sparing him a single look.
That was not a good sign.
If it was anyone else, Soul would question them further, but this was Marie: she was almost as protective as Maka. If the twins were with Victor, everything was under control.
The same couldn't be said about the situation in his living room.
Soul's eyes met Spirit's across the room in a rare moment of mutual understanding, and his father-in-law nodded in agreement. Silently, both men backed away and tried to disappear into the sidelines, leaving plenty of room for the two women facing each other.
"Marie," Kamiko started cautiously. "It's been a while."
"Twelve years," the other woman was still grinning maniacally, but her voice was soft. "Twelve years, Kamiko."
His mother-in-law stayed silent.
"I understand you not coming back here, where Spirit was," the way she clenched her jaw told Soul she had probably bitten Maka's name back. "But twelve years is a long time without a single phone call, a single message to your friends, Kamiko."
"Marie…"
"We were partners," Marie interrupted, her fake smile fading and her brows lowing. "Partners, Kamiko, for four years."
He did not know that. Soul gave Spirit a surprised look, and the older weapon gesticulated with his hands, probably saying it was before his time.
"I thought we were friends."
"We were!" Kami exclaimed, taking a step closer to the other woman. "Marie, I'm sorry we fell out of touch…"
"No, Kamiko." She flinched at her own name, but Marie kept pressing. "People fall out of touch when both parts stop trying. I called you and you didn't pick up the phone. I wrote letters to which you never replied. I invited you to meet my son, and you ignored us."
Holy Shinigami, it was worse than he thought. Even Spirit seemed surprised now, his mouth hanging open while he stared at his ex-wife. Kami inhaled deeply.
"I know it was my fault, Marie. I'm sorry-"
"No, you are not." Marie shook her head. "And even if you really were, sorry wouldn't cut it."
Now it was time for Kami to frown, her temper rising again.
"I understand that you're hurt, Marie, but interrupting me or pretending you know better won't change anything either. You know my reasons to stay away from everything Shibusen represented; you know it was the right choice."
Marie chuckled, softly. Soul noticed Spirit carefully sliding behind the couch, and Soul took a step closer to the front door. Not that he was thinking about running away from his own home or anything.
"I've never heard you say so many wrong things before, you know?"
Kami crossed her arms and raised her chin in challenge. "Oh, really? Enlighten me then, Marie."
"Gladly." The Demon Weapon took a step closer. Only a few feet separated the women now. "You do not understand why I'm hurt. I interrupted to stop you from digging your grave any deeper. I don't have to pretend, because I know you, and therefore, I do know better. And although I know the reasons why you went away, there is no way in hell I would agree it was the right choice."
Before Kami could retort, Marie continued. "You went away from the same reason I did – or did you forget I was also heartbroken?" her frown got deeper. "Of course, you wouldn't think it was the same thing since I was never married and you never liked Franken."
"He's a danger for himself and everyone around him," the other woman snapped back, and this time Soul was the one frowning.
Wait for a second…
"Well, at least I didn't leave a child behind," Marie snarled viciously. It was a sign of how pissed she was because she quickly recomposed herself. "But that's none of my business. You left Maka with her father, and I have no right to say a thing about how you choose to interact with your daughter."
"Well, you seem awfully full of things to say about my relationship with Maka," Kami said, defiantly.
Marie shook her head once again.
"See? I told you I was interrupting so you would stop talking nonsense. I know better than that, Kami, and this isn't about Maka. To me, this was never about Maka."
That finally seemed to penetrate Kamiko's walls. She looked at her old friend as if she was something alien, estranged.
"What is this about, then?"
"It's about you, you stupid, prideful woman," Marie sighed, and now there was only sadness in her golden eye. "I'm mad as hell with you, Kamiko Albarn, but not because you left, not because you stopped talking with us, and definitely not because of Maka."
The punch was so quick that Soul's eyes never caught it: one second they were facing off, and in the next, Kami was kneeling several feet away, both arms raised defensively, while Marie Mjolnir-Stein pulled her fist back. If his mother-in-law hadn't been ready for it, she would be parading a black eye instead of a purple arm in her daughter's birthday dinner. Her instincts were insane – he almost couldn't believe she had paired a punch from Marie without breaking her arm.
Horrified, he also realized that Kami had retread to right beside his brand new piano.
He opened his mouth to ask them to stop – even though Spirit was gesticulating nervously from across the room for him to not interfere – but Marie beat him to it.
"I'm mad because my first meister, my ex-partner, my best friend, spent twelve years of her life suffering alone and never trust me to help her. Never sought help from anyone."
Kami lowed her arms, her jaw slack.
"Marie…"
"You blamed yourself," Marie said, gently. "For the end of your marriage, for leaving Maka behind, and for everything else. You felt like you had failed, and you never dealt well with failure, because Kamiko Tenjin never fails – she always exceeds."
"I was on a journey!" Kami snapped, getting on her feet. "I wasn't suffering…"
"Oh, really?" Marie sneered. "A never-ending journey? One so important you couldn't spare a week of your time to meet my son and your grandchildren? Come on, Kami…"
It was the old nickname, more than the teasing, that finally made her explode.
"What do you want me to tell you, Marie? You want me to cry and grovel? You want me to beg for your forgiveness?" Kami screamed, throwing her arms.
"I want you to be honest with yourself!" Marie retorted in the same tone, clenching her fists firmly, arms trembling with her barely-contained fury.
"Stop acting as you knew me better than myself!"
"You… you impossible, stuck-up idiot!"
"Oh, it's time for the name-calling? Are we back at school, crazy hammer? Are you going to rant about marrying a toilet?"
"Ooh, now you did!"
And what followed was such a storm of curses and name-calling from the two screaming women that left Soul's mouth hanging open. Those two were probably the last people on Earth he expected to be making such a spectacle of themselves. Lost, he looked once again at Spirit, and for his eternal surprise, his father-in-law was watching the scene with an amused smile on his lips, his relaxed face resting on his arms, and a warm and longing look on his eyes.
Had everyone gone insane? And now what?
"Mama? Marie?"
Shit.
Turns, turns, turns.
Stein had a moral dilemma in hands, and he had never been good at those.
He had prepared a bath for the kids – the water was on the right temperature, he made sure there was no razor blade or any other dangerous object in sight, he even found some of Victor's old bath toys – and now the only thing left was putting the kids in the tub.
That, however, required that he – a strange and weird adult – took off their clothes. And children are not supposed to trust strange and weird adults to see them naked. Scratch that; children are not supposed to trust adults, period. He and Marie made sure to teach Victor that when he was five and going to kindergarten for the first time. Their kid knew that if any adult or teenager – they weren't taking any risks – tried to touch him or take off his clothes or anything like that, he should scream bloody murder and run as fast as he could.
Turns, stop-
Stein allowed himself a few seconds to contemplate all the pain and suffering he could inflict on someone who even thought about touching his kid.
Back at the problem at hands, he had three dirt children staring him in the bathroom and a tub full of hot water.
"I have to find towels for you," he said. "Victor, can you help the twins into the tub?"
His kid nodded, and Sound promptly lifted his arms, to have his shirt pulled off.
"You don't help?" he asked. Trust Maka's kids to ask the uncomfortable questions.
"Your mama didn't give me permission to help you, so I can't," he explained, already taking a step back and out of the bathroom.
To his relief, they easily accepted that. "We do what mama says," Aika agreed, struggling with the tiny buttons of her dress.
Don't we all? Stein thought, dragging his feet to the hallway closet. He grabbed the extra towels and slowly went back. An almost imperceptible smile crossed his lips at the sound of the children's laugh and the splash of water against the tiles. Half of the floor was wet and Victor – in a rare moment of wildness – had apparently unloaded all of their liquid soap into the water. There was a white sea of foam and bubbles around the laughing kids.
Stein couldn't care less about any of those minor things.
He picked up their discarded clothes. "I'm going to put these in the wash and be right back. Behave." He put all his paternal authority on that word and left the kids playing. Victor was only nine, but smart enough to not let the twins draw or smash their heads against the tub for five minutes.
Even so, he made it back to the bathroom in four.
He sat on the toilet, crossing his legs and wishing he had his favorite chair so he could spin around while waiting. Marie thought his habit was about burning some of his repressed teenager angst, whatever that meant, but it simply helped him to focus his ideas.
"Argh!" Sound's indignant exclamation triggered his father's instinct, and he promptly knelt by the tub and gently wiped the soap from the boy's eyes.
"You need to be more careful," Stein said.
"Mama washes our hair," Aika explained, still giving him the stinky eye.
He approved that child's survival instincts.
And since she was Maka's child, he knew that she would react better to a challenge.
"Well, why don't you let Victor teach you how to wash your hair? Then you can surprise your mama," he said.
The little red devil grinned. Stein looked at his own child, and Victor only shrugged, as if saying 'well, okay then'.
His son really was a good kid. Stein cataloged the pang in his chest as a mix of pride and guilt – he should probably compliment Victor more often. He wanted his son to know that, although he was an imperfect father, he couldn't be happier about his and Marie's child. Victor had his sharp mind and Marie's gentle soul – he was perfect.
Turns, turns.
Or maybe Spirit-senpai's bullshit had finally got into him, and he was also becoming a sappy, helicopter parent.
Turns, turns.
He was still analyzing his own behavior when Victor announced that they were finished with the bath. He helped the children out of the bathtub and handed out the towels, still avoiding touching the twins more than necessary. Maybe he was being extra paranoid, but he was sure Maka would appreciate the thought.
Stein shepherded the giggling children to Victor's room. The formal clothes Marie had chosen for their son to wear to Maka's fancy dinner were already laid on his bed, but he would have to find out something for the twins to wear while their clothes were still in the drier.
Choices, turns, choices, turns.
Victor was six years older than the twins, but he was sure he could find out some of his old clothes for them to wear. Marie had donated most of it, but she still kept a few selected pieces somewhere in the boy's closet. She loved dressing him up, she always said he was the cutest child when he was wearing a suit…
Turns, stop.
Cute was a good thing, right? Maka would be potentially less furious if she could describe the children as 'cute' after having to be under his care for an unsupervised amount of time.
"Aika, Sound, why don't we play dressing up with Victor?"
The children beamed at him, and he let his own psychotic smile appears.
Time to play with the subjects.
"Mama? Marie?"
Shit.
Maka was standing on the only pair of high heels she liked, black like her long, sleeveless dress. Her hair was already dry and falling on her back in carefully brushed waves. Blair had also already finished her make-up – just a touch of blush on her pale skin, eyeliner, and mascara. Said cat was grinning manically at him from over Maka's shoulder, as she always did every time she got the chance to play fairy-godmother for his wife – she enjoyed his reactions too much.
Right now, however, he didn't feel like ogling his wife like a love-struck idiot. The pained expression on her face and the cold silence in the room was all he could think about.
"Is it true?" Maka whispered. Neither Kami nor Marie moved a muscle. "Mama, all this time… you were running away?"
For Soul, some feelings had a face. Love was the look in Maka's eyes every single time she looked at him or their children; loyalty was the gentle smile Tsubaki reserved only for Black*Star, and strength was the resolute acceptance Kid showed when downing his Father's old mantle.
At that moment, 'heartbreak' was Kamiko Albarn bracing herself before her own daughter.
It was painful to watch.
"Maka, I-"
"Please, don't lie to me," his wife whispered, and Kami winced. "Tell me the truth, mama."
Marie chose that moment to step in, one arm circling Kami's shoulder protectively. "We are here for you now, Kami. But you need to let us in – you need to help us to help you."
Kamiko trembled but she didn't push Marie away. She recoiled in her old friend's embrace, accepting the comfort for what it was.
"Your mother is… a deeply flawed human being, Maka," she finally confessed. Her head was still held high, but her eyes betrayed her insecurity.
"Aren't we all?" was Maka's response. She walked to them and grabbed Kami's hand. "I know I have always idealized you, mama, but I don't need you to be perfect. I just need you to be my mom and, if it's possible, to be a part of our family."
"Maka…"
"But you need to be sure, mama. You need to make an effort, and commit to it," she declared, her voice full of the steel determination that made Maka notorious. "If you choose to come back to our lives, you have to stay. I can forgive you for almost anything, mama. But I won't ever forgive you if you decide to abandon my children."
Soul felt his chest constricting with the idea of their kids being hurt. Sound was a gentle, kind soul who easily got attached to the people around him. Aika, for all her bossy and independent attitude, hated being alone or feeling left behind. If they came to love their grandmother just for her to disappear later, it would crush them. His own parents weren't what you would call an example of loving relatives, but they called often and always insisted on face-timing with the children at least every two weeks. Soul knew they cared in their own pompous way.
Meanwhile, Wes was a disaster uncle who doted on them to extremes. It was disgusting to watch and he loved to see the twins wrapping his brother around their tiny little fingers.
He remembered the conversation with Maka at Shibusen's steps, years ago. She had expressed her fear about the kids getting hurt, and he had said that they couldn't control their feelings – they could only try their best. If his wife was giving her beloved mother an ultimatum, it was for the sake of that promise.
And he would be dammed if he didn't give her his support now.
Soul walked to Maka's side and embraced her, the same way Marie was doing with Kami, but also pulling her body against his. "You don't need to hurry and you are free to make more mistakes, Kami, but you can't walk away from them."
Maka's arm circulated his waist, her hand gripping his shirt firmly, thanking him for making this stand with her.
And Kamiko slowly started to crumble. First, her shoulders dropped. She paled, which highlighted the purple dark circles under her eyes. With her lips and hands trembling, she released a deep, tired breath, and rested her weight against Marie's body.
"I won't stay," she whispered. "I can't stay. Death City is no longer my home if it ever was." Her eyes met Maka's at the same time her hands reached for her daughter. "But… I won't disappear again. I won't stay out of touch for so long. And… I would like… I would like to meet my grandchildren."
Maka's fingers found her mother's wrists and she pulled the older woman against her, hugging her hard.
"That's enough, mama," she said against her mother's hair. "That's enough."
Honestly, it was more than Soul had expected. It was clear as the day that Kamiko had a lot of issues to work with, but if she was serious about making an effort, Soul supposed it would have to be enough for him too. After all, it wasn't like his parents were the prime example of grand-parental love.
They had Spirit for that.
Speaking of the devil, Soul wasn't surprised to find his father-in-law biting a handkerchief and bawling his eyes out. Man, his emotions were all over the place.
Maka let go of her mother and chuckled, delicately wiping her eyes. Blair had had the forethought of using water-proof make-up, he noticed. "I can't wait for you to meet them." She turned around to look at him. "Soul, you should probably go pick up the kids before they make Killik go crazy."
"Oh, Marie already did that," he said, eyeing their old teacher. "Where did you say they were again, Marie?"
Still grinning at Maka and Kamiko's joined hands, she answered, calmly. "Oh, I left them and Victor at home with Franken."
There was an instant of heavy silence before every single person in the room exploded at the same time.
"YOU DID WHAT?"
Turns, turns, turns.
Stein was leaning over his microscope when the lab's front door was violently slammed open. Anyone else would probably be caught surprised, but honestly, at this point in his life, he was just so used to shit going down around him that he didn't even flinch.
Not to mention, he had sensed their souls miles away.
"Welcome home, Marie," he said, without raising his head. The blood samples were infinitely more interesting than the drama that was about to unfold. "Hello Spirit-senpai, Maka, Soul, Kamiko."
"Where are my children?"
He was neither surprised nor offended by Maka's harsh words. When you are a (self-diagnosed) sociopath, very few things can offend you.
"With Victor in the living room." His words were immediately followed by hurried footsteps, and he found himself alone with Marie. "So, how was the drama? Did you punch her?"
"I did it!" And he could tell, but her tone, that she wasn't even sorry.
That's my wife.
Stein finally got up and stretched his spine. Marie came behind him and gently massage his neck. And by 'gently', of course, he meant with her formidable strength – anything less than that wouldn't do a thing to his sore muscles and bones.
In comfortable silence, they followed the steps of the crowd that had invaded their home, to find Kamiko crouched in front of Aika and Sound. The girl was predictably suspicious, while the boy was equally amazed and terrified.
All proper responses to Kamiko – not that anyone had asked his opinion.
"Sooo… All their fingers are accounted for," Spirit-senpai commented, eyeing him suspiciously.
Almost thirty years later, and he was still getting shit for that.
"I don't have a death wish," he answered. Well, to be honest, he kind of did have a death wish, but those urges were more in control now, thanks to Marie and Victor. "Their clothes are in the dryer," he told Soul, who was observing the scene with Maka, Kami, and the kids, but was also keeping a safe distance.
Smart.
The Death Scythe nodded. "Thanks for that. And for letting them borrow Victor's old clothes."
"Thanks for sharing, Victor," Marie said, gently brushing their son's hair. Victor only shrugged and absently hugged his mom's leg. "They are so cute!"
Indeed. Both Aika and Sound were wearing identical small tuxedos, reminiscences from Marie's formal-shopping-spree phase. Their bow-ties had small black skulls over the red silk, and Stein had brushed their hair. He noticed that Blair had already taken enough photos to fill an entire album.
The experiment was successful.
Sound was now showing his mother and grandmother the book he had been painting before they had arrived – a totally safe and Marie-approved activity for children. Stein almost could see Maka's brain inflating inside her skull since she had burst through his door fully prepared to inflict bloody murder upon him.
He didn't even try to hide his evil smile.
Aika decided that it was a good time to point an indignant finger at his face and exclaim "He didn't help us to bath!" Which, of course, made all the adults stare at him, waiting for an explanation.
"I didn't want to normalize the idea of a suspicious adult touching them naked."
Yep, there goes Maka's soul, leaving her body and reaching for the light.
By the faces, he bet Maka and Soul were having one of their fast mental conversations, and he had no doubt about the contents – the stranger-danger pep-talk was probably coming for their children.
"Ooookaaayy," Soul said. "Since everyone is alive and ready, and no one is missing fingers, why don't we go for dinner now?"
Spirit-senpai mumbled something about reservations while Soul went to pick up his children. Marie rested her head on his upper arm, since she couldn't reach his shoulder, and whispered: "What did I tell you about intentionally creeping people out?"
"You told me to tone it down," he answered in the same tone.
"So…?"
"That was me toned down."
"Franken…"
"Professor Stein," Maka interrupted. She was the only one who still called him 'professor'. "Thank you for watching the children today, it was… an eventful night."
"I can imagine," he answered. Kamiko was glaring at him and the sheer audacity of her judgment made him pause. Yes, he was a sociopath, yes he had a bunch of issues, but hey, he had not fucked up his son so far and he hadn't abandoned him either. As far as he was concerned, she was the worst parent in that room and their were at his fucking house.
Stein decided to throw his most psychotic smile at her direction. "You seem well, Kamiko."
She flinched.
Interesting.
"How have you been, Stein?"
Turns, turns, turns.
"Oh, you know, opening people while they're asleep…" Marie elbowed him, and almost broke one of his ribs. "The same old."
Kamiko seemed ready to give him some nasty retort, but one look from Maka made her swallow her words. Instead, she said, "I didn't know you had a sense of humor."
And because he was not a very nice person, and Kamiko had always frustrated the hell out of him, he said "I don't. I'm deadly serious."
"Ooookaaay," Marie interrupted, putting herself between them. "That's enough, Franken or Maka won't let you babysit again."
"Don't worry," he said, eyeing his former student. "I don't intent to babysit ever again, Maka."
He thought she would be politely relieved, but instead, she laughed. "But you did such a good job today, professor, and they are so cute wearing Victor's tuxedos…"
He knew she was playing him, but honestly, it was her birthday, so he decided to be a good former teacher and give her the answer she really wanted to hear.
"Never. Again."
