[Authors Note] Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updating. I'm getting back into writing now, though so I hope to have some more chapters written up soon. I don't really have much to say other than please enjoy this chapter, and I hope to hear some feedback from you! Anywho, onto the chapter!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Take It Away

Time seemed to run at an unbarably slow pace at that moment, and not only was Serah confused, she didn't know what to say or do; Staring up at the Grim Reaper, who was now with his head tilted to the side as he tried to figure out what was wrong, Serah wasn't sure if she was even conscious. The uncomfortable apology that Death The Kid had made to her was discarded from her consciousness without so much as any effort, as if the alarming event never happened.

"What's wrong?" Lord Death asked, uncertainty echoing in his voice as he obviously took in the dumbfounded look across Serah's face with concern. Shaking her head slightly, Serah fought to choose her words carefully; Any wrong statement could end in disaster.

"I-I just don't understand, Lord Death." Serah began, pressing her free hand to the side of her head slightly. "Someone's come forward to become my weapon?"

"That's just what I said, wasn't it?" Lord Death asked, but his tone was rather confused; Slowly, as Serah nodded, it appeared that Lord Death had suddenly realised what was wrong with the situation, and bounced on the spot once. "Oh! I never told you we were thinking of finding you a weapon-partner for the time being, did I?"

"Uh – No." Serah spoke, and relief finally began to overcome her as the situation began to settle down. "No you didn't, Lord Death."

"No wonder why you looked scared!" Lord Death piped up, and from the glance Serah took at Spirit, she saw that he had one of those exasperated smiles across his face. "I'd done some thinking since Amanda agreed to help you with Dance Lessons, that you'd probably find it easier to get used to it, if you had a weapon partner! A temporary one, of course!"

"Oh." Serah spoke, letting out a breath as she straightened up on her spot slightly. "So who am I working with now? Do I know them?"

"It's Amanda!" Lord Death responded, and once again, Serah was left more than just a little confused.

"A-Amanda's my new partner?"

"Only after classes!" Lord Death replied, bouncing once again in that manner that usually had Serah smile. "Since you were going to be spending three hours every weekday with her, I thought Amanda would be the perfect person to help you get some experience as a Meister before we send you back out on another Extra Lesson."

"B-but ..." Serah began, biting down on her bottom lip as glanced between the Grim Reaper, and Spirit for just a moment. "What happened to me learning how to use my circlets? I haven't even had them for two weeks yet!"

"You'll still be using them!" Lord Death replied, tilting his head to the side slightly as Serah listened cautiously. "Amanda's weapon-form isn't too different from your own, so you should have an easier time of learning."

"R-really?" Serah began, shifting her weight onto her other foot nervously as Lord Death seemed to look at her in a questioning manner. "Did Amanda have trouble with finding a Meister, too?"

"Not at all. Amanda had a Meister for the whole of her time in the Academy." His answer was prompt, causing more confusion to overcome Serah; She felt she wasn't understanding a great deal of this conversation.

"Oh ..." Serah spoke, biting down on her bottom lip as she tried to think; It was as if Lord Death was forgetting all about how she was actually a weapon, not a Meister.

"What wrong?"

"Nothing." Serah replied, looking up at Lord Death once again; He seemed to be looking at her rather curiously at that moment. "I just wasn't expecting what you'd told me; It's a bit of a shock, really."

"Oh."

"S-so I'm working with Amanda after classes to learn how to weild a weapon properly, as well as Dance Lessons?" Serah asked, nibbling against the inside of her bottom lip as Lord Death seemed to straighten up slightly.

"That's pretty much the situation at the moment. It's not permanent, just until you're up to speed with the rest of your class." Lord Death remarked, however his voice was rather lacking in it's usual bounce at that moment – He sounded more like he was curious about her reaction to his 'good news'. "But Class is about to start, so you should get going."

"Y-yes, Lord Death." Serah spoke, releasing her bottom lip as she took a step back. "Bye ..."

"Thanks for visiting!" Lord Death piped up, however Serah chose not to say anything as she turned on her heel, and began to make her way back to class.

The door to the Death Room closed with a dull thud, allowing Serah to drift off into thought as she subconsciously allowed her feet to do the walking for her – She wasn't 'upset' about the situations turn of events, but moreso, she didn't quite understand why Lord Death had once again changed everything on her. Her first Dance Lesson was nothing to be proud of, and she'd been recovering from the injuries of her first 'Extra Lesson' all this time, so she hadn't been able to do any training, or even attend all her classes. It also didn't make sense to her that Lord Death was investing so much time and interest into her development in the Death Weapon Meister Academy. She wasn't like Maka and Soul, where the Meister was the daughter of one of Lord Death's Deathscythe, and she wasn't actually a friend of his son's. She was just, Serah Fythe, the self conscious weapon who no one wanted to weild. About the only thing that stood out for her was her clumbsiness, and that wasn't even something that should have stood out.

Inwardly, Serah had hoped the news was about a Meister who wanted to weild her; It would make the lack of presence she had to herself easier to understand – It would also feel more comfortable for her to do what she was originally here for.

That also brought Serah to a new train of thought. Why did Amanda come forward to be her weapon? And what kind of Weapon was Amanda? In the small window of time she'd spent with Amanda, she felt that the blonde woman was more comfortable just … doing normal human stuff. There was no real evidence of Amanda being more comfortable having as little to do with the academy as possible, however it was the impression that Serah got. The woman spoke about the Academy without trouble or hesitation, but there was a feel to the woman's words that Serah picked up on. Whether by accident, or it was her imagination, Serah didn't know.

Walking past a bin down the last corridor towards class, Serah didn't even think as she carefully discarded her Mango-juice into the bin. She'd lost all traces of her appetite, and it wasn't like she was allowed to take the drink into class, anyway.

The door of the classroom was open of course, and as Serah hesitantly peered into the room, she found herself a little confused – There was no one inside, and there was no note on the blackboard to tell anyone what'd happened. As Serah stepped into the classroom numbly, she found herself wondering what was going on. Lord Death'd even said that Classes were about to start – Had she missed something important during the last of class she was in last week? It didn't help that Lord Death had given her the afternoon off before her last Dance Lesson.

"What the hell's going on?" Serah wondered out loud, looking around the room slowly as she tried to figure out what she was going to do. Clearly, she was expected to attend class, so it wasn't like she could wander off and just assume no one was coming today. Slowly, as she directed her gaze towards the benches where she usually sat, Serah came to the decision that, like normal, she should take her seat at her designated spot. She didn't have anything better to do, and someone was bound to come back sooner or later – Or better yet, at the start of the next class, everyone would return.

Serah let out a breath as she lifted a hand to raise her headphones back in their normal place, beginning to make the small trip to her usual spot. Savior by Rise Against was playing through her headphones at that moment, and for some reason, it was an appropriate track for her at that moment; Her mood had been heavily dragged down to a lower level; And her mood seemed to need this sort of music to make her feel a little better. She dropped herself onto her part of the bench, leaning forward to rest her head against the varnished wood surface of the desk in front of her.

Her chest hurt; Serah was rather familiar with the kind of pain that she could feel, rather, familiar enough to know that it wasn't a physical kind of pain. A lot had been happening to her over the past two weeks; So much so that Serah felt she was becoming more than just overwhelmed. And when she was overwheled, Serah tended to suffer from chest pains; It wasn't ubnormal for her, at least, when she stopped to think of the woman that had been sending her colourful letters of late. She didn't like to, however. The woman just made her thoughts return to a darker avenue, and of course she wanted to avoid it above most else.

However, despite how overwhelmed she seemed to be getting with everything that's been happening, Serah knew in herself that she was at home here – She just had to learn to take things a bit better. As the track switched over to 'Take It Away' by The Used, Serah felt a curtain of black begin to embrace her as she began to fall asleep.

Sunlight began to set over the tall skyscrapers of the city, casting sweeping shadows of darkness across the many quiet streets of downtown Chicago as the street lights flickered on one by one. While there were people around, for the most part, the city held a kind of emptiness that sunk through to the soul.

A young form slowly made their way out of the closest subway station, long peach coloured hair tied back into a ponytail at the nape of their neck. Their form shadowed by the setting sun wavered slightly on unstable feet, exhaustion clutching at the edges of her consciousness as she fought to remain awake. She was young looking; scarcely older than twelve, it appeared, though one couldn't be sure with the weariness that hung over her like a dark cloud.

She pushed her long fringe from her face, letting out a faint breath as she straightened up on the front steps to the subway access. Wearing a simple uniform of black track-pants and a black blazer with orange writing upon her left breast, the young woman didn't appear to stand out in a crowd.

She glanced at herself in the reflection of a parked car along the pavement, wincing slightly at the girl that stared back at her. It appeared the exhausted image was something of an affront to her, however she paid no real attention to it as she began to walk south along the pavement towards what was presumably home, a small black backpack embroidered with the same design as her blazer resting neatly against her lower back.

The girl was pale, and her different coloured eyes stood out quite dramatically, however it didn't appear to bother the young woman; She made no attempt at hiding her strange eyes, nor did she make any real attempt to fade from the views of those around her; She just continued on her way, as if she was the only person left in this place that had something to do.

One by one the streetlights flickered on as she walked, illuminating the sidewalks and parks with incandescent light. However changing light didn't seem to bother her; Likely she was used to walking these streets at such late an hour.

The sun had completely set as the girl stepped from the pavement and up a small path that lead to the front door of a rather expansive looking house. Standing with two floors in a glossy bone white, the house boasted a rather bold elegenece with it's sky-blue tiled roofing and broad balcony over the front lawn. The girl didn't pause as she stepped up the steps to the front door of the house, and began to rummage through her pockets for what was obviously the key to the house. Her fingers seemed to fumble slightly as she pulled out her keys, and as a sneeze escaped her, her keys had slipped out of her hands and to the floor.

The peach-haired girl let out an exhausted sigh as she took a step back to bend over and retrieve the keys, however she didn't get that far as something from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She blinked for a few seconds, before turning her head to look over at the veranda over towards her right. There was nothing actually present upon the veranda, however there were many circles of dirt in various places upon the veranda, as if furniture and other various items had stood there until today.

"Great ..." The girl spoke, scooping up her keys quickly as she began to make a quick job of getting herself inside. It looked like someone had cleaned the front of the house out. The lock clicked twice as she turned the key inside the barrel, before it unlocked to allow the young woman inside. "Hey Mom!" She called, frowning slightly at the lack of light inside as she allowed herself in.

There were no lights on inside of the house as the girl shut the door behind her, and there was no sound that met her greetings to her mother, either. Maybe the woman hadn't of heard her?

She allowed a faint breath to escape her as she flicked the light of the landing room on, before she turned to lock the front door behind her. She didn't seem the least bit surprised that there were no voices to greet her call – just a little disappointed. Looking around at the house that stretched out before her, however, the girl soon found herself to be staring at a strangely empty house.

While basic furniture remained, the girl could immediately tell that many items had gone missing; Many paintings, pottery and even the television no longer decorated the expansive entertainment room that stood joined to the landing room. She sucked in the faintest of breaths as she slowly shifted her gaze to the umbrella basket just next to the door, where a few coloured umbrella, a thick and heavy stick and a fire-poker stood innocently in the confines of the basket. She still couldn't hear anyone within the house, but she wouldn't settle for that as she carefully took hold of the stick as a weapon. The house was huge, and if the robbers were still here for another load of loot, she wouldn't know until she walked in on them.

The girl didn't wonder about where her Mom was; The woman could sleep through just about anything – Including burglars breaking in and stealing stuff. She was probably still in bed, none the wiser about what was going on.

Upon her way up towards the stairs to the second floor however, a piece of paper upon the small table next to the stairs came to the girl's notice. It was a strangely coloured piece of letter paper, with heavily looped, familiar handwriting upon it. The girl tried to force her attention on inspecting the house, however her stomach began to churn, as if something was telling her to drop what she was doing and read it. It was her Mom's handwriting, she knew that immediately, however she didn't really understand why this seemed to matter at the moment.

The girl let out a faint breath, before she glanced back at the piece of paper. Written neatly upon the top of the page was the name Serah, and it had the young girl hesitate in her attempt at heading upstairs. The small page was written for her, it appeared, and as Serah tucked the wooden stick beneath her arm, she hesitantly lifted the piece of paper from the table. The churning of her stomach got worse the longer it took for her to read the page, and the further down her eyes scanned, the more her expression contorted into horror.

There were no burglars as Serah found out; As the letter slipped from her shaking fingers and to the floor, the realisation was severe enough for her to feel sick to the stomach.

No one had come and robbed the house; Serah's mother had taken what she wanted, and run away.

She left Serah behind.

The sudden sensations of something pulling at her head jerked her awake so suddenly that she didn't know what was going on; The sounds of a clattering bang echoed for just a second as the sensations of falling overcame Serah, before she even saw anything in front of her. A sharp jolt of pain shot through the back of her head as a dull thud echoed for just a moment, before Serah found herself crumbled in a heap at the base of what she understood was a wall by the fact that it hadn't of moved. Blinking furiously against the pain shooting through her head, and the racing of her heart inside her already pained chest, Serah soon realised that she was kind of sprawled on the floor behind her bench, and that there were two forms staring down at her. Her headphones were sitting on the desk where she had been resting her head in her sleep, and the form that stood just to the right of where Serah had been sitting was staring down at her, confusion plastered across the rather familiar face.

"Are you alright?" Echoed a faintly familiar voice, however, Serah barely had the chance to try and figure out what was going on, before the form closest to her leant towards her slightly, with a hand outstretched towards her.

"I think you just scared her, Kid." Echoed another voice all of a sudden. There was no audiable response that Serah could pick, however, as she blinked again against the confusion that refused to release her, she hesitantly accepted the hand, and she was carefully pulled to her rather unstable feet.

"Th-Thank you ..." Serah spoke slowly, her free hand going to the bench as she felt who she knew was Death The Kid release her hand, allowing her to carefully sit down backwards on the bench she'd been previously sleeping upon. There was no audiable response, however Serah heard footsteps as she carefully readjusted her glasses upon her face. Her heart was finally beginning to slow, and her mind was finally beginning to clear, as well. Finally, it appeared she'd be able to form a coherrent sentence without the fear of either fainting or hyperventilating from the panic.

Blinking slowly, Serah slowly lifted her gaze to look over at the two that had decided to wake her up all of a sudden. She could see Patty and Liz sitting at their places, talking about something that didn't make very much sense, and Death The Kid sitting, with his attention towards the front of the class. As Serah looked around the classroom, she began to notice people beginning to wander in; It must be the small ten minute break between classes, like she expected. However, she found herself once again wondering about where the class had gone during the first class. However, there was no Maka and Soul, leaving her with just one of two people remaining she could ask at that very moment.

"U-um, Death-?" Serah began, her tone wavering slightly as she began to wonder what to refer to him as; Everyone else called him Kid, but they were all familiar with him. After a second, however, Death The Kid turned his head to look at her, a rather perplexed expression coming to Serah's notice. Was it strange to him that she'd called him Death? No matter; She'd caught his attention, so she might as well finish her question. "Where exactly did everyone go? Did I miss a class or something?"

"No – Stein decided to take everyone out of the academy for a practical class." Death the Kid proceeded to explain, causing the colour in Serah's face to pale a shade or two. "I did inform him that my father was speaking with you, however."

"O-oh … Thank you." Serah couldn't help but feel somewhat upset, given the fact that she'd just missed a practical lesson of all things. After what seemed like several long and agonising moments, Death The Kid shifted his gaze back to the front of the classroom, allowing Serah back to do what she wanted. Sucking in a deep breath through her nose, she turned around on the bench to face the front of the class, however now that the shock had subsided, she didn't feel the least bit motivated to focus on anything. Leaning forward over the desk in front of her, Serah rest her head upon her arms as she folded them onto the table carefully.

However she found herself drifting into an apathetic state, where her mind just reminded her of that memory that had decided to resurface. She hoped to be rid of that unfortunate memory, however it appeared her subconscious wanted to slowly torture her with the image.