Lance couldn't see how much worse the day could get. Well that may have been a bit hyperbolic but this definitely wasn't his day. Not that starting it off with him being propelled into a wall was an indicator that it would be, but now he had been forced to see the only person on the planet that he truly feared at the behest of his own weapon for the sole purpose of learning how to imitate her.

Man that girl. Lance thought. Of all the swords in the sea I manage to pick the ultra violent, bloodthirsty one, figures.

Josilyn Masterson. Seeing her again had been as pleasant as he had expected. Just thinking about those big icy eyes on that robotically expressionless face was enough to send shivers up his spine. The added thought that she could inspect his soul at her leisure didn't help at all.

Leaning against one of the pillars that outlined the entrance to the DWMA, Lance heaved a deep tired sigh.

Reiji hadn't seemed that bad though and he had to wonder how he could possibly match souls with that mechanical shell of a woman. He also couldn't help but wonder what kind of weapon he could be. Whenever he tried to imagine the type of weapon Josilyn would prefer he always pictured a big mallet to whack him with.

After about sixty seconds or so after the other had went on ahead to take Kid's tour Lance peeked through the small mirror on the school's door. Good, the coast is clear.

Digging into his deep pockets Lance got what he was after, a single cigarette, his secret addiction. It had been a bad habit of his ever since his time in Germany when he was still searching for a weapon partner. His potential partner had offered him a smoke and Lance had never known how to say no to someone. So Lance had fought the urge to cough while the two discussed the likely hood of the partnership working and he grudgingly had said yes again when the man asked him if he would like a second cigarette.

Lighting it, he took a long puff before breathing out a stream of smoke. He had agreed to quit when he had met Veronica and Mark but he still snuck one whenever he was feeling stressed out like right now. The reason why she was opposed to him smoking had something to do with her grandmother dying of lung cancer or something like that so he took extra care to hide his pack at all cost lest he wished to be stabbed repeatedly, which wasn't particularly high on his Christmas wish list to Santa.

He took his time in finishing his smoke, savoring it, before discarding its remains and entering the building, stuffing a few mints into his mouth for good measure.

Search as he might he couldn't find them and he soon discovered that he was hopelessly lost within the halls of the DWMA, wishing he would have paid more attention to Kid when he had given them their tour.

Already forgetting your way around, eh Lance? He asked himself. Well that's just great.

Wandering the halls aimlessly with the faint hope of bumping into someone seemed like the most productive thing to do in this situation. Anybody would do really. He'd even take that crazy eye patch lady if she could help navigate him through this labyrinth of a school.

The "incident" with her, as he was now referring to it in his head, was still fresh in his mind. He didn't know how to feel about it. The woman, her name was Marie or something like that, had known him somehow and so of course she had known of his father. Everybody seemed to have heard of the Death-scythe turned kishen that had been his own dear dad.

Her recognizing him wasn't the confusing part though. He had lost many a potential weapon because of his resemblance to his father, he had been lucky when he had met Veronica and Mark when it came to that aspect. But most of the time when someone found out who he was related to they just glared at him and politely asked him to get the hell out. They certainly didn't hug him and tell him that it everything was alright. She had even said to come and talk to her if he ever needed it.

Yeah, that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Still the option was surprisingly reassuring. Normally he hated the thought of others pitying him but with her he got the idea that her intentions where genuine.

All of this was trivial of course since he was still completely lost. He was heavily considering lighting up another cigarette but decided against it since there was always the chance of running into a faculty member and getting into trouble or even worse running into Veronica and getting skewered.

Being lost wasn't really that bad now that he thought about it. It was just like one of his walks only he didn't have his ipod and that was easily rectified by simply humming.

His humming quickly ended as he heard approaching footsteps. Straightening his coat and wiping off the idiotic smile that had somehow made its way onto his face, mentally preparing to try to not look dumb as he explained that he was lost, a difficult task.

As it turned out he needn't have bothered at all. The girl who had been making the footsteps he had heard was apparently in a hurry because she crashed into Lance before she saw him, falling on top of him. Squeaking in embarrassment the pink haired girl attempted to retreat to the way she had came but tripped on her black dress.

"Are you alright?"Lance asked as he helped pull her up.

"You idiot!"A strange voice said from nowhere."Why can't you watch where you're going?"

Turning his head from right to left Lance tried to see where the rude voice was coming from but couldn't see anyone but the two of them in the hall."Who said that?"He asked when he gave up trying to look.

The pink haired girl looked extremely uncomfortable, nervously rubbing her arm. She seemed to be silently muttering something to herself.

Now he remembered where he had seen her. She had been there when he was fighting Black*Star, watching from behind the girl with the pigtails.

When he received no response from the strange voice he turned his attention back to her, shifting into friendly mode.

"I'm Lance." He said, putting on a fake smile to try to put her at ease," pleased to meet you."

"Um..T-thank you."She stuttered nervously, looking at the ground.

"Tell him your name retard!"The voice returned, causing the girl to yelp.

"Where are you?"Lance asked, with just a little bit of an edge to his voice. He never could tolerate people being mean with no reason.

"I'm right here four eyes."It said as a black ooze shot out of the girl's back, condensing into a black monkey …thingy. Yeah let's go with that. With a big white X etched across its face.

"Didn't see that coming," Lance thought out loud.

"Ragnorak I asked you not to come out."The girl grimaced.

"I can't imagine why."Lance snorted.

"What are you staring at four eyes?"The thingy, no Ragnorak she had called it, asked him.

"Oh nothing in particular," Lance lied, trying to act casual."I was just wondering if I could get some directions."

"Directions?"The pink haired girl repeated."Where to?"

"Have you seen a group of students by any chance?"Lance asked."They're most likely being led by Death the Kid, if you know him."

"Kid? I did see him with some other people. It looked like they were heading to the Death Room."She explained, quietly.

"That's great. Would you lead me to them?"Lance asked gently.

"I don't know how to deal with new people."She sighed almost to herself.

"Please, it would really help me out a lot."Lance pleaded.

"O-ok I'll try."She agreed, albeit uncertainly.

"I'm Crona by the way."She mumbled glumly.

Man this chick was even worse than he was before he had learned how to mask his emotions. Oddly though it made him feel a little secure around her, like they were kindred spirits in their social ineptness or something like that except she was actually worse than him which made him feel a bit more confident in a weird way.

Alas he felt no connection to Ragnorak in any sense of the word, in fact he quickly found himself irritated by the oozy black creature to the point that he was debating hitting it with his soul wavelength and only refrained himself for the sake of Crona who seemed as if she might panic or try to run off at any second.

Still the creature intrigued him and he could only contain his curiosity for so long before prying.

"So what's the deal with Ragnorak?"Lance asked, trying to sound as casual as he could.

"What's the deal with your face?"Ragnorak snorted, causing Lance to twitch slightly.

"Ragnorak be nice. Maka says we need to be nice to friends."Crona pleaded."Ragnorak's my uh. My weapon partner,"

"That's awesome."Lance stated in awe."You always have him on hand. You don't have to worry about getting separated at all or one of you being lost or something like that."

The aspect certainly seemed desirable in theory but perhaps in reality it could get hectic. Lance supposed. God knows he wouldn't want Veronica oozing out of his back all the time.

"You think so?"Crona asked sheepishly.

"Indeed."Lance nodded."How did it you and Ragnorak come to be…..attached to one another?"

Her reaction immediately made him regret asking and he could see that it was a touchy subject and decided not to pry any further.

She led soon led him to the entrance of Death Room.

"Thanks for helping me out."Lance said."I would've been stuck there for hours if it weren't for you."

"You're welcome."Crona timidly responded.

"See you around."Lance said as he stepped forward into the Death Room, turning around to look at her but discovered that she was already gone.

Looking ahead he could see that Josilyn and Reiji were busy talking to Lord Death. So he tried to be as quiet as possible as he made his way up to Veronica so they could depart.

"Where have you been?"She asked as soon as she spotted him, hands on her hips, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh you know, here and there."He answered, shrugging.

"Whatever."She snorted in a most lady like fashion."Let's just go home."

He was only too happy to oblige her."As you wish my lady."He curtseyed, throwing in a bow for the hell of it."Come on let's go."

"I don't see what's so scary about her."Veronica said as they made their way out of the cloudy room."She seems normal to me."

"Shush!"Lance whispered."She might hear you. She has ears like a hawk. Or you know some other animal with abnormally good hearing."He elaborated once they exited the Death Room and became safely out of sight from Josilyn.

"Oh quit being paranoid."Veronica said as they made their way out of the building, luckily not getting lost this time. Lance never got lost twice, once was enough for him to learn his way around.

"Being paranoid just means I'm hardly ever surprised."Lance chortled.

"Blimey."Veronica sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose."You have an excuse for everything don't you."

"I try my best."He confirmed.

When the two returned to their apartment they found it now had a working door once again. Mark was asleep on the couch and Tsubaki was cleaning the dishes.

"Oh welcome back."She greeted."There's some leftover casserole in the fridge if you're hungry."

"You made us dinner?"Lance asked."That's very nice of you."

"Well I thought you might be hungry."Tsubaki smiled."Plus the kitchen was full."

"Good thinking."Veronica stated, getting out the food."I'm starving."

"Well what do we owe you for watching the tyke?"Lance asked.

"It was no problem."Tsubaki said."And he was very well behaved."

"Our Mark well behaved? Are you sure you watched the right kid?"Lance chuckled, taking a seat next to Mark on the couch and gently ruffling his hair.

"No really he was great."Tsubaki assured.

Somehow Lance wasn't surprised that Tsubaki was great with children. She seemed the type that could get along with almost anybody, even somebody like the real him and not the mask he wore whenever he was in public.

"Well it's getting late so I better get going."Tsubaki said.

"See you later."Lance said as she left.

After they ate and Lance carried Mark into his bed. He and Veronica both prepared to go to sleep but as Lance lay there on the couch he found that he couldn't. Too much had happened today. Everything was swirling around in his head and keeping him awake.

"Lance."A voice said causing him to pop up in alarm.

"I see you can't sleep either."Veronica said, sinking into the chair next to the couch in her plaid pajamas.

"It appears so."Lance said, clutching his blanket to cover his chest. His pajamas usually consisted of nothing more than his boxers.

"So what's the cause of your insomnia?"He said, shifting into a sitting position.

"Oh I don't know."She sighed."It's just that everything is changing. It used to be just the three of us but now there are all these new people."

"Wow Ronnie, are you actually nervous about something?"Lance mused."Never thought I'd see the day,"

"What and you're not?"She questioned glaringly.

"Me? I'm terrified. In case you haven't noticed I'm not exactly a people person."Lance explained.

"You could have fooled me."She snorted."You've been nothing but a people person since we got here."

"That's merely an act my dear Ronnie."He clarified."And a poor one at that,"

"What are you talking about?"She asked.

"What? You didn't really think I was that charming young socialite?" All this stuff is completely foreign to me. So if one of us should be nervous it's me."He said."Which I am,"

"Man your weird."She muttered."Still it's just a little nerve racking."

"Veronica you and Mark are the first friends I've had in years and let me tell you, you have nothing to worry about. You'll be an amazing student and an amazing death-scythe you both will. I guarantee it."

Lance meant every word he said. He didn't know anybody who was willing to work as hard as her.

"Thanks Lance it means a lot to hear you say that."She said wistfully.

"I know we've only known each other for a little less than a year now but don't doubt that you and Mark are both important to me."You're all I have. He stopped himself from saying.

"I know. And you mean a lot to me too…. I mean us. You mean a lot to us."She smiled.

It made Lance smile to hear her say this. For too long had it been just him before he met them. He had been alone ever since his parents died and whenever he did talk to anyone they either gave him a look of pity or one of disdain. Neither made him feel much better.

He dreaded the thought of anyone of his friends or his new classmates knowing the incident around his father's death. Of course Josilyn knew it, she had been one of the people who looked at him with nothing more than contempt but it seemed like Kid didn't know anything about it and that made him feel a little bit better. He could just imagine how Kid would act if he heard it, Kid had always treated Lance like he couldn't be trusted to act for himself and this would be just the thing to strengthen that.

But for now Veronica and Mark didn't know and that made him happy at least and if it was up to him they would never find out. If it was up to him nobody would ever know, he'd like to forget about it himself.

He hated to admit it but he had yet to get over the incident. It had happened over two years but it still got to him. He was weak and he hated himself for it.

And he assumed that if either of his partners found out about it they would hate him too not that he didn't deserve it. He thought.

Still he didn't want them hating him for as long as he could prevent it. They really were all he had and he didn't know what he would do if they left him too. Mark was like a brother too him and Veronica was…Well he didn't know what Veronica was to him but he knew that he didn't want to lose her.

Yawning, she leaned back into the chair and smiled at him, a rare occurrence."Do you really think I'll be an amazing death-scythe?"She asked with gleaming eyes.

"The best one ever," Lance assured.

"And you'll be the best meister ever."She said, reaching out to pat his knee."Just you wait."

"That I don't believe."Lance said, smiling sadly. "I'll just be happy to be the one swinging you when we finally get you a witch's soul."

"Well maybe if you weren't so lazy you could be a great meister."She frowned."Honestly you have so much potential but you just do the bare minimum with everything."

"Oh great this conversation again," Lance sighed.

"If you just applied yourself more and trained harder you could be legendary Lance."She explained."I mean you can already fight with your soul wavelength. There are three star meisters that can't even do that."

"Maybe I don't want to be legendary."Lance sighed."Being adequate is fine by me."

"But you could be so much more."Veronica said.

"What can I say I'm a man with humble dreams."He said.

"And what would those be?"Veronica demanded.

"I'll tell you when I find out."Lance said, falling back onto the couch."For now waking up in the morning is enough for me."

"So you've never had a dream."Veronica inquired.

"Of course I've had a dream."Lance explained."I just don't have one right now, at this particular moment."

"Well what was your old dream?"

"I wanted to be a meister who was just as good as my mom."Lance grimaced."You know what. I really don't want to talk about this anymore."He said, turning his head away from here.

"Fine, didn't know it was such a bloody touchy subject."Veronica snorted."See you in the morning."

He simply laid there for a few hours until he eventually fell into dreamless sleep which was always preferable.

Now there was just one more day before their fist day as official DWMA students.