Sunday came and went without anything of real interest and Maka was excited when Monday finally came, bringing with it their return to the DWMA.

Soul was saying something about how uncool it was that they had to go back to school so soon after defeating Asura but she couldn't be more elated. The last few weeks had been so boring for her without school work. And she felt like all the time spent lounging could be better spent collecting kishen eggs.

Well it wasn't entirely wasted time anyway .Her and Soul had gotten…..closer since she had defeated the kishen. She wasn't exactly sure what they were now but a couple sounded to official so they had kept it a secret from the rest of their friends.

After the battle when all their wounds had been bandaged and they had returned home Soul had almost mauled her, crashing his lips into hers as soon as the door was closed. And she was only too willing to meet them in return. After all they had been through it was such a relief to just be alive and it made her realize just how important Soul really was to her.

Just thinking about all their secret rendezvous since then made her blush a deep red.

"Maka!"She heard a timid voice squeal as she entered the now busy building.

Turning she saw Crona nervously approach her."Good morning Crona."Maka greeted, smiling.

Crona sheepishly smiled in return, joining her and Soul as they made their way to class crescent moon. The room was only half full when they entered with a few early birds like her and Ox taking their seats while the rest of the students slowly began to pour one by one into the places in the classroom.

She spotted Kid and the sisters in their seats at the center of the classroom. She couldn't be sure but Kid looked troubled, like he was really frustrated about something but couldn't do anything about it.

Everyone's attention was quickly stolen when a new set of feet entered the room. Lance and his weapons casually sauntered into the room. Lance scanned the room before picking a vacant seat in the second row to the left side of the room.

Seeing how everyone's was staring at him Maka had to wonder what could possibly be running through his head right now.

I can't do this. Were Lance's first thoughts upon entering the school, his second being if it was too late to runaway or not.

No, to leave at this point would only add more unwanted attention. So he tried with all his might to not let any of his anxiety show as he led his weapons to their new class. Upon entry he got the exact reaction he had been dreading since coming to the city. The entire room's attention was now on him as he nearly fainted. Pulling himself together he picked the first open seats he saw while trying not to do anything stupid and he just knew that he was failing miserably.

More and more students flooded the room, casting curious glares in his direction all the while. He assumed all the new students were retrieving this kind of treatment but the thought did little to ease his apprehension.

When the inevitable bell came the chatter immediately ceased. The silence was even worse for Lance. He had been home schooled his entire life and he didn't have a clue what a teacher may be like. In all the movies he'd seen they were always really inspirational and compassionate or they were mean abusive tyrants who tried their best to make students miserable.

He wondered what this Professor Stein guy would be like. He'd of course heard of the man many considered DWMA's greatest meister and was slightly startled when he read that he was to be his first ever real teacher.

There were two reasons why this startled him so, well if he really thought about he could probably think of a few more but these two were certainly the most prominent reasons, the first was merely the man's reputation alone he had heard many a gossip about the man's obsession with dissecting everything and anything. The second was that Franken Stein had been one of the select few meisters and weapons chosen to handle the infamous death scythe turned kishen.

He definitely would be able to recognize Lance and that notion troubled Lance deeply. The way Josilyn glared at him had been a friendly little reminder of his parentage but he dreaded to imagine how someone who had personally dealt with his father would act towards him.

A loud thud momentarily distracted him from his worrisome thoughts. Looking down Lance saw something he found rather odd. A man in a lab coat sitting in a rolling chair was sprawled across the floor reading a clip board as if it was perfectly natural. Turning around Lance saw that everybody else was also treating it like a normal everyday thing.

"Good morning class."The man said not even bothering to get up."Let's take attendance shall we."

Lance figured this must be the Stein dude but he wasn't really exactly what he had imagined besides the lab coat and messy grey hair the thing that stuck out the most was the stitch marks that seemed to cover the professor's entire body from his lab coat to his face.

"Maka Albarn."The professor began.

"Here ."The pigtailed girl from the other day stated earnestly.

So he was going in alphabetical order by last name? Lance supposed that that made sense, thinking about it he was glad about it too, with a name like Rodriguez he should have a good long wait before he was called.

"Veronica Arondight."

"Here" She replied quickly.

"Mark Arondight."

"Hello."The shield waved cheerfully.

A few more names were called after that. Lance couldn't remember all of them but a few stuck out above the rest. Of course there were the other new students and the few other students he had met like Crona and Black*Star and Kid's pistols. But a few of the students had truly peculiar names like Soul Eater, Ox Ford, Kilik rung and so on.

But then again his best friend was named Death the Kid so….

"Lance Rodriguez."

Lance wondered what he should say when his name got called. Should he just say here like everybody else or try to sound smart and say present instead. But then he may come off as pretentious.

"Lance Rodriguez."

Oh my god what if my voice cracks? That'd be so embarrassing. Lance thought. I wonder when he'll call my name. I 'dlook so dumb if I didn't notice when he did….

"Lance Rodriguez."

"What?"Lance yelped in surprise as he came crashing back to reality, all eyes on him."Uh I mean here…"

"Smooth."Veronica chuckled, slapping him on the back."Real smooth Mr. Rodriguez."

Great, nothing like looking like an idiot your very first day of school, way to go Lance. He thought miserably, resting his head on his desk. Why'd I have to choose now of all times to space out?

"You may have noticed a few new students on the roster."Stein said once he finished taking attendance."Well all the new students please stand up."

Lance assumed it wasn't really a request and got up. He wished he hadn't of hung up his coat. He felt oddly naked standing up there without it in just his hoody and jeans. Mark was waving happily to everyone while he and Veronica did their best to look natural despite all the unwelcomed attention.

"You can sit back down now."Stein said, to Lance's relief.

Man, he was really going to have to step up his game if he wanted to avoid more scenes like that. Just keep your head down and go with the herd. Was what he kept telling himself. He just needed to focus more.

"For the first lesson I have a very special treat for all of you."The professor grinned madly.

"What is it sir?"The chick named Maka asked with a twitch of fear in her voice.

"Just check under your desk."He answered, spinning in his chair.

Lance checked under his desk and was a tad bit surprised to find a…scalpel. Why on earth would they need a scalpel unless…no way he couldn't be allowed to make them do that. He had heard of his obsession but there was just no way that he would have them do a….

"Dissection," He laughed, removing a box of recently deceased squirrels.

Everyone in the class simultaneously groaned in dismay while Lance tried to contain his horror. He'd never dissected anything before, why would he?

One by one each student was handed a squirrel carcass and Lance could just feel himself losing his innocence with each cut of the poor creature he made. Stein had at least excused Mark at Veronica's behest but Lance was given no special treatment.

It was just so….icky yeah he supposed icky was a good word to describe it. Lance had never seen so much blood in one place before and it was making him just a little light headed. And honestly he couldn't stop thinking about the squirrel. What its life was like and what it could have been if it hadn't ended up here. Poor squirrel.

And another thing was that it kind of seemed pointless. He just didn't see the connection between dissecting stuff and collecting kishen souls.

After that nauseating process was over and done. They moved on to something more practical, a quick review on the makeup of an average human soul and how it may vary depending on the individual and what not. It was nothing new to Lance he had heard it all before. His old tutor, Ms. Azusa, had been a strict teacher who practically pounded the entire big book of souls into his head by age eleven.

The bell came and the students dispersed to go to lunch. Lance had seen enough TV shows to know what to expect at least. The hard part was choosing a place to sit in the crowded mess hall. He didn't know anybody well enough to try and sit by them but if he sat alone he'd look like a weirdo. And dawdling around looking made him look like an even bigger moron than he had displayed earlier.

So he decided to just follow his weapons to a slightly secluded area towards the end of a table. He had thought about sitting with Kid but opted against it since the reaper had been giving him a very odd look all day and Lance wasn't sure if he wanted to know why or not.

The food wasn't as bad as he had imagined it to be. It wasn't great but certainly not uneatable.

One thing he didn't like though, which wasn't really surprising, was that there were even more people eyeballing him out here than in the classroom. He hated it but he was resolute in his determination to not draw any more attention to himself so that he could slowly fade into the back ground like everybody else.

"Hell of a day right?"Lance asked Veronica as he took a sip of his chocolate milk.

"You said it."Veronica agreed with a big bite of hamburger in her mouth.

"Ugh don't talk with your mouth full please."Lance reprimanded.

"Oh don't be such a girl."Veronica swallowed.

"Honestly Ronnie your being a bad example for Mark."Lance sighed."How do you expect him to learn manners when his older sister doesn't even have them?"

"Oh manners smanners," Veronica snorted.

"Once again your shining femininity astounds me."Lance retorted.

"And once again your femininity astounds me even more."Veronica snickered.

"You wound me with your words Ronnie."Lance said in mock hurt, clutching his chest for added effect."Why must you abuse me so? You're hurting my manly feelings."

"Oh just shut it."

"You two are so weird."Mark chuckled as the bell rang once again, signaling their return back to class.

The rest of the class proceeded as Lance had always imagined school to be. Boring. After the initial excitement of being in an unfamiliar setting wore off the experience lost its novelty. Hearing Professor Stein lecture off information he already knew by heart was slowly driving him insane and he came deathly close to dosing off once or twice during the ordeal.

When the inevitable bell came Lance almost jumped out of his seat. The day was finally done. He was a bit indecisive about how he felt about his first day of school. It wasn't as terrifying as he had imagined but there were still far too many people there for his liking.

Keep it together Lance. He sighed. You just need to keep your cool for the next…four years. Crap this might not be as easy as I had hoped it would be.

Oh well, winging it would just have to do until he could establish a tactic for surviving all this chaos.

The walk home was nice and quiet, which he hated. Silence bored Lance to tears but he was content with it for the time being.

"Hey Lance."Veronica said, breaking the silence."I heard that bloke Death the Kid is throwing a party this weekend"

"When did you hear about this?"Lance questioned. He had been next to her all day after all.

"When you went to the bathroom this chick wanted to know if you were going."She explained.

"Why would she care whether or not I was going to the party?"Lance asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well she said, and I quote," do you know if your partner is going to Kid's party this weekend? He's so cute!"She mimicked in a high pitched voice, trying to hide her accent." disgusting really."

"She said that about me?"Lance blushed, flabbergasted.

"I know right. I didn't believe it myself. She must have taken one too many hits to the head."She theorized.

"You never let me have anything do you."Lance sighed.

"I wouldn't want it going to your head."She laughed.

"Going to my head, riiiight" Lance repeated."So what you're saying is that I actually am cute but you're lying to me so I don't become obnoxious about it."

"Um no…that's not what I'm saying at all…"Veronica stammered, tripping over her words

"Then what are you saying Ronnie?"Lance inquired, stifling a giggle at how cute she looked when she got nervous.

"Nothing just drop it."She demanded.

"As you wish M' lady, as you wish."Lance curtseyed.

"Do you want me to hit you again?"She threatened with a dangerous look in her eye.

"Okay okay I've had my fun, I know when to stop."Lance surrendered."Besides I'm only joking."

"Well good."Veronica confirmed.

"Seriously you guys are extremely weird."Mark commented again.

"Yeah she is."Lance nodded.

"That includes you too."Mark corrected.

"Yeah but I know I'm weird."Lance explained."She's still in denial."

What Father had told him had been most…unexpected. Kid was still having a hard time digesting all of it but it certainly did explain a lot. Lance's unexplained departure, his sudden return, his unusual behavior all of it was linked to what father had told him. He almost wished he hadn't asked but as a grim reaper it was his duty to be informed of such things, even if they dealt with his oldest friend.

Despite his earlier doubts, Losilyn's words had turned out to be the truth. Lance's Father, Damon Rodriguez, had become a full fledged kishen egg. It was shortly after the loss of his wife where they had both been ambushed during a mission to take down a dangerous witch. Distraught over the loss of his wife, Damon had concluded that Lord Death had planned the ambush himself with some deluded reasoning and swore vengeance against him and all those under him for the death of his beloved. Abandoning his only child, Damon set forth on his quest and had killed and devoured the souls of many of the DWMA's finest members, eventually working his way to the top of the DWMA's hit list.

It took a team of twelve of the best meisters and weapons the school had to offer before he was eventually brought down. Leaving Lance an orphan

Having known both of Lance's parents previously Kid was deeply shocked to learn of their demise, even more so of Damon's transformation to a kishen.

"Loss can be a fuel of great madness son."His father had said but to leave his only child to avenge his wife didn't sit well with Kid.

Kid knew he'd have to talk about this with Lance sooner or later and had spent the entire first day back at school planning on how he should bring it up. But Lance was he's friend and Kid knew he needed him.

Kid had originally planned on throwing the party to celebrate the defeat of Asura. But that was before Lance had come back now he wasn't sure what to do. He knew Lance hated crowds but he was also stubborn enough to go just to try to prove Kid wrong. And he couldn't cancel the party everybody was all ready really excited for it and he couldn't just disappoint them all.

This was a conundrum indeed.