Final chapter! (That should've been up days ago. Don't kill me.) Enter Doctor Franken Stein and his two lovers. Rate and review, guys, and thanks for reading! (Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or the song lyrics I reference later in the chapter. Digital cookies if you find them.)

Valentine's Day, Chapter 4

Dissecting a Candy Heart

Valentine's Day was something that Franken Stein never really got into as a child. He didn't really see the point, and as an elementary schoolboy he didn't really understand what a "Valentine" was. The definition was kind of confusing to begin with. You give a Valentine to someone that you want to be your Valentine? Did the term have a clear definition? Being Stein, even at age eight, he had the mind of a scientist. If he didn't understand something, he investigated it until it was clear. Unfortunately, after trying for hours to ask his teachers what exactly a Valentine was, what its word origin was, and why in the world he had to celebrate such a holiday, his search yielded no results. Stein then decided that if it couldn't be defined, it wasn't worth his time, and therefore determined that he shouldn't waste any effort on Valentine's Day again. The principle of a day where you confessed your love to another in the form of chocolate was virtually disgusting, anyway.

Stein nearly forgot about the holiday. He didn't really pay attention to what date it fell on, or what time of year it was. He enrolled in the DWMA as a meister when he was fresh out of elementary school, where Valentine's Day wasn't really recognized among the faculty. The students weren't reminded of it by their teachers, so Stein managed to avoid the red and pink heart-shaped decorations and the emotions that went with it for a while. That is, until he became a teenager. Without warning, random love letters began showing up in his locker. Some were anonymous, some not. Spirit had chortled at him.

"You're really popular with the ladies, Stein," He had joked. Stein did nothing more than glare at him before promptly tossing the slips of paper and envelopes in the trashcan, breaking the hearts of many eager onlookers.

When Stein left the school to pursue his own research, he thought that he would never again have to worry about that pointless holiday. True, he went into town in February and saw the Valentine's Day decorations, but he purposefully avoided stores that had a whole lot of them. At last; he didn't have to think about it anymore.

However, one day, Stein had returned to the DWMA as a teacher. He had worked hard to keep Valentine's Day the furthest thing from his mind, and had succeeded, until the day he heard it discussed in class.

"Hey, are you asking Maka to be your Valentine?"

"Like I'd do something as uncool as that!"

"… So, that's a yes?"

"… Yeah."

Stein raised an eyebrow. Maka had already left the classroom, and Black*Star and Soul were discussing plans for… That cursed holiday. Stein clicked his tongue passively.

"So it's come back again," He sighed, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket despite the rules regarding "no smoking in the school." Rules were more of suggestions, anyway. More importantly, Stein had encountered Valentine's Day once more. Well, seeing as he was a teacher and not a student, the love letters and candy hearts would stop, right?

Wrong.

"Um, P-professor?"

Stein glanced up from his task of grading papers on the day before Valentine's Day. An older teen girl stood before him, holding out a heart-shaped box of candy.

"I know most people think you're scary," She said quietly, turning her nervous gaze away, "But… You're actually… Kind of cute," She whispered the last part. Before Stein could reply, the young woman had rushed out the door. He looked down at the plastic heart, one obviously picked up from a dollar store.

Stein blew a puff of smoke out of his lips. "She does realize that I'm practically twice her age, right?" He sighed, leaning back in his swivel chair. He threw the candy in his pocket anyway, though. The upside was that that was the last class of the day, and consequently the last class of the week. When Stein came back next week, the entire event would be over and romance would be forgotten. In the meantime, he could go home to his quiet, relaxing, greyscale lab where he didn't have to listen to students go on about their crushes, neither would he have to look at the sickening decorations plastered in stores across town.

Coincidentally, Stein had forgotten that his weapon partner was a hopeless romantic.

When he opened his door back at home, Stein visibly paled. Hearts. Hearts everywhere. On the wall, on the table, in the flower arrangements… Since when did his house even have flower arrangements to put hearts in?! Stein groaned as he sat down, gingerly picking up a heart-shaped pillow and placing it far away from him as if afraid that the pink hue might rub off on him.

"Welcome home, Stein!" Marie smiled, coming in from the back room. "How were your students?"

Stein lit another cigarette. "Lovestruck," He muttered, inhaling the vapors.

Marie giggled. "Isn't it adorable?" She said, her eyes lighting up. "I love this time of year."

Her meister glanced around the living room. "When did you even get the time to set all of this up?"

"I finished teaching before lunch, so I came back to decorate," Smiled the blonde as she repositioned a vase. "I realize that I'll have to take it down in two days, but I only just bought all of it yesterday," She added sheepishly. "Although… It's really cute, so I might leave it up longer…"

"I'll help you take them down," Stein said quickly. There was no way he was going to have those silly things up for longer than they needed to be. Why they were called hearts, he didn't know. They looked nothing like the human heart. Human hearts were more interesting, anyway. Much more fun to take apart.

Marie glanced over at him, but then smiled. "You're so helpful, Stein," She said. Stein blinked. Whenever she fixed him with that innocent smile, Stein stopped whatever he was doing until she turned her attention away again. He even stopped thinking of anything but Marie. For those small seconds, his entire world was filled with her. It irritated him slightly that he couldn't scientifically explain why she enticed those emotions within him.

As soon as Marie turned back to her flowers, the spell was broken. Stein breathed out smoke and stood, twisting his bolt slightly. "I'm going to work on my computer for a little while," He mumbled, striding lazily over to his desk. Marie nodded.

"All right. When you're done, I'll have dinner ready," She told him. Stein glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I can make my own dinner," He replied, causing Marie to roll her eyes slightly.

"You can't even make a grilled cheese sandwich," She deadpanned as she strode into the kitchen. "If I left you to your own devices, you'd be living on soda and microwave ramen."

Stein turned his attention back to his computer. "Don't forget cereal," He added. Marie replied with a dry laugh as she began cooking up pasta.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. Marie made an excellent pasta, as was expected. Stein complimented the meal to the best of his ability, which wasn't much, but Marie knew that her meister typically meant a lot more than he said.

Marie retired to bed pretty soon after dinner, although Stein stayed up late, per the norm. The silver-haired doctor didn't get to bed until around one in the morning. All in all, everything was relatively normal. That was why Stein's nightmares were so unexpected.

Stein hadn't experienced nightmares since Asura's defeat. He had come associate them as a by-product of madness, but he had been feeling perfectly calm all that day. It made no sense why his thoughts were plagued with images of Medusa, looming over him, cackling madly, ripping Stein's own heart out of his chest and showing it to him before he blacked out.

"Stole your heart, Stein," She taunted him, her arrow-shaped tail swishing back and forth, almost as if she was playful rather than murderous.

Stein jerked awake, head and heart pounding. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to calm his breathing. That was new. He never awoke from a dream worked up like that. In addition, he was used to lucid dreaming and being able to alter his fantasies, but he had had no control over this dream. Something was off.

Glancing out the window, Stein discovered daylight as he detected the faint smell of pancakes wafting up from the kitchen. Yawning, Stein slipped his day clothes on and headed downstairs.

"Good morning, Stein!" Marie smiled cheerily, still in her nightgown. "Happy Valentine's Day!" She beamed as she set a pile of pink, heart-shaped pancakes down on Stein's place at the table. "I'm really proud of these pancakes. Isn't it great what you can do with some food coloring and a cookie cutter?"

Stein resisted the urge to throw up. The pancakes tasted fine as usual, but the shape and color made Stein decide to avoid Marie until Valentine's Day was over. In addition, that dream was still pressing on his mind.

"Since it's Valentine's Day, I figured we could do something nice," Marie spoke as she ate her own pancakes. "We could go to the movies, or just rent a movie, or…"

"I'm going to be spending the rest of the day in the lab," Stein cut her off, placing his empty plate in the sink. "Get me if the house is on fire or one of my students becomes a Kishin in a day." With that, he trudged into his lab and soundly closed the door behind him. He didn't notice Marie's disappointed frown, or how she suddenly lost her appetite.

Stein sighed, going over to the freezer. There were plenty of preserved animals in there that he hadn't dissected yet. Without much hesitation, he pulled out the snake he had been keeping. Again, he was puzzled. He had held off dissecting the snake because it reminded him of madness. Of her. Why didn't he care today?

"Because it's Valentine's Day, Stein."

The Doctor whipped around, but no one was behind him. He knew that voice. He could never decide of if he wanted to hear more of its smooth tone, or rip the vocal chords out of her throat so he'd never have to hear it again.

"Where are you?" He growled.

The voice laughed. "Temper, Stein. Calm down; you know what anger does to your madness."

Stein slammed his fist down on the table. "Where are you?!" He roared.

The laughter stopped abruptly. The room was entirely silent. Stein began to relax, unclenching his fist. But then, without warning, his eyes met a set of golden irises with slit pupils.

"I'm in your head, Stein," Medusa told him calmly.

Rage filled Stein's face as he swung his fist around, but it passed right through the witch's apparition.

"I just said that I'm in your head. A simpleton would take that to mean that you can't touch me," Medusa stated, tilting her head innocently. "Unless I want you to, of course. I should think you'd know that, Stein. Or has your intelligence deteriorated in my absence?"

Stein turned his face away. "Why are you even here?" He spat.

Medusa smirked, leaning against the opposite wall. "Now we're getting somewhere," She said. "Simply put, you're seeing me now because it's Valentine's Day."

Stein glanced back at her, narrowing his eyes. "Care to elaborate?" He muttered curtly, silently agreeing to play her game.

Medusa's smirk became a grin when she noticed his compliance. "Well, Stein, no matter how much you want to deny it, you acknowledge Valentine's Day like the rest of the world; as a holiday devoted to love. Perhaps it's subconscious, but you've been thinking about love."

Stein crossed his arms. "And what does that have to do with you?"

The witch mimicked his motion as she chuckled. "You love me, Stein," She winked at him, causing the Doctor's eyes to widen. "I am the embodiment of your madness; a mere fragment of me exists within your soul. But you're not mad right now, Stein. I'm here because you were thinking of your love. Hence, you were thinking of me," She purred.

The silver-haired meister tried not to flinch as Medusa pushed herself off of the wall and walked up to him. Her tail was swaying from side to side, just like it had been in his dream. Her grin fell as she snaked her arms around his neck, leaning against him. "You don't know how agonizing it is, Stein," She sighed, drawing out the word "agonizing" to emphasize it, "Being dead. I'm practically just a figment of your imagination. Technically, I don't exist. I can't feel the world like I did before. And you're always there, taunting me by doing what I can't and simply existing."

Stein tensed the more she talked. Medusa buried her face in his shirt, almost child-like, taking a deep breath. "But I can smell you. Alive. You smell like smoke, blood, and sweat, but you smell alive," She murmured, turning her head to the side. The witch unwound one of her arms from Stein's neck before pulling aside his lab coat. More gently than Stein thought possible for her, Medusa then placed her hand on the single layer of fabric over the scientist's heart. "I can hear it, too. Your heart pounding in my head," She whispered. She glanced up at Stein, her expression blank. "We could be together, you know. All it would take is a scalpel," She murmured, pulling her hand away from his heart and simply placing one finger upon the area, "Right through here."

Stein's eyes widened. The Doctor abruptly grabbed Medusa's shoulders and shoved her away, holding her at arm's length. "Don't you dare," He hissed, turning his face to the floor and not making eye contact. "I'm not willing to die to be with you."

Medusa's poker face broke, revealing another smirk. "Ah, but you're willing to do something?" She taunted. Feeling Stein stiffen, she laughed. "I knew I could get you to say it. You're so fun to mess with, Franken." She knelt down so she could look into his eyes. She grinned victoriously. "How about you just make this simple and come right out with it. It's not too hard. It's just three little words; they're easy to pronounce, too. I'll show you how, and then you follow my lead, all right? I. Love. You. See? It's not hard," She grinned at him.

Stein's olive-colored eyes flicked upward to meet the witch's. "You know as well as I do that there are two sides of me," He muttered. Medusa frowned when he didn't repeat her words, but said nothing and let him continue. "The two sides conflict enough to give me entirely different love interests. Now, I don't claim to understand love. But up until you, I didn't think as if I was capable of it," He said, standing upright. Medusa followed suit. "I will say this, Medusa. At one time, and perhaps even now, the side of my soul that is plagued with madness loved you."

Medusa smirked at him. "There you go. Good job in admitting it," She chortled as she walked close to him once more. "But of course, there's a Yin to every Yang, as the saying goes."

Stein glared at her slightly. "What's what supposed to mean?" He snapped. Medusa put her hands on her hips, her smirk never leaving her lips.

"Meaning that if your insane side loves someone, then your sane side must love someone as well," She explained. "Really, Stein, must I explain everything to you?" She teased him.

It didn't take Stein long to put two and two together. There was only one other woman who could become the object of his full and undivided attention. One woman whose smile melted whatever stress Stein would have had that day. One woman who's every touch sent ripples of warmth trough Stein's body. He had been ignoring the sensation, but now it was staring him in the face and he could deny its truth no longer. He loved her.

"Marie," He whispered. At this revelation, Medusa's smirk dropped.

"Yes. Her," She mumbled, contempt touching her voice for a moment. She quickly hid it again as she stepped against Stein. Before Stein could react, she had put her hands on the sides of his face. "But wouldn't you much rather be with me?" And then her lips were on his.

Stein's eyes widened. The analytical part of himself reminded him that she was just a shard of herself; practically a figment of his imagination. However, his madness began to object, and he slowly stopped caring. Even if she didn't really exist, it felt so good. He found his eyes slipping closed as his arms wrapped around the witch's waist, pulling her closer. Her hands moved up to his bolt, twisting it a tiny bit. After a moment, Medusa pulled away slightly. "I love you," She murmured, her lips still brushing up against his as she spoke. "But you have to choose, Stein…" She was going to say more, but Stein was tired of her lips teasing his. He pressed forward, capturing her in mid-sentence. The witch was surprised for a moment, but then she smirked, tangling her fingers in his soft hair.

"Stein?"

Suddenly, the warmth of Medusa's lips and hands were gone. Stein's eyes opened to see nothing but his empty lab before him.

"What are you doing?"

Stein turned his head, finding Marie standing in the doorway.

"I came in here to tell you that I was going to the store and to ask if you want anything," The blonde said slowly. She analyzed the scene quickly; Stein was backed up against his examination table, his hair tussled, and his mouth was hanging open. Putting the clues together, one would think that he had just been kissing someone. However, there was no possible way that there was a girl hiding in the lab, as there wouldn't have been enough time for her to scramble away from Marie's gaze. Besides, sneaking someone into his lab seemed entirely out of character for Stein. For Spirit, maybe, but not Marie's meister. Since she had ruled out all those possibilities, only one option remained. Maries' eyes went from confused, to accusing, until finally they became concerned. "He's delusional." She wanted to ask who it was Stein thought he had been kissing, but didn't for the sake of politeness.

"Actually, Stein," Marie began again, "I think it'd be better if you came with me to the store. You look like you need to get out of your lab," She smiled at him. Stein blinked slowly at her, but then nodded before following Marie out the door.

Stein's head was clear after a few minutes as they walked down the road to the store, and the Doctor wanted to punch himself. "Why on earth did I let her kiss me?!" He growled to himself. "Darn witch. Still…" He sighed, "Much as I hate to admit it, she's right. My madness does love her, even if my sane side wants to snap her neck." His gaze focused ahead of him, on Marie. "But… She also helped me see that I love Marie," He couldn't resist a smirk. "Thanks, Medusa."

Marie suddenly noticed that she could no longer hear Stein's footsteps. She stopped, turning around to look for him. She raised an eyebrow in confusion when she saw that he was buying flowers in a stand a ways down the sidewalk. She pouted a little, crossing her arms as Stein paid for the bouquet and walked back up to her.

"Are those for your imaginary girlfriend?" She muttered, facing away from him. Stein stopped, frowning.

"No," He told her. "One, she's not imaginary. She's Medusa, and manifests herself in my madness." Before Marie could respond, he continued, "Two, I'd give her flowers over my dead body." He thought he heard Medusa huff, but he ignored her. "These are yours."

SImmediately, Marie's face turned a vibrant shade of red. "R-really?" She stuttered. Stein nodded, placing the bouquet of purple, red, pink, and white flowers in her arms.

"I remember you saying you liked purple. You're right; it does go well with your eyes," Stein said emotionlessly. However, Marie could read her meister better than he could read himself. She knew that he had said that with all the sincerity and sweetness in his soul. Holding the flowers to the side, Marie stepped forward and hugged him. A broad smile spread across her face. Stein didn't move for a minute, but then he slowly leaned forward and laid his head on top of Marie's, and his hand came up to stroke her hair.

"You can never truly be with her," Medusa's voice taunted him. "Your madness loves me, remember?"

Stein smiled a little. "You're right," He admitted, "And my sanity loves Marie. But Marie's special," He told her, "Because she loves both sides of me. No matter if I'm insane or not, she loves me. Which is more than can be said for you."

When Medusa didn't reply, Stein knew that he had won. The silver-haired meister also discovered that day that he didn't really mind Valentine's Day as much as he had thought.