Chapter 5: A Demon Reawakens

Paul woke up to what looked to be a pitch black area, nothing could be seen except his body. Then something started forming right in front of him. It looked to be his soul reaching out of him and creating something else. It was his demon self. The demon looked like Paul but it's skin had a burned, red tone to it, the tattoo had grown further through his arm and finally the demon had war paint of fangs coming out of it's body.

"This close Begtse, you know that right? If it weren't for that girl and doctor well then, we wouldn't even have this conversation." The demon's voice was deep and baritoned but had a dash of charisma to how it spoke.

"Shut the hell up, how did you become awaken in the first place? Last time I activated you was a year ago and that was against a fight with a demon like you." Paul asked to his demon self.

"Well aside from you using your tattoo which you already know increases the chances of me arriving. Your little fight caused me to want to see what was going on. Look Paul the more you fight, the more I get interested, you should already know. I would probably arrive sooner if it weren't for that girl anyways."

"Mara."

"That's her name? Well her presence was unique… Felt off to see another person synchronize with your own soul like that. What have you been up to anyways?" The demon questioned.

"None of your business, all you need to do is get out of my goddamn mind."

"Fine I'll get out for now, but remember this, one day the world will have to see Paul Begtse's demons come to life."

Suddenly the demon started dissolving, forming a red fog around Paul. Finally reaching his shoulder, the fog immediately turned into burning acid around his body causing Paul to scream out in terror. That's when he woke up from his infirmary bed. Realizing it was the real world, Paul started checking to see where he was, he saw an open window, a small bouquet of flowers, a small book stack and a couple of glasses of water. He was about to stand up until a door opened and revealed to be a man in stitches and a gear in his head.

"Ah Paul you're awake."

"Who are you?"

"So your mind must have hazy afterwards then." He whispered. "I am professor Franken Stein, but just call me Stein for short. I was the one who help carry you along with Mara after your little fight with Black Star."

"Wait Mara, where is she?"

"Oh she's at class, my class to be specific. I gave them an assignment to work on so that I can check on you." Stein went to grab a chair, turned it around and sat there.

"How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple of hours, I'm surprised though. Demon or not you held your own against a serious Black Star even if it was my intention for him to act like that."

Suddenly a sea of questions sprouted to Paul's mind but the first thing he asked Stein was this.

"How's Mara feeling after my fight?"

"Hmm" Stein was slightly caught off guard by that being Paul's first question.

"Margaret's-"

"Wait Margaret?" Paul was both amused and annoyed at how Mara never told him her full name and how she was able to keep that a secret.

Stein continued. "Margaret's handling it fine if a little bit reserved on what she saw afterwards-"

Paul's smile went to a straight face as he immediately cut Stein off for his next question. "How do you know I'm half demon?"

It was Stein who now smiled and raised his glasses. "I knew your mother. More then knew, I was one of the few people who was close enough to find out her secret. She was an interesting woman, stubborn, prone to anger but still a gentle soul. She seemed the most alive though, when fighting against Kishin's. When she left all those years ago, I was one of the two people she kept as contacts and we would discuss how our lives had been going, she would talk about working with a hunter, fighting other demons like herself, and you." Stein stated at Paul for only half a second until he started smiling again. "Don't think that I had romantic feelings with her. We were close, but we both agreed that the relationship would probably end in a bloody mess. Besides I already have babies coming soon."

Meanwhile Maka had just finished the assigned work and was looking off into the room wanting to know if Paul had awakened from his rest after his fight with Black Star. Soon she saw that Mara had stood up and was leaving class, she decided to go after her and before Mara left the class grabbed her shoulder, slightly surprising her.

"Hey Mara are you going to go check on Paul?" Maka asked.

"Um yeah, I think after a few hours he's got to be awake by now."

"Well is it okay if I come too?"

"Um sure but I think you should ask if your friends behind you want to go as well."

Suddenly Maka turned to see all of her friends behind her and Mara and jumped in surprise.

"Yo you guys going to go check out how Paul's doing, mind if we come along?" Soul asked for everybody's convenience.

Both Mara and Maka just replied with "Sure" and proceeded to head off into the infirmary area.

"So why did Black Star challenge me again?"

"I gave him an assignment for them to face off against you and see whether or not your combat prowess really holds up. Black Star and Tsubaki were reluctant at first, however I convinced them that you can take the brunt of most of their attacks, which you did."

"Still, I lost. Bet you were disappointed."

"No, a lot of students in the DWMA, despite being more level headed and less impulsive than Black Star, are nothing when he becomes serious. He spent most of the time during the fight treating it like he really was fighting a Kishin or a powerful fighter like yourself. I was more than impressed to see you be able to hang on for such a long amount time."

"But do the rest of them know already about what the reason was?"

"They already know, don't worry. Maka gave both me and him a really a big chop to the head. But there's one more thing I need out of you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can I see your brand?" There was a slight pause for both Paul and Stein until Paul just sighed and realised what he meant.

It was at this point Maka and the rest were near the infirmary room where Paul was resting. They realised the door was closed and slightly opened it without causing any noise. Then they all looked at Paul and Stein in the room. Paul had taken off his grey overshirt revealing a light weighted, black chestplate on him, which revealed his demon branding. Suddenly a broad sword appeared out of thin air and onto Paul's hand.

"The brand of creation, give me 5 straight hours to study on a weapon and I'll be able to replicate it on a physical level."

Suddenly the blade went straight at the door and almost hit everybody who was peeking at the room. It crashed and lost all momentum on a wall but everybody had their mouth opened.

"It also has some light telekinesis to it." As Paul had decided to point out after nearly lodging the blade into the door.

Stein let out an amused smile and remarked. "Paul I think you'll fit in just fine." Then he looked at everybody else, half scared to death at the fact that a sword had almost been planted right in their bodies.

"So you mind asking me why you guys decided to peep on me and Stein?"

After a few minutes of explanation from the gang and Mara, Stein spoke up from the explanation.

"Well if you want to check up on Paul, then that's fine. I was just about ready to finish talking with him, when you're done, meet me back at my class, I have a special lesson to teach everybody." Stein gave Paul a wink, to which Paul winked back indiscriminately, then Stein stood up and headed out of the room. Leaving Paul with everybody else.

"Before you guys say anything, first things first. Black Star, I'm sorry for getting into a fight with you. That seemed like a bad first impressions, so I apologize." Everyone in the room looked at Black Star.

Black Star started laughing. "Bwahahahahahaha! I'll forgive you this time Paul, as your strikes still managed to wear down this Star. However in order for me to truly forgive you, you must-" As Black Star was about to finish his command, but saw that Maka had her book readied in her hands. Realising that this could lead into a permanent imprint on his forehead, Black Star stopped talking and just accepted the apology.

"Paul you really don't need to apologize, I think by the time you get to know Black Star, you would probably just ask for him to shut up." Soul remarked and everyone laughed for a bit until Maka was the one who asked Paul about his conditioned.

"So Paul are you going to be okay?"

Paul smirked "Don't worry, my stomach still feels like an explosion hit it, but I'll be up soon enough. You guys can go, I just need some rest."

Everyone complied with Mara being the last to leave.

"Hey, don't go off doing something stupid again okay."

"Alright I promise." Paul gave a small pause. "Margaret."

Both Meister and Weapon smiled at each other as Mara closed the door leaving Paul all to himself. In reality he was already well rested but he needed time to think about his dream.

"I can still feel his presence in my brand. I have to stop using it, at least for awhile. Maybe I really should get used to handling Mara's handling as a weapon." Paul thought to himself. For now though he saw that there was still the small book pile and decided that reading would be a good way to clear his mind.

At this point, the gang and Mara had arrived to Stein's class for his lesson. They all sat at their own seats except that Maka and Mara were a seat apart with an empty spot. Maka placed a stack of books there, while Mara took off her own jacket and placed it on the chair.

"I apologize for my brief excursion, I went to go check on our new student, Paul Begtse. Paul's background is actually in relation to today's lesson. We aren't dissecting anything." Everybody had a huge sigh of relief. "We'll be learning about what demons are..."


Hey just one month! See I told you guys it wouldn't take THAT long to make chapter 5. Anyways hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all next time.