Chapter Two!

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater. If I did, Stein would be younger so I could crush on him, and Kid would mysteriously fall in love with a mysterious young maiden named Jayfish. Mysterious...

Amaya stared at the map clutched in her hands and frowned. According to the map, she was a day or so away from the Academy, and she'd just made it to a small village that would serve as her resting spot for the night. The village was in front of her, that much was clear, but there was nobody there. Perhaps the village had been abandoned for some perfectly explainable reason, but as Amaya traversed the empty streets she became increasingly certain that this was not the case.

For one thing, the village looked as though it had been inhabited recently. Not a single building was in a state of disrepair; in fact the cottages looked better than Amaya's house. Thinking about her house brought Amaya to a halt. She bit her lip and stole a glance behind her, where clouds of mist were just beginning to swirl in. Somewhere, one day on a train and one day of walking away, her mother was probably still in bed, waiting to be admitted to the hospital. Before Amaya had left, Suki had begun to bleed from her nose again, and after she'd stopped the bleeding Amaya had taken a lot of coaxing before she finally left her mother behind.

She patted the letter in her jeans pocket absentmindedly. Inside it was a letter from her mother to Franken Stein. She hadn't read it, but most likely it begged the meister to take in his daughter. Amaya rolled her eyes. Even if it wasn't exactly Stein's fault that he'd never met her, she found that she was in no mood to meet her father. If he'd cared about Suki so much, why didn't he look for Suki after she'd left? Did he even try to stop her? It bothered Amaya to no end, especially the fact that, according to Suki, he was insane. What the hell did that even mean? Suki hadn't given any details, and Amaya wasn't anxious to find out for herself.

She glanced upwards, where the moon smiled eerily. The sky was dark, and it was time she found somewhere to sleep. She hugged herself and glanced around nervously. The abandoned village suddenly felt chilling and a tremor ran down her spine. Slowly, she walked up to one of the houses and bit her lip. The open door yawned into blackness. Carefully, she slipped through the threshold and into the house.

It was black inside, only a faint trickle of light slipping through the open door. Amaya groped blindly in the dark, feeling around for a bed or mat or something to sleep on. As she shuffled forward, she stepped hard on something that slipped under her. Before she could stop herself, she lost her balance and started to fall.

She slammed onto the wood floor, cracking her head hard enough to see stars. "Oww," she moaned, drawing her legs under herself and sitting up on her knees. She rubbed her hair thoughtfully and froze as a creak echoed throughout the cottage. "Um, hello?" She asked. Silence. "Is anybody there?"

"You…" A raspy voice whispered, right in her ear. "Is it you?"

Amaya froze; eyes huge. "Wha-wha-what do you mean…?"

The voice sighed, and she felt something slide across the back of her neck before releasing her. "It is you," it whispered. "The one who's been taking us villagers." The air whistled, and hot pain slashed across her arm. "I'll kill you!"

Amaya shrieked and stumbled to her feet, clutching her arm. She felt blood matting in her black jacket, and grunted as something hit her in the stomach, hard. She fell to the ground and yelped as someone fell on top of her, pinning her to the ground. A face swam into focus, an old man with filthy white hair clutching a long knife. It didn't appear as if the knife were a demon weapon, because it wasn't talking, but it could still slice her.

"You've been killing the villagers, you bitch," the old man snarled, raising the weapon. "But it ends here. I'm going to destroy you!"

"What are you talking about?" Amaya said desperately. "I've never been here before in my life!"

"Enough of your lies," the old man rasped, bringing the knife down. Amaya looked into his huge eyes and knew he was insane. She rolled to the left, but she knew it wasn't enough. The knife was going to hit her right in the windpipe, and there was nothing she could do to stop it…

The old man choked suddenly, staring at his arm, eyes bulging. It was arrested in the air, a silvery thing coiled around it. It looked almost as though it were a thick rat tail, albeit a transparent one. The tail stretched off into the darkness of the house, but as both Amaya and the old man watched, the source of the tail stepped forward.

A cloaked figure with one hand thrust out, the trunk of the tail disappearing into the palm if its hand, stepped out of the shadows. The figure's shoulders began to shake, and a decidedly feminine laugh echoed through the cottage. "What's this?" The woman asked. "The daughter of the great Professor Stein, beaten by an old man? Oh, this is funny!"

The figure yanked her hand back, and the old man was pulled off Amaya by the tail. It released the old man suddenly, rearing back. "This is my Whip Tail," the woman said to the old man, who was slowly backing away. "Do you like it?"

He mumbled something unintelligible and suddenly bolted for the door. The cloaked figure slashed at the old man with her hand, and the Whip Tail stretched across the room and smashed into his side. Amaya's eyes opened in horror and she crawled back when she realized that the whip had buried itself in the man's side. The woman reeled the man in and waved her hand, the Whip melting into thin air. She grasped the old man by the shoulders and turned to look at Amaya.

"Do you mind if I start eating?" She asked. "I know that you must be hungry, but I don't think you really want to share with me." Amaya shook her head numbly.

"What did you- what- why would you do that?" She yelped, getting to her feet shakily. "Although I suppose I should thank you for saving me," she added; an afterthought.

The strange woman dropped the old man and raised her hand. "Whip Tail," she said, and the Whip was curling in the air towards Amaya. Before she could move, it was coiled around her throat. The woman dragged Amaya towards her, lifting the girl off the ground. "You should be thanking me," she said, brushing a few stray hairs out of Amaya's face. "You and I are going to be friends, Amaya Ess." She smiled, and Amaya caught a glimpse of two red eyes glowing with a maniac light behind the hood.

"How do you know me?" Amaya choked, eyes overflowing with tears induced by the Tail tightening around her throat. The woman laughed musically.

"I've been watching you for a long time, Amaya," she said. "You see, if you're anything like your father I have to have you!" She hefted Amaya higher with the Whip, and Amaya gasped for breath and scrabbled at the Whip. It was solid and glassy under her fingers, and entirely unbreakable.

"Good luck with that," the woman said. "My Whip Tail is difficult to break. It takes a Witch to screw with my magic, something you are clearly not." She froze suddenly, and the Whip melted away. "Two meisters and two weapons," she whispered, staring at the door. "I can feel their souls." She looked down at Amaya, who was now on the floor and gasping for breath.

"I didn't think the DWMA would be coming so soon, but now that they're here I can use this to my advantage." She pulled Amaya up by the hood and shoved the old man's knife into her hand. "Go outside," she said. "Also…" She touched Amaya under the chin. "Rattus Rattus, Denti Lungcaudis," she murmured, and Amaya yelped as a shock traveled up through her spine. "There we go," the woman said. "That should boost the dormant Madness inside you from your father, if only for a couple of minutes. No matter. It'll be enough to frame you for the naughty things I've been doing." She gave Amaya a jaunty wave. "Goodbye, Amaya Ess. I'll be seeing you soon again. Also, just to warn you, I've woken up your Madness for good this time. Without the calming presence of your mother to keep it quiet, it should return every time you go to battle or get involved in some sort of action. Bye!" She shrank suddenly into and disappeared. Amaya looked down, startled, and blinked as something large and furry brushed past her ankle. It looked almost like… a rat.

Then the spark reached her brain and everything changed.

Amaya stared down at the body of the old man, and an overwhelming desire to slice him open took over her. She smiled down at the knife in her hand. Such a pretty blade. But it would look much prettier under the moon. Then she'd be able to see what she was doing better too.

"I'm going to cut you open," she told the old man happily. "And then I'm going to put you back together so that you work better. Won't that be fun?" He didn't answer. "How rude," she said, picking him up by his armpits and dragging him towards the door. "I'll fix that, you know," she told him. "So that you always answer back when spoken to. Are you okay with that? I guess so, because you're not answering me."

She managed to tug the old man's body out into the street. The moon illuminated his body much better. "Thanks!" She shouted at the sky, baring the blade. She squatted down at the old man's side and pressed it against his stomach, deep in thought, humming to herself. "Where should I begin? I know- I'll cut out your tongue! And then I'll put something better in there instead, like… oh, this is hard. I can't decide!"

"Let me decide for you." Amaya looked up and blinked at the sight of the girl in front of her. She had short brown hair and was holding a spear tightly. "How about I kill you, and then you don't have to do anything at all?"

Amaya considered it for a moment. "No," she said. "I don't think that would be fun for me." The girl raised her spear and smiled coldly.

"Your loss," she said. "I'm Celeste Attenborough. What's your name?"

Amaya closed her eyes and concentrated. A smile spread across her face. "I don't remember," she said, and then giggled. "I know what I'll do! I'll replace his tongue with yours!"

The girl Celeste tensed. "Come try," she said.

"I will!" Amaya said gleefully, and lunged.

Celeste threw herself backwards to avoid the girl's knife. She could tell almost instantly that the girl had never been trained. She was fighting with a strange desperation, but her movements were slurred, as if she didn't really know what she was doing. It didn't look like she was being controlled by anyone, but Celeste didn't dismiss the idea.

"Is she Kishin?" Aia yelled. Celeste thrust Aia's shaft in between her and the girl and closed her eyes.

"Let's find out," she said, snapping them open. Celeste was one of the few meisters with the ability to see souls, and she was going to use her ability now. The girl's soul was actually quite large, as big as Celeste's, and it was bright blue. "She's not Kishin," Celeste told Aia, quite shaken. "Her soul is actually nowhere near to being Kishin. But she was just trying to kill that old man! Isn't she the one that's been murdering the villagers?"

"Noo," the girl said, throwing herself forward and slashing at Celeste with the knife in her hand. "I've never killed anybody. That was someone else."

"Someone else?" Celeste asked, twirling around and kicking. The crazy girl didn't even bother to dodge; she took the blow and stumbled back a few paces, the knife held loosely in her fingers.

"Mm-hm," the crazy girl said, cocking her head and smiling. "It wasn't me; I didn't do it." She frowned. "Did I? I don't know. I can't remember anything!" Her eyes narrowed slowly. "But if I kill you it won't matter." She shot forward suddenly, knife aimed at Celeste's heart.

Calmly, Celeste raised Aia. The knife hit the spear shaft dead center and drove the crazy girl to a halt. "You won't be killing anyone today," Celeste said. "Now stop fighting me, and I'll take you back to the Academy." The girl shook her head, silvery-black hair waving around her shoulders.

"I have to kill you," she panted. "I have to." She raised the knife, trembling a little, and came forward again, slashing in a frenzy. Celeste was actually forced on the defensive, using Aia to block blow after blow. Aia's face appeared in the spear tip, bleeding from her forehead.

"Aia!" Celeste yelled. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Aia said. "Now call Garo and Fey! We need them."

"Garo, Fey!" Celeste called. "Surprise attack!"

For a moment, there was silence. Then Garo's silhouette appeared on a nearby rooftop. He was posing dramatically, one hand on his hip and the other raising Fey in katana form. "Hello, Celeste, Aia, and most likely crazy murderess girl!" He yelled down.

"… This is your idea of a surprise attack?" Aia muttered, miffed.

"I don't need to surprise anyone!" Garo yelled. "As you can see, your attacker is female. Because of this, she should be easy to restrain!" He raised Fey high in the air. "Try to resist this, girl!" He cried.

"That's right, Garo!" Celeste yelled. "Get her with Fey…" She paused and gaped as she realized that Garo had put Fey on the ground. Dramatically, he grabbed his shirt on either side and tore it off in one fluid motion.

"Ha ha!" He yelled, posing. "My manly physique is enough to make any girl faint!"

Everyone stared. "Garo…" Fey said slowly.

"Mm-hm?" Garo asked, still posing.

"I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to leave your Hello Kitty underwear to your little sister, because… I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Her torso popped out of the blade of her katana and she began pummeling Garo with everything she had in her.

Celeste, Aia and the girl stared up at the spectacle. "Well, this is embarrassing…" Aia muttered.

"Agreed," Celeste said.

"And he thinks I'm crazy," the girl said, staring up at them openmouthed. A smile grew on her face. "I am crazy, though. I think I'm going to use his tongue on the old man instead, Celeste. He's loud."She lunged forward and slammed her feet against the wall, running upwards before gravity could drag her back down. She landed next to Garo and stabbed at him with the knife.

Fey and Garo turned in sync to see the danger bearing down on them. Fey melted back into the katana and Garo yelped and dove to the side, barely avoiding the blow. "You didn't faint?" He asked sadly. "WHY IS NO ONE FAINTING AT THE SIGHT OF MY SEXY ABS? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"And you probably never will," Fey said dryly. "Now hurry up and beat this girl before she 'mars your perfection' or whatever."

"You're right," Garo said, raising the katana. "No one threatens to rip out my tongue!" As the girl came at him a second time, he twisted gracefully and grabbed her by the shoulders. Before she could move, he'd kneed her in the throat. She choked and stumbled backwards, tripping off the edge of the roof.

"Crap," Celeste said. She aimed Aia, and hurled the spear as hard as she could. "Catch her, Aia!"

"On it," Aia said. As she flew through the air, and changed into human form, arms wide and waiting. She and the crazy girl collided and smashed into the side of a wall. They both fell to the ground in a cloud of dust, and staggered to their feet in sync. Aia stared at the girl and jumped back as the girl came at her with her knife.

"Oh no, you don't!" Aia yelled. She stuck her tongue out at the girl, and her tongue hardened and became a spear tip. "Ah ced thite wif my tung twoo, bish!"

Everyone stared. "What?"

"Nevuvind," Aia muttered. She ran forward, her spear-tip tongue stretched out of her mouth as far as it could go. As the crazy girl raised her knife, Aia slashed her tongue across the girl's hand, and clamped her teeth around the knife, yanking it from the girl's grasp. The girl hissed in pain and stared dumbfounded at the blood welling from the gash in her hand.

"Ouch," she said calmly, stretching, flexing her hand. The strange light in her eyes seemed to be fading. Slowly, she touched one of the beads of blood running down her wrist and gasped suddenly. "Holy crap!"

Celeste blinked. Her voice sounded a lot more normal, all of a sudden. The girl looked up and frowned at the sight of Aia, tongue raised and at the ready. "Who are you?"

Aia's eyes narrowed and her tongue receded, turning back into muscle. "Don't play innocent," she said. "We know what you've been doing."

The girl frowned. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything!"

Garo landed beside her with a thump. In one fluid moment, he had Fey at the girl's throat. "You've done a lot, actually," he said. "You've been murdering the people in this village, and dissecting them. Do you know how creepy that is?" He looked at Celeste and Aia. "And we've had quite enough of the whole dissection thing, haven't we? If Professor Stein gives any of us one more thing to dissect I'm going to start cutting class."

"Professor Stein!" The girl said suddenly. "He's my father!"

"What?" Aia said. "Now we know you're lying. The Professor only started dating Miss Marie a few months ago. He wouldn't have had a daughter by then!"

The color drained from the girl's face. "What? He's dating?"

"Yep," said Celeste.

"That no-good, rotten, cheating son of a bitch!" The girl railed, actually shaking her fist. "He found another woman? What the hell!"

"That's it," Celeste said, speaking over the girl, who was still raging. "We should take her back to Lord Death. This whole situation is way too weird."

"On it," Garo said. He put a hand on the top of the girl's head. "Sorry about this," he said, closing his eyes. The girl sighed suddenly and slumped over, fast asleep. Celeste nodded approvingly. Garo was a master at a type of soul-wavelength manipulation that allowed him to control the consciousness of his opponent. He could knock them out, or wake them up, whenever he desired. It was a good way to end a fight if it was clear he was going to lose, and also a good way to transport a crazy girl back to the Academy.

"Alright, let's go," Aia said, looking around herself nervously. "This place gives me the creeps." Garo hefted the girl up on his shoulder, and the five of them headed back towards the Academy, where hopefully they'd get there special reward.

None of them noticed the sleek brown rat sitting in the road, watching them with beady red eyes. It remained perfectly still until they disappeared into the mist, and then it gave a satisfied squeak and disappeared into the gloom.

"… And so, in conclusion, we brought the girl back here to the Death Room, to be judged by you, Lord Death," Aia said.

Garo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Aia's report of their mission had taken an hour to complete. She'd given Lord Death the blow-by-blow of pretty much everything that had happened during their trip, including bathroom breaks and every single twitch of the girl during her slumber. The Reaper had been patient, but he'd been nodding and smiling a lot, and Garo had a feeling that his mind hadn't exactly been filled with Aia and her report.

The Reaper started suddenly, probably noticing the silence, and smiled down at Aia. "Thank you, Aia. What a lovely report!"

Aia blushed and moved to stand by Celeste. "It was nothing, Lord Death."

The Reaper smiled, but then his mask grew grim. "Alright, now," he said. "We have a bit of a problem here. You say that this girl claims she's related to our own Professor Stein, and that she didn't have anything to do with the killings in the village?"

"Yeah," said Celeste.

"Well then," Lord Death said, rubbing his hands together. "None of us know the truth but her. Why don't you wake her up, Garo, and we'll all have a little chat?"

"Sure," Garo said, walking forward and kneeling by the sleeping girl's side. He placed a hand on her head and closed his eyes, forcing her soul wavelength into consciousness.

"Auugh!" She gasped, her eyes snapping open. She sat up and turned to look at Garo in one fluid motion. "You knocked me out!" She exclaimed, eyes narrowing.

Garo shrugged. "I don't suppose you'd accept an apology?"

She frowned. "That depends. Where am I?"

"The Death Weapon Academy for Meisters and Weapons," the Grim Reaper exclaimed, putting his hand on Amaya's shoulder. "Or the DWMA, for short."

The girl went rigid. "Lord Death?" She murmured.

"That's right!" The Reaper said, coming around to where the girl could see him. "And who might you be?"

"Amaya Ess," the girl said, sticking out her hand for the Grim Reaper to shake. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Hm," Lord Death said, frowning a little as he shook her hand. "You seem awfully polite for a murderess."

"I'm not!" Amaya said. "A murderess, that is," she added. She frowned too, looking as though she were concentrating. "I'm not quite sure why everybody thinks that."

"Oh, come on!" Fey exploded. "She's lying, Lord Death. We literally saw her trying to dissect an old man!"

"I never did that!" Amaya said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't try to get out of punishment," Fey snarled. "We're going to make sure you get everything you deserve."

"Ladies, ladies!" Lord Death said, holding up his hands. "Let's calm down, shall we?" Both girls quieted, still glowering at each other.

Oh, come on, Garo thought. I've tried that move a million times, and it never works for me. The Reaper isn't even sexy like I am!

Amaya was now glaring at everyone suspiciously; seemingly convinced that they were going to start yelling at her. Her gaze turned to Garo, who was still sitting next to her. "Could somebody please explain what's going on?" She asked, looking at him imploringly.

"Well," Garo said, putting his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

She gave him a glare colder than ice. "I don't remember giving you permission to do that," she said, looking at his hand pointedly.

"WHY?" He wailed, removing his hand and falling to his knees. "WHY AM I CONSTANTLY REJECTED? IT MAKES NO SENSE!"

"I know exactly what you mean," Spirit said. Garo hadn't noticed him, but he had been standing beside Lord Death's mirror nonchalantly. "I used to be rejected constantly. But now my Maka has accepted me as her Papa!" He sighed and stared off into the distance.

"Right…" Garo said, slinking over to hide behind Fey.

"Alright," the Reaper said. "Why don't you tell all of us exactly what you were doing in that village, and what happened?"

"Well," Amaya said, "My mother sent me here, to enroll in the DWMA. I came to that village to spend the night, but there was nobody there. I went into a house to sleep, and an old man attacked me. He seemed to think that I was the one killing the villagers, and he attacked me. He was just about to finish me off when this lady showed up and used some sort of weird magic to murder him; I'm pretty sure she was a witch. I never saw her face, but right before she left, she said something about… boosting my Madness? Then she said something really weird that I'm pretty sure was a witch mantra, and vanished. And after that, well, I don't remember anything until that girl slashed my hand with her tongue." She pointed at Aia.

Amaya pulled a thoroughly crumpled letter out of her back pocket and presented it to the Reaper. "This is from my mother to Franken Stein," she said. "He's my father, according to my mom." Her face grew troubled. "But, according to them, he's dating. Which would mean he never really cared much about my mother, wouldn't it?"

The Reaper shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I'm sure he cared about your mother, Amaya. That is, if your story is true." He frowned. "This is an odd predicament. You say you think a witch is involved in all of this?" Amaya nodded. "Hmm," the Reaper said. Then he smiled. "I think I've got it," he said. "It's a simple matter to see if your story is true. I'll send someone to meet with your mother. In the meantime, seeing as Garo, Fey, Aia and Celeste seemed to think that you're dangerously insane… you can spend the next few days in a cell!"

The color drained from Amaya's face. "What?"

"Sorry," the Reaper said, shrugging nonchalantly. "The cells are well-furnished. You won't be that uncomfortable. Spirit!" The Death Scythe wandered over. "Take this young lady to one of the cells, why don't you?"

"Sure," Spirit said. "Right this way." Amaya shot Lord Death a betrayed look.

"Thanks for being so understanding," she growled. "I should have known that you'd be like this. Look how Soulya ended up!" She turned on her heel and marched away, leaving the Death Room with Spirit.

Lord Death stared after their receding forms, looking shocked. "Lord Death?" Celeste asked. "What's the matter? Who's Soulya?"

The Reaper shook his head. "Soulya… was a long time ago. I didn't think anyone remembered her still." He looked up, his mask seemingly falsely cheerful to Garo.

"Well now!" He said. "As you know, I promised you a reward if you completed this mission. We don't know for sure if you actually completed the task yet, but I still think a reward is in order." He turned to his mirror and waved his hand. The reflections in the glass rippled and distorted; the figures inside changing completely. By the time Garo could make out the pictures in the glass again, three meisters were standing in the reflection. There was a girl with brown-ish hair in pigtails, a boy with blue spiky hair and a cocky expression, and another boy with white lines in his hair and a lanky frame. All three smiled.

"Hello, Lord Death!" The girl said, waving one gloved hand. The other was wrapped around the shaft of a tall scythe. "Are these the pairs you were telling us about?"

"They are indeed, Maka," Lord Death said. He motioned for Garo and Fey to come forward. "Garo; Fey, meet Maka and Soul. They're your reward."

"Thanks?" Fey asked.

"Let me explain," the girl, Maka, said. "As two-star meisters, Lord Death thinks that it would be a good idea for us to take you under our wings for a bit; to teach you the ropes of being a good meister and weapon pair. This is Soul, by the way."

"Hey," the scythe said.

"AND WE'RE HERE TO TEACH CELESTE AND AIA HOW TO BE GOOD MEISTERS AND WEAPONS!" The blue-haired boy roared. "I'M BLACK STAR, AND THIS IS TSUBAKI!" He waved a sword in the air.

"Hi," Tsubaki the sword said.

"Hi…" Aia said, looking nervously at Black Star. He was strutting around the inside of the mirror, looking like nothing more than a peacock, in Garo's opinion. Who does this guy think he is? He thought. He should know who the real super-cool guy is here. Me. Obviously.

"Black Star and Tsubaki will be showing you two how they do things," Lord Death told Celeste and Aia. The two nodded nervously.

"What about me, father?" The tall boy said. Garo noticed that he was holding two twin guns that looked awfully dangerous.

"I was going to ask you to stick around the Academy and maybe tutor anyone who needs it, but I changed my mind. A girl came in today; her name is Amaya Ess and if she turns out not to be evil she'll need a hand. Are you three up to the job?"

"Of course, Lord Death!" One of the guns said.

"Oooh, that girl has pink hair!" The other gun said. "Just like Chrona!" Fey rubbed her hair uncomfortably.

"Sounds good, father," the tall boy said. He froze suddenly. "Wait… is she… Is she…?"

"She looks pretty symmetrical to me, Kid," the Reaper said, and the boy relaxed.

"Thank God… I was worried…" he muttered. "Is that all, father?"

"That's all!" The Reaper said. "You're all in the underground passages of the Academy, right?" All three of the meisters nodded. "Come up and meet your new partners when you're ready. Kid, if you look now you might just see your new partner getting escorted to a cell by Spirit!"

"A cell? Is she a criminal of some sort?"

"We're trying to determine that. Black Star and Tsubaki, I'd appreciate it if you took Celeste and Aia and went to find Amaya's mother. According to Amaya, she's Professor Stein's daughter, and if we can find her mother and ask her if this is true we can clear her of the blame for some… unfortunate incidents in a village not far from here. Aia, you can explain on the way."

All three in the mirror stared. "Professor Stein's daughter?"

"It's a long story," the Reaper said. "You can ask her about it through her cell door. There's only one thing: I don't want any of you telling Stein about this. If she turns out to be lying… we don't know how this could affect him."

"Wow," Maka said. "Professor Stein's daughter. I wonder if she can fight with a chair too."

Fey snorted. "She can't fight at all. It's pathetic."

"She wasn't terrible," Celeste said. "She's pretty good with a knife."

Fey frowned. "I still don't trust her," she admitted. "But whatever- if she turns out to be a good guy I can always teach her how to really fight."

"Please," Black Star said. "If anyone's going to teach her how to fight, it'll be me. With a big star like me helping her out, how can she be bad?"

"Aren't I supposed to be helping her?" Kid asked, shooting Black Star a look.

"I think maybe a normal person should meet with her first!" Maka said, shooting the both of them looks.

"I think I'm going to let you three work that out by yourselves!" Death said, waving. "Bye!" The mirror flickered back into Lord Death's reflection.

"Alright, you four," Lord Death said, turning back. "Did you like your surprise?"

"Oh yes!" Aia said. "It's great!"

"Really surprising," Garo said neutrally.

"I'm glad you think so," the Reaper said. "Now, I want all four of you to go back to classes. Hopefully, your new partners will come find you."

"Yes sir!" Fey said. All four of them turned and exited the Death Room.

The Reaper watched them go. "Soulya," he muttered to himself. "I haven't heard that name in 800 years.

"Looks like things are about to get very interesting indeed."

Fin

Hope Chapter Two was good!

R&R pleez!