TOUR

"I'm so sorry that URSA had to be rude and not say hello and thank you. He usually has excellent manors; I don't know what's gotten into him." She emphasized his name. They walked around the last corner before seeing the afternoon sunlight. They yard was still empty, like Abie expected.

"Yeah! Thank you so much, I would never have made it out of there with out you! I have such a bad cense of direction, its not even funny. I would spend hours trying to find my way out the dungeon area." The thought of being in the dungeon again made Marie shiver. She turned to Abie, "So this is the yard! The students come down here to relax, hang out or whatever they want." Abie's face beamed once again.

"Where are we going now, Marie?" She asked.

"To the classroom you might be attending. Lets head off now, I won't get lost this time." Now she led the way up the spiral stairs. "So who's Ursa? Is he," Marie looked around, censing another soul close by, "here now?" She face was confused.

Abie snorted, "Yes, he is right here. Ursa is my shadow," She looked back at Ursa angrily, still refusing to talk or shift, "right now he's only being a jerk." Marie looked at the shadow looking for anything suspicious and then looked back to the hall ahead of them.

She shrugged, "He'll make himself known when he's comfortable, I know how the shy ones are, I'm fine with it." In her mind she wondered what Ursa could be, but for now she'll stay hospitable to the potential new members of the Academy. At least she knew he was there, she could cense his soul more precise now that Marie knew where it was coming from. Later she would report back to Lord Death about this anomaly. Because she didn't feel as if Ursa was evil, the news to Death will be first presented as not a threat.

Abie was mute until she asked, "So where is everybody? There's no class for today?" Marie pushed the door open to a large space. It was a collage lecture room, there were tons of seats and almost all of the desks were connected. In the center of the room was a large desk in front of a long, tall chalkboard. "Oh," She reacted, "that answered my question." She scratched her head.

"Yup, this is where some of our students come for class. They aren't here because our staff is preparing for the new students to come!" She grinned.

Abie began another question, "The new students? Don't you mean the students who are trying to get it?"

"Aw man!" Marie sighed. "That was supposed to be Death's surprise. Oh well, might as well tell you. Well, the form you filled out gave us information about who you are. The kids with essays that were different then the rest were already accepted, Death would personally tell them they were accepted and there was no exam or tryouts of any such." Abie stood silent for a moment, "Well… SURPRISE!" She shouted. Marie waited for a reaction from her.

Abie was about to take a deep breath for a joyful scream, but her noise was taken by Ursa, "YEAHHHHHH!" He shifted into his human form and immediately hugged Abie, she hugged back. They were locked with happiness. "We made it Abie! Our dreams, don't you agree?"

"I agree, you jerk!" They released their grip, and just couldn't stop smiling at each other. They've made it, and she was in doubt before. Ideas of what adventures they will have as weapon and meister flowed inside their heads. They could help others for a grade, like what their parents 'basically' said.

Ursa looked Marie straight in the eye, took a deep breath and said, "Hello Marie, my name is Ursa. Thank you for being so kind into giving us a tour, I appreciate it so very much, both of us. Wouldn't you agree Abie?"

STEIN

After an hour or so, their tour was over. They visited the library cafeteria, the nurse office and some usual student hang out spots and some more class rooms. Each room seemed different to Abie and Ursa. It was either this room was bigger then the last, the next one was longer with a slightly smaller ceiling and more with different combinations. They came across a board of assignments for the students, they were writing of where it was, what the mission is and, if somebody claims it, a stamp of who has the assignment. Some were in the jungles, deserts, and swamps, but most were in nearby towns and cities, which were easier to travel to. Just the thought of traveling to so many places got Abie electrified with fight energy.

As they were heading outside to the yard, a small detail came across Ursa's mind of what Marie said, 'I got lost looking for someone.' It was brought to his attention that she had forgotten about her search for somebody. "Hey ,Marie?" She looked back to him. "Weren't you looking for someone?"

Her eyes popped, "Stein!" she muttered. "Oh my goodness, yes I was. He wanted me to give him some papers on his research! That's how I got lost; I was trying to find a short cut to the library. I must be so late." She faced them, "Would you like to come with me? You could meet Dr. Stein." Abie smiled, but Ursa only nodded. This was a little too overwhelming, having met two people in one day? It was a bit uncomfortable, but he guessed, rather hoped, "Dr. Stein" was as warm or kind as Marie. "But if he was meeting me in the library where could he have gone?"

They all were thinking of why he left, Abie spoke first though, "Maybe he went looking for you."

"That's a good idea, or the bathroom, we should wait in the library just in case he came back." She pointed her finger in one direction and yelled, "To the library!"

Abie and Ursa sighed and both said, "It's the other way…" Then they laughed.

"Yes, that way!" She pointed in the right direction and begun to march off. And for some reason when we passed the women's bathroom she turned her head to the door and slowly whispered, "Toilet…" Abie and Ursa looked at each other then continued walking back to the library.

After some more tall ceilings and long halls, they reached the library lobby. The tables were cherry wood, not a single book lay on them. They were all orderly placed on the giant shelves, not a page out of place in fact. There were many levels, as Abie and Ursa noticed before, each one sat above another in the shape of a circle. The railings ended and were meant to view the bottom floor.

"Let's sit here," Ursa lead off to a table far off out of any one's sight coming in from the door. Abie followed and they instantly sat next to each other, it was an instinct that both of them possessed.

"Oh, O.K" She spoke softly with a hint of cheer. "They are almost as reclusive as Crona… And Ursa reminds me of how Ragnarok is connected to him. Maybe Lord Death knows of his origins." Marie thought. She's never heard of a demon becoming a human's shadow without it possessing its host, let alone not calm, humanly one. Marie was at a stand still. "So how do you like the DMWA?" She asked.

They're faces lit up and Ursa gasped, "Like? Love is more like it! I can't believe we made it, we were both nervous about tomorrow. Don't you agree? He turned to Abie.

"Of course I love it! I almost died from the lack of breathing; my chest still hurts. I want to go kick some evil souls as soon as possible."

Marie giggled as she sat down across the table, "You have to get some training before you go off to an assignment. Its not as easy as it's told you know." Abie and Ursa tilted their head, "…BUT if your fighting skills are as good as your relationship, you'll be strong fighters too!" Marie put in. The smiles on their faces returned wider.

"So who's Dr. Stein?" Ursa asked. He guessed he was a teacher here at the Academy.

"He works here most of the time, if not, he stays in his house. He's a scientist and a meister; some say he was the most skilled one to graduate for this school. That was a long time ago; I still think he's pretty good though." Her face changed to almost pouty, "Despite his high reputation of excellence, he REFUSES to turn on the lights in his house, like a hermit!" Abie and Ursa saw it clearly that this factor of the Dr drove her crazy.

They laughed for a moment but they all felt terrified when a voice commented on her gossip, "Oh really?" A tall man in a white lab coat came out from the sea of bookcases. He begun to walk over to the table, a closer look at him revealed his brownish shirt, large circular glasses and his light grey hair. He had green eyes behind his glasses, which had caught the light's glare, and a long line of stitches ran over his left eye. The most disturbing aspect of his appearance was a large screw in his head, "At least I don't constantly get lost in this place even though I work here" He had an eerie grin.

Marie's face went to guilty and frightened to furious, "You were in here all along?! Seriously Stein, please stop being ridiculous in front of some new students."

Dr. Stein glanced over at Abie and Ursa. A long pause was broken by the sound of clicking when he started to twist his screw and a question, "You told them? I'm not that surprised, Marie, you never could keep a secret to new friends." Stein took a seat at a nearby chair, "So what are you names, since I'm going to have to learn it anyway." His tone dramatically changed to friendly.

"Abie Swarm." She said hesitantly.

Ursa was silent for a second before presenting his name, "Ursa."

"Well, as you know I'm Dr. Franken Stein. Please, what ever rumors you've heard of me, don't be mislead, I'm not the same as before." His eyes moved up to the ceiling, "Almost all the rumors you've heard …" He returned to creepy in an instant. A shiver waved through Abie and Ursa's spine.

"STEIN! Please stop your scaring them!" Marie rebuked.

"I'm just joking around," He said mischievously, but became serious suddenly, "Sorry to be rude but, can you guys stand up over here?"

"Um, ok…" Abie responded, and then got up with Ursa following his order as well. They walked over to Stein with their eyes glued to the floor, too shy to look him in his eyes. "W…what is it sir?" she muttered.

He stood up and walked a few steps back to examine them head to toe better. The Dr's eyes scanned more then them, but their souls. It looked like their souls were connected, literally. He saw two souls conjoined, like weights. He walked over to Abie, held her by her shoulders. Marie jumped a bit closer to them; he walked her to the left and the same to Ursa, but to the right. Stein returned to his distance. "Hmm..." Now that they were separated slightly, their souls were stretching. "I've never seen this before. How could their souls get connected like this, a human and a demon? I have to watch these two…" he thought. "Thank you! Sorry for that, one side of my brain works before the other." He laughed. The Dr looked at their faces when they returned to each other, souls loosening, and saw that they were slightly frozen by a slight stranger touch them. "They remind you of Crona don't they?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Marie said excitedly.

"Who's that?" Both Abie and Ursa asked.

"Oh, he's a… student. He lives here in the DMWA; he's quite shy like you guys. You'd probably get along perfectly!" Marie answered cheerfully.

The thought of meeting more people took over Ursa and he shifted into his shadow form. He was surprised it didn't make Dr. Stein flinch or jump. "So now what, our tour is over and it's getting dark. Shouldn't we begin to walk back home?" He projected his voice to seem less quiet and shy.

"Oh yes, we have a big day tomorrow. We should eat dinner and go to bed soon."

Dr. Stein nodded, "It was nice to meet you two, and I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

"Have a goodnight, no pressure for what is to come!" Marie added before giving them a big hug.

"Goodbye" The pair said as they walked off out of the library.

Before they were too far away to hear the Dr get stern and tell Marie, "We have to talk."

She responded, "You read my mind Dr. Stein.