I spent four nights on this, and I must say it's pretty good. It is way too long though. Oh well, the longer the better. The main reason why it is so dang long is because there is a lot of development, characterization, and events that happen in it. Sorry if I moved thing along to fast or went little too far with what happened at the end of the chapter.. once my mind gets into creepy stuff, it stays that way. Please read all of this chapter, it's really long but it's good!

Not Strange, Just Different

Chapter 4

He didn't have a nightmare that night, so he was able to sleep through the entire night; it was much needed. There was about thirty minutes until class was going to start, he noticed this when he looked at his clock. He wasn't going to be late or anything, but he just couldn't mess around. He got out of bed to get ready, realizing how awake he was, which was indeed a very weird feeling for him in the morning. Although it may have been weird, he liked it. There was just something relieving about not being scared to death in the middle of the night, being awoken due to this, then not be able to fall asleep in fear of another nightmare.

He started on his way out the door and to the school, feeling the morning air hit his face as he walked out. When this happened, he realized he would probably be a morning person if he didn't stay up so late. That was the positive thing about going to school in the morning: the walk there, the feeling of the fresh air, getting some exercise, just a change from his regular routine of sitting in his room or in a desk all day.

The school was starting to be perceptible as he remembered that Mr. Collins was going to be there today. He, of course, will need to tell him about his dad's speculation on what the green electrity that shot out of his hand was. He believed this was it as well and fully trusted his dad's opinion, but he still needed to tell them for both a second opinion and also to see if they wanted to do anything about it. It is a technique after all, the academy is supposed to help them develop techniques to the best of their abilities.

He started up the stairs of the academy, noticing but ignoring the few glares he was getting. Since he started attending the academy, less people stared at him, but some still did. The ones that were the first to stop were the ones in his class. This was mainly because they were impressed. The others stopped because they heard stories about him and Spirit. Spirit never really got stared at since he looked more like normal kids did, so instead of getting people to stop staring, it ended up making the girls be more attracted to him. He certainly didn't mind that.

He walked in, looking for Spirit as he did so. Upon not finding him, he decided to just go to his class. He never really tried all that hard to find him. He was the closest thing that he could consider to being his friend, so of course he was going to like being around him more than other people. But since they weren't really best friends yet, he didn't care THAT much.

Mr. Tredway was sitting at his desk like always, but there happened to be someone with him. It was a man in his mid-thirties, and he looked like he was really strong. He had medium-lengthed brown hair, brown eyes, a short sleeved navy blue shirt, and black shorts. He just wore a pair of worn out tennis shoes, probably used for running quite often, perhaps in battles as well. From the data he collected when seeing this man and the way he was talking with his teacher, he assumed he was Mr. Collins.

He looked up to see Spirit sitting half asleep in his regular seat. Him and Stein basically had a seat that was just their's, they sat in it every day. Everyone seemed to be doing the same thing, sitting in little groups based on who they were friends with. They had claimed a spot more far off in the room; it was at a place that was a decent distance away from the other students, but also at a good space so they could see well. It appeared to be a decent arrangement actually.

Stein had found his way up to their corner, and just stood in front of Spirit, looking down at him like he was waiting for something. Nothing was said by either one, so Stein broke the silence.

"Why do you look so tired? You're never tired." And that was true, he was never tired. Spirit was actually a pretty hyper child. Somehow he didn't annoy Stein though, which neither of them understood how. I guess he just got all of that built up energy out when chasing after girls. He never really meant to gain anything from this activiy, he just loved the way they looked. He also love how "innocent" they seemed, he thought they were cute.

"I got a new puppy... he.. kept me up all night. He wouldn't stop barking.. and just kept running around the house all night.. he wouldn't leave me alone." Spirit managed to say this in between yawns and attempts to keep his eyes open. He really wasn't used to staying up, he actually went to bed at a pretty decent time, much unlike his partner.

"How late were you even up? It couldn't have been that bad. It's a dog."

"It's not a dog, it's a puppy. Trust me, there is a difference. They have so much energy... I just can't stand it. If it wasn't so cute, I would probably get rid of the thing."

"Just get a shock collar for it or something."

"Stein, you don't shock a puppy."

"They have to learn somehow." Spirit didn't like his response very much. Stein could tell by the way he rolled his eyes before putting his head down on the desk, having it supported by his arms that were currently crossed. Stein realized he was still standing, so he just ignored his partners displeasure and sat down.

"Okay class, I bet you are all wondering who this man is." Mr. Tredway said this, pointing to his right. "Most of you will not be taught by him, the only two people that will are Stein and Spirit. This is Mr. Collins. He comes to teach special lessons to students that either need extra help, or simply just need to learn at a faster pace." After he said this, he turned his head to Stein and Spirit, about to talk to them directly.

"Stein, Spirit," As he said the two boys' names, Stein shook Spirit to wake him up. As he did so, Spirits hands fell out from his head, causing it to smack off the wood.

"Huh?" Spirit said this as he was shocked awake, then began rubbing his head.

"Listen.." Stein almost whispered to Spirit, pointing towards Mr. Tredway. The professor just looked at them, creating that long silence teachers love after someone wasn't listening or paying attention, before continuing.

"You two will be taking lessons from him probably for the rest of the year. The only reason I see fit for these lessons to be discontinued is if Mr. Collins must leave or if one of the two of you are unable to learn properly. And for that one, there has to be a good reason for it." After he said this he looked away from them and more towards the rest of the class, his attention returning to everyone.

"He will just be observing our class. He needs something to do until he has a class to teach, and this happened to be what he chose to do. He will watch me teach, and also help anyone out if I am not available at the time." With that he started class. He started to talk about different things that are bad to do in battle, and could possibly lead to you being badly injured or killed. After they learn a couple techniques and learn what they should and should not do, they will all be allowed to choose a very easy assignment, basically as a practice run to see what they are really capable of.

Spirit had slept through the whole thing so he had no clue what the professor said. Luckily for him Stein actually took notes, he said that he was going to let him borrow them.

"Don't be such a pansy, it's just a few hours of sleep. I will let you look at my notes this time, but next time you're on your own."

"Hey! I need those few hours. How else do you think I manage to be this awesome? And don't worry, I will make sure it doesn't happen again."

"I don't think you can really manage to be anything. And is that so?"

"Oh shut up. And of course, trust me."

"We'll see." As Stein said this they were both at the front of the classroom. They stood there waiting as everyone else moved onto their next class. Stein was ready for the lessons to start, Spirit on the other hand was more focused on being able to stand up.

"Hello, I'm Mr. Collins as you already know." He looked at the gray-haired boy, his eyes went up and down, then said something to him. "I take it you are Franken Stein?"

"Just Stein, call me Stein." He really hated that name.

"Okay, I will make sure I do that." After he said that, he looked over to Spirit. "You must be Spirit then." He said this, clapping his hands in front of the boy that was now leaning against the chalkboard, half starting to snore. He actually clapped really loudly, so Spirit instantly woke up, smacking his head off the board.

"Dang it! Not again.." He began rubbing his head once again. He seriously hated this whole no sleep thing. Mr. Collins just smiled at him, seeming pleased that he had woke him up, half of the pleasure probably coming from him smacking his head.

"I suggest you start getting more sleep. You can't train if you can't even stay awake long enough to transform."

Spirit's hands dropped to his side as he started to grumble and groan, wanting to say something along the lines of "I would if I could! You seriously think I enjoy getting no sleep? What's wrong with you?". But since he is now his teacher, he stuck with the grumbling.

"Alright, now that we aren't sleeping, let's head outside." He said this as he started to walk towards the door. This man seemed to be fairly decent. He wasn't overly peppy, but he was definitely lively and had a good mood. He also seemed like he enjoyed teasing people, this shouldn't be too bad.

The entire way down the hallway, even though you are technically supposed to be quiet, he kept running his big mouth. He lectured Spirit about how getting no sleep can be bad for you, making Spirit want to bash his head against the wall, even though he knows how painful it can be from his earlier experiences. Stein just remained silent, enjoying how annoyed his partner was. He thought to himself "This teacher isn't all that bad."

After what seemed like a century for Spirit and nothing for Stein and Mr. Collins, they were outside in the middle of the woods. When they got there Spirit was smacking his head with his hands.

"That's gonna hurt, 'ya know?" This man seemed to like asking the most obvious, abnoxious questions. He could tell Spirit knew this, as he earned a glare from the weapon.

"Eh, at least I got you to stop smacking your head like an idiot." Stein almost started to laugh to himself. He was used to him being the only one to talk to him like that, and it was definitely never a teacher, that's for sure.

"Okay, I need you to transform, Spirit." As he said this, he seemed to be a little more serious. Turns out, he can be an actual adult as well. I guess he is one of those people that are slightly childish, but when it comes the right time, they can be as serious as they want to be. Spirit nodded, seeming like he had a slight disliking towards this man. But the instructor didn't react to it like he usually would, he just kept the exact expression he had seconds ago.

He transformed, landing in Stein's arms. This felt right, just like it always did. One of the reasons Stein liked practicing so much is how natural it felt, nothing felt that way. He stood there waiting for their next instruction, growing quite impatient. This was supposed to be fast paced, right? Yes, but not as fast as Stein likes everything to be.

"Try to resonate. I know you can already do this, but I need to see how strongly you can. You'll need to be fully awake for this, Spirit, got it?"

"Yes, of course."

At this, Stein started to link their souls together. Of course he did all of the work, Spirit still couldn't quite get it.

"Spirit, put forth some effort. This will help you resonate stronger." Mr. Collins said this, suspecting that he was starting to fall asleep. But in reality, it wasn't that. Spirit just didn't know what to do. "I try, but I can't. I can't even feel my soul completely, how would I feel his?"

"Concentrate. Just focus totally on that, and nothing else. Just try to feel your soul, then Stein's. Since he has already established a resonance, just feeling his should be enough." Once he finished saying this, Spirit closed his eyes and started to put all of his remaining energy into feeling their souls. He actually felt his completely, and started to feel Stein's. Their teacher could tell instantly, so could Stein. Stein could always tell when there was even a slight change in Spirit's soul. He had a very good grasp on all of this, which really pleased Spirit and their professors.

Mr. Collins used his soul perception the entire time, checking to make sure both of their souls and the resonance were stable. He could feel Stein's soul fairly strongly for his age, and Spirit's was wavering slightly, but he figured this was because of his energy level. He was already tired to begin with, but now he was starting to work pretty hard.

"Stein, your soul is fairly strong. You will be the main connection when resonating, this is how it usually works with meisters. You don't appear to have any problems with this, and Spirit, you are also doing a good job. I am glad to see that you are starting to feel his soul. I want you guys to start resonating stronger. Stein, I am assuming this is just coming to you naturally, so you are not required to put forth much effort. I need you to put in effort now, this should make the connection extremely strong. And Spirit, if you have enough strength left, I want you to focus even more. Get it up to your limits."

That is exactly what they did. Stein of course immediately started to strengthen the resonance, shortly following was Spirit. They started to get it up even more and more, it was actually kind of tiring. Spirit could tell he was pushing himself, but he just kept going even though he was exhausted. He figured that being overly tired once wouldn't hurt anything. Although he might have been correct, it was just by a little bit. He felt like he was going to pass out.

"Spirit, are you okay? You can relax a little if you need to, I will just try harder." Huh, Stein was actually being concerned about someone for once. Looks like he can care.

"Fine, but only because you offered." At this Spirit started to loosen up a little, he could tell his consciousness was starting to come back to him. Stein started to push himself harder. Since he hadn't done much training at all, he wasn't very used to this, and it was actually starting to tire him out a little. But he didn't mind; he knew that he would get stronger, so he just kept going. He kind of liked the way it felt, this didn't happen to him very often. I mean, how many people get tired reading? Not the sleep kind of tired, but physically; oh well, you know what I mean.

He kept the resonance going, obviously pleasing the teacher. Spirit had gotten his break; now he wanted to start again, and that's exactly what he did.

"Are you sure you can do this? You don't have to."

"Yeah, I am sure. I am fine now." Spirit insisted, so Stein wasn't going to argue with him. Another reason why he didn't keep protesting was that he could tell he really was ready, his soul seemed more stable than it had been before.

"Come on, just push a little harder. You guys can stop after that, there are some things that I want to talk to you guys about. I would also like some extra time for if either of you have any questions. Concentrate. Remember, try to get it as strong as you can. And so they went on.

They pushed, and concentrated, and focused, getting their resonance up the highest it's been yet. Both Stein and Spirit were pretty worn out, and the teacher seemed to be enjoying the fact that he was getting them to work hard. He could already tell a lot from just this one day: they were definitely going to work hard, they had great potential and they were going to learn a lot. He figured they had done enough for one day. He wanted them to get a little more comfortable with each other's souls and the way they felt. Another thing he wanted them to get used to was simply having a new teacher, he wanted to make sure they were comforable with him.

"So now that you guys have a feel for each other's souls, do you feel like you will be able to learn some techniques here soon?" Stein and Spirit both nodded, enthusiasm being expressed from Stein the most. He sure didn't show emotions often, but he liked training, that much is already known.

"Good, I feel like you guys are more than capable of learning the basics. Today was basically for me to get a baseline judgment on how well you guys can resonate, and I must say it went pretty well. Tomorrow we will start learning some new things, this is going to be the interesting stuff."

"I have been wondering," Stein started saying, "when will we begin going on missions?"

"Oh yeah, missions. You should be able to do that in a couple weeks if all goes well. We just need enough time to make sure you have everything learned so you don't get injured. We have yet to see how you guys will react in battle; I doubt anything will go wrong, but you never know. This is your first time after all, so we will just want to be cautious." Stein just nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys have anymore questions?" At this, Stein looked over and saw his partner had already fallen asleep, and he just fell over onto his side. Stein just ignored him and decided to ask his question, as it might be best to ask without Spirit listening.

"Actually, I have one."

"Well, go ahead. What's your question?" This man honestly seemed more interested than his own father ever had.

"The other day when I had gotten mad and went to throw my chair, something else happened too. This green electricity-like stuff formed around my hand, and I actually ended up shooting the chair at the wall instead. It left a pretty big mark.. I had asked my father about it; he thinks he might have an idea of what it is, but he wanted me to ask anyway."

"What does your father think it is?" Mr. Collins knew what it was, and he knew who Stein's father was, so he figured his assumption would be right. But he thought he would still ask.

"He thinks it could have been soul force- a technique. He says that I will need to develop it more so I can do it when I want to, not just on accident."

"Yes, he is definitely right. From the sounds of what you just told me, that's what it has to be. Your father also thinks so, and he is a very intelligent man; he could also do this technique, so he should be correct. There are a couple ways we could go about you practicing this: we could either wait until I have taught you and Spirit some basic things before I work selectively with you, or you could stay after class to take extra lessons."

"I would like to take extra lessons, I have more than enough time."

"Okay, that will work. We should be able to start with this in a week or so, is this a good time for you as well?"

"Yes of course; I would like to start as soon as possible."

"Good. I am glad to see you are this willing to learn, you will learn very well." Stein nodded, then heard a faint noise. He looked over to his left to see his partner getting up off the ground from a laying position to a sitting one.

"Spirit, you really need to get some sleep." His teacher started again, he was right though. He can't do anything if he keeps falling asleep like this.

They continued to talk for a little bit, a good majority of it being a lecture for Spirit. The things Mr. Collins could think of to say to him entertained Stein, this was definitely enjoyable. It was a while, then it was finally time for them to go back to the academy.

"Alright, I think it's time for us to head back inside." With that said, they all started to walk back. Stein thought he was definitely going to like this class. I mean it's a class where he gets to learn techniques and how to fight, while his teacher makes fun of Spirit. They got inside and Mr. Collins said goodbye just as Stein and Spirit did.

They got into the cafeteria and sat down, away from everyone like always. Spirit just laid his head down, glad that he could finally just sit down and not be disturbed; at least that's what he thought would happen. Stein pulled out a book, on the human digestive system of course. He was really looking forward to getting done with the section on the esophagus, he really wanted to move onto the stomach, get into the organs. He was almost there when he got interrupted. He looked up from his book, only knowing of their presence because he could see their souls. He had been using his soul perception more and more often lately, so it was becoming easier and more natural to him.

The instant the two girls sat down Spirit's head snapped upward. He was suddenly awake, of course he was. If anything was going to wake him up, it would would be girls. One girl seemed to take notice of him.. but the other oddly was focused on someone else.

"Hello," said the first girl as she stretched her hand out to Spirit, "my name is Kami. You're Spirit, right?" Spirit grabbed onto her hand, shook it in as firm a way he could manage, trying to make himself seem tough, but not rough or anything.

"Yeah, that's right. Nice to meet you, Kami."

"And it's a pleasure to meet you too." She was smiling, seeming very cheerful. She seemed like she was a fairly decent girl, Spirit liked her. But yet again, when was there a girl he didn't like? He didn't seem to notice that the other girl was paying absolutely no attention to him. At this point Stein was already reading again. If they wanted to talk to him, they would get his attention and let him know. The other girl just watched him for a little bit before introducing herself. She actually had perfect timing, because right before she went to talk, Stein looked up at her.

"Hi! My name is Marie. And if I am not mistaken, you are Franken." What is with girls! They always called him that, every single one. He just kind of sighed before responding. He closed his book, assuming she wanted to have a conversation.

"Just call me Stein. And hello Marie, I think I have seen you before."

"You have, at least I think. We had every class together, but now we have a few that are different since you are taking special lessons."

"Oh yeah, you are in my classes. You are usually sitting with Kami." The only reason he knew her name was he happened to hear her talking to Spirit.

"You know, you and Spirit are pretty impressive." Stein didn't seem to be affected by this compliment in anyway.

"I wouldn't exactly say impressive, but thank you anyway." He always tried to have manners. Sure he didn't like people, but that didn't mean he liked being a total jerk towards them.

"Well, you're very welcome. And you guys are pretty lucky too, it seems like it's really easy for you. I just can't seem to figure it out." As she said that last sentence, she seemed to get a little upset, but she quickly went back to her regular cheerful mood. She started watching Stein again. It seemed like there was something about him that interested her, but Stein didn't seem to pick this up.

Kami and Spirit continued talking, keeping each other entertained. She was the only reason he was awake right now. They didn't have much time until class, so he wasn't really sure how much longer that was going to last. It would probably be an instant blackout the minute he sits down. Mr. Reignhardt's class may have been loud, but that doesn't mean he would have any trouble sleeping. Stein had covered for him all day, taking notes to make sure Spirit got it all. He was lucky they were friends now.

At the end of the day Spirit and Stein started to walk out to go home. When they got through the doors, both girls met up with them.

"Hey, Spirit!" Kami said this, seeming glad that they were getting to go home. Spirit was fully awake again.

"Hey, Kami. Your energy must be rubbing off on me or something." She laughed.

"I guess it is. Why are you so tired today, anyway?"

"Well, I got a new dog and it kept me up all night. I really hope this doesn't keep happening every night. I need sleep, I don't know how Stein runs on only a couple hours every day. I would have dropped dead by now if I would do that!"

"Yeah, I would have too. " They continued to talk the whole way home. They actually happened to live on the same road, they just never noticed before because it's a long road, and they live on opposite ends of it. As for Stein and Marie, they didn't really say anything. Stein just kept walking, scientific thoughts floating around in his mind. Marie just kept glancing at him, enjoying the fact that they were walking together.

They lived on different roads than each other, and they had gotten to the point where they would go separate ways.

"Bye, Franken. See you tomorrow!" She was just so cheerful; she was always smiling. Stein was just the opposite, always keeping the same bored expression as he always had. But in reality, he wasn't exactly bored. He was always thinking about something, his mind always worked, so he didn't really get BORED. He just didn't like being around people, and didn't show emotions to begin with.

He sighed again, "Like I said, it's just Stein." Marie just laughed, seeming to have ignored his last remark. She kept walking down the road, basically skipping.

Stein went down the road, and started to think about her. How could someone be that happy? And why did she hang out with him of all people? This was all very confusing, he didn't have any idea how girls worked. She seemed to like staring at him.. but why? He was very basic and plain. I mean it's different, but wouldn't she get bored with that eventually? She seemed like she had a lot of energy and always needed to be doing something, so how long could she really keep this up? He basically ignores her, she is bound to get tired of it sometime. Right?

Wrong.

This exact same thing continued to happen for the next week. How was she not sick of him? Kami and Spirit certainly seemed to be happy with each other. Stein was actually starting to get bored. He couldn't concentrate on anything with Marie looking at him like that, and Spirit wasn't necessarily available. It wasn't that it freaked him out or anything, it was just kind of.. odd.

Lucky for Spirit, his puppy shut up after the first couple nights, so now he was sleeping like he should again. He was definitely thankful for this. Now he could actually pay attention in class, and now it was easier for him to stay awake when talking to people. Another positive thing that came as a result of this was that Mr. Collins no longer made fun of him about it. Now he just joked around about how Spirit is always with "that girl".

They had actually begun learning some techniques, this was pleasing Stein. He always studied them at home, looking over how to do them over and over again. He would learn this stuff. It had been a few days since the day Mr. Collins said they would meet after class, which never did actually happen. They were supposed to meet up today, so he was glad about that. He wanted to learn how to use soul force, it seemed like it would be something nice to know when in battle.

Stein had almost been late today. He had trouble sleeping, again. This was the fourth night in a row that he had had a nightmare. It was really starting to ware him out, but he managed, just like he always did. Last night's events had to have hit a new level of scary. The dream seemed to have been over a time period of 24 hours, it actually felt that way. Through the entire dream, he had a very strong acid burning through his skin. He felt every bit of it. He wasn't even sure how it would be scientifically possible for that to happen, but it was a nightmare, not real life. So he just let the whole acid thing go.

The worst part about it had to be that it was Kami that was pouring the acid over his body, so it just made it seem even more weird. He decided, even before he got to the academy, that he would not tell her about it.

This morning's walk seemed like it was the longest it had ever been; it all had an eerie feeling to it. Everything felt weird. It seemed like he just kept going and going on the same straight path until he finally reached the academy. He kept hearing this noise the entire way there, but he just tried to ignore it as best as he could.

He walked into the academy, it felt as if everyone was staring at him; in reality no one was. He almost knew this was irrational. Upon arriving at his class, he saw Spirit sitting in their regular spot, wide awake, away from Kami for the first time in a while. Finally, something normal.

Spirit seemed almost happy to see that Stein was coming, but it also seemed like something was up at the same time. Stein could tell by the look on his face, it had multiple emotions written across it all at the same time. So he decided he would ask him about it, he didn't necessarily mind talking right now.

"Hey, Spirit. Is something bothering you?" He had been right after all.

"Yeah, Kami is upset with me."

"And why is that?" He asked that question, almost in a tone that sounded like he wasn't surprised. Spirit ignored this and just answered his partner.

"She says that all I care about are her looks!"

Stein looked over at Kami to see what she was doing, she actually looked like she was mad. Marie had apparently gave up trying to talk to her, so she decided to doodle flowers and other girly things in her notebook.

"It's not true! I care about all of her. She should know that, it's not like I do anything to make her think that."

"You do seem to stare at her a lot," Stein said that, remembering the looks Marie gave him. She was definitely nice to him; a lot nicer than anyone else he knew, and definitely compared to girls. No other girl even paid attention to him. She would always keep him company when Spirit was with Kami, but Stein was still a little annoyed by her. Like I have mentioned before, she is just too cheerful, especially for Stein.

She still insisted on calling him Franken, so he just gave up. He just figured it was a girl thing, and that he wouldn't be able to change her mind. That was another thing: she was really stubborn, and she would never budge. Stein had found himself on several occasions carrying something for her, and he never remembered himself saying yes to the request, not even once. But once he started, he just carried it the rest of the way there. I mean, he wasn't just going to set it down and leave whatever it is he was holding. Like I said, he had manners.

Spirit's mood seemed to improve when they got to there special lessons, it always had made them happier. Mr. Collins was a really good teacher, and it was actually quite hard to get confused when he would teach. He always explained things very well; not to mention the fact that he was a generally good-spirited man, so he was just pleasant to be around.

They started to practice some things they had already learned, like how to block and what are some good ways to strike at an opponent. Their instructor decided that they knew it well enough, and if they needed more practice later they could always go back and work on it some more. Today, they would start trying to preform a super-skill. The witch hunter. This was a fairly basic move, but they are just starting out so they will have to see how it goes.

They started to resonate, things were going well. Stein started to feel a little off, but he quickly shook it off and regained his focus on resonating.

"Alright, I need you guys to resonate even more strongly than you have before. This is because in order to preform witch hunter, the connection has to be fairly good; otherwise it will not work. You guys know how to do this, I know you do. Just give it a try." After he finished talking they started to resonate, building it up more and more. Before they knew it, they were actually at a really strong level. So they tried it.

They could feel it, something was different, but it was correct. It had worked, but only for a very short amount of time. Their resonance broke, causing a large flash, a gust of wind to come and loud noise accompanying it all. This was their first try after all, considering that they did pretty well.

Stein asked Spirit if he was ready to go again, and he said he was, so they tried again and again and again. They got a little closer every time, but they weren't quite there yet. It would just require a little more work, that's all. They ran out of time, and so they all went back inside. Both Mr. Collins and Spirit felt really good about what they had accomplished so far, but Stein felt otherwise.

He was actually kind of mad at himself, and partially Spirit, but of course he didn't say anything to him. This was because he knows they can do it, they just haven't gotten there yet; he wants to get there, and be able to preform the skill perfectly. In most cases, he isn't a very patient person, and this just happened to be one of those common cases. He was also mad that he hadn't worked on his soul force yet, meaning he hasn't done it since the first time. He absolutely hated that.

He was beginning to get very agitated when he walked into the cafeteria, as when he walked in he saw Spirit was all over Kami trying to convice her that he cares about more than just her looks. He seemed to be getting to her, it started to look harder for her to stay mad at him. This was something else that he hated. He didn't understand how he could go after her like that. He felt that Spirit shouldn't have to prove himself to her, and that it was stupid and pointless either way.

Marie sat there, happily eating an apple, smiling like always. She was the only one in their little group that actually ever ate anything. It wasn't much usually, but it was still more than the others.

"Hey, Franken!" That was one of the nice things about her, she always greeting him in a way that made it seem like she was actually happy to see him, which was something not many people did. In most cases, she is the only one that did.

"Hello, Marie." He was still mad, so he wasn't exactly up for talking. Marie could tell just by the way he looked, she was always good at reading him. There wasn't much there, but whatever was there, she could pick up instantly.

"What's wrong? It seems like something is bothering you."

"I just wish I could have started working on my soul force attack sooner than today. We are supposed to go on a mission within the coming week, and I would like to be able to use it then." He just told her about the whole soul force thing, he didn't feel like talking about their difficulties with witch hunter.

"Oh, well I'm sure you will be fine! You always learn really quickly; just wait, you'll see." She also seemed to have a lot of confidence in him, but when it came to training, basically everyone did.

"I'm not counting on it."

"Why are you always so grumpy? Come on, cheer up! I don't just think you can do this, I know you can."

"Thank you, Marie. Like I said, I am not counting on it. But I can promise you one thing, I will try my best."

"Good." She smiled at him, taking another bite out of her apple. She seemed to have gotten him to come around at least a little bit, and that was enough for her. Stein continued reading, and just like Marie, Spirit seemed to have made some progress. Stein looked over, seeing Spirit basically up in Kami's face, begging for forgiveness, even though he had never done anything wrong.

"Kami! Please forgive me. I promise, I care about you for more than your looks! Come on, you're funny, smart, and I love your personality. You have to trust me." They weren't dating or anything, but they sure had connected over the last week or so; now they really seemed like a couple, and didn't leave each other very often. It was actually quite obnoxious to the people around them, it was just a constant thing.

"Fine, but only because you were actually willing to beg me this long. That must mean something, I guess." At hearing this Spirit instantly started to get excited, he was practically bouncing in his seat. He hated it when she was mad at him, things would always get silent then. He hated silence very, very much.

It was time for them to go to class, so Stein put his book away and Marie put her little paper bag into her backpack. Like I mentioned before, she didn't bring much, but just a couple little things. She actually got hungry pretty easily, which didn't match up with how skinny she was.

"Wait!" Marie called to Stein as she struggled to get her backpack on her shoulder, trying to run to catch up to him at the same time. He just kind of turned his head to look over his should, then stopped after taking a few more steps. He never really had to say much to her anyway, so he didn't particularly mind walking with her.

They started down the hallway, it seeming like an hour before they reached their room, just like it always did. You would figure they would start to feel of a more normal length after a while, but you would be wrong in saying that.

They got to the class, and Stein sat down next to Spirit while Marie headed over to Kami. Mr. Reignhardt's class was always annoying, but yet relieving at the same time. It was loud, so that's what made it annoying; the relieving part is that you barely had to do anything, meaning you could just relax really.

His class was about soul wavelengths just like many of the other classes, but his was a little different. The class was based on your own personal wavelength, keeping it in balance, relaxed. He gave them tips for calming themselves down during battle; you could get scared in some cases, and this makes fighting a lot harder to be honest. So you would need to get that taken care of before something bad happens, and that's exactly what he helped with.

They often did meditating exercises, boring stuff along that line. This never exactly flyed with Stein. His thoughts were always going, he really couldn't get himself to relax. During Spirit's period with little to no sleep, this class was his favorite because he could sleep, and the teacher would never even notice.

The teacher said that today they were just going to take a break and practice their "social health", which meant they would just get to talk to each other for the period. Whenever the teacher would do this, Stein would usually spend the period reading while Spirit babbled on to him, pretending to be listening to him by adding a head nod or a "yeah" or uh-huh" every now and then; it seemed to be pretty efficient.

While Spirit was saying absolutely useless thing after thing and Stein was uh-huhing his way through the class, Kami and Marie where one the other side of the room talking to each other.

"Oh, Marie," Kami said, "isn't Spirit amazing?"

"I guess he's fine."

"He's fine? How could you even say that?"

"I am just not interested in him. Besides, he is basically like all of the other guys. I like a guy that's different, not afraid to be his own person. You know, be unique."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. But Spirit is different!"

"Whatever you say, Kami." Marie's opinion on who she liked and didn't like was fairly strong, anyone could tell this.

"Anyway, how's training going for you?" She was a little annoyed by Marie, so she just tried to move on.

"I guess you could say it's going pretty well. The only problem is that my partner doesn't seem to catch on very fast, so it usually takes us a while to do stuff. I just wish my meister was a little better, that's all. It doesn't matter much though, in the end what matters is that you can resonate well."

"Yeah, you're definitely right there. And my weapon is the same way, I need someone that can do a little more."

Stein was glad, class was finally over. That honestly had to be one of the longest periods for him, but he had no clue why. It was a little harder for him to shut out Spirit, so that most likely played a part in his problem. They walked out, of course not forgetting the two girls that were their friends now. All of them left, all except for Stein. He had to go meet up with Mr. Collins so he could work on his soul force.

He got to Mr. Tredways' room, seeing his instructor standing there waiting for him.

"Hey, Stein! You ready to go?"

"Yep, I'm way past ready."

"Glad to hear that, let's head out then. This should be fun; I don't get to train people to use this technique very often. In fact, the last person I ever helped out with this was your father." Stein didn't know he had taught him, but it did make sense. His father said he was a good teacher and knew how exactly he taught, he just didn't know it was from personal experience.

They were out in the woods, ready to begin. Stein had waited way too long for this, he was getting very impatient. He didn't know if he would learn it in time, but like he promised Marie, he would try.

"What you will need to do right now is focus on getting the "electricity", your soul wavelength, to surround your hand. Once you learn this properly, you should be able to have it around your hand and it stay there until you stop it or shoot it into something. Just try feeling it around your hand, picture it, focus."

And this is exactly what he did.

He started to remember it happening the last time, and started to think of the way it looked and felt. He started picturing it happening again, focusing on only that. He could almost feel it, but not quite. So he just kept trying, over and over and over again until finally, it came. It was the same green electricity that covered his hand the last time, only this time he could actually take time to look at and examine it. He kept flipping his hand over so he could see the other side, it was all so new and different. And although he was constantly learning new techniques now, they were never like this, so it intrigued him even more.

"Good. Now I want you to try acting like you are going to shoot it into something, but just do it into the air. This won't actually release the wavelength, so you will just get to practice and get used to the movement. Go ahead and try some things." So away he went, striking at the air until he got used to a certain way.

"Now that you have gotten the hang of that, I want you to try to hit me with it. I want you to try to hit a moving target. I should be able to avoid it, and since you are just starting it won't hurt very much if I do happen to get hit." This was different to Stein, a teacher had never told him to hit them before. He just took advantage of it and started going after him.

Mr. Collins' movements were very swift, he could tell he was a three star meister. He dodged Stein's attacks with complete ease, just sidestepping him most of the time. Stein actually wanted to hit him. He had felt it go into the chair, and on accident. So there were two things: it would feel different since it was a human body, not a chair; this time he would actually get to focus on it and pay attention to what it's like instead of it being on accident, so this would be very different, overall. So he wanted to try it, it was something new.

He was starting to get mad about the fact that he couldn't get him. His movements were beginning to get more aggressive, he was pushing himself harder.

Mr. Collins could start to see this, but he just kept going. It was actually starting to get a little harder for him to move out of the way. There were a few close calls, then one after the other. This happened until eventually, Stein got him.

He pushed his fist into the instructors abdomen, pushing him outward, the wavelength going through the man's entire body, sending him flying just a short distance since it was a new concept to him; thus meaning it wouldn't be as strong. He had forgotten how much it actually hurt, after all he hadn't had someone's wavelength go through him in over five years.

It actually hurt Stein as well. From his struggle, the madness started to go through him a little bit more. He felt it, but didn't know what it was. When Stein hit him, he could feel his teachers wavelength hit with his. Since they were different wavelengths and Stein wasn't able to tolerate it yet at this point, it actually caused him pain. With the feeling of this man's wavelength and the madness both affecting his soul, it didn't feel very good at all. He did a very good job at hiding this though, as he just stood there watching his teacher.

"I guess your attack is stronger than I thought it was.." His teacher said this, pain running through his voice. Stein wanted to laugh at his pain, but contained himself. For some odd reason, Stein was still really angry. He had gotten him, so he should be happy, right? Wrong.

His teacher was finally able to get over the pain and stand up fully, Stein still said nothing and continued to watch him.

"I think we have practiced enough for now, you seem to have a good concept of it for the first lesson. We will meet again next week. Until then you can practice at home now that you know what to do." After he said that they both started going back. Stein's mind was racing, he had no clue why. Everything felt very.. weird.

His teacher was actually impressed, he didn't expect him to get nearly as far as he had. This was especially true considering the fact that he didn't think he could move that fast. "This kid definitely has potential, I can tell. This could end up being a very strong technique of his if he works on it enough. It will be very helpful in battle, especially because he can use it to cause internal damage. I am just lucky he didn't do that to me.." Mr. Collins thought to himself, noticing that he was at the academy and Stein had already started down the road.

Stein just started hurrying, trying as hard as he could to ignore the noise in his head. But it didn't do much help; it never stopped, and felt like it was just pounding into his head over and over again. He didn't have a clue what this was, and he even forgot about trying to find a solution to it.

He kept feeling something right behind him following him, almost about to touch him. But every time he would turn around to see what it was, nothing was there. He was getting very annoyed by all of this, it was causing him indescribable anger. He started walking down the road as fast as he could, almost running. He just wanted to get home and read or something, he needed to calm himself down.

When he finally got home he ran to his room, ignoring his mothers greetings, locking the door behind him as he entered it. He sunk to the floor, listening to the echo of his door being slammed fade away. He felt crowded, closed in, and like nothing could make any of these feelings go away. He... couldn't explain or grasp any of it. He had felt things similar to this, but not nearly as severe.

The noise in his head started to buzz louder and louder, it was starting to get to the point where it was extremely painful. He just wanted to scream. Instead, he laughed.

He stood up and got to his feet, wobbling slightly. He walked over to his desk, giggling like there was no tomorrow. He started to swiping everything off of his desk; once there was nothing on it, he tipped it over, practically throwing it. After he did that he completely trashed the rest of his room. He tipped over all of his book cases, dressers, and everything else in that was inside that room; of course he was laughing and making unidentifiable noises the entire time he did this.

His mother could hear very loud banging, smashing, and shattering (from his test tubes) noises coming from his room, and it was starting to become pretty loud. She had no clue what on earth he could possibly be doing in there, and was honestly starting to get worried. She was sitting on the couch, and his room was back the hall, so that says something. His father was sitting at the table reading out of a magazine he had, various articles that would be of help to his current research and experiments. He could also hear, but didn't pay any attention to it.

His mother then got up from the couch and walked down the hall. She stood outside the door and pressed her ear up to the door, then noticing that he was laughing like a total maniac. She tried to open the door, then remembered he always had it locked, so she would have to get him to open it himself.

"Sweetie, is everything okay in there?" She said this in as sweet of a tone as she could manage, she needed him to open the door. She stood there for a second, not receiving an answer, the laughter and smashing continued. She tried again.

"Franken?" At hearing his name, he became totally outraged. He hated his first name. So he through his somewhat large desk at the metal door, screaming "Stop calling me that!" as he did it. This obviously made a very loud noise, and his mother's ear was still pressed up against his door. This hurt her ears tremendously. So she pulled her head away from the door, saying "Ow.." while putting her hand on ear.

His father also heard that, and it actually grabbed his attention. He looked up from his magazine, but just looked back down after thinking for a minute. He was speculating what it could have been that he had just thrown at the door. He knew that the only thing that could have possibly made that loud a noise with him still being able to pick it up and actually throw it, would have to be the desk. He just continued to read after figuring it out, ignoring his son's breakdown or tantrum, whatever you want to call it.

She couldn't get him to stop or open his door, so she decided to get his father to help. She walked down the hall, looking at his father wondering how he didn't hear what was going on. He heard, just didn't feel the need to do anything about it.

"Honey, I don't know what he is doing in there, but I think something is wrong. I can't get him to open the door, can you come do something about this? He's really starting to worry me."

"I am sure he is fine, just let it go."

She was very angry at her husband for not even caring about their son, or what might be going on inside that room. So she stormed down the hall and went into her room. She decided that she was going to give him the silent treatment, as if he would care anyway.

His father knew exactly what was going on. He could tell by the way Stein's soul felt, it was definitely off. He could tell that he was being affected by the madness. But since he knew by personal experience the degree of it, he knew nothing major would happen.

His father had been looking at Stein's soul long enough that he could start to feel the madness within it, and now it was affecting him as well.

He was feeling the same want to completely tear something apart, but he had a different method of relieving that need. He didn't tear apart rooms (usually), instead he dissected stuff. He used to trash his room on a regular basis, but now since he knew a lot more about science and had been used to dealing with madness, he could handle it better and could concentrate those feelings into dissecting and dismembering animals and various living things.

He got up from the table and went back into his office/lab in the most calm fashion he could. His lab was in a completely different hallway than the rest of the rooms for obvious reasons. Lucky for him, he had a specimen already prepared for him (as he usually did). All he had to do was grab his scalpel off the tray sitting next to the table, and he could begin.

He started to carve into and jab his knife into the animal that forcibly laid in front of him. He kept shoving the knife in and out of it's body over and over again, tearing through tissues, muscle, skin, and apparently blood vessels as well. He could always tell when he hit a major area of blood supply because a lot more blood would come rushing out onto the table; all of this caused his father much pleasure, causing the laughter to grow louder and louder.

While his father was in his office, currently ripping one of the organism's legs off with his bare hands, Stein stood in his room breathing very heavily, trying to get a hold of himself. He was trying very hard and struggling a little bit, but he kept himself from doing any further damage to his already wrecked room.

Just when he thought he had himself under control, he started again.

He walked over to his door and started to kick and punch it over and over again, ignoring the pain it was causing. He just needed a way to get his anger out, so he did that. Then he decided to practice his soul force again.

He turned around and started shooting his wavelength into everything. Within a few minutes, most of his furniture was demolished. Wow was that kid strong when he was mad (both kinds). After a couple more minutes, the madness completely left him. He dropped to the ground, putting his head in his hands before tilting onto his side, then curling into a ball.

He screamed, starting to feel the pain caused from his breakdown. The skin on his knuckles was completely torn, blood oozing out of the wounds. He had several bruises, some in places he didn't even know were possible from what had been doing.

He laid on the ground still in a ball, now clenching his fists, trying to ignore the pain as best as he could.

He got up from the floor and unlocked his door, opening and shutting it as quietly as he could. He really didn't want to face his parents right now. Next he went into his bathroom to clean out and bandage everything.

He started to pour hydrogen peroxide onto his cuts, letting it sit for a couple minutes. Then he wiped it and the accumulated blood off of his hands, putting bandages on next.

He put everything away, turned off the light, and left to go back to his room. He remembered the mess he had made, dreading having to clean everything up. He would have to explain this to his parents eventually; they will need to get him new furniture now that most of his is in pieces on his floor.

He managed to get to his room unseen. When he opened his door and saw everything again, he just made a sort of groaning noise; he seriously didn't want to clean this up, but since he knew he had to he got started.

After a couple hours he had most of everything thrown out. The stuff that wasn't damaged was put in piles on his floor. He liked everything to be fairly organized, so of course it was sorted so that the similar things were together. He was honestly exhausted, due to multiple reasons: even though he didn't know what was effecting him, the madness was starting to wear him down, he had just had a temper tantrum, and just spent the last couple hours cleaning all of the furniture out of his room. Anyone would be exhausted from this.

He knew that he would wake up way too early if he went to bed now, but he didn't care. Lucky for him, he didn't destroy his bed. It would be pretty hard for him to pick that up, let alone throw it across the room. He did, however, tear apart his pillow. He completely tore that into little strips in seconds, so now there was just stuffing and cloth left. He threw that out, of course. He sure was glad that he still had his blanket; for some odd reason he had trouble falling asleep without one.

He laid down on his bed, feeling just how low his head was now that he had no pillow. He felt pretty sore, I mean he just had extra training today on top of all of this. He started to use his soul perception to see where his parents where. He felt his mom's soul first out of the two. She was up at his door, but her soul felt as if she was very relieved.

She stood on the other side listening, very glad that he had calmed down. She could hear him go to the bathroom, and clean everything out of his room as well, so she knew that he was fine. Looks like her husband was right after all. She still didn't want to talk to him though; just because he was right it doesn't mean he wasn't being careless.

He could feel her walk off into her room, and judging by where her soul was now, she was in bed too.

Next he felt his father's soul. It felt... different that usual. It felt very chaotic. He didn't know what was going on, but he could tell that he was in his lab.

He was sitting on the floor of his lab, laughing as he felt the heart he currently had in his hand, moving it from hand to hand almost as if it were a slinky. He had blood completely covering his hands, it was splattered throughout his hair, and his coat was completely stained. His lab was a complete mess, just like he was.

His table and cart were both tipped over, so all of the blood was on the floor. He was actually sitting in all of it, paying absolutely no attention to that, and the fact that there were organs and tissue everywhere as well. Then he started to hallucinate.

He saw his wife come into his lab, and she tried to take the heart away from him. So he screamed "Get away from me!" As loud as he could right now, laughter spilling out of him at the end.

She just kept walking towards him.

"It's mine, not your's." She said this in a sweet, almost mocking tone, aggravating him to no end.

"NO! IT'S MINE!" He yelled this, much louder than the last time. His grin grew even wider as he picked up the scalpel and threw it at her. She just became smoke and faded away as it passed right through her, sticking into his desk.

He just laughed more as he watched this, falling over into the blood. Now he was laying in the red liquid, it totally covering the surface of the right side of his face.

Stein could hear all of this, it honestly freaked him out. He didn't know what was happening to his father; he had heard this kind of stuff happen to him many times, but he still didn't know that it was madness, the exact same thing that had just effected him earlier. He was too scared to go check on him, especially after hearing him yell that loud.

His mother heard the yelling as well, but she was used to it by now. It's actually surprising that she hadn't caught onto the fact that Stein was experiencing that stuff as well. She had been married to his father for many years, she knew the signs like the back of her hand, and has actually helped him through a lot over the years. So why hadn't she figured it out by now? Maybe she was just too preoccupied with other things, who knows.

Stein continued to use his soul perception. The noise and laughter coming from his dad's lab died down after a little bit; his soul was still off, but at least he was more under control now. A little more time passed, and his soul was basically back to the way it usually was.

He finally got off of the floor, feeling blood drip down his face as he did. He put his table and cart back in place; next he put the tray and tools back. He had to walk over to his desk and take the knife out of the wood, then walk back over to put it away. After that Stein could tell that he went into the basement. He was putting his bloody clothes down there to be washed. Once he came up he cleaned all of the blood, organs, and various parts off the floor.

He obviously needed to shower, so he did that next. He was in there a while, but what else could you expect from someone that was covered in blood? Surprisingly enough, it's actually hard to get blood out of your hair; it stains pretty bad when it's gray.

Stein been laying there for a while, and it was getting hard for him to stay awake now. He decided that since he doesn't sleep much most of the time, he could use this as an opportunity to catch up on what he had missed. He knew that it was bad to sleep as little as he did, he just didn't care enough to do anything about it; he could be studying or experimenting instead. He actually ended up falling asleep pretty quickly.

His dad sat in his office, and stopped typing for a second to think.

"The madness wavelengths seem to be stronger than usual.. this isn't going to be good. Stein seems to be affected by it more and more every day. He has never actually had a breakdown before, just nightmares and little things. I seriously doubt it will be much longer before something serious happens; I am going to need to keep an eye on him. Maybe I can inform Mr. Collins, he can probably watch over him while he is at school."

He had actually seen Stein when it was affecting him already, but he didn't know it was that, and Stein didn't either.

Coming up with what Stein's dad was dissecting was the hardest part of this entire chapter.. it made me want to bash my face off my desk. So in the end, I decided to leave it up to your imagination. Sorry if I introduced Marie and Kami too fast or made her relationship with Spirit too much for right now. Kami's personality might be off, I haven't seen her character anywhere at all, so I am just guessing. I personally feel like I am getting better at dialogue and like it's starting to flow a little better. This is where it's going to start to pick up a little more. I. CAN'T. FREAKING. WAIT. I have so much stuff planned..