Chapter Two

He couldn't remember when he'd stopped caring. Sometimes, mostly when he was grading papers in the middle of class, he would wonder why he was even here. Smile. Teach. Discipline. It always followed the same routine. Black Star would start a fight, Tsubaki would reprimand him, and Stein would send him out into the hallway, the blue-haired meister's two-star status be hanged. Saving the world gave no privileges in Professor Stein's class, something he had to remind Maka Albarn of every so often. Since she'd defeated the Kishin, the girl had gotten a little too confident for what was soon to come. He couldn't afford for his newly-christened Spartoi to become soft, not with his madness senses quivering again. Indeed, a second wave of insanity was on its way, as surely as he would be in his basement laboratory again that night. He wished he could be there at that very moment.

"Professor Stein?"

He glanced up to find Maka Albarn staring at him, her forehead and shoulders scrunched with worry. He froze in mid-step, realizing he had been pacing for the past half-an-hour and couldn't help but wonder where the rest of his class was. Lunch. Right. The lunch bell had rang earlier. Maka had been the only one willing to stay behind, concerned about her teacher. Of course, she could also be trying to get a few points with him, something he was much more willing to believe. Nobody worried about him, least of all someone who had helped to purify him. His inner demon sneered at the thought. No. They believed he was safely caged.

"What is it, Maka?" he sighed, affecting the bored teacher tone that said, "Just get on with it. I have more important things to do."

She stepped back, confusion and hurt spreading across her young features. He softened his gaze a little, not wanting to injure a trembling young soul too much and put a hand on her shoulder, smiling pleasantly down on her. An incident now would only make ignoring the DWMA much harder. He had to keep the illusion of warmth, and if that meant soothing a student's worry, he would have to do his very best.

"I've been thinking of a new technique to teach everyone," he lied, donning his absent-minded smile. Her eyes lit up immediately as expected, her mouth opening in wonder. He'd been right to use that falsehood on her. It played into her expectations perfectly.

"So that's what you were thinking about. Soul thought you were going crazy again. I told him he was wrong to say that about you."

He smirked, a little bit of venom and madness seeping into his voice. "Tattling can hardly improve your Soul Resonance, Ms. Albarn."

She started and then blushed, her hands clasping and her body swaying back and forth in girlish embarrassment. He recognized this gesture. It was sone of Marie's, one that he remembered quite clearly. It was the one she'd worn when she'd asked him out on a date all those years ago. So it was finally happening. Maka had feelings for Soul. This would make things even easier for Stein.

"It's okay, Maka. I'm not going to discipline either of you. Just remember to keep your observations to yourself. You could accidentally hurt someone with them."

And get me exposed to the DWMA, said a darker part of him, but he bid it be silent for now. He must not show fear. That would ruin everything. His experiment would not survive an investigation by Death. He could not afford suspicion from anyone at this time. Right now, that meant gathering his papers and drifting towards the door, signaling Maka to do so as well. He didn't bother collecting his rolling office chair, as that would just delay their departure further. He wanted to get to the laboratory as soon as possible.

Maka followed him all the way out of the Academy, chattering excitedly about her improving resonance rate with Soul. Stein listened halfheartedly, absorbing enough of her conversation to reply properly to her exclamations and glancing back at her enough to nod at all the right times. When she departed him at the corner of her street, he waved happily and continued on, his mind already racing to his project. Tonight would be the initial setup, something he'd been ready to speed through last night after he'd finished his planning. Tonight would mean rummaging through storage cabinets filled with enough medical supplies to open a hospital with. Of course, caring for the sick was not an option for him, not with his penchant for dissection. His patients would be more frightened than relieved to see him, frightened by his creepy aura and the fact that he didn't care for anything but knowledge, knowledge and the power that came with it.

He shrugged the accusing thoughts away. He couldn't exactly help it. The need to acquire power had always been within him, and he doubted he had ever been any different. Even as a young child, he had sat in the back of the class visualizing all the ways the world could be different, how the world could be better, how the world could be faster. Even after the doctors had analyzed him, had examined every orifice in his psychology and memory, he had still hung on to his hunger. The hunger for power. The hunger to dissect.

Finding his thoughts darkening and his front doorway approaching, Stein quickly changed the subject within himself. A sound soul resides within a sound mind and if that meant thinking happy thoughts, he would deal with it, at least until his project was completed. There would be time for him to fall back into madness in the future, when everything was finished, when his own role was over and dear Marie was gone. He hated seeing his partner cry more than anything, and he was not about to make her weep again, not after she had risked so much to reclaim him years ago.

The darker part of him laughed at his naivety. So much for not caring. His care for her was the only human emotion he'd ever had. He was not about to let that go any time soon.

He had to keep her strong. Everyone had to be strong if there was to be any victory in the future and if that meant hiding his madness, then he would continue to appear sane. He was not doing this out of charity. He was doing this for his own victory.

As he approached the front door of Patchwork Labs, he couldn't help but glance up at the snickering moon. The sneering giant leered down at him, the truth etched into its sneering face. It laughed at his inevitable fate each low chuckle repeating the same thing over and over again.

You are going to go mad.

And not even the warm smell of Marie's broccoli wafting from the doorway could erase the scientist's sense of impending doom. Victory? Victory never came without a price.