Standalone
Chapter Three: Animated Ragdoll

I know it's been a while since I updated, but this chapter is definitely longer than the past two. Enjoy!

The classroom was silent. No one was looking anywhere in particular, save for Stein, who was focused on the doorway that led into the classroom. The windows were all wide open in hopes of getting fresh air into the room to somehow negate the intense heat. It wouldn't help any; it was Nevada. It was always hot in Nevada. Soul felt particularly sluggish today, in part because of the bizarre dream he had the previous night that prevented him from getting a good night's sleep. His forehead was pressed against the table, beads of sweat dropping to the floor. Somewhere in the distance, a crow cawed. This scene hadn't changed for fifteen whole minutes.

"Well," Stein said finally, breaking the long silence and snapping several students to attention, "we were supposed to have a new student today, but I guess he's not here. Nevertheless, we'll get started with today's lesson on advanced resonance theory…" Soul groaned and pulled his head from the table.

"I'm exhausted…" he moaned. Maka sighed.

"You really need to get more sleep," she advised. Maka wiped her brow.

"But geez," she said, "it really is hot today." Maka turned her head to the vacant seat beside her.

"Crona isn't here today?" she said.

"Guess not," said Soul, "I heard Crona took up a difficult mission and is gonna be out for a while, but I dunno how believable that is."

"Kid's gone, Liz is gone, Patty's gone, Crona's gone…" muttered Maka, "The class is practically-"

"Maka!" Stein snapped, "Since you've obviously gone and memorized this section already, why don't you tell me who the first person to successfully pull off the coordinates described to initiate stage two orbital resonances was?"

"Sir," Maka protested, "what makes you think that I've memorized the-"

"You're talking," he said, "which means you don't need to learn, which logically means you've already learned the information. Correct? Now who was it?" Maka sighed and stood up.

"The first record of successful stage two orbital resonance was the spear meister Cu Chulainn circa the 13th century with his weapon partner Gae Bulg." Maka recited it like she had known it all her life and had long since grown bored with it. Stein feigned neutrality; he was actually somewhat surprised.

"Correct," said Stein, turning his attention back to the blackboard, "though this information was disregarded as the 14th century reared around, the public instead turning their attention towards…" Maka sighed and sat back down. Soul blinked in awe at her.

"That was such a trivial piece of information," he said, "and you memorized it?" Maka grinned.

"It's what you get when you stay up late reading," she chuckled.

"First you tell me not to stay up late, now you tell me its benefits?" he chided as he stared out the window, "Make up your mi-" Soul's eyes widened and he did a double-take. Standing on a rooftop adjacent to the Shibusen campus was the creepiest figure Soul had ever seen, and he had seen it twice now. Its skin was pale and sickly and its legs were wobbly and off-kilter. Its neck was tilted at a bizarre angle and its arms were deadweight at its sides. Its clothes consisted of a ripped and tattered black-and-red striped shirt and a pair of what used to be jeans but now could barely be called fabric. It wore no shoes. Its fingers were crudely pieced together, as though someone tore them apart and attempted to sew them back on but did a very poor job, and its toes followed suit. Its hair was long and brown, obscuring the eyes, but its mouth was distinctly frowning, partly-open in an expression of despair. For a few seconds it just stood there, looming, before it fell backwards, sliding off the rooftop with a sort of haunting grace, then disappearing behind the building.

"M-Maka!" Soul whispered, "There's something outside!"

"What do you mean?" she asked, keeping her voice down to avoid Stein's attention.

"It's a thing!" Soul said, "It has droopy hair and pale skin and stitched-up hands and… and…" He paused for a moment.

"Soul," said Maka, "You do realize you just described Professor Stein, right?" Soul was getting frustrated.

"It's not human!" he snapped aloud. The whole class turned and stared at Soul. Stein glanced over at him expectantly.

"Yes?" Stein said, "What's not human?" Soul stuttered for a moment, quickly glancing across the blackboard and piecing together bits of information to no avail.

"Uhh…" he said finally, "The… Kishin?" There was a long silence.

"Elaborate," said Stein, "unless, of course, this information is some sort of revelation to you." Soul stuttered some more and tried to get something from what was written on the blackboard, but it all seemed like nonsense to him. He finally gave up and simply heaved a heavy sigh. There was another long silence.

"See me after class, Mr. Evans," said Stein. Soul winced and sat back down. He took one last glance out the window. There wasn't anything on the red roof across the street, no trace of the creature he saw earlier.

***
As the students left the classroom in a hurry (Black Star and Maka waved goodbye before rushing out the door) Soul lingered in the room a little longer. Once everyone had left, Stein shut the door. He turned to Soul with a furrowed brow

"Soul," he said, "I understand that it's very hot and that the school decided to spend the air conditioning money on a new mirror for Shinigami-sama's Death Room instead of repairs, but it's clear that you're not just irritated by the heat. You barely grasp the basics of this unit, and while I understand that stage two orbital resonances is hardly the most interesting subject on the face of the earth, I think it best for you to put more effort into your studies and less effort into chatting idly with your partner. Is that clear?" Soul didn't respond right away.

"Well, Professor," he said, "It's just… I haven't been sleeping well lately, and I thought I saw something outside. Maybe it was a mirage, or a hallucination, or whatever, but…" He sighed angrily.

"Damnit," Soul moaned, "Stuttering isn't cool at all." Stein shrugged slightly.

"I just want you to be better prepared next class, and keep in mind that the test on this and the previous three units is coming up next week." With that, Stein reopened the door, and Soul shuffled out into the hall. The door quickly closed behind him, leaving him alone to sigh and think about what he saw. He didn't think about it long before Maka approached him.

"Hmm?" said Soul inquisitively, "You're still here? I thought you were going home with Black Star and Tsubaki."

"I was going to," said Maka, "but I wanted to be here when Stein got done lecturing you. Black Star and Tsubaki decided to stop by the bakery. I heard they extended their sale. Wanna go get something? They have a new batch of melonpan out and ready in the storefront and it's really-"

"Maka," Soul interrupted, "There's something I need to go check out. I want you to come with me." Soul began to head towards the staircase.

"Ooh, intriguing!" Maka chirped happily as she followed her partner out, "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere special," said Soul, "It's an alleyway near the school."

"An alleyway?" Maka said, tilting her head slightly, "What's so special about an alleyway?"

"I think there might be something there," said Soul, "something worth checking out."

***
"So if it fell from this roof here," muttered Soul, pointing his finger from the edge of the roof above him down the alley wall, "then it should've landed somewhere around… there!" He ran over to a large Dumpster and began to examine it thoroughly. Maka groaned.

"I bet Black Star and Tsubaki are buying melonpan right now," she whined, "Why did you drag me here, anyway?"

"If what I saw was really at the rooftop," said Soul as he peered through the Dumpster, "then it should've landed around this alleyway. That is, assuming it didn't run off somewhere, but it seemed pretty inanimate to me, so it would've fallen around this area…"

"Hey, Soul," Maka said, "is that it over there?" Soul turned and saw a pair of legs sticking out from an upturned cardboard box. Soul's eyes widened and he threw the box up. Underneath was a scraggly old man with a mangy beard and beady green eyes, eating a sandwich. He screamed and scrambled to retrieve his box, quickly pulling it back over his head.

"What's the big idea!?" the man yelled, "Don't interrupt people when they're eating!" Soul and Maka blinked in surprise. The old man was clearly angry.

"Argh!" he yelled, "I've had enough with you people! First with the interruption when I'm trying to sleep, now when I'm trying to eat? What do I owe the world!?" Soul and Maka blinked again.

"Let's go, Soul," said Maka finally, "I don't think there's anything here of interest."

"Y-yeah…" Soul said, and the two left the alley. When they were out of sight, the homeless man sighed happily and took another huge bite out of his sandwich. He was chewing contently when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. Turning, he discovered an arm sprawled out on the pavement just a little further down the alley. The rest of the body was concealed behind part of a wall. The man was concerned; the arm was completely limp and motionless, and extremely pale. Whoever's arm it was clearly needed medical attention. The man, still clutching his sandwich, crawled over to the arm.

"Hey," he said, "are you okay?" Just as he got close to the arm, it contracted, pulling itself entirely behind the wall.

"What…?" the man muttered. He scratched his head.

"Hey, don't be alarmed," he insisted, slowly peeking around the wall, "I just think you need medical atten-" The homeless man stopped. He was staring not at an arm but at two wobbly bare feet, scratched and stitched like they were the remnants of some terrible fight. There was dried blood splattered across the ankle and toes. The man slowly turned his attention upwards. As he saw what loomed above him, he screamed. His cries were cut short almost instantly by the sound chains clinking against one another, then a sickening crunch. The man's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to one side, blood oozing from the gaping wound around his body. The mysterious figure opened its palms wide as the mass of now-bloodied chains pulled themselves back into its hands. With a twist of its head, the creature wobbled away into the depths of the city.