"Oh!" Blair said suddenly, hopping off Maka's shoulder. She transformed back into human form and sat on the edge of the bed. "I was wondering… Do you like Soul?"

"W…Wha…Huh!" Maka blushed furiously and became flustered. "I-I-I-I don't like Soul… W-why would you say something like that...?" She laughed nervously.

Blair grinned. "Oh, alright~ So I bet that blush of yours doesn't mean anything in particular, right?"

Maka twitched. "…"

"See? It does bother you. You're obviously in love with this boy."

Maka jumped at this, and blushed a bit more. "…I-I… Even if I did… It'll never happen. Soul just is not the type to like people that way."

Blair blinked and trotted over to Maka. "Ohhh, I'm sorry, Maka. I bet you're wrong about that, though."

"This is pointless discussion…"

Maka glanced over at Soul again and noticed a few cuts along his arms and face. '…I don't like him that way… I'm sure of it…' She walked over to him, a tad downcast.

"..."

"Hmmm… This is interesting. Moreover, you say that your father told you that these two were weapon and Miester. Very intriguing."

Death the Kid stood examining the information he was given.

"Erm… Kid? I don't like the looks of this stuff." Liz said, shivering a bit. "Maka, you say that your dad saw every hit be absorbed and put into energy? That's so creepy…"

"I think it's cool!" Patty exclaimed, carefree as usual, "I wish we could do that…~"

"Well, I don't think they're so tough." Black Star spat.

Maka sighed; face palming as she did so. "Somehow I feel that Kid is the only one taking this seriously…" Tsubaki nodded in agreement.

The group had met up in the patch of woods next to the academy, their usual training spot. They all were discussing the events of yesterday, some, as you may have noticed, more serious than others may. Soul, on the other hand, acted if he couldn't care less one way or the other.

"I see. I must agree with Kid."

Liz screamed, turning over to the new voice in the matter. "Dr. Stein? Not funny! When did you get here?"

"I've been here the whole time." He adjusted his glasses. "I know who you are talking about- The Norman brothers, Mathieu and Mandel. They used to go to the academy. Mathieu was on the verge of becoming a death scythe when they suddenly disappeared. That was seven years ago."

"So why show up now?" Black Star said, crossing his arms. "That's kinda cowardly if you ask me. But I, the great Black Star, would never stoop so low!" He exclaimed, a laugh following it.

They all took a moment to think, but none could come up with an explanation.

"Oh! That reminds me, Dr. Stein," Maka pointed out, "I heard that Crona was in your care since the battle of the Kishin. How is he?"

"Nothing to worry about, Maka," Stein removed his cigarette from his mouth, a thin line of smoke following it, "He's stable. He actually has been for a while. I'm sure he'll be back within the month."

Maka showed an expression of relief. "That's good. Thanks."

"I say that we need to talk about this later." Kid said as the bell rang.

"This week, students, we will be doing a lesson on studying a form of anatomy." Franken Stein said, spinning around in his swivel chair to face the students. "This unit includes you all working with your weapon partner. If you don't have one, then you'll have to speak to me after class.

Meisters, you all will study the anatomy of your weapon partner. Weapons, you will just have to deal with it because this grade is for not only the Meister, but you too."

"Excuse me, Dr. Stein," Tsubaki raised her hand shyly, "Um, what exactly do you mean by 'studying' the weapons anatomy? Not dissection…right? "

"Interesting question, Tsubaki." Stein smiled. "It's basically the same thing as studying anything else, minus the dissection. By the end of this week, you should be able to tell every detail from the breaking point of the weapon and why, to where all of their weak points and how long their blade is, or something along those lines, from memory. For you and Black Star, it'll be less than easy because of your different forms."

There was a moment of quiet chattering amongst the students, some complaints, some stating how easy this was.

"Kay, now read a book or something. Class dismissed." Stein exclaimed, spinning out of the classroom, only to fall on his back once out of the room.

"Can you believe we only have a week?" Maka sighed, hitting her head on the desk. "This is almost impossible."

"What's with the attitude? So uncool." Soul said, sighing and leaning back on the bench. "It's nothing too hard. I'm just a scythe; it'll be easy for us. Besides, with how long we've known each other, all we gotta do is just fill in a couple of blanks."

Maka turned her head over to him. "You've got a point. At least we're better off than those two," She pointed over to Tsubaki and Black Star.

"…Poor Tsubaki…" They said in unison.

"Tsubaki, we're gonna work non-stop starting after school! Get ready to push yourself to the edge!" Black Star shouted, putting one foot on the desk and the other on the bench.

Tsubaki sighed. "I'll try to keep up…!"

"Liz, Patty, I understand that you both are pretty symmetrical when in weapon form, yes?" Death the Kid pointed, turning to the previously mentioned duo. "This will be a simple task, for I never forget an act of perfect symmetry…!"

"There he goes again…" Liz sighed as Patty burst out into childish laughter.

"Alright… I've got length, and the more important stuff," Maka nodded to herself. "Now I just need to figure out your ultimate limit."

"Well, I know how much pressure I can withstand in this form," Soul said, appearing in the reflection, "And I know the effects of some things, so I guess we're good in that department."

Maka sighed in frustration. She felt that, even if she did remember, and perfectly execute what she learned, that something would be missing. Nevertheless, she knew that there wasn't anything she had forgotten, so… why would anything be missing?

"Hey, you okay? I think we should pack it in for today." Soul said, returning to human form in a flash of light.

"Okay." Maka said, turning on her heel to the direction of their home. They started walking.

After dinner and such, everyone in the household said their goodnights and went to their rooms.

In the dreams of our main character, there was only a shroud of darkness, making nothing visible. One could not even differentiate from where the floor and the walls were. However, for some reason, when looking at where she was supposed to be standing, Maka only saw her reflection; only, it looked black-and-white.

She walked around for a bit, stopping every once and a while to see if there was any color to her reflection or if the state of the setting around her had changed. 'Where am I…?'

After a while, Maka heard crying. She could not tell where it was coming from, so she found herself just wandering in search for the sound's original position.

"Hello? Anyone here?" She called.

Suddenly, the crying stopped. A tiny, shaking voice of a girl replied, "…no. Not here. There." Maka felt a tap of a finger on her leg, and turned and saw a girl hugging her knees at her feet. "Not here. It's there."

When the girl began crying again, Maka jumped a bit. "Hey, now… I-it's alright…" She said, kneeling down to cradle the child. The girl only cried a bit louder for a while. All Maka felt she could do was hold and soothe her.

Once she stopped, Maka backed up a bit. After getting a better look, she saw that she looked the same as she did as a child. "Hey, see? It's okay. What's your name, little one?"

The girl sniffled a bit, before opening her previously clamped-shut eyes. They were deep scarlet, almost the same color as blood. "It doesn't have a name…"

Maka frowned. This was a bit strange. Well, looking back on it, all of this was a bit strange. "What? No name, really?" The girl nodded.

"Can you give it a name?"

"What?"

The girl pointed to herself. "It."

Maka blinked, "Huh? But…I think your mother should, not me."

The girl sniffled again, adjusting herself to where she was sitting on her knees. "When you and it meet, then? Then will you give it a name?"

Then Maka found herself waking up in a panic, leaving the world of darkness behind, along with it's only light.

"…Who was that?"