It happened fast. One second, he was watching her walk around his lab, smiling, and seemingly care free. The second, her soul pulsed and she was on the ground, crying out in pain and coughing up blood before he could even take a step. She was unconcious before he got to her, struggling to breathe through the blood pooling in her throat.
Professor Stein tried vainly to get her positioned to where the blood would run out. It was then that he did the only thing he could think of, as a doctor, to save her. Taking one of the scalpels from his lab table, he made a careful incision in her throat, and performed an emergency tracheotomy. He was rewarded when he felt a "gasp" come through the small metal pipe he had used.
'Keep cutting. Dissect. See what's really hiding.' Stein's hand trembled for a moment before he dropped the scalpel and released the breath he didn't know he had been holding. Carefully lifting her, making sure to keep her head tilted so that the blood wouldn't reach the tube, Professor Stein walked to the small phone and made a call.
"Nygus. It's Stein. We have a problem. A major one. It's Chiyumi. I don't know if she'll make it through the night."
Sid and Nygus showed up fast. Both stopped cold when they saw the amount of blood on the floor of his lab, on his coat, and on her face.
"She hasn't stopped bleeding. I don't know her blood type." Stein looked up and, to their surprise, they could see fear in his eyes. "I have stores, but I don't know what's causing it. If I can't fix it, no matter how much blood I infuse she'll still bleed out."
"Stein," Nygus said quietly, "focus. The girl is alive. She's fighting now. What was she doing when this happened?"
"Walking. She was just walking around the lab, looking at it. Mira, she looked happy. Then she fell, screamed in pain and started coughing blood." Stein looked down at the pale girl he held in his arms. "I'm at a loss."
"You didn't open her up to see, Stein." Sid said.
"I couldn't trust myself to." Stein met Sid's gaze. "I needed someone else here."
"Then get prepped, Doctor. Sid can hold her in place until you're ready." Nygus stated. "Gloves, etc?" She asked, looking around.
"Gloves, top left desk drawer. Sink is to the right." Stein said, clearing off and sanitizing one of the stainless steel tables before getting himself prepped.
Stein took a deep breath as Sid placed Chiyumi's pale body onto the table, steadying his nerves. You've done this hundreds of times, Franken. Why so nervous? Open the chest cavity, look for the blood loss. It's going to be obvious. Seal it off. Save her."
It was all for nothing. As soon as the scalpel touched Chiyumi's flesh, the teenager opened her eyes and grabbed his hand.
"I wouldn't do that, Franken. Poor Chiyumi has a hard time trusting people." A sadistic smile spread across her face. "And she wants so much to trust you. Heh."
Nygus took a step back, looking at Stein questioningly.
"Shiyumi."
"Took you long enough to decide to actually save her, though I have to admit, the straw thing was pretty smart. Tracheotomy, right? But why would a stranger like you even care? And why bring these other two strangers into it?" The not-Chiyumi snapped her head to flick her hair away from her face as she pulled the metal tube out. "You're a fool if you think I'm going to let some strangers ruin my sister's life."
She lunged, the tube angled straight at Stein's throat, but Stein was faster. He moved his head just enough for it to miss, and his instincts kicked in. Before Sid or Nygus could move, Stein had both arms around Chiyumi holding her rigidly in place, and was already matching his soul's wavelength to Chiyumi's. He closed his eyes and...
...opened them unable to breathe. Panic set in first, then realization as he forced himself to take a breath. Looking around, he could see the top of the liquid he was floating in and swam up to it, breaking into air. He stood on a large, placid lake, and at each end he could see a small figure. They were identical to each other.
Unsure of which was which, Stein trusted instinct again and stepped towards the one on the right "Chiyumi!" He called.
A step was all he got. The figure on the left growled in rage and charged at him, knocking him off balance and both of them back into the liquid. Shock wore off quickly enough and Stein fought back to the surface.
"Shiyumi, enough!" The wet child before him glared daggers at him. "You would accuse us of ruining your sister's life? You? The sister who is dead? The one who is keeping her so afraid of new people that she faints in crowds of more than two? The one who haunts her every movement and thought? She said she doesn't know what being alone is like anymore. And I am the one ruining her life?"
Stein dropped into a fighting stance as Shiyumi charged him.
"She's my sister! She's all I have!" Tears blurred her eyes as she spun into a kick. "You won't take her from me!"
The battle was heated. Stein was at a disadvantage, having to play by the rules of someone else's soul. And he was losing.
Until Chiyumi stepped in.
"Shiyu! Please, stop! I'm sorry for what I did, but you have to stop! A stranger didn't kill you! I did!" Tears streamed down her face.
"I have to keep you safe!"
Chiyumi did something Stein hadn't expected. He was no longer unarmed. In his hand he now held the Vampire Blade.
A/N: I don't own the wonderful people that appear in this story that are property of whoever was brilliant enough to create soul eater. /sigh