The lesson, the battle, and an opportunity

The students were in complete shock, Alice was going to battle Stein and everyone had been dead silent when their professor announced he would be the final task for this lesson. Her friends couldn't believe what they just heard, their mouths were gaping open. Alice stood there staring at her professor who stood in front of her.

'He isn't bluffing. I'm really going to fight him aren't I?', a tiny drop of sweat trailed down her cheek, 'This should be fun, right?', a smile formed on her lips before gazing at her professor. Stein smirked, "I see that you're ready. Well then, let the experiment... begin."

Stein sprinted forward; his hand began to produce electricity as it sparked widely aiming it towards her. She evaded his attack with ease, although, he quickly spun around grabbing her arm, roughly. His plan on throwing her to ground backfired when she regained her footing and had successfully flipped him over. A loud and painful thud was heard after Alice had thrown him onto the floor. Something he clearly did not expect from her, 'I'm impressed. She was able to throw me down after my failed attempt to throw her off.'

He chuckled, hoisting himself back up from the now dented floor, "Fascinating.", he said dusting off the dirt from his lab coat. Alice stood a few feet away from waiting for him patiently, "This should be fun!" he mumbled to himself before sprinting once again towards her.

Alice positioned herself ready to strike back, when he was close enough she swung her left leg at him only to be blocked by his arm. Each passing moment got intense and the students just watched in amazement. Her friends were cheering her on, shouting her name while they told her to give it her all. Both she and Stein had kept blocking and striking each other, though, none of them had shown signs of fatigue. It was quite remarkable they still went on.

'He's fast, but not fast enough!' avoiding his soul force, she bent down and quickly punched him in his abdomen area causing him to grunt from the pain. Now it was her turn to use soul force, gathering up enough energy, thrusting her free hand onto his stomach as he flew across the field. Alice began to pant heavily from the amount of energy that drained her from using that attack, 'I may have overdone it a little. '

Alice began to feel lightheaded and her eyesight slowly started to grow cloudy. She stumbled forward trying to regain her focus on the lesson, but with no success. Her eyes were droopy and her movement had slowed down until finally, her body gave in. She collapsed to the ground. As she slowly lost consciousness, the last thing she heard was Kids cries echoing through her eardrums, muffled voices were all that she could make out before she finally the world around her became dark.

...

"You're no daughter of mine."

...

Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!

...

The yelling and screaming soon became inaudible, along with those horrifying memories that plagued her mind. She wanted to forget but it was impossible. The past haunted her, though; she always looked forward towards her future. Soft whispers filled the atmosphere around her. She felt disoriented, the darkness that welcomed her had her feeling cold, and it was sad and lonely. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious. It scared her. A familiar voice had caught her attention as she listened intently.

"Will she be alright?" it sounded like Kid.

"She will be fine, Kid. Rest assured she is in good hands."

Stein heard a soft groan coming from behind the curtains; he wasn't the only one who heard it. Kid rushed on over through the curtains as the boy stood next to his friend, who began to open her eyes.

The bright lights invaded her eyes and she closed them shut, but soon her vision began to adjust to the lighting. Her eyes landed on Stein, he stood in front of the bed, and the glare from the light didn't allow her to see his dull looking eyes. She blinked a few times before she felt a familiar hand grab onto her left one, her gaze landed on a familiar figure, it was Kid.

The concerned look on his face made her heartbreak, "Do you even have the slightest idea of how worried sick I was!?" Kid exclaimed.

She furrowed her brows as she sat up on the bed. Alice tilted her head slightly before pointing at his clothing. Kid glanced down at his missing tux as he rubbed his head, "Well, um... I know. I'm not symmetrical now. I look disgusting without it.", tears ran down his cheeks as he felt utterly displeased by his missing attire.

Alice squeezed his hand catching his attention, smiling at him. He relaxed a bit before removing his hand from hers, smiling back at her, "I'm glad that you're alright Alice. I'd better get going; I have a kishin soul to collect. Please, contact me whenever." she nodded before Kid walked out of the room leaving her with Stein.

"Kid really cares about you doesn't he?" he asked, looking over at Alice as she nodded in response. Stein grabbed his stitched patterned chair, rolling it next to her bed as he sat down. His eyes pierced through her soul like a knife cutting through a piece of paper. Alice felt his gaze but decided not to meet them, fiddling with her fingers while her eyes stared off to the window on her left. Stein tilted his head as he spoke with a grin on his lips, "Today's lesson was quite intriguing don't you think?"

Her eyes now landed into his dull ones, seeing his grin made her feel a bit uneasy. Luckily, her neutral expression was hard to read at the moment, though, his eerie grin made her stomach tickle at the sight. She refrained herself from blushing as her professor began to crank his screw, "It's not every day you see a student throwing their teacher to the floor like that. You clearly are something special."

His final words made her blush. Stein noticed this as he then began to chuckle, "My, you clearly are adorable." he blurted out; a giant sweatdrop appeared on their heads. The silence between them was extremely awkward, 'Oh my god! I hope no one heard that!' Alice thought to herself hoping that no other staff members were ease dropping them. Glancing over at Stein, she could tell he was having an argument in his mind, 'Professor...'

'Damn. I shouldn't have said that aloud.' Stein cursed to himself mentally. He could sense the atmosphere around them was beginning to feel awkward with each passing second. He stood up from his chair and walked away before standing in front of the door, "While you were unconscious, Lord Death has requested your presence in the death room."

Alice perked up as she quickly jumped out of the bed. She stood behind Stein with a cheerful smile on her face, he couldn't help but smile back, "Let's get going. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting now, hm? ~"