"why didn't you tell me you were in sooner?" the grand witch asked from her high throne. Below Medusa stood rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I tried but your aid didn't wish to wake you." "oh yes..a sweet girl she is." the grand witch drifted off fondly. "ill have her executed at noon." the grand witch said with no lack of certainty. "see that you do my lady." Medusa nodded. It seems that the grand witch payed no urgency to Medusa's arrival and yet woke her at five in the morning to meet with her instead of letting her rest. "so now I finally get to ask you all about your little excursion to death city." Medusa stared at her blankly for a moment. The grand witch knew damn well what happened "it went as well as it could have." "Oh? But haven't you seen? The city still stands." Medusa's jaw clenched to hold her tongue. "ma'am" Medusa began calmly "we were never reinforced. We had everything in place but we were overwhelmed, the kishen fell after three hours of battle." the grand witch nodded for her to continue. "we beat the tar out of them but there were to many of them so we fell back." the grand witch seemed dissatisfied with her answer. "hmm. Well you tried.." "don't you patronize me you dumb bitch." Medusa's eyebrow twitched as primal images of thrusting a dagger into the old wretches neck filled her mind. "and what about your son?" "Crona? She's dead." the grand witch looked at her curiously. "dead?" "i killed her. She surrendered to the enemy and I believe she was going to cooperate with the enemy." the grand witches tone changed slightly "so you killed him?" Medusa nodded. "well.." the grand witch began "though your attack was unsuccessful I have no reason to question your loyalty or value to the coalition. I will allow you to continue living at the palace. You may go now." Medusa turned without a word "perhaps you should have raised your child better." Medusa's scowl was deep as she exited the room. "keep talking, you'll pay in blood for each word."

Mifune had been waiting for an hour now. He was starting to think that maybe he had been set up and that Stien had fooled him. But he watched the man enter the parking garage with no sign of being fallowed. Mifune had backed his car into place so that he could get away at a moments notice, he knew that meistres were generally honest but he was new to death city, they might be just a little sour about all the meisters he killed in defense of Angela, but it seemed to be the last thing Stien was concerned about. Stien marched up the ramp to the parking garage and greeted Mifune with a nod. "Kenshin. Nice to finally meet you in person." Stien said with a smile. At a glance the man seemed harmless. "just Mifune, please." the swordsman politely suggested. Mifune's hair was white like stiens, but mutch longer at shoulder length. He appeared to be in his twenty's, in very high physical condition. He was your picturesque rogue samurai. Stien came forward and shook the mans hand, he had a firm confident grip. "I'm sorry I'm late, lord death took a little extra convincing in your case. But everything is going to be fine.." "and Angela?" he asked without hesitation. "Angela is not to be touched, she is sanctified, as long as she is in your care, she is your responsibility." Mifune nodded. "i understand. You risked a lot doing this for me." he paused and leaned against the hood of his Ford Pinto. "back when I worked for the yakuza, you weren't as lucky if they found out you were so much as talking to rival syndicates." "were not gangsters." Stien said "we have morals here. Though ill admit those get in the way. But your probably not concerned with that. You'll be safe here, so will Angela. The mod is nonexistent in death city, they were never here to beguine with. Although with your past id be weary of mailbombs.." Mifune was put off by that statement but Stien didn't appear to notice. "yeah well, its time I honor my end of the bargan." he walked over to the passenger side of his car and reached in through the window and grabbed a long object wrapped in a blanket. "here, this one should be suitable to her experience, it can take a lot of punishment." Stien nodded. "its heavy." he said as he took it in hand. "she'll get used to it." Mifune said. "when its time ill teach her how to use it. Stien. "thanks, it'll be a while. She still has a long way to go." Mifune nodded. They were silent for a moment, beyond their business they had not much to speak about with one another. "I should get back to Angela. I left her with a woman at the academy. She said her name was Marie? Do you know her?" Stien nodded with grief tugging at his throat "all to well swordsman, I know her all to well.." mifune saw the look in his eye. "yeah, allright, then we wont talk about it." he sat into the driver seat and turned the key in the ignition. He closed the door. "ill contact you about work from the academy as soon as I know something. Mifune nodded "dont make me come looking for you." he said with a subtle smile. "buckle your seat belt, drive safely and drink milk." Stien patted the roof of the car. "have a nice day." he walked away.

Marie reminded Crona of her mother in a way, but Marie would never do the terrible things Medusa did. If Crona had to guise she would have to think that Marie never even experimented on someone, not even once. But then Marie hardly seemed interested in the kind of things her mother got up to. Keeping track of personaltys and interests of all her new friends was tiresome, but exciting for her, but mostly terrifying. Used to things being exactly the same every day, And now she had to get used to constant change, she focused on the things that were similar at first to make things easier, Marie was blond like Medusa, but her hair was wavy. She wore an eye patch, one with some shiny golden emblem in the center, she said that she had an accident when she was a little girl but she never told Crona what it was that happened, her dress was very long and modest covering as much of her body as Crona's robe's. Crona had heard rumors that Marie could have an explosive temper and that she wasn't always in control of her emotions but she was always sweet to Crona and all of the other children in her class, though she often pulled troublesome students aside and scolding them not unlike Medusa in a way, yielding very stark results, but that never happened to her, she enjoyed Marie's study hall, it was even better that Marie didn't leave her alone, Crona was having trouble making friends so she didn't have anyone to study with, Marie helped out, asking her study questions and reading along with her. There was a young girl that Marie was also looking after a little girl who had been dropped off. The little one kept to herself, coloring at her end of the table. Marie pushed aside a stray strand of hairs from the view of her good eye. "and you remember who assassinated Franz Ferdinand?" Marie asked ,Crona nodded "uh-..that nationalist guy..Gavrilo." "that's right." Marie nodded "Gavrilo Princep. very good, your learning well. I think we found your niche Crona." she smiled pleasantly. Crona's heart felt warmed. She silently waited for Marie to ask another question. There weren't many other people she could answer these questions for. "do you remember who else was with Ferdinand?" Crona rubbed her hands together "a lady named Sophie.." "and what did she do?" Crona's soft eyes fluttered for a moment "huh?" Marie laughed a little "what was her association with Franz?" Crona fidgeted. "can I pass?" Marie nodded "its okay, she was the duchess of Hohenberg." "oh.." Crona seemed disappointed in herself. "its okay, you'll remember." she closed her eye and smiled softly "its not like you have to take a test on it after all, soon you'll be off the EAT class. Crona instantly frowned "b-but ill still get to see you right?" again Marie giggled. "of course Crona, you can come and see me every day if you would like, after class mind you." Crona was a bit shaken. "your my favorite student, so any time you feel like you need a tutor ill make time for you. I know professor Stien is a bit fast when it comes to teaching curriculum, he isn't an easy professor but he means well. He was a good replacement for professor Churchill, they both have a lot in common." Crona hadn't heard that name before. "professor Churchill?" marry seemed surprised, as if she had let something slip. "its not all that important, he was Stien's professor after he was thrown out of Berlin." Crona still had that look of cluelessness. "he's really never told you about that?" marry was aggravated by this "he just tell's me about s-stuf he did with spirit..not much else." Crona said looking down at the table. Marie's expression softened "I tell you what, ill fill you in on Franken." she had a confident smirk. "you know a lot about him?" Marie was silent for a second before answering. "yes, I know him in every sense." her answer made Crona raise a questioning glance. "lets just keep studying, shall we?" she smiled and picked her book back up.

(meanwhile)

Medusa opened the large wooden doors to her office, cold air drafted outward. The lights were all out and the smell was stale. She stepped inside and flipped the light switch, the electric lamps that had been installed in the sixty's flickered to life, illuminating the room somewhat. She looked around, some messy asshole had eaten a pack of crisp's on the couch in front of her fireplace, god help them if she found out who it was (run Eruka!) but she didn't have time fret small things like that. She came to her bar, none of her wine had been bothered, she knelt down and opened the small cabinet which the bar sat on top, the thin wood paneling in the back that concealed her secret escape route had not been disturbed. She stood up and closed the cabinet. She went over to the trunk behind her desk, a keen eye told her that the lock had been carefully moved about but was not successfully opened. The lock wasn't of ordinary make or model. It was made with a high density steel alloy, with no external key hole, picking the lock is not feasible without completely destroying it, which in of itself would by no means be task for your nine to five locksmith. This lock could only be opened properly with a spell. Medusa held it in her hand. She swiped her finger in a scantly knlown runic shape on the face of the lock. The traced pattern glowed for a moment and then released. She opened the lid of the trunk and observed the contents. Its was filled with her magic belongings, some she used for work, others of a private manner. She found her crystal ball wrapped in silk. She picked it up and took it to her desk, she sat it down and gazed at I. It was inactive for a few moments only showing her own reflection. Soon thogh a faint hazel light illuminated from its core that darkened to an inky blackness. In the glass she could see Stien, thogh there was no sound she could see him at the head of his class giving a lecture, she watched him for almost ten minutes, with a casual turn of her wrist the view through the glass flickered, she could now see Crona with Marie. She sneered. She always had a strong dislike for Marie. There was no telling what sort of rot and idealistic lies she was teaching Crona. There was a knock at Medusa's door. She grunted at the interruption. The ball became translucent as her concentration broke. "come in." she said with a cold voice, Free pushed the large door open with ease and closed it behind him. "oh your back, the grand witch must have payed quite a bit to have you come around again." Free failed to see any humor in this. She knew damn well he had no choice after she cursed his body. He wanted to keep his interactions brief with her. He was a very large muscular man, much like Sid but even taller than him, he wore the tatterd remains of a prison uniform under a cloak. Its important to note that his left eye glows like some sort of runic disco ball. "i have a message from the grand witch." he said folding his muscular arms to his chest. Medusa found nothing about his size intimidating, she knew that inside he was just a big fluffy dog. "i see see that she hasn't learned how to use the phone while I was gone. What dose she need?" "she wants you to draw from suitable candidates on staff for infiltration of the DWMA." Medusa allowed him to continue with a nod. "she also thought you may appreciate the opportunity to higher an assassin to knock off that guy who killed you." "so considerate of her." she said in a vexing tone that made his hard exterior crack with anxiety. "will that be all?" he nodded "yes, ma'am." he turned and exited quickly. She put away her crystal ball. "a spy you say. Yes..i have a perfect candidate."

(lunch time, at he DWMA)

Maka sighed when Crona sat down next to her. Crona clutched an apple in her hand and a bottle of water. Crona lowered her head. "did..did I do something wrong?" Maka tried to smile. "no.." she shook her head. "its just.." Crona sat her apple down on the table. "w-what?" "you do that every day Crona." Crona looked at her apple then at Maka. She clearly didn't understand what Maka wanted. " you've only eaten apples for lunch for as long as iv known you." Crona shrugged. "don't you think that's just a little silly?" "its all I want.." Crona stammered. Maka squinted, her smile was tried by frustration. "that's not good for you though, aren't you hungry?" Crona fidgeted "well..." Maka looked around the table, the others didn't appear to be paying any attention to their conversation, which was all the better. "well doctor Stien makes you eat breakfast and dinner right? Real portions?" Crona shook her head. Maka frowned, "well I'm going to get Sid to kick his butt later. But from no on you have to eat better..." "but..its all I want.." Crona looked at the table in front of her. Maka leaned over and spoke lowly to her. "Crona, I know why your doing this. Please, it needs to stop, you told me you wouldn't hurt yourself anymore." Crona was silent and motionless. Maka slid her tray to the space in between them on the table. Crona flinched, she looked over at Maka who smiled brightly at her. Crona looked at her with confusion. "were going to share lunch today, okay?" Crona didn't know what to say, she couldn't disobey Maka She hesitantly nodded. "okay.." "and tomorrow were going to pick out a healthy lunch for you." Maka stole Soul's fork that he wasn't using anyway and handed it to Crona. "o-okay.." Crona looked back up at Maka. "b-but why?" Maka leaned in again and spoke in a whisper. "because loving someone usually means you don't want them to starve to death." Crona blushed, she put a hand on the back of her neck and looked down at the table. "thank you Maka.."

(later that day)

Stien's class let out at four. It was hard to keep the attention of the young meisters and soul eaters much longer than that. He could tell even as he sat down at his desk while the students were leaving that something was wrong, with him in particular. All his students had left but he remained, he just sat their doing nothing, the light slowly faded from the room as the sun slowly sank. No lights, he sat alone in the darkness, part of him wished to leave, to go home to Crona and forget that he had stayed her, he knew she was probably worry'd sick about him, but movement was far beyond him. As the clock crept toward ten, a dim light grew in the hallway outside of the class room. A small figure approached and stood in the door frame holding a candle to light it's was. The child removed her hood, his breath faltered as he looked upon a face he recognized, it was no doubt Medusa. She grinned at him with those narrow vicious eyes. "what are you doing up so late?" she came closer to him, he didn't answer, his glasses gleamed. "you knew I was coming didn't you?" she stood next to his desk. "you felt it." she climbed up onto his desk and sat down in front of him. "you like my disguise? I decided I might need it, its very comfortable." she reached a hand out to his face, he didn't even flinch as she took the glasses off his face. she fiddled with his glasses, smudging the lenses. "I was in the neighborhood to drop off a friend of mine and thought id visit my man." Stien was lost to all senses, before that night not so long ago he would have jumped at the chance to kill her, but she was here, back again, he couldn't bring himself to fight her, now that he knew the truth she held more power over him than ever. "you've been enjoying Crona's company, yes? You know, you can bring her with you when you finally leave this place. You two can come live with me in the palace, we'll be like a real family, like we were meant to be. She needs a father, and well, I'm surrounded by morons in that palace." Stien didn't answer. She smiled and sat his glasses back on his face. "playing strong silent type today hmm? That's okay, I understand." she giggled and jumped down from his desk. "but you know I'm right and that's all that matters. After all, im the one who really understands you." she looked underneath his desk, she found the long object wrapped in sheets that he had acquired from Mifune. "ill be holding onto this. We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself now would we?" she started toward the door dragging the object behind her. "remember sweety, were a family.." she was gone, before he even realised it, she blinked out of existence and he was alone again in the dark room.

He couldn't remember how much longer he sat there, but he later found himself on the streets of death city, he shuffled along guided by the streetlamps, Medusa's words playing over and over in hid head. In front of him his shadow danced as he walked along, his shadow split in two, it, for a fact, was a trick of his mind, but he could hear voices from them both, one calm and collected, one crazed and senseless. "gotta' go, gotta' get away from here! These close minded fools will enslave us, their going to be the end of you, their going to be the end of me!." one demanded. "you mad, do you hear yourself right now? This is were we've always been, Medusa is lieng to you, the people here love you." he listened to them both bicker as he walked, completely indecisive as to which voice he should listen to. He bumped into a fence, and then knocked over a trash can, and walked right into a street lamp. He hit his forehead against it with substantial force. He fell backwards and stared up at the sky.

Marie was walking home alone, another night at some smoked out barroom and couldn't find one catch. Her mother was right, you'll never find true love in a bar no matter how classy of a place it is. She considered calling a cab but it wasn't worth it, she wasn't drunk and her apartment wasn't to far away. She didn't think about much, just about work the next day. Up ahead she saw someone laying on the sidewalk, for a moment she thought that it was a vagrant, she considered crossing the street, but maybe he was hurt, letting some one bleed out on the sidewalk wouldn't be good for her karma. But as she came closer she realized that she knew the bum that was under the street light. She reconsidered him as none other that professor Stien. She hurried over to him. She put her hand on his chest. "Stien? Stien wake up." she shook him. He roused without much effort. "Marie?" he opened his eyes. "yeah, its me, you're okay, aren't you?" he looked up at the sky. "i don't know.." she looked into his eyes with deep concern. She pulled him by she shoulder. "come on, sit up.." he looked faint, as if not all of him was there. "what happened to you?" "i don't know.." "you have to give me more than that Stien, do I need to take you to the hospital?" he shook his head rapidly "n-no no no..no hospital.." he tried to steady himself by grabbing her shoulder but it looked as though he was going to heave. "well don't think that I'm going to leave you here, I'm taking you home." he didn't say anything. She stood and pulled him up from under his arm "come on.." she tugged him but he wouldn't stand. "come on, or I'm calling an ambulance." he closed his eyes, and sat up on his knees, he lifted himself up with Marie's aid. Marie groaned. "we'll you sure have gotten heavier haven't you?" he mumbled something incoherently and laughed. "what kind of drugs did spirit convince you to take this time." Stien smiled weekly "those days...their long gone I promise.." he tried to match Marie's step but he stumbled. Though his head was becoming more clear he still felt his brain buzzing behind his eyeballs. He could hear the sound of static roaring like a distant ocean. He lifted a hand up to his screw and turned the head, its metallic clicking reverberated in the empty streets. "you still live in the grave yard?" Stien nodded. "great, the graveyard at night, that's just swell..i should have left him on the sidewalk.."