Later on that night after Spirit had left, Stein was taking shallow breaths as he stood in the dark hallway in front of Marie's bedroom door. He didn't want to go in, he only wanted to sit in his room and decide whether or not he preffers being monotone with no emotion whatsoever and totally oblivious to what other people really think, or if he'd rather feel emotion like normal people and live with the immense guilt. At any given time before Marie came to him several weeks ago, he would have chose the formal. However, her mere presence changed his entire perspective of psychic life and emotions. He always thought that humans do not truly need another person to survive, infants not withstanding, but she taught him otherwise. I can't let her fall into the madness. For what I have already done to her, it is my responsibilty to help her out of this and poissibly cure her...
Stein took in a heavy breath and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what he would say when he came through the door. Screw it... He reached for the door knob and twisted it then pushed the door open. "Hey, uh, Marie. I need to te-" Stein stopped completely when he stepped in the room and saw Marie. She was standing next to her bed in nothing but black panties, trying to put on a bra, but it seemed to cause her pain. She has to twist her abdomen a lot... When she heard his voice, she snapped her head up and covered her chest with her forearms.
"F- Franken. You should really knock before you enter..." Her face was turning a bright red, proving that she had plenty of blood in her body, and her hands were shaking.
"I'm sorry," Stein gasped as he turned and was about to walk out, but he stopped. "Do you need help?"
"No!" Marie gasped. "No, I can do it myself..."
"Marie, I can tell it hurts you. Now, do you need help?" His voice was quite and soothing.
"No, really. I can do it myself." She was now beginning to bend her leg and straighten it out then repeat the process several times, and he could tell she was feeling very nervous.
"I think you forget that I am a doctor and I know all about human anatomy. So you needn't feel embarressed. If you really don't want me to, I won't. But if it hurts you, Marie, let me help you." The end of Stein's last sentance almost had a pleading tone to it. Marie's once red cheeks began to return to their normal peachy color as she nodded and relaxed her arms a bit. Stein's long legs took a few strides to her and looked down to her. He put his hand on her forearm and waited till she gave him the bra. She relaxed her fingers and used them to hold the bra out; as he took it, he looked into her amber eye. Stein wanted to be like this forever, to just be with Marie when she needed him and help her. He just wished the circumstances were different and he was not the reason why she needed the help.
"Can you, um..." Marie looked at him for a moment, confused, before she understood him and slipped her arm through the strap. He then placed the cups over her chest and repeated the process with the other strap. Once they were in place, Stein moved behind her and hooked the clips of the chest strap. As he went to her backside, an odd feeling began running through an area below his waist. He had only felt this a few times before; One of those times was right before he and Marie made love.
Marie breathed in to what seemed to be a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"No problem." Stein put his large hand on her bare shoulder, and a smirk spread across his face. He lowered his head so his lips were just a few inches away from her ear. Besides, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before." Now his lower organ was hard, and it was bulginf against his pants. Thoughts and images began running wild through his head, images of Marie's slender, naked body underneathe him, thoughts of how much he wanted her. "Marie..." he whispered in her ear. Stein's eyelids lowered, and he gently kissed her neck. Now the the temptation was getting stronger, and his long fingers toyed with the back clip of her bra before he unsnapped it.
"Fr- Franken, what are you d-doing?" Marie's breaths were now quick and shallow. He didn't answer, only continued to kiss her neck, his lips getting lower and lower to her chest with every kiss. Finally, his lips met her collarbone. Should he have been any shorter, he would have had to go around her to reach her chest. However, his tall body only gave him easy access to her front just by hunching his shoulders and reaching his neck over her shoulder. Stein continued to kiss her, getting closer to her breast, untill something in his head clicked. No. I came her to tell her the black blood is in her body and could spread, not to give in to temptation and have sex with her. He breeathed in a light sigh before he stood up and clipped the back strap of Marie's bra in place.
"I, uh... I apologize, Marie. That was unnessessary." He tried to keep his voice emotionless, but dissapointment rang through it cleary.
Marie began breathing normally, but it was still a bit shallow. Stein took his hand off of her shoulder and took a step back, wishing the urge in his pants would cease. Marie looked down at her bed and picked up a yellow tank top and slid it down her torso before she walked to her dresser and pulled out some black pajama pants. "Marie?"
"It's alright, Franken. Everyone gets that way during these types of situations." She attempted to bend over to put the pants on, but she winced in pain and tightly shut her eye.
"Marie," Stein took a step toward her. She said nothing, only put a hand up and shook her head. "Marie, I promise... I won't do anything." She sighed as she considered his help. A few moments passed, and the urge that Stein felt was still there. Finally, she nodded. He swallowed, scolding himself for overstepping his boundaries as he stalked over to her. She stood straight up and put her hands on his shoulders for balance as he bent his knees. He had to fight with every fiber of his being to not grab her hips and kiss the inside of her thighs. Marie lifted her left leg, wincing as sharp pains came from the stab wound in her right thigh.
Stein quickly slid the pants sleeve up her leg before he repeated the process with her right leg. Then he stood, loathing the ordeal of pulling the pajama pants up so it covered her genital area and her rear completely. "Thanks." She said quitely. Stein nodded in acknowledgement, still fighting the wild urge to rip her pants off, then took a step back, hoping that she wouldn't notice the large bulge in is pants. But sice it always seemed the universe was conspiring againt him, she just so happened to study him, and her eyes fell upon his erection. Oh... So that explains why he is being so stiff... OH GOD THAT SOUNDS SO WRONG IN THIS SITUATION! Marie's cheeks started to turn pink, but she took a deep breath and tried to remain completely calm. "So, was there something you needed?"
Stein's forehead was now slightly moist with sweat. "Yeah, I uh... I need to tell you something." HIs face seemed to darken, and he looked down almost sadly.
A moment passed while she waited for him to go on, but sshe was feeling a bit impatient. "Yes? Franken, what is it?"
His head remained down. "I gave you a blood transfer so I could save you..."
"Yes, and you saved me. Why do you seem upset about it?"
"I don't know if the matter should be classified as 'saving.'" Stein said quietly.
Marie cocked her head and her brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"I... I spread the black blood to you, Marie." The room fell into a dead silence for a long while. Marie's expression was chaotic, and Stein could see her soul bursting with horror and fear. "Marie?"
She took another long while to respond, and her eyes began to water. "Wh-... What?" Marie's breathing now seemed labored and a tear threated to break free.
"I'm not finished." He added quickly. "I am going to find a way to supress it, maybe even extract it. There is also a possibility that it won't even affect you."
"What do you mean?" Her words were fast and quiet.
"For some reason, Maka is unaffected by the blood. It still lives inside her, yet she has the power to tap into it. She has never mentioned feeling any sign of madness, and I have never seen anything like it in her soul."
"But..." Marie stepped away from her closet and slowly sat on her bed, feeling the matress slightly give way to her weight. "What if it does affect me? What if... I go mad?" Her voice was now shaking, as were her hands.
"I will help you through it. I will not let you fall."
"But I told myself the same thing about you!" Her voice broke, and a tear dropped from her eye.
Stein was searching rapidly for something to say to her, for something that could comfort her. But he still was very new to all of the emotion and people skills, and all he could come up with was things that were scientifically based. "I know what to look for. If I see anything out of the ordinary, I will stop whatever I am doing and I will make sure you are not overcome with madness. Furthermore, I can see souls. You can't. When I look at Crona's soul, I can actually see the madness in him. When Asura was revived, I could see his madness everywhere, I could even feel it. No one else really knew what they saw or felt when Asura was revived... No one knows what madness truly is. But I do. I know because I live with it, I can see it in my own soul... But, Marie," he paused for a few moments, and his dark expression lightened. "I can't see it in yours... All I see in your soul is worry, pain, fear, and... Love. That is all I see." Stein now seemed saddened again and he sighed. "However, there is still something wrong with your soul."
A spike of worry shot through her. "Wh- what is it?"
Stein locked his sad, olive green eyes with Marie's wide, amber eye and a short pause drifted between them before he continued. "You're not... You're not happy anymore, Marie. I worry that you will never be happy again..."
"That's not true!" Her voice was quite firm and somewhat loud, surprising him. "I will be happy again, Franken, because one day, you and I will be living our normal lives once more. We will go on missions from Lord Death, we will teach at the academy." A random spike of confidence wrapped around her soul, wavering every couple of seconds as if she doubted it. However, it remained there.
"How can you be so sure? What if you slip into the madness, and I can't bring you out? What if the same happens to me? Huh, Marie?" Her lower lip quivered and even more sadness burrowed its way into her now complex soul. Shit! Why am I being so negative?! Stein sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to shoot you down like this. I'm just... I'm just so used to thinking about all of the possible outcomes of an experiment. I-"
"Is that how you see all of this? As an experiment?!" Marie now sounded angry, and her soul confirmed it.
"No, no! I was just stating that I have spent my entire life judging things on their possible outcomes that I now do it involuntarily... Look, I'm sorry, Marie. I know that I have screwed you over so much here, so I need to find a way to help you. I-" Something odd from the living room disturbed him, cutting him off. His head snapped to the door.
"Franken, what is it?" Marie asked curiously with worry itching at her voice. Stein shushed her and put a hand up about mid- torso to signify her to be quiet, then immediately stalked out of Marie's room and down the hall, where he stopped just before the shadow of the hallway ended. Should he take just a few steps forward, he would be revealed by the light of the living room. By using soul perception, he scanned three human souls, each with bad intentions, that he had never seen before.
"Where is he?" One the the souls, a man, asked quietly.
"I don't know, the place almost seems empty." Another man stated.
"No, this guy is here." The last soul, another man, said dryly. Stein looked down the hallway and saw Marie standing there, putting all of her wieght on her left leg. With all he could see- the hallway was quite dark- her brow was furrowed and she looked as if she were about to come toward him. Stein pushed his hand toward her several times, hoping that she would get his message not to leave the room. Marie nodded and took a small step back, but she never left the doorway. Stein turned his attention back to the three men in the living room.
The third man continued on, "This guy killed Desmond! We are going to find him, and we are going to butcher him to death."
"I still don't see how you believe this is the guy that killed him," the first man remarked.
"I told you, dumbass! Desmond told us that he was going to smash the place next to the cemetary because he heard of some big bad insane dude who loved there. Well guess what? This is the place, and Des hasn't been back in weeks. Isn't it obvious what happened?"
"Yeah, but he still could have skipped town."
"He wouldn't do that without telling us," the second man remarked.
Stein sighed heavily in annoyence. If these guys were here to kill him, they should have argued about who cares what before they actually broke into his laboratory. At the sound of his heavy breath, all three men flipped around and stared into the hallway. Because it was late at night, the hallway was almost pitch black. Plus, the living room lamp was on so their eyes were not accustomed to the dark. They all bent their knees slightly and raised their arms in a fighting stance, each of them holding pocket knives.
Stein chuckled at them in the dark. "You know, you boys really must be as stupid as your little friend to only carry knives," he stepped out of the hallway and into the light, "and prepare to kill the most powerful meister in the world in his own home."
Hey guys, I apologize if the chapter seems boring, I am really tired from school. (High school sucks!) But if you have any ideas, you know what to do :P Thanks for reading, and remember: Everything in the world is an experimental test subject! -Mikshizels