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where-i-overanalyze · 1 year

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conquering the Soul Eater manga timeline

this can be an open discussion because i haven't read Not and i unfortunately cannot get my hands on any officially translated volumes, so if there's anything that proves my alignments wrong, feel free to tell me and i'll update this!!! i break the timeline up by month and what year of the story we are in. i'm not doing math and not considering the exact days and alignments for what day of the week the dates are lining up on, that is something i am not willing to put myself through. this is post is long af, so if you don't care about all of my explanation, i'll put a summary of the timeline at the end for easy reading.

admittedly, the beginning half of the manga is easier to label because this is when we get some distinct timeframes, but it is still a horror. because of this, i'm going to use this as a reference to how time passes with the other events in the manga. i'll be referencing the Soul Eater wiki as a basic guide as much as i can and scouring the manga for any hints about how time is passing for everything else. honestly, if the second half of the manga was speed run, the entirety of Soul Eater could take place less than a year. i don't think that is the case purely because of the pace at the beginning of the manga, so let us begin.

November (1)

this is where everything starts: the prologue chapters, the remedial lesson with Sid and Stein, Kid enrolling in the DWMA. there is no specific day in which this all starts, the wiki says it's just "after October 31st," so i'm going to start us off on exactly November 1st for the beginning of all of this. every one of these events could easily be happening within the first two weeks of November.

following this, realistically it would be a day or two before Maka and Soul take on the extra lesson where they meet Crona. Soul gets slashed and, according to my google search, wounds that are large or "surgery incisions" usually take about 1 week to stop being super inflamed. total healing times vary, but i'll say that since weapons are kinda human kinda not, that Soul would be able to be up and walking around somewhat normally in about a week, maybe less. last week of November can be when Masamune and Tsubaki's fight takes place, so this is our entire first November stacked up.

December (1)

strong start! and from here on out, the timeline gets confusing. wiki says chapters 10-15 take place from December-February. this includes the Free jailbreak, the super exam, and the whole Nidhogg and Black Dragon mission for Kid. in the next chapter (15), we're at the DWMA Foundation Eve ceremony which is supposed to take place . . . on April 1st.

this is one of the very few times we're given an exact date (Chapter 32), so i'm using it as an anchor for everything else. i'm also going to assume that these students sometimes have days off and breaks and have "normal" school life to a certain extent. i'm also going to assume that they have some sort of winter holiday off, whether it's some sort of Christmas or Yule or just the New Year doesn't matter; what actually matters is that they would get probably 2 or more weeks off of school because of it. they're in Nevada, which means that it is (maybe? probably?) the New years that is on January 1st.

let's say December starts with Chapter 9. it opens with the Witch's Mass where Medusa puts the snakes in Eruka. then it cuts to Soul having a general check-up on his wound. Stein gives Black☆Star the jar of funky water that will strengthen his soul for the phantom sword mode. for the sake of stretching this out to something reasonable, i'm going to say that this check-up takes place at least one week after the Witch's Mass, because Eruka trying to confront Medusa takes place the same day as the check-up and i doubt Eruka would have shown up to confront her like the day after the mass. after this, i want to say that the Free jail and bridge plot takes a while to set up, but . . .

tomorrow. god, i have never hated a word more. this speeds up the entire chain of events with fighting Free on the bridge. i'd say that it takes 2-3 days to break Free out, for Maka and Soul's wavelength to get messed up, and then they fight on the bridge. this puts us at week 2 of December. Maka's hands are fucked up after the fight and Soul makes a comment about how he'll have to make dinner for a while by the looks of her hands, so i'm exploiting that and saying that is when DWMA has their "winter holiday break." while all of that is happening, Crona is harvesting souls and stuff w/ Ragnarok (shown at the end of Chapter 11). i'll say that this is all in preparation for the Nidhogg in a bit.

January & February (1)

and now, we do a little time exploitation. let's say they come back to school the 2nd week of January. Maka's healed, everyone's back, wahoo!! Chapter 12 is the super written exam, and this is where my exploitation comes in.

test in one week, Maka's already been studying for a whole month. i'm imagining the first day back from winter break goes something like this: Stein walks into the room, writes "Super Written Exam" on the chalkboard, slaps it and yells "THIRD WEEK OF FEBRUARY," and Maka goes home that day and immediately starts studying. i know Maka's a nerd and reasonably was studying the whole year and between missions and whatever, but this is for my sanity. scores probably took a whole day to come out and be posted. anyone below Soul (Kid, Liz, Patty, and Black☆Star) had to take extra lessons, so those probably took up the remaining week of February.

March (1)

i am deeming March as the month of nothing but the Nidhogg mission. after the Nidhogg mission and Ragnarok eating all the souls on that boat, it's Kishin revival time at the party, which means the Nidhogg mission needs to be right at the end of March b/c then Kid knows about the Kishin being under the school and i doubt he sat on that information for a super long time or else he would've gone to investigate.

April (1)

April fools, it's Kishin awake time!! this covers Chapter 16-22 and it's got all the fun stuff: the first Crona redemption, the first Medusa death, and Lord Death calling together all of the Death Scythes. this is also supposedly the time when Maka checks out the Book of Eibon from the library, so i'm making the call that she did it after she connected with Crona and before the Death Scythes arrived b/c her purpose for taking it was because she wanted to know more about black blood and Medusa's research and somehow ended up there.

i really can't put a guess on how long it takes the Death Scythes to get to Death City because the speed at which people travel across entire countries in Soul Eater is insane. Kid flew from Egypt to Nevada and back within a day on his skateboard, there is no explanation i can come up with. for the sake of my sanity, let's say that it takes at least a week or two for the Death Scythes to get here b/c they have to find arrangements to take over whatever positions they had at their previous stations. the students are also recovering from various injuries and the city is rebuilding from the fight between Lord Death and Asura

these panels make it seem like at least the DWMA has gone on a break for a bit because of all the Kishin junk and that the Death Scythes arrived the day before school was resuming. let's say that the "tomorrow" is going to start the Monday of the third week of April.

this puts Crona's trial day of school as the Monday of the last week of April since Maka's day with her dad already happened (presumably the day before). Crona's been in the dungeon ever since April 1st, and their trial day is the same day that Arachne makes her first appearance (which is pretty rough smh, first day out of prison and you meet your evil aunt?? damn). this is all happening in Chapters 23-26.

from this point on, Maka's completely paralyzed for . . . an undisclosed amount of time. we've got Black☆Star's second run-in with Mifune maybe a day or two after Maka is set up in the infirmary at the DWMA. i used to think that the candy Black☆Star got from Mifune somehow cured her, but i have now realized that's not the case because,

May (1)

the party Kid hosts that is interrupted by the runaway train happens on the same day Maka comes back to class for the first time. Azusa says that the runaway train mission happened on May 21st (in Chapter 38), which ultimately means that, according to the timeline we've got going, Maka was in the infirmary for almost the entirety of May. this truly does make sense since, in that time, Medusa took over Rachel and Rachel's family had enough time to put up missing posters for her. May 21st is also when Medusa makes her appearance to Crona and everything starts going bad for them, which means Medusa had enough time to get in contact with Eruka again. Kid then seems to spend the rest of May after the runaway train looking for information about Eibon.

June (1)

this is the point of no return, this is the last specific date the wiki has. after June 1st, we are absolutely in the dark as to when tf anything happens (according to the wiki), so i'm probably going to get even more picky about the details. June 1st is when Kid is in the library and realizes that the Book of Eibon has been checked out. a day or two after that, Crona gets the snake and puts it in Marie's drink. all of that happens in Chapter 32, and in Chapter 33 we've got the group soul resonance lesson.

time exploitation time, Stein says "in the near future," so i will take that to mean "in a week" because that is the near future. a week after the group lesson, it's Lost Island Brew Tempest mission time. i'll say that the Brew mission happens on like in the middle of the second week of June (this also makes me realize that they don't have summer break! smh! i guess evil never rests, but whatever). this covers Chapters 34-37, Lord Death immediately calls for BJ after the Brew missions. i'll say that it takes BJ a few days to get to DWMA and his investigation takes place sometime in the third week of June. this happens on a day during the school week because Kid and Black☆Star have their fight where Kid absolutely demolishes Black☆Star, and Maka leaves her "Maka notes" at school and ends up overhearing a conversation between Crona and Eruka.

Maka Notes. anyways, Black☆Star gets suspended and goes to Japan with Tsubaki, BJ gets murdered, Stein is set up to be the murderer and he leaves with Marie to find the really culprit, and Crona leaves the DWMA all on the same day. a lot happens that day, RIP BJ, lived for two chapters. Crona was only at school for about two months, and one of those months was full of being worried about Medusa being alive!! makes me sad

July (1)

after that specific day, i feel like Chapters 41-43 have to take place in the tail end of June, if not the beginning of July. everyone has extracurricular lessons, Medusa surrenders herself, and Kim and Jackie run away from DWMA within a day or two after Chapter 43 now that everyone's extracurricular lessons are done. three days after Medusa surrenders herself, operation Capture Baba Yaga happens, which covers . . . Chapters 46-60. this is where things get even more uncertain for when things happen. there is an "unknown time skip" after Baba Yaga finishes up. i will be basing this time skip off of Black☆Star's insane amount of wounds that he has to recover from after killing Mifune (rip Mifune, wish he had lived tbh).

Black☆Star's fingers are MANGLED. he has other injuries from this fight, but i think it's those fingers that are gonna give us the best bet as to how long the time skip actually is. we see some stuff right after the battle with Justin and Giriko, then probably 2-3 days after that (putting us at the end of the first week of July), Kim and Angela are granted permission to stay with the DWMA, and Stein and Marie confront Justin, providing me with my absolute favorite panels of the manga.

anyways.

we see Black☆Star's fucked up in Chapter 61, he's got his finger cast on, again this is probably 2-3 days after Baba Yaga, still at the end of that first week of July. with Black☆Star's broken fingers, we continue on.

August & September (1)

my google search says that "fractured fingers typically take 6-8 weeks to heal, but can take up to 3-4 months to fully regain strength." i won't say that it takes 3-4 months for Black☆Star's hand to heal, mainly b/c he wouldn't be able to stay inactive for that long, but i think the 6-8 weeks is reasonable considering those fingers were obliterated. people in Soul Eater heal pretty fast and Black☆Star is super strong, so we can settle on a solid 8-10 weeks before Black☆Star is healed enough and had some physical therapy to be sort of back in action in Chapter 62. all of the other students seem to be full healed and adjusted to this schedule they've got (Ox has also grown out his bald ass head, so that's another time indication). enough time needs to have passed for Maka and Soul to have acquired 99 souls for Soul to become a death scythe. they probably had gotten some souls in the gaps between actual events and whatnot, so it's not like they're going 0-99 in a matter of 10 weeks. so, we come into Chapter 62 at around the end of the third week of September with Stein and Marie returning after beating tf outta Justin, Black☆Star is well and healed, Soul becomes a Death Scythe, and the Spartoi is officially formed.

from here, we get Maka and Soul practicing flying and abilities now that Soul is a Death Scythe and we have Gopher and Noah's forces showing up. this is definitely the next day, maybe two days, so i'm gonna say that this is that start of a new week. it seems that everyone is kind of just spending time to train and get stronger in preparations for whenever the next move from the opposing side happens.

this both emphasizes the fact that everyone is spending time getting stronger, and it also makes it clear that the other members of the Spartoi aren't on the Witch's Research mission while Maka is training and fighting in Chapters 63-65. Chapter 65 ends with a glimpse of Medusa telling Crona that they're going to start moving forward with her plan, and i will say that this ends September.

October (1)

full honesty, i can't tell how long it's been between Chapter 65 and Chapter 66. it obviously is after the run in with Gopher, but how long? i don't know!! for some reason, Maka was not assigned the Witch's Research mission even though they were looking for Medusa and her lab, which probably could be good for her high ability soul perception.

i get it, she wasn't assigned, but this whole mission consists of the rest of Maka's resonance team (minus Kid b/c he's stuck in the book) and team B, minus Ox and Harvard. maybe it was purely to play around with different team dynamics since Kilik wields Liz and Patty in Kid's absence (i'm also pretty sure they say that Kilik has the same type of ability as Stein when it comes to matching with weapons' wavelengths and whatnot). anyways, i think this whole mission probably happens over halfway into October for a few reasons.

firstly, Black☆Star being healed earlier doesn't mean he was Fully ready for missions yet. his appearance in Chapter 62 was probably his test to see if he was physically ready to take something on again. this seems to be his first mission after being recovered, so i'd say that the new Spartoi group had to do some adjusting now that everyone is ready to go by then. secondly, Gopher attempted to assassinate Maka, which probably put the DWMA more on alert since it's an enemy they haven't even seen before this point. this also might be why Maka isn't on this mission. they wanted to make sure that this mission went off without a hitch, they didn't want to rush into it so they super planned it, and it worked for the most part. lastly, Medusa said "It's time, Crona" at the end of Chapter 65. she probably already had preparations for all of this stuff, but i feel like since this is also her "reappearance" with Crona and her clown experiments, it works as a "time to get things moving" rather than "we're starting this right now." we also have no indication as to when tf she even says that, so it could be right after Maka's attempted assassination, or it could actually be right before the mission!!! with all of that, i am dubbing the Witch's Research (Chapters 66-68) mission to have happened at the end of the third week of October.

after all of this happens, Chapter 69 (nice) gives us some random school life where Soul is getting "Partner Requests" from other students, which also supports my idea that this happens late October rather than right after Maka's run-in with Gopher, because now Soul's been a Death Scythe long enough for the younger students to start trying to fuck around with Maka and Soul's partnership (unrelated but there's also some insane foreshadowing about Medusa's fuckin death in this chapter?? i might have to make my own short post about that b/c it's crazy to me). this picks up right after the Witch's Research mission (i think) because Black☆Star brings in Eruka in to Lord Death to help retrieve Kid from the Book of Eibon. there's a bunch of "one day earlier" and "the appointed day" when they're talking about performing the magic to send the Spartoi into the Book of Eibon, so for my mental health, i'm going to say that the Witch's Research team takes a day to get back, brings in Eruka the next day and Maka confesses to checking out the Book of Eibon, and then they perform the ritual to get the Spartoi in the book, which puts Chapters 69-72 in the third week of October (Kid's in the book for over two months!).

as for the entire Salvage arc, Chapters 72-81, once again there is little-to-no time indication as to how long it takes the Spartoi to get through the Book of Eibon. the DWMA teachers show up at Noah's hideout by the time the Spartoi are able to get Kid out, it's night time, but who knows!! i'm assuming that it's a mission that takes only one day based off of the fact that the witches and other Spartoi members that didn't go in the book are still hanging around the site of the ritual where the Spartoi entered even after the teachers have left to confront Justin and Noah.

good news tho, Maka was pretty injured, which means that i can use her wound healing as a basis for time passing!! we get a lot of exposition from Lord Death, Kid, and Stein in Chapter 82, then we find out Tezca didn't die, and then we see Crona in Moscow fighting the Death Scythe stationed there. and no time indication. i'm assuming that since Kid apologizes to Lord Death for being missing and he's still wearing his little white coat, that all of their conversation must be right after they get back from that mission, which i think is probably the morning after their fight with Noah since they fought at night. this keeps all of their convo in the third week of October. as for Moscow . . . we must now return to Maka's wounds from Chapter 76.

Maka gets kinda fucked up here by Giriko. even if it is a soul wavelength thing and meister's are super fit b/c of training and whatnot, Giriko is literally a chainsaw. she fights when they get out of the Book of Eibon, but i'm going to chalk that up the definite adrenaline she's feeling because she collapses as soon as that fight is over. google says that minor lacerations take less than 2 weeks to heal and major ones take 6-8 weeks to heal. i am realizing now as i type this that Kim's witch abilities could probably heal a lot of people faster (including Black☆Star earlier which i will choose to IGNORE b/c there still had to be enough time for Maka and Soul to get 99 souls) but i think i will choose to ignore that because i don't think the DWMA wants to use her like a school nurse.

November (2)

i want to say that it's been at least 3 weeks, if not a whole month. even if the timeline is fucked, if someone was really injured in the manga, there always seems to be enough time given to them to heal between big acts of the story. it's always kind of obvious when things happen back to back and Medusa probably makes adjustments to the black blood between missions, so i think that it's reasonable to give Maka the time to properly heal from those wounds. she and Soul look pretty casual in those panels, meaning they're able to have some down time.

also, that puts us at officially a whole year since the beginning; we're at the third week of November with Maka's healing time. we won't be over two years for the whole timeline since we're near the end, which kind of surprises me, but whatever. anyways, by the time Crona does their blood thing in Moscow, it seems that Maka has fully recovered from the Giriko fight. Maka, Soul, Kim, Jackie, and Stein go to Moscow after Crona does their blood orb thing, which is probably the day after it happens by the time they get there. it's also snowing in Moscow, and my google search says that it usually starts snowing in Russia around October-November, so that tracks. everyone finds out that the Ukraine blood orb happens while they're in Moscow. Justin shows up at the Ukraine blood orb during the day and Tezca gets decapitated, so some time has passed since the orb appeared b/c there is a significant lack of security and helicopters shown when it first appeared.

full disclaimer: things get very confusing after this point and i'm going to take some liberties to make things make sense. Kid confronts Lord Death about some raids that the DWMA have been doing in order to get people to find the Kishin, and then we see him go to the Lost Island to talk to Eibon, but then we also see Kid on the Lost Island while Crona kills Medusa, and then after Crona kills Medusa . . . Maka, Soul, Black☆Star, and Tsubaki are in some random village helping them hunt down a sky whale??? then, after they return and it's revealed that Crona has been added to Lord Death's list, Kid comes back from the Lost Island???? and then there is, presumably, some sort of a time skip because we see everyone preparing for the missions AND there has been enough time to build an entire air ship.

i'll tackle the air ship last. first, i'm going to put a definite order for the events i just listed b/c they don't make sense. Kid's trip to the Lost Island is shown across multiple chapters (Justin killing Tezca, Crona killing Medusa, and the sky whale mission, which is Chapter 86-88) that talk about things that do not seem to be happening at the same time, so i'm taking advantage of this. Kid's mission being interspersed means that Tezca's and Medusa's death happen before Kid is actually in the Lost Island. i think it all goes something like this: Justin goes to the Ukraine blood orb, kills Tezca, skip a day or so and Crona returns to Medusa and kills her, the raid Kid asks about happens and the news comes out (via newspaper Kid is holding in Chapter 86), then he says he's going to the Lost Island. that probably takes at least a single day to prep. going to say that by the time Kid is actually on his way to the Lost Island, it is the 1st of December.

December (2)

Kid can only be in the magnetic field for 20 minutes, so he is on the Lost Island the same day Maka and the gang deal with the sky whale, because that's the day they find out Crona's been added to Lord Death's list and Maka senses the Kishin on the moon, and then they have to plan how to get to the moon. from there, we have the preparation time skip and, according to my google search, it takes usually over a year to build an air ship/blimp.

there's no way it took the entire DWMA that long to build the air ship purely b/c 1) if it had taken a whole year, i'm pretty sure it would've been mentioned, 2) fantasy type world, DWMA has magic tools in the air ship, so there were probably some magic tools involved in the actual making of the ship, 3) the Spartoi search for Crona and train while the whole time the DWMA was preparing and planning, and i really doubt it took Maka a whole year to think about the church and, honestly, that Crona could survive on their own for a year without being noticed again (both because they're crazy and probably can't take care of themself very effectively, and that people were probably on the look out for another "black blood" event and nothing ever surfaced).

Crona hasn't been seen "since the incident in Russia," which means the DWMA has been looking, but they've gone radio silent in regards to causing any problems. Maka has been trying to see the whole world at once this entire time, so she's getting sensory soul overload, and probably can't do a search like that super often, maybe once every other day or so to try and actually get results that make any sense.

considering all of this, i turn back to the construction of the air ship. this is a mission that is extremely important, so the DWMA is putting a lot of power and planning into it. there is no previous mention (that i know of) of an airship owned by DWMA, so i'm assuming they're starting from the ground up with the help of any magic tools that speed up the process. with that, i and going to say that the air ship took AT LEAST a month to build, probably more than that.

January (2)

magic tools or not, you can't prevent all general workplace construction errors with better tools. maybe the DWMA did already have an air ship, maybe it didn't actually take that long, but it makes the most sense to me with the evidence given. there's the point to be made that "oh, why would the Kishin not come attack them if they're all just spending the time building a blimp?" Stein makes a point of saying that it would be "disadvantageous" for the Kishin to leave the moon because he still gets to spread madness from there whether they fight or not. i really doubt they'd be able to cut down an entire construction process that usually takes upwards of a year to anything less than a month. it can't be too quick because then the plans to go to the moon and find Crona would be too hasty and ill-prepared. the negotiations with the witches also began before the DWMA attacked the moon (Chapter 97). plus, i'm going to use this panel as a way to confirm to myself that things did take a bit of time to prepare.

"finally" meaning that those moon bitches had to wait a while before DWMA got to the moon. from here, we're basically at the end. even if the air ship took less or more than a month, the entire manga finishes up with the battle on the moon, which takes, at most, two days of straight fighting.

what i have decided on puts us at the very beginning of January, and that's where it ends!! Chapters 91-112 all happen within that two-ish day battle and that's where it ends. there is no 113th chapter of Soul Eater. hypothetically, if there was a 113th chapter where a funeral for Lord Death and a coronation ceremony for Kid took place, those events would probably take place within the second and third week of January.

here is the summary of the entire timeline:

November (1): very beginning of the manga, Crona and Medusa's introduction, Masamune is defeated

December (1): Medusa puts the snakes in Eruka, Free is released from witch prison and he fights Maka and gang on the bridge, winter break for the students?

January (1): essentially nothing, come back from an assumed winter break

February (1): super written exam

March (1): Nidhogg mission

April (1): Kishin revives on the eve of DWMA's anniversary, Maka befriends Crona, the Death Scythes (Maria, Azusa, and Justin) arrive, Crona trial day at school, Arachne wakes up and Maka is paralyzed, Black☆Star fights Mifune for the second time and gets the candy

May (1): Maka gets better from being paralyzed, Medusa possesses Rachel, runaway train, Medusa approaches Crona again

June (1): Kid realizes the copy of the Book of Eibon is missing, Crona puts the snake in Marie's drink, Lost Island Brew Tempest mission, BJ shows up and instantly is murdered, Crona runs away from DWMA

July (1): Maka meets the Clown in the factory, Medusa surrenders herself, Kim and Jackie run away and join Arachnophobia for a minute, Baba Yaga mission, Kid gets sucked into the Book of Eibon, Kim and Angela are allowed to stay at DWMA

August (1): everyone recovers and gets strong after Baba Yaga

September (1): Soul becomes a Death Scythe, Maka and Soul learn how to fly, Gopher tries to kill Maka

October (1): Witch's Research mission, Spartoi goes into the Book of Eibon to rescue Kid

November (2): Crona kills the Death Scythe in Moscow, Crona destroys a city in the Ukraine, Justin kills Tezca, Crona kills Medusa

December (2): Kid goes to the Lost Island to talk to Eibon, Crona is put on Lord Death's list, Maka senses the Kishin on the moon, construction of the air ship is started

January (2): Maka finds Crona in the church in Italy, the moon battle begins and ends, Lord Death dies and Kid is named the new Shinigami.

and that is the end!! if you've made it to the end of my madman rambling, please converse with me if you have any thoughts on this. DM, reblog, reply, whatever, let me know what you think. it took me multiple days to write all this up and actually look through the manga thoroughly enough to kinda figure out how and where everything happens. i did it out of pure frustration that it's hard to tell the order of things and i'm glad i found a way to make it make a bit more sense

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melodrangea · 6 months

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hi! Thank you so much for this oppurtonity to request! I am so glad the soul eater fandom is still alive after all these years!

Anyways can i request medusa x s/o who is her soul mate? (S/o is also a witch)

But in the end they didn't work out (for obvious reasons). And they are missed each other despite everything. I am not sure if you do angst but if you dont then thats ok just SFW headcanons pls. :) once again thank you very much.

of course anon! I actually started this blog because my favorite soul eater blog was deleted

figured someone had to keep it going, I'm so glad you're enjoying so far!

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Medusa x Witch! Soulmate

-let me get this out of the way

-you guys AREN'T healthy; at all

-but that's what made you so drawn to her

-you were being attacked by a meister/weapon pair and losing

-as you were close to being killed you felt blood splatter on your face, you looked up and saw an arrow protruding through the meister's chest, their weapon (not headless) next to them

-you looked up and saw with Medusa, her menacing aura was terrifying, yet you still managed to notice the small mark on your wrist disappear; a sign that your soulmate had been found

-Medusa looked at you with cold eyes and you just sat staring in fear

"my this is interesting, seems you're to be mine"

-and she took the word mine very seriously, you never had a choice really, waking up one morning in a locked room, you were now her lover; her prisoner, there was no say in it other than it happened

-your magic was far weaker than hers so you couldn't fight back, and you wouldn't die young like human, you were stuck

-you were only let out when she felt like it, often to clear her victim's blood off of her by taking a shower with her

-or for her to test new spells on you, seeing if you had the strength to fight back

-Medusa wasn't very talkative, but when she was, it was very condescending, reminding you that you were made for her and her alone

-the day she turned herself into the DWMA was the first day in a long time you had seen actual sunlight

-it scared you, burning your skin to even think about going beyond the confines of your prisoner; your home

-you had the chance to run away but you couldn't, so when Medusa found you weeks later, you didn't protest. following through on her orders without protest

-Eruka tried to convince you to leave but you just couldn't, after all you and Medusa were written in the stars, how could a fate like that be wrong?

-when you saw Medusa even in her child body she was terrifying as ever, all she did was give you orders, find Crona and make him fall in line

-she didn't love you, she never did, she didn't even like you in particular

-when Medusa's soul was obliterated, witches made a treaty with the DWMA

-you were free, to do whatever you please, where ever and whoever

-so why did you find yourself sitting in the same dark padded white room, waiting for her to open in and pull you to her, to feel her snakes wrap around you?

-an unshackled prisoner after so long finds himself longing for his confines after all

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just a reminder my dears situations like this are not love, if you have to be isolated to feel love for someone, it isn't real

I hope you enjoyed anon and continue to enjoy and request!

-Melodrangea <3

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ouchmaster6000 · 3 months

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youtube

A Soul Eater AMV I made. Its focused on Medusa, Crona and Dr. Stein and set the song The Devil's Lullaby by Lordi.

If you enjoyed the video please like and subscribe!

It would be a huge help to the channel!

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unownzone · 2 years

Text

I made a DWMA student ID template based on the one Death the Kid has in the series. This is the most accurate fan-made template to date, since my friend helped me translate all the Japanese text on it. I only made some changes to the format so that it would fit English words better.

This template is free-to-use for all Soul Eater fans! (Please remember to give credit!)

You can download the template from the dA post.

How to fill out

1. Image Add an image of your character in the box on the left. It is best if the image is 7:9 in ratio and depicts a portrait of your character's face.

2. Name Write the full name of your character above the thick black line on the top right. It is best if the text is Arial, Bold, and all capitalized. Characters with nicknames may be written like: SOUL "EATER" EVANS 3. Student No. Write an eight-digit student number for your character next to "STUDENT NO." It is best if the text is Arial, Bold.

4. Class Write your character's class name next to "CLASS." It is best if the text is Arial, Bold, and all capitalized. EAT Class students will most likely be in class CRESCENT MOON. You can come up with other class names like SHOOTING STAR and SUN BEAM to show your character is in a different EAT Class or in NOT Class.

5. Role. Write whether your character is a WEAPON or MEISTER. It is best if the text is Arial, Bold, and all capitalized.

6. Partner Write the full name of your character's partner. It is best if the text is Arial, Bold, and all capitalized. Students without partners can write N/A.

7. Stars Fill in the stars with a dark red to signify the rank of your character. NOT Class students have no stars. EAT Class students have one star. Advanced students in EAT Class have two stars. Extremely skilled and high ranking members or faculty of the DWMA have three stars. 8. Chart Each box is a school subject. Cross out the box with a diagonal line going from the bottom left to top right if your character is qualified to take the subject. Remember that some subjects have prerequisites. For example, You MUST have taken LIBERAL ARTS I before LIBERAL ARTS II You MUST have taken PHASMOLOGY II before PHASMOLOGY III You MUST have taken BASIC P.E. before APPLIED P.E.

#soul eater #soul eater oc #soul eater fanart #oringinalcharacter #fan character #soul eater anime #death the kid #student id #dwma

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vespertineart · 2 years

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took a shot at rendering again but drew the coolest character ever know 😎

my beloved.

#death the kid #dwma #soul eater #soul eater not #soul eater fanart #soul eater death the kid #digital art #my art

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takeyourcyanide · 13 days

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Forest

TRIGGER WARNING: Technical Self-Harm

Ao3

Word Count: 3 165

Fandom: Soul Eater

Character(s): Franken Stein, Spirit Albarn (Mentions of Lord Death & Marie Mjolnir)

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Self-Harm, Canon-Typical Violence, etc.

Summary: Spirit walks in on Stein cutting his arm with his scalpel, shenanigans ensue.

Note(s): I suck at summaries. Also, this is the most hopeful thing you’re ever getting from me. Enjoy it while you can. I also hope this naturally progresses and isn’t sort of random anyway I’m rambling

Stein pressed the shining blade of one of his numerous scalpels into the plushness of his arm, dragging it through his flesh, beads of blood spilling from the wound as he hissed at the sharp, stinging pain.

He placed his bloodied scalpel down onto a steel tray, grabbing one of his many small, glass slides, allowing the crimson liquid to drip down onto its clear frame. He slid the slide over the surface of the wound, collecting all that he could, before placing the slide under his microscope.

A childlike and curious glint appeared in his eyes, a grin tugging at his lips, ultimately replacing his typically flat expression as he zoomed in through the lens onto the blood - an entirely new world appearing before his eyes as he intently observed each cell that made up the ever-flowing liquid on his left arm, as he had forgotten to bandage the injury.

The furious nerves in his arm shot pained shocks throughout the limb, of which he ignored as he giggled elatedly to himself, bouncing his right leg up and down in a repetitive motion.

He, too, paid no mind to the gentle flickering of his desk lamp, nor to the rubbery pitter patter of Spirit’s slick, black dress shoes right outside of his bedroom door.

“Hey, Stein, Marie mentioned some carnival she wanted to go to, if you wanna come with. We’re all gonna go in, like, a couple hours,” Spirit stood in the doorway, eyeing Stein’s hunched over body with suspicion. “What are you doing?”

“Why are you wearing shoes in the house? That’ll track dirt inside,” Stein sounded discernibly distracted, as though he wasn’t truly present in the room with Spirit.

The weapon sighed to himself, sparing quick glances around the dimly lit bedroom, one of which carried a grim air, impatiently tapping his foot as his eyes spotted the red trickling down from the meister’s pale arm.

“What happened?!” He gasped, making quick strides towards Stein, lifting his arm carefully. Stein offered Spirit a half-hearted glare, his arm taut underneath his partner’s ministrations.

“It’s nothing. I just had to cut myself in order to acquire a blood sample,” Stein elucidated in his habitual monotone, his face returning to a blank state, as he pointed in the direction of the slide underneath the microscope. “I wasn’t in the mood for jabbing myself with a needle.”

“So, you decided to slit your arm open..?” Spirit huffed, shrugging his shoulders whilst shaking his head. He reminded Stein of a disappointed and annoyed, or even mildly perturbed parent. “Where do you keep your bandages? I know you have some,”

Stein lifted his finger in the direction of one of his dresser drawers, staring at his weapon-partner with less of a pout, and more an expression of inquisition.

Spirit trudged over with gauze pads,

a roll of fuzzy, cotton bandages, and some tape, placing them onto the wooden desk as he grabbed onto Stein and his chair, pulling him nearer. He took a seat on the very edge of the boy’s bed, and began wrapping the wound in the comfortable coverings.

“I could’ve done that myself, you know,” Stein stated, yet allowed his partner to nurse the gash.

“Well, you weren’t,” he replied, pursing his lips in an almost passive aggressive manner. “I would’ve point ointment on it, but I figured I’d hardly get away with doing this, so you can do that yourself later, how about that?”

Stein nodded his head, quietly watching Spirit as his movements soon came to a predictable halt.

“Thanks,” he mumbled to the redhead.

“Yeah,” the scythe had barely managed to hear him.

“Do you want to see?” Spirit had stood, looking rather unsure of what action he should take next.

“See what?”

“The blood under the microscope.”

Spirit grimaced in slight revulsion, though that did not take away from the pang of curiosity pricking away at his brain as he longingly ogled at the microscope.

“Sure,” he relinquished his pride, raising his arms in the air, his hands falling with a soft slap on his thighs.

Stein, despite his face remaining stagnant, was inwardly smirking victoriously, as he rolled his chair away from the desk, making room for his weapon.

“Okay, fine, it’s cool,” he sulked as he glanced between the lens and the smug male beside him. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you cut into yourself,” Spirit declared awfully sternly as he held his pointer finger in the air, now facing Stein.

“You won’t let me cut into others, so when I inevitably start cutting into myself, that’s also a problem? It’s my body, is it not? Am I not permitted to do as I please with it?” Stein frustratedly began, despite his voice remaining unaffected. You could only see it in his weary, jaded eyes.

A harsh sigh shook Spirit’s frame as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest in an authoritarian manner, peering downwards as he spoke to Stein.

‘And of course he’d look down on me,’ Stein thought to himself. ‘They all believe themselves to be above me in some way, don’t they?’

“Well, yes, Stein, it is your body, but harming yourself isn’t a good idea,” Stein gazed directly into Spirit’s eyes with fervor, causing the hair on the back of the weapon’s neck to rise with caution.

“Is curiosity now a vice I must overcome, just like everything else? Just like myself? You know, given the fact that you seem to think everything is a sin,” he bit back at Spirit. “I’m not just some misguided child you need to set straight onto the ‘right path.’ And what gave you or anyone else the right to decide what was considered ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ anyway?” He rose from his seat, standing in front of Spirit with a simultaneously empty and threatening expression present on his visage. “I will do what I want, and you will not get in my way, Spirit.”

“You can’t just make up your own rules,” Stein’s countenance only intensified as Spirit continued onwards.

“Is that not what Lord Death has done?”

“W-“ he stuttered. “Well, that’s different-“

“Why?” Stein interjected, crossing his own arms.

“What do you mean ‘why’? Isn’t it obvious? It’s Lord death.”

“Whether or not someone is supposedly a god means nothing to me.”

“How could you say that? Don’t tell me you really mean that…”

“Why is it that you mindlessly follow every order he gives you, everything he says without question?” Stein stepped forward, his face only inches apart from Spirit’s shaken one.

“Becau-“

“Do you even know what it is that you’re fighting for? Why it is that you’re fighting for it?” He tilted his head, his tone almost condescending. “Or were you just told that this was what must be fought for? Are you just a dog that follows every command from its master? You simply slaughter any being you are told to without questioning a single thing, only to get mad when I dissect any living organism.”

“But that’s different. The one’s we kill are evil, they can’t be redeemed-“

“How do you know that? How do you know what’s ‘evil’ and what is ‘not’? Why do you not question a thing?”

“Just because you don’t have a sense of morality doesn’t mean we all can’t have one,” Spirit furrowed his brows in aggravation.

“You’re missing my point, Spirit.”

“What point?!”

“I don’t care that you have a moral compass. It’s only natural that hurting your fellow man would make you feel guilty. It’s evolutionarily beneficial to feel as such.”

“Then what’s your point?”

“You don’t question anything. You don’t question why you feel guilty. You don’t question why society deems one thing wrong and the other right. You don’t wonder to yourself why they never respect the nuances - the grey areas present. You don’t question why some people are more repulsed by certain things than others. Morality, at the end of the day, is nothing if not a subjective mess.”

“And that means you can do whatever you want?” Spirit tapped his foot on the ground, leaning as he allowed his weight to fall onto his right side.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, it does. Because in my own subjective perspective, morality does not matter,” Stein’s mouth curled into an eerie grin, his eyes growing in size.

“You have no right to disrespect the right to life of every living creature on Earth for your own benefit,” he frowned angrily.

“Well, you might think it’s different, but are you not doing the same thing, killing anyone on Lord Death’s list?” Stein suggested, moving creepily closer to Spirit. “And I figured it’d be obvious by now, but for some odd reason I can’t find it in my soul to care about the rights of others, though I do agree that you’re technically correct.”

A chill ran up and down Spirit’s spine as he saw his partner in a light he had never seen him in before. He wasn’t just some apathetic and disagreeable kid. He was someone Lord Death would most certainly send his students out to exterminate. Stein’s only saving grace from such a fate was the fact that he had no interest in consuming the souls of others. And the fact that he was the best meister the school had ever seen.

Spirit once again shook his head in mild disbelief, a sort of shock clouding his thought process. He didn’t know what he expected, Stein had always behaved like this, but it felt as though a revelation had fallen upon him, opening his eyes to the truth; there was no saving Stein.

Stein’s expression seemed to soften, even if only a little bit, as he picked apart every minute detail on Spirit’s face, as he dissected his soul.

“You can see it, can’t you?” Stein murmured, sounding oddly disappointed - something Spirit seldom heard from his resilient and detached meister.

“See it?” Spirit repeated confusedly, seeking clarification as he processed his newfound perspective.

“Me,” he started to explain, appearing rather sullen and morose. “A part of me. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? Or maybe it wasn’t for you.”

“Fun while it lasted? What are you talking about?” He squinted his eyes, being thrown for a loop.

“I know you can see it, Spirit. Aren’t you seeing me for what I am in a sense?” Stein’s arms fell to his sides.

“I guess so? But what does that have to do with something being ‘fun while it lasted’?”

“Our partnership. It was entertaining,” he responded as thought it was clear as day what he was talking about.

“I’m not going to end our partnership just ‘cause you’re kind of a jerk, Stein,” he said, finally understanding what Stein had meant.

The scientist looked confused, his eyebrows pinched close together as he searched ceaselessly for answers, something he himself could understand and grapple onto.

“But I don’t respect the rights of others, you said it yourself. You can’t fix me, Spirit, I know you can see that.”

Spirit grabbed ahold of Stein’s smaller shoulders, shaking him a little as he replied.

“I’m not just gonna leave you here because I can’t ‘fix’ you, Stein. I care about you. That’s why I don’t want you cutting yourself up. Do you think I want you bleeding or some shit? Do you think I’m not worried that one day I’ll find you bleeding out ‘cause you cracked up and randomly decided to perform some surgery on yourself?”

“You care about me?”

Stein sounded so taken aback by his former statements that Spirit almost felt a sort of empathy for the guy. Actually, he did empathize him. Even if he was some kind of psychopathic nutcase.

“Duh, you dumbass! Do you think I told you to stop taking scalpels to yourself just to piss you off?!”

“I thought it was because I might be more vulnerable to future attacks from enemies if injured. Or because you told Lord Death at some point about my experimenting and Lord Death told you to tell me to stop.”

“Can you really not fathom that someone might actually care about you?” Spirit sincerely asked, a much more sympathetic and tender look on his face.

“I suppose not. I don’t think anyone’s actually known me before, so I don’t believe it’s possible. And who’s to say you’re not trying to earn my trust and ultimately utilize it to your advantage?”

“Stop being so goddamn paranoid for once in your life! Show me you! I want to see who you really are! I’ll accept all of you, I promise. I’m not trying to double-cross you or anything, I just want to really get to know my partner, I swear.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you idiot!” He yelled passionately in a degrading manner, yet retaining a doting tone.

“I don’t know if I know how,” Stein responded honestly, perceptibly quite apprehensive towards the notion.

“How about you try,” Spirit slid his hands down from his meister’s shoulders to his frigid hands, effectively warming them in his own. “Why don’t we resonate? And don’t give me some fake, curated soul.”

“Okay…”

……

A luminous, blue glow formed around the pair as their souls intertwined, wavelengths moving back and forth and becoming one rhythmically. It was like a tragic song as Spirit ultimately crawled into Stein. It was as though the deepest pit of hell had opened before Spirit’s quivering self, an uneasy and horrified feeling washing over him.

The first thing Spirit could visualize was a foggy, labyrinth of a forest absolutely shrouded in grey. He could make out that a few of the trees had fallen, crumbling down as even the ground beneath him seemed to crack. For the plethora of trees that stood, the branches and leaves had become overgrown, twisting around one another, strangling each other to the point that any possibility of looking up at the sky had long since vanished. Loose screws stuck out of the trees, some slipping out and falling onto the decaying grass.

The forest was silent. Utterly and alarmingly silent. There were no chirping birds or hopping frogs, or really, any sign of life at all besides the apparently struggling trees themselves. The only flowers present were belladonnas.

A sudden and chilling gust of glacial wind blew by, slapping Spirit in his flabbergasted face as he noted to himself just how bitterly cold the forest was. His body trembled as he dragged himself forward, his teeth chattering. He felt unusually scared, nearly appalled.

“Stein?” He called out, only to be met with an ear-piercing and repetitious echo as he registered the sheer scale of the forest he was lost in. “Where are you?!”

It felt as though the weapon had been stripped entirely bare as he aimlessly wandered throughout the depths of his meister’s soul.

And though it felt like hours, finally, a sound besides his own movement could be heard; static.

It was a mantra of sorts - a broken record. It played over and over again.

Where was it coming from?

Spirit took a left turn, dodging a few vines and spiderless webs as he pursued the monotonous noise.

“Stein!” He bolted towards his partner, of whom was lying on the dirt, a vintage radio sat beside him. He looked so worn out.

His eyes peered up into the endless bunch of mossy green, golden, and reddish leaves above him, brown and grey making up his surroundings. He basked in the abyss, his body more unmoving than that of a corpse, which left Spirit dumbfounded. How was he not shivering from the virtually wintry temperature?

He fit in perfectly with the oppressive fog.

“What is all this?” It was a stupid question, but it was simply all that he could muster, all that he could choke out.

Stein did not respond, he did not even peek at the scythe. He maintained the same expression, the same position.

“This is you… Your soul…” Spirit muttered to himself before yelping out, “What the hell,” At the sight of blood pooling from the volume handle of the radio, of which was shaped just like a screw.

It looked like they were loosening, fragile and prepared to plummet at the slightest misstep.

“Can you make it stop,” Stein requested - truly, asked - in possibly the most exhausted and measly voice he had ever heard, as though he had been exasperatedly battling in an endless war against himself that no one else had ever known about. Stein was vulnerable, entirely unfortified for the first time in his life.

Spirit kneeled down next to Stein and the obstreperous radio, his visage sincere and concerned simultaneously, a sort of clarity about him as he delivered himself of his own fright - of his unease regarding his meister’s tumultuous soul.

He had truly never witness a soul quite like Stein’s ever before.

“No,” Stein abruptly shot up, evidently panicked and not breaking eye contact with Albarn. His eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets as they watered. “I don’t think I can.”

He struck Spirit as a helpless child.

“But I can try to quiet it,” he turned the slackened screw, the static slowly dissipating. “Accept it, Stein. Accept yourself. Accept that you can’t run from yourself.”

Spirit reached out, inching closer to Stein as he held him in his arms. He appeared staggered, startled to his core - scared, even, for the first time.

“You know this will be a part of you for the rest of your life. You can’t fight it alone,” he encouragingly purred down into Stein’s silver hair.

Stein curled impossibly further into his partner, surprisingly accepting the affectionate gesture.

Was he allowed to place his trust into Spirit? What would happen if he were to? What would it even look like? Spirit seemed so disgustingly sweet and serious, did he really have a choice in the matter?

“Accept yourself just as I accept you.”

Stein let out the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding, his knuckles turning white as he grasped with an iron grip onto his partner’s suit jacket.

His formerly tense form seemed to melt into nothingness - a peace he’d never once felt before.

Stein peered above himself, the leaves and the branches had not untangled, the fog had only further dispersed. But those same leaves appeared a little brighter in color than before - the fog seeming a little less dense, as he allowed Spirit to lift the both of them upwards, still holding onto him, as the scythe offered Stein the most authentic, heartfelt smile he could gather..

“You’re the most cocky and sadistic and honestly insane asshole I’ve ever met, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna go out and find some other dick to partner with,” Spirit chuckled as Stein smirked in reply. “Trust me. And please don’t experiment on yourself.”

“Can’t promise you anything,” Spirit rolled his eyes at the stubbornness of his meister.

“Whatever.”

#soul eater #franken stein #stein soul eater #stein #dr stein #spirit albarn #dwma #spirit soul eater #lord death #shinigami sama #marie mjolnir #takeyourcyanide #my fanfiction #soul eater fanfic #hurt/comfort #self h@rm

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clownprincessstudios · 6 months

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Mmmm Tarot x Soul Eater

I want to make a whole deck of Soul Eater Tarot cards, but I don't have the time for that rn 😔

#soul eater #shinigami sama #lord death #tarot #dwma #fanart #tarot cards #krita #my art #clown princess studios

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bcbdrums · 5 months

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I'll Break Your Fall

FFn | AO3

A young Spirit and Stein story.

---------------

A/N: Rated M for one brief graphic description of violence/horror and some vaguely implied gore. Probably the rating is cautionary, but, *Sid voice* that's the kind of person I am. Just being careful. This is a young Stein and Spirit story, full of angst and suspense and I guess even some fluff? Maybe? I've decided to headcanon a three-year age gap. Spirit is 14 and Stein is 11 in this story, and they've been partners for almost a year. I'm an anime person, only just barely started the manga (so excited to read it!), but I do include I think one use of a Japanese honorific just because it seems tied to Stein as a character to use it even though it doesn't appear in the anime dub... I've read enough of the manga to get attached to the term. So...this story was inspired by a song, and by a piece of fantastic art I couldn't get out of my head. Can't reveal them yet, cuz spoilers (they are linked at the very end). But then, as stories go, this took its own path away from the inspiration and my gosh I'm just elated with what happened when I gave the characters the lead. I hope it's not trash. I adored writing this. I hope you'll enjoy it too.

I'll Break Your Fall

Spirit had never paid too much attention to the study of souls. The topic was interesting to him, but not having anything special about his own nor any of the unique abilities that other meisters and weapons had, it simply wasn't his focus. He wasn't bitter or jealous, however. He was content knowing that each soul was unique and exactly as it was meant to be. And if his soul was meant to be average, then who was he to argue?

He never let it dampen his attitude though, especially given what Lord Death had once told him. It had been nearly a year ago that he'd been called to the Death Room for the first time and responded with the anxiety of an innocent called before the headmaster. What in the Reaper's name could he want to see Spirit about, a low-level scythe without a meister?

It was then that he'd been informed of an incoming student, and that Lord Death had chosen him to be his partner.

"I'll have a few more conversations with him before I introduce you, just to be sure, but I think a soul like yours will complement his perfectly," was what Lord Death had said at the time. Spirit never forgot those words—a soul like yours—and had often wondered what it was that the ironically larger-than-life being could see in him that he couldn't see himself.

It had been quite the boost of confidence, and perhaps the reason he wasn't too concerned when they studied soul types and special abilities in class. However average he might appear to his teachers and peers, Lord Death knew otherwise. He'd seen something in him to hand-choose him out of every student to be the weapon partner of possibly the strongest meister in the entire school, and the youngest on top of that. Still, it came up often enough—especially partnering with someone so unique—that his own soul was average and that he had nothing outwardly special about him.

It was this knowledge that had Spirit both confused and alert one night when suddenly he was startled from deep slumber as beyond a shadow of a doubt, he sensed a powerful soul.

He knew it was a soul instinctively, for what else could it be? And the fog of sleep was rapidly leaving his mind as he tried to make sense of the mad feelings that were rapidly pressing in all around him. It wasn't like the kishin egg souls he ate after defeating an enemy, and it wasn't like anything he could recall learning about in class. Or at least, he didn't think so; suddenly he wished he had paid more attention.

No, this soul was wild, electric, and untamed...and it was tearing itself apart.

It was massive, radiating such strength that it caused Spirit to shrink in his bed and pull the covers up closer as if they might provide some protection from the raw power that had woken him. He could feel the soul clawing against itself, trying to burst free from whatever it was that kept souls whole, ripping at its own seams as it warred against the will of the person to whom it belonged. And as the seconds passed it seemed almost as if it would engulf him, the person's breathless fear rising in time with his own and the soul's destruction surely imminent.

And then, Spirit knew. He may not have the ability to truly sense souls, but there was one soul that even an average weapon like him could always see.

His feet hit the carpeted floor too hard and he nearly tripped as he forgot to throw back the blankets, but momentum helped him keep his balance as he ran across the hall and in less than ten steps was at the bedroom door of his young meister, throwing it open before he could stop to consider that he should probably knock first.

He still couldn't see the soul, but fear filled the entire room as he stared in a strange combination of confusion and relief at his partner. The boy was okay, at least outwardly, seated on his knees in the center of his bed but curled down on himself into a ball. He had his hands pressed tightly against his ears and his whole frame was trembling, visible even through the black of the night.

Something had his meister terrified, and his very soul was beginning to rip itself apart in agony.

"Stein!" Spirit gasped, unsure what to do. His thoughts were a maelstrom, still bombarded with an inexplicable torrent of madness which was what he understood now to be radiating out of his partner's wavelength along with the fear, so powerful that they permeated Spirit's soul and had set him trembling from head to toe.

There was no way to tell what had happened, or what on earth he should do to help. All Spirit knew for sure was that his partner was afraid, seemingly of himself, and whatever had happened to trigger this, he couldn't seem to bring his soul back under control.

"Stein?" Spirit repeated, a little louder as he considered his partner may not hear him with his hands covering his ears.

The ever-present hum of resonance between them was why Spirit was able to sense him at all, and he realized that lacking any soul perception ability must mean that whatever was tormenting Stein was dreadfully powerful for it to have woken him and his being able to sense it so clearly. What must this fear feel like to someone with soul perception?

"Stein?" he tried a third time, taking a few steps nearer the young meister's bed. He considered that to touch him might startle him, although it seemed like anything might yield that result with the horrible state he was in.

Spirit thought a moment and then swallowed his fear as best he could and attempted to extend his soul toward Stein's. He didn't have a healing wavelength, but perhaps resonance alone would be able to snap his partner out of whatever horror was causing him to seemingly consume himself.

Spirit found it difficult to keep his feet, his entire frame beginning to shake as he felt like a tiny island standing in the ocean of Stein's soul, struggling not to drown as the roiling waves of his meister's wavelength surrounded and beat against his even more for being so near. But words weren't reaching the boy, and he had to do something to bring him back from...whatever was happening to him.

He pressed his wavelength harder against the dark torrent even as it started to choke the breath out of him, and then suddenly Stein's head snapped up in a gasp. He turned toward Spirit with his eyes wide and mouth agape. The weapon had never seen his meister look so astonished, as if he never expected to see him standing there.

"Stein..." he breathed desperately, still pressing against the chaos of his partner's soul that threatened to devour him. And with that single word, he finally seemed to break through.

Stein blinked, and the darkness that emanated from his soul seemed to lose a little of its strength. Spirit didn't withdraw his wavelength however, feeling that whatever was happening was far from over.

"S...Spirit?" Stein's voice came out small, and uncertain.

"What's happening?" Spirit gasped, feeling even less sure of his footing despite the faint calming of the powerful current in Stein's soul. His meister was still looking at him as if seeing a ghost, and the light was absent from his eyes.

"This...is what is real?"

"What?" Spirit said, starting to feel his knees buckling. It wasn't a fully conscious decision to stumble toward Stein's bed, but as he turned just in time to fall seated upon the blankets, breathless, he knew that the floor would have surely been his destination otherwise.

Stein didn't recoil from Spirit's sudden nearness, only stared at him more intently as the light slowly returned to his eyes.

"It was a dream..."

The words that slowly fell seemingly absently from Stein's lips caught Spirit's attention, and he looked sideways at his partner as he continued to extend his wavelength almost on instinct despite the crushing feeling he was still battling from Stein's chaos. But in catching the boy's eyes he finally started to understand... His meister had had a nightmare.

Most people's view of the youngest student in their class was that he was indifferent at best and callous at worst. He walked around with blank expressions or else out-of-place smiles that put people off, and his default was to be sullen except when in battle. That was when his soul would erupt to life, and Spirit knew what no one else did—that the small, steely-eyed boy possessed more emotion than perhaps all of them put together. But even without resonance, Spirit had started to learn the nuances of his meister's bland expressions; to others the boy may appear without feeling, but Spirit could see through the stoic facade.

However none of that was necessary now as Stein wore no mask whatsoever. He kept glancing at Spirit, ogling him as if shocked by his very existence, but then almost in the same moment his eyes would dart away with a heavy expression of guilt.

Whatever motivated that, it didn't stop his continually looking back at his weapon as if seeing a ghost.

"Do...you want to talk about it?" Spirit asked uncertainly.

"No!" Stein cried abruptly, and in an instant Spirit felt a violent resurgence of the dark dissonance. Right next to him now, faced with the full force of that pressure, Spirit could hardly breathe.

"You're choking me," he managed despite the tightness of his throat, and he knew that even were he not trying to break through with his wavelength, the raw power of his meister's soul would inevitably crush him. It was likely his feeble attempt at resonance was the only reason he was conscious at all.

He watched as Stein absorbed his words in confusion, slowly processing them until his eyes widened in understanding. Immediately, the pressure began to wane, though not as quickly as Spirit would have hoped.

It was such a relief that he fell back upon the mattress, his toes still grazing the carpet where his legs hung over the side of the bed. He gasped for breath though his lungs still wouldn't fill, and he continued pressing his wavelength against Stein's tumultuous one. It wasn't much, but the dark waves were starting to recede again.

As the seconds passed, Stein continued looking at him as if Spirit's presence in the room was the last thing on earth he'd expected, but interspersed were deeply guilty looks that had his olive-green eyes flashing away to stare at any other point in the room. However those looks never lasted long, as it did in fact seem that the weapon's presence was the only thing calming the distressed young meister.

Spirit simply stared back in fear and concern, waiting, reaching out with his soul as he felt a further wavering in the pressure against him. When he at last felt he could draw a full breath into his lungs was when Stein finally made the slightest move, reaching out hesitantly with a flat hand and poking his weapon's arm with his fingers as if testing the veracity of his presence.

This yielded a few results, the first of which was a choked gasp from Spirit that had him leaning up on his elbows to stare back with mouth agape. The slight touch had burned, and the closer contact with Stein's soul had him shaking with fear anew. Stein had jerked away with a gasp of his own, and as Spirit processed what he'd seen—not dark waves, but a wild, tormenting fire that seemed to be consuming his meister from somewhere at his very core—the younger boy's face took on an even deeper look of fear. His lower lip began to tremble as his eyes finally stayed locked on Spirit's, pleading for help.

"What's happening...?" Spirit said breathlessly as he sat up. He instinctively reached out, but then stopped, his hand frozen in the space between them. If he were to touch Stein again, that fire in his soul would surely consume him. It had been a split second, but it was far worse than the crushing pressure in the room that still had him feeling as if he was moving through tar and fighting for each breath.

He wondered again what someone who actually had soul perception would be seeing and feeling in the tiny apartment as his meister's soul tore at itself with the resolute goal of destruction.

Stein was staring back at him, fighting against whatever hell was in his head that had prompted this...madness. His lip was still trembling, and the fear and guilt had settled into a devastated mix in his eyes. It looked as though it was taking everything he had to keep the chaos of his soul from bursting forth, destroying himself and Spirit and who knew what else in the process.

Spirit had never thought to see the stoic boy in such a state, his soul lost and eyes desperately searching for an anchor. And as the two continued staring at one another, the red-head saw the younger boy's gaze flick down more than once to Spirit's hand that still hovered between them. Both of Stein's however had moved to his thighs, his fingers digging into his flesh through his pajamas. And was that red beginning to show against the white fabric in a couple of spots?

"Stein...?" Spirit asked, feeling the desperation begin to wash over him as well. Whatever was happening to his partner wasn't showing signs of stopping as he'd had hope for moments ago. Perhaps he should call a teacher or Lord Death for help?

"I..."

Spirit refocused on the face of his meister, still extending his wavelength from its small, safe haven toward the younger boy. He was shocked that Stein could feel his pathetic attempt at aid at all, given the massive differences in their souls. And for the first time since being partnered with Stein he began to feel inadequate.

"What can I do?" Spirit asked, still struggling to draw air.

"I..." Moisture began to shine in Stein's eyes, and Spirit's brow rose. "I'm sorry!"

Churning waves washed out of Stein's soul even stronger than before, and Spirit grit his teeth as he glanced down to where his meister's fingers were now definitely drawing blood. When he caught enough breath to look up again Stein was still fighting tears as he sat frozen and afraid. He looked utterly defeated, holding on by a mere thread—grasping for Spirit's wavelength—against whatever it was that had happened to him.

Spirit made a decision.

He reached out and quickly enveloped Stein in a tight hug, forcing his wavelength against his meister's in hopes Stein would meet him in resonance. But instantly, at the contact, into the dark waves roared the fire, twisting and crackling and seeming to draw him down into a pit of darkness as static hummed in his ears, further overwhelming him as the water threatened to drown him at the same time the fire seared his body and mind. He couldn't fight this... He would surely be destroyed by this madness.

But if he fled from it, what would happen to Stein?

He was aware of choked sounds and cries coming from his throat, still struggling for breath as his soul battled the insanity that it had found consuming Stein's. But there were other sounds in the room now... Screaming? Was that his voice? And crying? It sounded worse than that. Which of them was crying?

"Stein," he attempted to say, unsure if the name actually left his lips as some instinct within his weaponhood continued the attempt at resonance with the clamor of his partner's soul.

He knew it was still there, somewhere, not yet fully consumed or else Stein wouldn't have been able to recognize him, speak to him... And then, Spirit realized with sudden clarity that whatever had happened, it was all coming from within Stein. The horrors that threatened to destroy his partner were part of his soul, and seemingly a nightmare had brought them all to the fore.

His brow furrowed as he held on tighter despite how it scorched his entire being to do so and he ran deeper down into the fire. The dark waves did nothing to douse the flames, the pressure increasing and the light fading the further down he went.

"Stein..." he said hoarsely, not sure if he'd spoken aloud or only in his soul as he sought familiarity in the madness. His partner gave neither aid nor resistance, lost somewhere in the war of water and fire. Spirit's heart was pounding as the pressure and heat sent a dizzying feeling to his head. Black danced at the edge of his vision as he ran through the chaos of Stein's soul, seeking anything to grab hold of to bring his meister back.

The flames were all around him, but he couldn't see them for the dark, crushing pressure of the waves. He couldn't breathe. His feet gave way as he began to fall into the pit that raged fire and the blackness began to take over.

But then out of the dark he saw a flash of red. It meant nothing to him except that it was different, and he stumbled toward it even as he felt his lungs about to burst. Red, and the sickly metallic scent of blood. Or was that the taste?

The fire was suddenly swept up around him by a fierce whirlwind, and it pulled the waters back with it. Spirit nearly choked for how quickly he gasped in the sulfurous air, but his breath was taken away again as within the whirlwind images began to appear, flashing past at speeds too fast to process. They were of blood and sinew, the shining edge of a scalpel that morphed into a cleaver, and a wicked smile on a familiar face too young to have fallen victim to something as fatal as the evils displayed before him.

At first the images appeared random, but gradually they seemed to swirl into a narrative. And they only became more violent and gruesome as it progressed. It was more horrifying than anything Spirit had seen on the battlefield, and his stomach turned at the scenes of flesh being rend from bone, of bodies ruined and desecrated, and everything slowly turning to red.

All around him blood had begun to rain, and Spirit realized with a twisting in his gut that the horrors went deeper still. He wanted to retreat, to back out of what was far worse than any nightmare could ever be.

But he still hadn't found Stein.

He pursed his lips and strode forward upon shaking legs into the whirlwind of red, holding his breath as it felt he had walked straight into a wall of blood. His nostrils confirmed the reality as the liquid fell thick around him, but he only closed his eyes and kept going. The fire and water were not so powerful anymore. It had to mean something, right?

There was something new down here in the pit too that he'd felt briefly when he first fell—a hum of static that came and went intermittently, clouding his desperate thoughts. It was like too many voices all at once, dozens or...was it millions? All trying to tell him something but they were too numerous to begin to isolate any, or discern their intent.

"Stein!" he called again, perhaps aloud or perhaps in his soul. "Stein! Where are you?"

To his surprise and relief, he felt rather than heard a familiar voice reply through all the noise. Somewhere in the wash of red, his meister had tried to answer.

"Stein! Wherever you are, take my hand!" He thrust his arm forward, fingers outstretched.

"I can't."

He felt the reply come in a terrified whisper, and it only made him more determined. He quickened his pace, hurrying past images that made him want to vomit and toward where he had felt the faint, frightened answer coming from.

"Stein! Come here!" he pleaded, fairly demanding as he struggled for breath, his arm still outstretched.

He knew he was getting close. Somewhere in this tumult, the wavelength of the boy who had been his partner for nearly a year now was cowering in fear. It was weak, withdrawn, and defeated.

This more than his own fear and pain drove Spirit onward. The madness, whatever caused it, would not claim his meister if he had anything to say about it. He ignored the pain and pressure and focused on the faint feeling of Stein's true wavelength, buried so deep in the pit he was amazed he had found it at all. But it was there, and despite the voiced resistance, he could feel the faint hope in response to his approach.

"Stein! Come here!" he said, more confident this time as he pressed through the wash of red.

"I can't."

Finally, he saw him.

Small and alone in the static-laden center of the whirlwind, Stein looked no different than he had on his bed. He was kneeling with his legs folded under him, fingers digging into his thighs and drawing blood that stained the white of his pajamas, the latter color made more prominent as he was surrounded by a puddle of darkness. It rippled violently, extending outward from the younger boy into the pool of red, and Spirit realized the source of the darkness was his meister's soul.

Stein's eyes were downcast, and he didn't lift his head at Spirit's steady approach.

"Stein. Take my hand," Spirit said as he stopped in front of him, still extending his own.

"I can't," Stein repeated, his tone flat now as he shook his head ever so slightly.

"We have to get out of here. It's...it's not good to be here," Spirit continued, his meister's resignation making him uncertain.

"But it's worse out there," Stein protested quietly.

Spirit was bewildered. In this mad, labyrinthine pit he was nearly blind. He was surprised that he could speak for the pressure against his lungs, and the heat of the flames still seared him from skin to soul even as he stood before his meister in the dark rain of blood.

"How can it be worse!?" he asked with genuine incredulity. "We have to go!"

Stein's chin only dipped lower, almost hitting his chest.

Spirit sighed heavily and knelt down in front of the younger boy, extending his hand directly in his line of sight. The darkness broke against his knees and rippled away from his presence.

"Stein, please!" he urged.

Stein finally lifted his head just enough to meet Spirit's eyes, and the look within the green orbs was pure terror.

"I... But I'll kill you, Senpai."

Spirit gasped as suddenly, some final barrier around Stein's wavelength fell away, and he saw with perfect clarity the path his partner's nightmare had taken.

He saw himself lying on a slab, cut up, eviscerated, and dismembered in ways more horrible than he could have possibly imagined. And worse, he saw his young meister standing over him, a mad smile bisecting his visage as he grinned down into the face of Spirit's dream-self. And then reaching down to the slab, Stein grabbed Spirit's hair and picked up his bloodied, severed head.

Spirit grimaced and shook his head to banish the horrifying images as bile rose in his throat. In front of him, his meister's gaze fell again.

The dark rippling intensified and no longer broke at Spirit's knees, washing through him now as fear began to seep into his soul. Was this truly what Stein wanted? Not just for him, but the other gruesome images he had seen as he strode through the pit to find his partner... Were those more than nightmares?

Spirit was devastated. This madness... It was part of Stein. It hadn't been placed there, or influenced by some outside source. The desire to cut, to tear apart, to desecrate... This, he realized, was the secret that lay carefully guarded behind his partner's dispassionate mask that refused to betray any emotion, that refused offers of friendship and pushed away even the most determined with a sadistic edge. Except that the latter, he knew now, wasn't really an act.

"Now you understand..." Stein murmured. The sadness that emanated from the boy was heartbreaking. "It's okay. You can leave me here. You'll be better off."

Spirit frowned, his jaw setting in stubborn defiance.

"No."

"I'm sorry, Spirit."

"No! You're coming with me!"

He reached down with his right hand and pulled Stein's up from where he was digging his fingers into his thigh, clutching it to his chest. Stein looked up in wary surprise.

"But...you'll be better off," the younger boy repeated slowly, still resigned. "If you leave me here then..." Stein lifted his free hand, but as it shook he dropped it and dug his fingers back into his flesh. He took a shuddering breath, his next words coming out in a frightened whisper. "I'll become a...a kishin... Death will send someone to destroy me. Then... I won't be able to hurt you."

Stein's gaze sank in defeat. The agony and fear radiated out of his soul in heavy black waves, weighing Spirit down as he still gripped his meister's hand to his chest, nothing being returned.

The fire, the pressure, the intermittent static, and the whirlwind of blood and horror... The fear that had finally been exposed, and the madness that was the reason for everything... Spirit ignored it all. It was for another time.

He wanted to question, to mourn, as the realization that he couldn't fix this caused his heart to ache. Not only was the madness borne of Stein's soul, he had probably suffered it his entire life. The grief tore at Spirit's heart as if it truly had been rend in two, not by a blade but with the pain of his partner's fears.

There was nothing he could do.

But his soul swelled in fierce determination.

"No. Stein, you're coming back with me."

Stein did glance up then, but his eyes were hollow, already having sunk back down to somewhere within himself. The boy shook his head slightly, sullen and resigned.

"Don't...don't try to save me," he whispered, an almost imperceptible quiver in his voice. "You can't."

Spirit's fingers clenched on his partner's hand as he blew air out through his nose in frustration.

"Well you know what, Stein?"

The boy's dour expression didn't change as he stared at him.

"I don't give a damn!"

There was something then—a flicker of color in Stein's eyes; something still alive. Surprised. But not enough to stop the dark waves of his soul.

Exasperated, Spirit threw his free hand out in a broad gesture at the thick rain of blood that surrounded them interspersed with images of horror that came and went sporadically.

"Is this what you want? Really!?"

Stein looked down guiltily, and Spirit felt with grave assurance that not only was this madness part of his meister's soul, but it was deeply rooted. This wasn't something new or fleeting that had come over him in a night, but a longstanding battle that apparently Stein was tired of fighting. And it was a battle far, far from won.

He adjusted his grip on Stein's hand and with his other grabbed the boy's shoulder, demanding response.

"Well? Do you!?"

It was an ultimatum, though Spirit hadn't quite intended it to be one. But he needed an honest answer out of the younger boy. And he realized he didn't need it only for Stein, but for himself, given the nightmare he'd witnessed. Did his partner, hand-chosen for him...the boy he'd trusted with his life for almost a year now...truly want to murder him?

Stein looked up. The whispered answer was pained, and offered through trembling lips.

"No."

Spirit sighed in heavy relief, but only gave himself a moment. He began to stand and pull Stein up out of the dark ripples at the core of his wavelength. The boy followed him.

"Then let's get out of here."

Stein's expression, still broken, had gained the tiniest spark of hope. But the wariness hadn't left his eyes.

"But...why...?"

There was far more in the question than Spirit could fully discern in the moment, but he answered what he knew Stein needed to hear most.

"Because you're my meister, Stein. And weapons protect their meisters, even to death."

There was something else then in Stein's eyes—a curiosity—that made Spirit wonder for a split-second if he'd said the wrong thing, but his partner's other hand slowly unclenched from his leg where he'd been drawing blood. Spirit took it as a good sign.

"And...you're my friend," he said, leaning forward to wrap his arm around Stein as he held his other hand tighter to his chest.

And then, finally, he felt Stein's soul come to his.

It wasn't the easy synchronicity he was used to on the field of battle, nor was it the insanity that had been threatening him as he struggled through the pit. No, this meeting of souls was different from every time before.

It was still Stein's wavelength, but it was as if Spirit was truly seeing it for the first time. He realized he'd felt it briefly before, when the madness first woke him that night. A soul that was wild, electric, and untamed. Resistant to control. Coming at him in power. And it pressed against and around Spirit's soul, trying to engulf him in haphazard waves that knew no single direction as they spilled from their source.

The resonance was erratic and barely holding together due to the disparity in their two wavelengths. Spirit's remained smooth and steady while Stein's erupted, beating against Spirit's and attempting to tear him apart. But the claws of madness slid off harmlessly now that Spirit understood.

It was part of the role of the weapon to yield, never to command. But this wasn't a battle against one of Death's enemies. This was just their two souls, Spirit's and Stein's, and as his young meister's seemed desperate to swallow his, to drown him in whatever it was that constituted his partner's daily existence and make him part of the madness...Spirit wouldn't allow it.

"Trust me..."

A small break in the dissonance as Stein considered Spirit's calm appeal. He didn't want to give in. He was afraid to. And Spirit wondered if that in itself was part of why Stein's battle against the madness was so long-lived... Because he'd been too scared to ask for help.

Spirit didn't falter. He only held on and waited as the darts of madness grew fewer and farther between. Stein's soul was still screaming into the darkness of the pit, electricity shooting out like lightning in search of a connection even as he surrounded the offered anchor of Spirit's wavelength entirely. But Spirit held back too. He couldn't allow more until the fear had been beaten back. Or at least, until it had stopped enough to eliminate the threat of falling again.

The flames, he noticed suddenly, were gone; a mere distant warmth somewhere beyond his sight. The waves that had been drowning him had receded. Every now and then he heard them break against the turbulent edge of Stein's wavelength, but they weren't a threat anymore. The static was quieting. And the red he only saw in occasional flashes as he felt a tiring in Stein's soul.

They were rising.

How exhausted must his meister be, if this was what he fought all the time? How had he kept it secret from him for so long? Was it always this awful?

Those questions and more pressed against Spirit's mind without answer, all serving to raise his compassion for the young boy who had been chosen for him. He remembered Lord Death's words on that fateful day again, and rather than feeling them with pride or assurance that his own state wasn't so low...he felt the fierce desire to protect grow even more.

No matter what he thought of his own soul... Stein was his. He had been chosen to be his. And his meister needed him.

His heart was gripped with a pain he'd never known as he continued waiting, stabilizing the raw, wild soul of the younger boy with steady, unshakeable calm.

It didn't even occur to Spirit to fall apart.

They were almost floating now, above the earth, above the clouds. The pit was almost out of sight as Stein slowly but surely let go of the fears that tormented him, the flashes of red fewer and farther between. And then finally, after what seemed an eternity, Spirit felt Stein. Not the blind hunt for something in which to sink hooks of madness or to devour for strength—his meister was finally back with him.

Spirit let crumble the hard shell he'd set around his soul to keep it safe, and instantly the raw power and emotion of Stein's wavelength surged in. It was both familiar and new as now his partner's secret was no longer between them, and with the revelation of madness something about Stein's soul had changed.

He wasn't holding back anymore, and Spirit felt that if he were to lose focus that Stein's soul would still swallow him up—but not to harm him. It was not a loss of inhibition so much as it was a desperate search that Spirit sensed, but this time with so much less fear. How had Stein kept it hidden from him for so long?

Stein's wavelength continued to come at him in a flood, but not one that overwhelmed Spirit. This time he wasn't drowning or choking, his head securely above water, and he lifted a hand to reach for his partner's through the light as their souls slowly found resonance, swirling together in delicate, twisting frequencies that vibrated against each other until merging into one soft song.

The fear faded. He felt Stein's fingers tentatively, willingly find his. Their resonance rate rose, and the light became blindingly bright. Spirit held control, and it was with relief that he felt the faintest frown from Stein. It made him want to laugh, to sense something normal from his young partner. But he maintained the steady pressing of his wavelength, letting his meister find his way in and around it.

Things were getting better. But he couldn't give Stein the lead. Nothing that had happened that night could be solved with resonance alone. This struggle would go on, and Spirit could only hope his partner would continue to trust him through it. He didn't want to think about what would happen if Stein locked part of his soul away again as he'd clearly done for years, tortured by madness, all alone...

Compassion radiated across Spirit's wavelength, and he felt something from Stein in response. A yearning to fall into it, as well as a hesitation. He was afraid of being pitied. Spirit sighed within himself and slowly let more of the shell around his wavelength fall so that Stein could see him as clearly as he saw his meister. And...he let go a small fraction of control.

This seemed to do the trick, showing Stein that he trusted him, and in moments everything else fell into place. The loud waves of Stein's soul slid smoothly between his own, and Spirit guided them into unity. Their souls were as one, reverberating with the electric power of Stein's and held together by Spirit's constancy.

The waves shimmered away calmly in all directions from the heart of their resonance, through the blue sky, toward the clouds, toward the earth, and out of sight. And while Spirit knew that for the moment all was well, there was still the faintest of interruptions in the younger boy's wavelength every now and again.

It was a war far from won. But for the moment, and as much as was possible...Stein was at peace.

Spirit opened his eyes.

It was like waking up but into sleep, to go from the brilliance of their resonance to the dark of the apartment bedroom. But the space was absent now of the crushing pressure and madness, and if not for the ten spots of red that slowly came into focus below him he may have questioned if the descent into the pit of Stein's soul had happened at all.

They were still resonating of course, and as Spirit looked at the place where Stein's fingers had drawn blood through his pajamas he felt a ripple of sadness from his partner's soul. He looked up to find that Stein was watching him, his eyes vacant.

Spirit's hand was in fact holding one of Stein's to his chest, the other wrapped partially around his meister and his fingers gripping his neck. Apparently that hadn't just happened in their souls.

Spirit straightened up slightly and drew a breath...and then he was falling as a swirling nausea and dizziness racked his being. He felt his shoulder brush against Stein's as he fell past him, landing awkwardly and painfully on the arm that had released his partner's neck. He'd managed to keep hold of his hand however, and Stein had twisted to watch him with wide eyes, his grip tightening on the weapon's. Spirit started to panic as the room spun and he struggled to suck in air, but after a he moment realized that the journey through Stein's...madness...had simply been taxing. His body would need time to recover.

He forced himself to stay calm, and his frame shuddered involuntarily a few times as the tension started to leave him. Gradually his breathing evened, and his heart rate slowed... He became aware of the softness of Stein's blanket under his cheek.

He blinked as the dizziness faded, the room's spinning coming to a slow stop and the churning in his stomach subsiding into a dull ache. He became aware of a slight rise in their resonance rate and lifted his gaze to Stein's face, the younger boy still staring at him with wide eyes. He realized then that Stein had taken the small amount of control that Spirit had relinquished to send him strength.

He was trying to help him.

Spirit shifted, wincing as he wiggled his arm out of the painful angle from under his side and stretched it across the bed. Pins and needles prickled his flesh from his shoulder to his fingertips, but it began to wane almost immediately.

"Are you okay?"

Stein's voice was small and uncertain, his eyes still wide but his face otherwise blank.

Not only Spirit had figured out how to read his partner over the past several months, but he felt he could see even more now after the journey through his soul what each deliberately bland expression meant. And hidden behind the monotone words and still features was genuine concern.

Spirit tried to smile, but he couldn't tell if his muscles responded to his brain's commands.

"I..." he began hoarsely in reply, "should be asking you that."

Speaking hurt his throat, and he was bewildered for a moment until he remembered that he had faintly heard screaming. Had he been screaming when he dove into the fire? He reached trembling fingers up to his cheek and felt dried tear tracks.

"I..."

Spirit looked up to where Stein had glanced away, a guilty look coming over him again. Spirit could see the faint red rimming around his partner's eyes, and he wondered whose crying had prompted the other's during the chaotic resonance.

He felt something shudder across their souls and watched Stein's free hand fall to his knee, his fingers beginning to grip his flesh. Spirit shifted again with a slight grunt and set his hand gently atop Stein's. His meister's eyes flew back to his.

"Hey...stop. You're gonna hurt yourself again," Spirit said softly, glancing at the blood that had previously seeped through white.

Stein looked like he wanted to say something, but pressed his lips closed into a line. Spirit could feel the tension rising rapidly. It felt as though his partner would burst if he couldn't express whatever was still crying out within him for release, and so Spirit concentrated again on keeping their resonance stable, settling the rate into a low but steady thrum, hoping to soothe. If Stein didn't know that they were going to have to talk about what had happened, then the night was far from over.

Either realizing it himself or sensing it from his partner, Stein looked back at Spirit, his lips trembling.

"Stein," Spirit encouraged. They had to talk about it, difficult as it was going to be.

"At least it's better than hurting people!"

The words had burst forth even as Stein's fingers clenched his knee beneath Spirit's hand. Spirit frowned lightly and turned his hand over, forcing his fingers beneath Stein's palm until the younger boy acquiesced and Spirit pulled that hand away too. He made to sit up, but his head started swimming instantly so he let himself fall back again. Too soon.

"Why...?" Spirit asked, searching Stein's tortured eyes. "Why do you...want to hurt people?"

Stein watched him nervously, and Spirit knew he was making a decision between telling the truth or hiding it away again. He understood then...he felt through their resonance, that all of his partner's attempts at telling the truth in the past had ended badly. Very badly.

He frowned and forced himself upright. He closed his eyes against the dizziness as he sat on his knees in a position that mirrored Stein's and let go of his left hand to hold his own to his head as the black danced before his vision. Just how great a toll had the descent into Stein's soul taken on his body?

He looked up again and waited as the young face in front of him stopped spinning. Stein was still watching him uncertainly. He wanted to answer, Spirit could tell. It was burning behind his partner's eyes, eager to come out and be fully known. And Spirit wanted to understand, to make sense of the horrors he had seen down in the pit. He wanted them to mean anything other than that his meister was, at his core, a sadistic murderer.

But what if that was the truth?

"It's okay," Spirit managed. He would keep being brave for both of them. "Tell me."

A hint of hope, a sliver of trust, came into Stein's eyes. And then, a wild ripple across their resonance. Uncontrolled excitement that went every direction without guidance.

"I love to dissect things!"

The smile that had come across Stein's face was too real to ignore, and Spirit simply stared back, drawn in by his partner's unbridled emotion.

"I love to take things apart and see how they're made. I love to see how everything fits together so perfectly and shouldn't work but somehow... Somehow it all does. I need to know why it works! So I have to test things. I'll take the frog and start pulling it apart to see which parts are important and which aren't. What parts can it live without? How long can it go without some parts and not others? What causes instant death and how long can life be prolonged while it's still apart? How soon does it go into shock and what role does that play in prolonging or shortening life? And of course a frog isn't nearly adequate enough, the experiments have to be deeper to achieve any real result. How does a reptile react or a fish or a bird or a mammal? They're built similarly but different. So how do their anatomical differences play a role in what they can live with or without? What gives each of them life? And of course, ultimately it's all just a background to the greatest experiment, because the true mystery of life is in humans because humans have what animals don't. Humans have a soul, and I need to—"

Stein stopped abruptly, a horrified look flashing through his eyes before he looked down, struggling this time to school his features back to the colorless, bland expression he forced all of the time. This time when Stein dug his fingers into his knee, Spirit let him.

Shame. Shame and fear, beginning to build in his wavelength.

Spirit wasn't entirely sure what his face looked like, except that at some point during his meister's chatter his jaw had slackened. And then he felt the darkness, those black waves from the core of Stein's soul, rapidly rising.

Spirit inched forward on his knees closer to his young meister and gripped his hand tighter, lifting it to his chest again.

"Stein. It's okay," he pleaded in a hurry, not wanting to watch his partner fall again.

Stein shook his head. "No it's not."

Spirit sighed and tilted his head back, running his fingers through his hair as his heart pounded. "Yeah, okay...it's not. But it's going to be."

Stein shook his head again. "It won't be. It never has before."

Stein attempted to pull his hand away but Spirit held on tighter. "We'll figure it out together, whatever it takes."

"That's what they said too. But they—!"

Stein clammed up again, harder than before. His frame had started to shake, but he held onto Spirit's hand as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. Spirit pressed his wavelength against the blackness that clouded their resonance, trying to calm his meister, but then he hesitated. There were more truths not yet revealed, and perhaps the only way to know them was in peering into what Stein clearly spent all his time trying to keep buried.

Spirit relaxed his wavelength and closed his eyes to let the dark wave wash over him. And then he saw.

Two faces, a woman and a man, smiling down into his eyes, but concerned. Offering reassurances even as they put distance between themselves and him until they were out of sight. And then suddenly a gray room with windowless walls, painful fluorescent lights above, the same claustrophobic nothingness in every direction he looked. And the itching from the heavy jacket he couldn't take off. Why did it itch? Why was it pulling on his arms, pulling them across his body and pinning them and tying him and—

"Oh..." Spirit breathed as his eyes opened suddenly. "Oh, Stein..."

His meister was crying now, and Spirit didn't know if the tears that stung his eyes were a sympathetic response through their resonance or his own for what he had just seen. The black wave was still surging, washing over his soul, but it wasn't threatening him.

This was Stein's burden. A madness he had been seemingly born with, and a loneliness that had been imposed upon him because he couldn't stop it. A fear of isolation because imprisonment was the only solution to madness, save destruction, even though being set apart was the only protection he had. A struggle to conform in the way that was required to save himself even as his soul screamed for freedom. And the knowledge that those he was supposed to be able to trust over anyone else had let him down.

Stein hated being touched. Spirit wondered now if part of the reason was that dreadful, itchy jacket. But the way he still gripped Spirit's hand the older boy took as permission.

The first time had been quick and desperate, but this time Spirit carefully wrapped his arm around Stein, pulling him closer as the boy's tears turned into sobs. He received no reciprocating response, just Stein's uncontrolled gasps next to his ear as what was probably a lifetime of emotion flowed out of him, and Spirit continued holding his hand between them as the other held his meister tight.

In their souls, Spirit continued offering his wavelength, holding it steady and safe from the darkness but open and ready for Stein's to fall back in once he had resolved at least some of the grief that was pouring from his core.

He didn't know what to say at this point, so just allowed Stein to feel. It was clear the boy spent most of his time avoiding that very thing, in addition to fighting his innate desires. He wondered why, if this was what the boy went through all of the time, Lord Death had said that his soul would complement Stein's. Surely Lord Death knew the truth...? He had to, if what Spirit had seen about where Stein had come from was real. And those memories he had witnessed through his young partner's eyes were unmistakable.

So what was it then, about his soul, that Lord Death saw to be fitting to match wavelengths with...this?

The black hadn't receded, but Stein's sobbing slowed to sniffles. Spirit held on tighter, touching the side of his head to Stein's for just a moment. With that contact, Stein's fingers briefly flexed in his grasp. Spirit took this as a sign to move and leaned out of the hug, moving his hand back to Stein's other instead.

And then, he held his breath in wariness at the strange, condescending look that suddenly came to Stein's face.

"You must be really stupid."

"What...?" Spirit said, recoiling in shock from the sudden, harsh insult.

For the first time his wavelength faltered and he pulled back from their resonance due to the sting. He felt Stein's soul begin to move sporadically again with the absence of his control and regretted his retreat. But he was reeling from his partner's words.

"Why...why would you say that?" he couldn't help but ask, still in shock.

"You think I can be 'fixed.' That you have some power to save me. Nothing can save me, Spirit. I've known that my whole life. Even when I was in kindergarten, and in preschool before that. They always made excuses to get rid of me, to send me on to the next place. And I couldn't understand why everyone just accepted everything so blindly. Why weren't my questions allowed? Why did everyone avoid answering? Why were they so afraid of me...asking...why? I never found out. After trying so many things they just finally got rid of me for good. But even at the...at the..."

Stein's defensive anger was arrested by the fear of the place Spirit had seen in his memories. What horrors had been committed against the boy there, he wondered with a shiver of unease. And it was with an even deeper queasiness that he suddenly wondered...which of the gruesome images that swirled amid the blood in the pit had been real?

Asking questions wasn't enough reason to lock a boy away in an asylum before the tender age of ten.

"Stein..." Spirit said shakily, his mouth turning to cotton as he was unsure he wanted to continue the path his mind had taken. But he had to know. "What did you do...?"

Stein blinked, the hard facade that Spirit knew well settling back into place easily even with tears still falling down the boy's face.

"Enough."

Spirit searched the green eyes, alight with too much emotion. Stubborn anger and apathetic distrust, fighting to supplant the fear and sadness that he could no longer fully hide.

"Did...did you hurt someone?"

Stein looked away.

Spirit sighed as his gaze fell. Why had he expected a different answer, after everything?

It was then that he noticed...Stein hadn't let go. He was still holding his hands.

Spirit looked up again, his jaw setting in determination even as his frame was racked with a tremor of fear he hoped Stein couldn't blame him for, given everything.

"Sorry, Stein." His partner looked up woefully. "But I'm not like them. I...guess I'm just not smart enough to let you go."

Stein blinked, the mask slipping again as Spirit stared back at him, holding his breath, hoping against everything that his meister would still accept him.

"What...?"

"I...I just have one question, though," Spirit said, hoping the tremor in his voice wasn't obvious.

Stein looked curious, apprehensive. The anger had faded and was being replaced again by that tiny thread of hope. His fingers were clammy between Spirit's, but he was still holding on.

"Do you...really want to hurt me?"

He had emphasized the last word more than he'd intended, and Stein recoiled from the question, glancing away. Spirit didn't take that as answer, simply waiting. Stein's face was hidden by shadow in the dark of the room as he fought a battle within himself that Spirit felt through the tremulous, black waves that still washed loudly across his wavelength.

Stein looked up again. The mask was gone. Spirit's partner was just a frightened child, misunderstood and mistreated, abandoned by the world before his soul even had the chance to try to find its way and thrive. And he had been hurt too many times to trust again.

But Spirit couldn't just let him go. He was his meister. Stein had been chosen for him.

For his friend...he would take the risk. For better or worse, Spirit at least had to try. He supposed he really was stupid like Stein had said...

Spirit released every last small barrier that could separate their wavelengths, letting Stein's soul spill freely into his. And he let go of all control. This startled his young partner and he watched Spirit uncertainly, his fingers fidgeting against the teen's larger ones.

"Stein," Spirit said firmly, demanding his meister's attention. The younger boy stared at him with hesitant, frightened eyes. "I am your weapon. And I'm your friend. I'm never going to leave you."

At this, Stein's lips parted, and a soft, trembling gasp slipped through. Spirit sensed the hope rising despite the darkness that was still so powerful within Stein's soul, and then he felt it again—that shooting electricity, the wild, raw power that was his partner's true wavelength. It was skeptical, testing him and weaving through him, looking for anything that could possibly mean this was a lie. But Spirit responded only with acceptance, with the quiet acquiescence to wherever Stein might lead him.

The fear within the waves calmed as it had before, and instead of the swallowing up that he'd expected from his powerful meister, Spirit felt Stein's soul cautiously nestle up against his. Peace began settling into their resonance but, occasionally there was still a brief dissonance where their wavelengths weren't fully in sync. The sound of it caused them both to wince, but neither withdrew, their souls still entwining ever tighter.

Of course it couldn't be perfect, after everything. But it didn't matter, Spirit decided. They could work on that.

And with that resolve, his body finally gave out.

"Oh..." he gasped as he fell, his eyes rolling back until all he saw was black.

The next thing he knew was panic rippling across Stein's wavelength seconds before he saw his face over him, heard him calling his name out of time with the movement of his lips.

It could have been moments or minutes, but he slowly became aware of Stein's hand attempting to lift his head, the cool feeling of glass against his lips, and the scent of water as the drink was offered. With trembling fingers that seemed not to belong to him, he attempted to steady the glass and lifted his head further to sip from it even as his eyes refused to fully focus.

The water was soothing on his strained throat, and after drinking his fill he gasped in relief and fell back again. A pillow was beneath his head this time, and he watched the ceiling overhead seem to rotate as his senses slowly returned. He listened to the glass being set down on the wooden nightstand, the creak of the mattress as Stein sat down, and then the wavering ceiling was replaced by the wide-eyed face of his meister.

"Spirit? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah... Yeah, Stein," he croaked. His instinct was to sit up, but he decided against it.

They were still in resonance, but it was a soft hum now compared to the brilliant power it was before he'd fainted. He hoped his young meister had managed all right for however long that had been, unsure what the madness might do without the steadying control he'd imposed upon the boy.

"Sorry," he said, trying to refocus. He needed to keep their resonance rate up.

"How did you...how are you doing that?" Stein asked.

Spirit blinked up at him in confusion.

"What?"

"How did you get so deep within my wavelength? No one has been able to find me down there before."

Spirit considered. He hadn't done anything special, he'd just...known he needed to help his meister and gone looking for him. Despite the threat of drowning and the searing pain of the fire.

He could feel it even now and shuddered at the memory as he ran one hand down his arm to be sure there were no actual flames. Yet he could still feel the scorching heat against his skin, and the choking weight of the water. And he could see the horrid visions within the rain of red...

Stein was looking at him, awaiting reply. "I just had to get you out," he said with a half-shrug against the mattress.

"No one has ever...been able to control my soul like this either," Stein said, almost marveling.

Spirit considered Stein's words at the same time he wondered if he could pick up the glass of water. They had been partners for almost a year. Why did it surprise the younger boy that he knew his way around his soul?

Stein was still watching him though, as if waiting for explanation. His wavelength was vibrating with curiosity. Spirit sighed internally. Ever the scientist, his young meister...

"I just...knew what had to be done. So I did it," he said, even though he wondered at the real answers himself. How had he traversed the depths of that pit of pain and horrors? How had he pulled Stein back, brought the madness into complete submission...beaten back his fears?

Stein was staring at him in some kind of awe, more questions racing behind his eyes. They thrummed against Spirit's wavelength, but the meister left them unasked.

"Can I have some more of that?" Spirit asked, taking the chance in the lull to glance over at the water glass.

Stein stretched his arm over and picked up the glass, bringing it to Spirit with both hands. Spirit was relieved that he continued to hold it, as his own fingers seemed to have lost all their strength, and all four of their hands tilted the glass as he drank greedily.

"Thanks," he said when it was nearly empty, his throat still raw. How much had he screamed when jumping into the fire? He was amazed that no one in the rest of the building had woken up.

As Stein set the glass back down, Spirit lifted one shaking arm up to look at in the dark. It was his arm, t-shirt clad and looking none the worse for wear. But Spirit could feel the faint remnants of the fire across his skin. He still couldn't quite draw a full breath.

"Is that...what it's like in your soul all the time?" he asked tentatively.

The rest of what he would have asked he let hover across their resonance, and Stein glanced down as he considered how to reply.

"Does it...hurt you the way it was me? Are you always in that much pain?" The questions spilled forth as the feeling of fire grew stronger in Spirit's memory. Somehow Stein must have known, and the reciprocating steady assurance that was sent back across his wavelength was a stronger control than Spirit would have thought his partner capable of after everything.

"It's okay," was the answer designed not to really answer. "I'm used to it by now. Sometimes it just..."

Spirit felt the familiar, faint ripplings of fear and he increased their resonance rate, bringing each tiny pulse under his wavelength and gently shattering them, one by one. His meister had experienced more than enough fear for a lifetime.

Stein looked up at him. "How are you doing that?" he asked again, that look of awed bewilderment back on his face.

Spirit was confused. He wasn't doing anything. He was devastated that his meister was in a near-constant state of suffering and that he couldn't stop it, and that it had taken him nearly a year and a nightmare to notice what Stein had guarded so tightly. All he could do was meet each challenge as they came, no matter how big or small, and try to help.

He felt his partner's wavelength respond and accept the control as the fear was erased, settling back into the gentle, lulling melody of resonance. He could feel both of their heartbeats it seemed, like thunder in his ears as he realized finally...it wasn't just the journey through Stein's madness, but the effort to keep his partner stable that was physically exhausting him.

He didn't stop.

Spirit shook his head. "I'm sorry that I didn't notice sooner, and that I...that this is all I can do."

Stein's expression, to Spirit's confusion, was still amazement. And then the young meister yawned involuntarily. Spirit had no idea what time he'd raced into his partner's bedroom in a panic, but a quick glance at his alarm clock showed that it was past one in the morning.

"But you're... No one has... Your soul is so..." Stein couldn't seem to find the words, and Spirit still didn't understand.

"I wish I could...I wish I could just fix it for you," Spirit said with an edge of frustration. "Maybe someone else could. But I don't... I don't have anything special. I'm sorry. My soul is just average."

Stein looked more bewildered than ever. "Average...?"

Spirit set one of his hands atop Stein's forearm. "But I meant what I said. I won't give up on you, Stein. I'm your weapon. And weapons protect their meisters."

"Even to death," he didn't say this time, but it flowed through their resonance and he knew that Stein heard. It wasn't what he focused on, however.

"Average...?" Stein repeated, as if the word was foreign. He yawned again, and Spirit considered only briefly before giving Stein's arm just enough of a tug to shift his balance. The boy responded to the unspoken command and lie down facing Spirit, pulling the second pillow under his head. Spirit rolled to his side and set his hand back on Stein's forearm.

"I know I can't really...be what you need. But we can figure it out together, okay? We were chosen for each other. I'm not going to leave you."

From the core of Stein's soul, a small, scared question threaded its way across their resonance until it was almost all he could hear. But the boy left it unspoken, choosing instead to press his lips together in attempt to stay any outward expression of emotion. But Spirit could see the telltale shine return to his eyes.

"Promise?"

It was so desperate, so uncertain—his meister's hope a mere pinprick of light from the depth of his soul. Spirit slid his hand up to find Stein's again and held on tight.

"I promise," he breathed as exhaustion began to have the final word of the evening. "I'm never leaving you."

His eyes had fallen closed of their own accord, but the sound of Stein's voice pulled them open again.

"Spirit Albarn..." his meister said, looking at him as if seeing him for the very first time and looking through his soul all at once. "How are you real...?"

Spirit didn't know how to answer, so he didn't. But the strength of Stein's wavelength entwining with his told him an answer wasn't needed. Their rising resonance was a blessed relief in the face of his exhaustion, and Spirit let all control fall again. This time, he felt the familiar, expected strength as he let Stein's soul overwhelm his. But it wasn't crushing nor diminishing. Stein's soul simply took his in, wrapping him up and keeping him safe.

His eyes had already closed again.

"You have...the most incredible soul I've ever seen..." Stein murmured into the dark between them.

Spirit wanted to protest that, but he suddenly remembered something. Gathering enough energy to speak took effort, his body rapidly surrendering to the exertion he'd taken on that night, especially with his meister's wavelength there now to sustain him.

"You didn't...answer my question," he said, keeping his eyes closed. He decided he didn't want to see the look on Stein's face when he asked again.

"What?"

"You didn't say... Do you really want to hurt me?"

A powerful shudder from Stein's wavelength caused him to recoil, but it was gone almost instantly, the boisterous frequency calming again to hold his head above water.

"No," came Stein's answer, resolute. "I don't."

Spirit wanted to respond, but the words wouldn't come. He was simply too tired, his eyelids heavy and his entire body screaming with relief as he let himself sink into the softness of the bed.

Behind the dark of his eyes his vision swam, with fire and water and flashes of red, and occasional frightening scenes that made his breath catch. Each time he saw one he pressed his wavelength more strongly into Stein's to keep the madness at bay. Or was it simply his memory of the journey?

He felt his partner's grateful response each time however along with the resounding strength that was given in return, slowly restoring his worn body and exhausted soul.

It had been almost a full year. And Spirit felt he knew the reserved boy pretty well. But it was clear now that he had a lot more to learn. At least, the one thing he knew for certain was his meister was with him. The strength of their resonance proved it... Neither of them was going anywhere.

"Spirit?" he heard his partner's voice come softly, somewhere out of the dark. Stein's fingers fidgeted slightly against his own.

"Hmm..." was the only reply he was capable of. The fire and flood were just a memory now, the darkness behind his eyes only occasionally broken by a flash of red. In their place was blinding brilliance, and he soared into it on the wings of their resonance's song, giving himself to its welcoming peace—the peace he and his meister had found together.

He sank deeper into the mattress, deeper into Stein's soul, letting sleep claim him at last. It was time for that terror-filled night to end. They could work on everything with the new day.

And then, a whisper... A faint ripple of guilt across his wavelength.

"What if I already did?"

Spirit tightened his fingers over Stein's. He pretended he hadn't heard.

A/N: So this was stress-relief writing while I coped with something, but it was inspired by a couple of very specific things. First, by this incredible art by the equally incredible wispforever whose Tumblr is full of lovely, funny, and inspiring Spirit & Stein pieces, and whose Spirit & Stein fics on AO3 are absolutely incomparable. (@wispforever your brilliance is a never-ending source of joy and inspiration for me, sorry not sorry for always telling you lol.) Second inspiration was the song "Crash and Burn" by Savage Garden which honestly could fit any meister and weapon?? It really could. But. I'm obsessed with the song, and it's my young Spirit and Stein anthem. And it's this entire story. It's just...how I see them as a pair. So yeah, there you have it. Also I snuck in a canon quote; Spirit quoted Maka from near the beginning of episode 45. I'm not telling which line, lol. You figure it out. It was just really fun to have him do that, you know? I think they have a lot more in common than we get to see really... And, if anyone cares... Spirit and Stein slept through the morning and when they never showed up for class, Azusa broke in and found them asleep and started scolding them. Spirit basically told her to buzz off and went back to sleep, lol. Stein lingered till he got too antsy and then went to abuse a frog with his scalpel. Anyway...think I'll take this story as part of my headcanon. Hope you enjoyed!

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