Lewis sat in his room, pondering to himself. Recently he'd moved out of the Black Bean to take on his studies at the DWMA full time, but he'd still be working at the Black Bean when he could. It had taken him a little while to move all of his things into the boy's dorm, but his new room was decent if basic. A desk, bed, cupboard, lamp, a window overlooking an excellent example of brickwork… in essence most of what you could expect of a building in the city. Currently he was sitting at his desk with a few of his books open as he pondered. Most of them were just workbooks and textbooks, but those he wasn't paying attention to. It was what they were obscuring that held his full attention. He'd torn out a sheet of paper from one of his workbooks and had made a diagram of plot points in the timeline, growing in complexity as he thought of factors he could potentially influence, either by accident or intentionally. As he explored all of his other options, he could feel his head start spinning. There were just too many variables, too many possibilities for things to go terribly, horribly wrong. As rotten as things were, in the end evil was defeated and good triumphed over it despite all the loss and chaos. But how was he going to prepare for all that was coming? How were he and Vera going to face it? He couldn't use his outsider knowledge in any helpful way either. Otherwise someone might pick up on it and think he was working for the enemy. Maybe he could play it off as a hunch once at most, but even then it wasn't very convincing. At least, not to him.

There was a knock at the door and Lewis covered up his diagrams with the rest of his books before he got the door. Opening it up, it revealed Vera. She still had quite a few bandages and bruises, but she seemed normal otherwise. She also had a fairly sizable sports bag over her shoulder, though it didn't look like it was carrying much.

"Hey Vera. I didn't think they'd let you in here." Lewis said.

"Ah jist told the front desk ah wanted to see you." She shrugged. "You up for some combat training?"

"So soon? You just got out of the nurse's office."

"Ah'm fine. But ah think the sooner we get back into training the sooner we can try for another mission."

"That is a fair point." Lewis nodded. "Alright, let's get to it."

Lewis shut the door behind him as he followed Vera to her favoured training grounds.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

There was a loud mechanical thumping sound as another clay disc was launched into the sky. Vera pulled back her arm and tossed Lewis at it blade first with tremendous force. Steering himself to the best of his ability with his cross guard, Lewis's blade pierced the clay disc and shattered it. As bits of smashed pottery fell to the ground Vera yanked back on the shackle around her arm, drawing Lewis back to her. Catching him by the hilt, she finished with a flourish as the remains of the clay pigeon clattered to the ground.

"Alright! It looks like we're getting better at this." Lewis grinned as his face appeared in the blade.

Vera gave a somewhat stoic nod. It was understandable why she was so moody lately. Her ego was probably still hurting from both the defeat at the hands of the kishin egg and Black Star. Either that or she was just focusing intently on training.

Vera shifted the blade so that she was eye to eye with Lewis. "Say, d'you think we should try and perform a Soul Resonance attack?"

"Really? Would we even be able to at this point?"

Vera gave a shrug. "No point in not tryin'. B'sides, our souls resonate well enough from what ah can tell. May as well give it a shot."

Lewis gave a moment of thought before replying. "Fair enough. How should we do it then? Is there like, a guide on this kind of thing?"

Vera shook her head. "If there was, it'd make all this a lot easier." She said. "But let's just try it and do what seems right."

"Guess so. Ready when you are."

Vera stood still for a moment, holding Lewis in one hand and his length of chain in her other. She studied her target, a raggedy canvas training dummy humanoid in shape and covered in stitches, duct tape and rope with its stuffing poking out at almost every point, but somehow still holding together. They stood like this for a good five minutes before Vera gave a nod.

"Alright. Ah'm ready."

Lewis felt his mind go into a meditative trance. It was as if some kind of dark shadow had blotted out all light, but he could make out hazy pinpoints of light around him. These must have been the souls of others. The closest one was a dark pink orb with a somewhat pensive expression. Lewis briefly paused to wonder what his own soul would look like. Ignoring that, he pushed outwards towards Vera's soul, only to snap back to reality moments later.

"What the? What was that?" Lewis wondered aloud, feeling what he could only describe as existential whiplash.

"Ah think we weren't able to connect our souls is all." Vera sighed.

Now it was Lewis's turn to sigh. "Great. This is going to complicate things."

"Don' worry. We jist gotta keep tryin'." Vera said. "Ah mean, it's as you said right? We can learn to train better. We put up a good fight. Next time we'll put up a better one."

A slow smile spread across Lewis's face. "Yeah. I did say that didn't I? Alright. Let's keep at it."

And keep at it they did. Although progress was almost non-existent at the beginning, the two of them slowly began to progress. Although it was taking hours, and the setbacks were many.

"Let's try it again." Vera would say.

Lewis focused again, his expression one of pent up frustration. As he grew more frustrated he found it harder to connect with Vera. He had only just focused on her soul before snapping back to reality again.

"Ugh, this isn't getting us anywhere!" Lewis groaned.

Vera looked at the clock. They'd started at noon, but six hours was beginning to take its toll on them. Vera's stomach rumbled as she turned to Lewis.

"How's about we get somethin' to eat instead? I think we've done enough for t'day."

Lewis gave another sigh as he transformed back into human shape. "Yeah, I think that may be for the best. We can try again tomorrow. Do you know any good places?"

Vera gave a smile. "Yeah, I think ah do."

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Lewis watched as Vera demolished the burger that had been set down before her. He was genuinely surprised that someone so reserved and dignified as Vera was eating so fast.

'Hidden depths I suppose.' He mentally chuckled as he looked at his own burger.

Like Vera, he'd chosen a burger with the lot. It was just like the ones back home with a thick mince patty, crisp lettuce, fried egg and sliced pineapple topped with tomato sauce. Although he supposed that here it was called ketchup or something. But what really surprised him was that the bun the whole thing was wrapped in was as black as the night sky. Just one of the many grim quirks of Death City he supposed. Lewis looked back to Vera, who had pretty much almost finished her burger.

"Are you sure you should be eating that so fast? You don't want to get a stomach ache."

Vera chewed her burger contently before swallowing. "Ah can't help it. It's jist so tasty." She shrugged.

"That it is." Lewis agreed. "So Vera, what are your interests?"

Vera looked up from her hamburger. "Interests? Whaddya mean?"

"Like movies, games, hobbies, stuff like that."

"Hmm. Well, ah do like watching mixed martial arts videos on the internet and watching professional wrestling on TV. Though ah guess you meant outside of fightin' huh?"

"Something like that. You can't be training all the time."

"Ah suppose. Ma told me a lot about baking and Pa told me how to handle cards just in case."

"What do you mean 'just in case'?"

"Pa always wanted to be a real card shark, but could never git the hang of it. The stress of professional games jist didn't do well fer 'im." She explained. "Ah think he might've thought ah might be tempted to try it someday."

"Geez, how old were you?"

"Ah reckon about eight years when I won my first real poker game." She said. "Ah won five hundred dollars. But that was all before ah became a Meister."

"Huh. Not bad."

"What about you? Not a lot of folks know much about that infamous Sky Kid." She said.

Lewis gave a small snort. "Man, I'm starting to hate that nickname… But anyways, I'm mostly a gamer. Video games, table top games, card games. I'm not too much of a poker player, but I like to think I can hold my own."

"Maybe we should have a game sometime."

"Yeah, but it's not too fun with just two people." Lewis shrugged.

"Ah'm sure we could find some more players. What about your other friends? That Maka girl seems nice."

"Eeh, I'm not too sure they're the card type."

"Still worth askin' ain't it?"

Lewis ummed and ahed for a mental minute before responding. "I suppose it is worth a shot. Soul might be interested too if not Maka."

"We should ask when we next see 'em." Vera suggested.

"I'll try to remember." Lewis nodded before taking a bite of his burger. "Mmm… this is really good!"

Vera smiled. "This is my favourite place to grab a bite to eat. It's probably not the healthiest, but ah can jist work it off while training."

"Yeah, you do a lot of training too."

"Well, ah want to be a great Meister someday." She nodded. "And to do that ah've got to work harder than anyone else."

"You can't work hard all the time though." Lewis warned. "It's like an air tank. You fill it with too much pressure and it'll explode. You've got to let some of the stress out every now and again. At least, that's how I excuse my laziness."

Vera gave a small chuckle. "You're an oddball ain't ya?"

Lewis' expression shifted to a more sombre mood. "I suppose I would be, wouldn't I?"

Vera blinked as she looked at Lewis' sudden change in attitude. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Oh? Uh, don't worry. It's nothing." Lewis said before hastily taking another bite of his burger.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

After eating at the diner, Lewis and Vera headed back to the dorms. It was on the way that Vera and Lewis were discussing what their Soul Resonance attack could be.

"Well since you're a sword weapon it might be some kinda powerful slashing attack." Vera reasoned.

"That is true, but somehow I get the feeling my chain is going to be incorporated somehow." Lewis said. "But then again some weapons change form when Soul Resonance occurs, so I wonder if I'll change to a different form. Or what it'll feel like."

"Ah don't imagine it'll be much different from transforming normally for you."

"That is true." Lewis shrugged. "I just wonder if our assumptions are wrong. Or if it'll even be possible for us."

"Ain't you some kinda prodigy though?" Vera asked.

"You can only travel so far on dumb luck. Hard work is what sets prodigies apart from the successful."

"Then ah guess we'll be doin' a lot of training then, eh pardner?" Vera grinned.

Lewis returned the smile. "Darn tootin' pardner."

Vera started snickering as they kept walking.

"What, too much?" Lewis asked.

"Yer a special kinda silly ain't ya?"

"Hey, some people find it endearing."

Vera gave a simple smile as they arrived at the front of the dorms.

"This was pretty fun. I guess we'll be training again tomorrow?" Lewis asked.

"Yup." Vera nodded. "Should ah come wake you up again?"

"I wasn't asleep then, but after today I probably will be. So yeah, knock yourself out." Lewis said as he waved Vera goodbye as she walked back to her dorms.

Lewis decided to head inside, his key in hand as he stepped into the common room. None of the weapons or meisters here he recognised, aside from a few that were in his classes. He'd not really spoken with any of them but they didn't seem too antagonistic. Which was good. After all, Lewis got the feeling that there were far, far bigger fish to fry than puffed up academy bullies. Lewis menally sighed.

'Well now that I have done my training with Vera I can get back to what I was doing. Let me see… what was I doing before…' he thought before he was stopped by the realisation. 'Oh no.'

Lewis' pace hastened as he began striding to his room. If anyone got their hands on the time-line sheet he'd planned out, he had no idea what could happen. If Medusa got her hands on it she might destroy him or brainwash him into her servitude. If Stein found it he'd probably torture him to death. As Lewis rounded the corner, he saw two individuals in white coats conversing outside his room.

"Professor Stein! Nurse Medusa?" he asked as he slowed his pace. "Wha-what are you two doing outside my room?"

Both Medusa and Stein turned to look at the new participant in their conversation. "Lewis. There you are." Stein greeted him. "You seem a little tired."

Catching his breath, Lewis cleared his throat. "I was training with Vera. I just got back."

"I see." He said. "As for why the nurse and I were standing outside your door, I was just catching up with one of my students who hadn't turned in an assignment yesterday after they'd been given an extension time. After that I saw Nurse Medusa through the halls and decided to strike up a conversation. Purely platonic I assure you."

Medusa gave a curt huff as she turned away, nose upraised. "Hmph! I'm sure you meant it that way."

"Oh come on, you didn't really think I was interested in that did you?" Stein said with a grin.

What followed was a class A slap as Professor Stein was sent spiralling into the opposite wall before Medusa stormed off with indignity. Maybe false indignity Lewis had to remind himself as he picked up the patchwork professor off the ground.

"Uh, here you go Professor." Lewis said.

"Not a problem." Stein said as he dusted off his labcoat.

Lewis gave a small sigh. "Well, I guess I'd better get back to what I was doing."

"Hold on a moment." Stein said, stopping him before he started moving again. "Now that you're here there's something I wanted to raise with you."

"Is it about Vera's powers?"

"Not exactly." Stein said, putting a hand into his pocket. "It's more about yours."

"My powers?" Lewis echoed. "We're progressing with our-"

"I mean this." He said, drawing out a sheet of paper from his pocket.

Lewis' jaw dropped. It was the timeline he was plotting, its complex web sprawled over the page. Lewis looked up to Stein's eyes. They showed absolutely no emotion whatsoever whereas Lewis was sure his were betraying his surprise and fear. Stein put the evidence away before adjusting his glasses.

"So it's as I thought. You're not quite who you say you are, are you Sky Kid?" he chuckled. "But the question remains. What indeed, are you?"

"Uh… P-Professor Stein?" Lewis stammered. "C-ca-can I suggest we go somewhere a little less… populated?"

"What a coincidence. I was about to suggest the same thing. Had you predicted that as well?"

"No, I-"

Stein grabbed his shoulder and moved away with Lewis. "Enough. We're going to my lab. We'll talk more there."

Lewis had never felt such intense dread come from mere contact before. As he looked back to his room he began to feel that he would not survive the night in the mad teacher's laboratory.

A/N

A/N

A/N

Uh, hey. Bet you didn't expect to hear from me again. Because of the, y'know, saying I was leaving thing. Anyway, I have another announcement.

After getting a lot of requests, I've decided to go back on my word. I know, shocker. I do that a lot now that I look back on it (How's that Insidious Fairy remake coming along, eh?). But I don't think I should just leave all you guys hanging with nothing, so I've decided to at least try to finish all the Wannabe stories I wrote and at least give a somewhat satisfying conclusion to each one. After that, I'm out. Unless I go back on my word again, which is entirely possible.

However, there will be some changes to how I write because of this. Mainly the chapter length will be shortened just to make it a little easier on me since now that I'm at university I've got a lot of things to keep track of with independent living, keeping myself fed, looking for work, meeting new people and not even mentioning my classes. But like I said, I've got to give you guys something so something is what I'll give you.

Secondly is that I'll be writing all of the chapters before uploading them instead of uploading them weekly as I go along. I think it'll make me feel as if I need to actually finish the story since uploading single chapters gives a weird sense of completion all on its own. And I want to finish these stories, so you guys might be left hanging for another while.

But I promise you, on my internet honour I will complete these stories. However long it may take, I'll get them done.

Thanks for sticking around.

-The Shrubbery King/plotdotgif