The streets of London gave off a cold and somber mood to the residents of Fleet Street. The most notable of the buildings was a two story business complex. On the bottom floor was a dark and empty pie shop. The paint had begun to peel and fade, the wood had long since started to splinter, and the sign that had said "Ms. Lovett's Meat Pies" hung my a single thread of rope. The abandoned barber shop that nestled on top of the pie shop was in worse condition. The windows cracked from the assaults of children who passed time throwing rocks at the exposed glass, the wood had reached a similar state as the pie shop down below and inside sat a dust covered moth eaten barber chair that sat in solitude.

Out side stood a man in a brown vest, white frilled shirt, and black pants with matching shoes. His face as pale a dirty snow white, eyes dark and sunken, his dark hair tainted by a streak of bone white. The man stood on the wet cobblestone road staring into the dank once proud home of a once great barber.

"It has all gone to hell," said the skunk haired man. "I wonder, is she still here? Is she alright?"

The man moved to the front of the building towards the door. He raised his frail hand and rasped his knuckles against the time worn wood. Silence followed the knocking. The man had almost given up and had begun to turn away from the establishment until he heard the taping of shoes. Each tap getting louder indicating that the person was getting closer. The door opened by a hair and a single eye peered out of the darkness staring in an intense stare.

"What do you want, wanker?" Said the woman. Her voice was weak and raspy.

"I would like to come in for a bit maim." The man said. "Would it be to much trouble to ask for some food." The woman looked in surprise at the unrecognized face.

"Are you a ghost? Haven't had a customer in a long while." The woman spoke.

"I am a ghost in a sense, maim." The man spoke softly. "A ghost of who I used to be."

Soul walked down the hallway of the DWMA. His back slouched and his face wore a bored expression as he strolled down the empty hallway. Why would Maka want to have an extra practice on a Saturday of all days? Souls eyes were sore from having to wake up early. Maka had forced him out of bed at five in the morning, and used her book as incentive in case he decided to return to his peaceful slumber. They had yet to master the genie hunter even after their battle with Asura. When she had used the technique to cut into the demon god's shoulder she had in fact used it with full conscience. However, since the battle she had only been able to use witch hunter, and completely unable to achieve the Genie hunter. This didn't worry Soul as much as it did Maka. After all with Asura, Medusa, and Arachnophobia defeated their was no immediate threat to humanity.

Soul sighed in frustration. Of course he would have to waste an entire Saturday to let Maka have her paranoid fueled episodes. The hallway was completely silent except for the taping of his shoes that made a rhythmic beat as he walked across the floor. Soul couldn't help but smile, even though he had used the DWMA as a way to escape his music crazed family; he couldn't help but love how the piano sounded. The feel of the keys on his finger tips as his hands assaulted the keys, and the haunting sound of his favorite melody. The melody that described him in all his twisted, dark, madness.

Oh yes Soul, your wavelength has a wonderful tune to it. Especially when Madness drives the tempo. Said the small red demon.

Souls eyebrows pinched together in frustration at the sound of the Imp's wispy voice. During the battle with Asura, Soul had devoured the shrunken Imp after accepting the deceitful creature as part of himself. Unfortunately, after a few months the demon resurface in his mind. Soul hated the damn thing, it annoyed the hell out of him.

And yet you have yet to tell Maka about my return. Whats holding you back? Do you not want to make her worry? He teased.

Soul tried to tune the annoyance out, but that proved to be a taxing task. Eventually the demon would grow tired of his nagging and would recede back into the darkest parts of Soul's subconscious. Soul was so lost in thought that he failed to realize that he had begun to pass Maka by and was only broken of his self induced trance; was the sound of Maka yelling across the courtyard he had walked into. Maka waved to him, and soul began to walk over to her. Soul had walked out into a brightly lit day, and the sun began to warm the back of his jacket causing his back to begin to sweat.

"It's to early for a practice Maka," Soul complained. "Especially on a saturday, uncool." Maka glared at him to be quiet.

"It may be early Soul." Said Maka. "But we can't use the Genie Hunter, and Witch Hunter isn't powerful enough if a Kishin ever emerges again?" She looked at him as if this should be obvious. Soul however could not understand Maka's logic, but instead of arguing and possibly receiving a lecture or even worse a book to the head Soul decided to remain quite.

"Maka, why are we here in the court yard?" Soul asked as he raised an eye brow. "We're not going to train out here are we?"

Maka laughed. "No, Soul. We're here waiting on someone."

"Who?"

"That would be me." said a voice from behind Soul. Soul turned to find a tall thin figure looming over him like a perched vulture waiting for road kill to feast on. His face was slack. Covered in stitches and in the side of his lip loosely hung a lit cigarette that burned brighter every time he inhaled. Stein leaned close towards Soul and blew a stream of smoke into his face. Soul chocked on the sudden inhalation of the cancerous mist.

"You two are going to due some special training." Stein smiled sadisticly. The way the professor smiled sent chills down Soul's spine and made Maka's skin crawl. Maka was reminded of their first encounter with the mad man. She remembered how he had grabbed her hair and threatened to dissect her. Professor Stein had his ups and down since returning to the DWMA, and even after Crona sliped one of Medusa's snakes and caused Steins relapse; the stitched together madman had made a recovery and gained control of himself once again. Much of it was due to Mis. Marie's healing soul wavelength.

"Let's get on with it." Said Stein. He pushed his hand into the left side of his lab coat and brought out a white clay pot. He repeated the process with the right side of his coat bringing out a beaker full of water corked with a black stopper. "Maka, do you remember that time I had Blackstar place his hand in a similar jar?"

"Yes," Maka answered. "The jar was magic, and it started to drain his excess power."

"Correct!" Stein smiled. "However this jar works quite the opposite way. Blackstar's problem was he had to much power. You however do not have enough. This jar will increase the power of your soul wavelength." He uncorked the beaker and poured the water into the jar. He held it out for the two to place their hands inside. "Just put one finger into the water. If you absorb to much it could kill you."

Soul and Maka gulped. "This seems a bit drastic!" Maka replied.

"Yes, but its only part of your training." He continued. "You two have been relying on each other to much. What will happen when your separated? Both BlackStar and Subakie know hand to use hand to hand combat, even kid can defend himself with out Liz and Patty."

"So? We're going to learn what, karate?" Soul questioned. Stein smiled from ear to ear.

"First place a finger inside the jar." Stein grinned. Soul and Maka moved their hands towards the jar and felt the cold water surround their fingers. Nothing happened at first, but in a moment a sudden surge of power pulsed thru their fingertips and across their entire being. It felt like pure energy that burned every molecule and electrocuted every nerve ending. At first the weapon and mister nearly doubled over in pain, but managed to stand still in case their movements caused the contents of the jar to spill over and kill them. When Stein removed their fingertips from the jar, the weapon and miester pair glowed a bright neon blue, and residual power shot off of their bodies as electrical sparks. The power had given them a sudden burst of energy that instantaneously dissipated. Leaving them sore and weak.

"What the hell?" Soul struggled to speak. "I thought you said it would give us power. I feel like absolute shit."

"Ah yes," the Professor smiled. "Unfortunately, it is a long term process, and it will take weeks of constant use for your power levels to gain any substantial growth. Today, we will be focusing on combat."Stein started towards the opposite of the courtyard and soon vanished out of sight. The two followed the Professor, and a while later they had caught up with Stein. He was walking fast, his lab coat swaying in the lite breeze he created when he walked.

Fifteenth minutes later, Stein had led them to an open area surrounded by trees. The same place he had taken them when he was teaching group soul resonance. Stein stopped in the middle of the clearing and turned to face Maka and Soul.

"Now, you two are going to attempt to fight. First I want you to attack a tree." He motioned his hand to a tree to his right. While Maka was hesitant at first, Soul rushed in changing his arm into his scythe blade mid run and planted the blade into the side of tree. His blade sunk a good foot into the trunk. He struck it with too much force and the blade was stuck in the wood; Soul struggled to remove his arm from the tree, but his efforts were in vain.

"Ah, thank you Soul for giving me a perfect example." Soul glared at Stein, but if Stein noticed then he didn't care. "You use two much effort. You have enough strength to bring the tree down. But you didn't do it properly." He walked over to Soul and extended his arm out for the weapon to take it. Soul grabbed his hand and transformed into his complete scythe form. Stein single handily ripped the scythe from the tree trunk and swung it around his back. He then brought it down in one swift swoop slicing the ground in front of it.

"What the hell!" Soul's voice shouted from the scythe. "You didn't even hit it!"

"Just watch." Stein whispered. Stein slammed Soul's scythe blade into the ground, and walked over to the tree. He stopped just in front of it; he then placed his hand on the tree and gave it a slight push. The tree toppled over and slowly fell resulting in a large crash. "The trick you see, is to attack at just the right spot."

"You need to use your head, Soul. Maka, on the other hand needs more physical power, but seeing as how she's two weak instead she will learn how to attack in other ways." Stein continued. "Soul transform back." Soul flashed a bright white light and in a second was standing with his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, now Maka," Maka jumped to attention at the mention of her name. "I want you to attack Soul. Hit him in his throat." Maka looked at him in shock, but Stein nodded his head in Souls' direction telling her to go ahead and attack him. Maka wore a expression of reluctance but ran to attack her weapon partner. Before Soul could respond Maka planted the knuckles of her fist into the soft flesh of Soul's throat. Soul doubled over clutching his neck, gasping as he struggled to breath.

"What the hell Maka? Why did you actually do it.?" Soul struggled to speak.

"I'm sorry Soul!" Maka shouted as she ran over to help Soul.

"No Maka, that was good." Stein praised her. "You need to learn a person's weak spots" Both Soul and Maka stared daggers at the mad man. Something caught Stein's eye as he looked up towards the sky. Maka and Soul both turned their heads to see a black speck in the sky coming towards them. As it got closer the speck became much clearer, and Death the Kid could be seen riding his skateboard Beelzebub thru the air.

"What's Kid doing here?" Soul questioned still clutching his throat. Before they could even ponder the reason why Kid would be out this far from the academy or his house he sped towards the trio leaving behind trails of cartoon shaped skulls in the smoke. Kid stopped mid flight a few feet in front of them.

"Soul, Maka, Professor my father wants to see us in the death room." Kid sped off towards the academy. The three followed him heading towards the death room. The bright warming sun suddenly felt a little colder.