Freedom at Last?

[Just got done with the episode where Stein comes in o3o]

Kurai looked to the fragments of Scarlet's blade on the ground. He began to ponder lightly if she was going to be mad at him for devouring her a few months ago if she was revived a second time; however, he excused the thoughts and looked back up to Death. He just leaned forward before standing back up straight and knelt, gathering up Scarlet's fragments in his hand. "Can you do me a favor," he asked Death when he turned to leave. "Please tell him to let me in when I show up... Can't be evaluated if I can't get into the room for evaluation." He had pointed with his free hand to Spirit as he stepped towards the exit. When wandering down the halls, he noticed it was getting darker outside, and yet Stein was apparently still at the academy. "Talk about hardcore workers," he thought to himself as he knocked on the door and pushed it open. "Stein... Death said I should come," he spoke up. "He said you know how to help with resonating." He walked into the room and set Scarlet's fragments on the table. "He said you could help me remember how to..." He looked over to the instructor.

"Yes, Lord Death explained the situation to me. I understand that you wish to resonate with your previous partner, to regain a connection with her. At the very least you will be able to communicate directly to her soul, so long as this succeeds of course, but there could be greater effects. It depends on how well you resonate."

Stein turned his bolt, adjusted his glasses, and then continued talking.

"My first and foremost fear is that your soul wavelengths are no longer as compatible with each other as they used to be. This could weaken the power of the resonance or even make resonance between your souls impossible."

He paused for a few seconds.

"Now to begin with, you are an experienced meister, therefore you should be able to sense your partners soul. If you can, try to connect your own soul with it, but not to the point of resonance. If you are unable to, then I'm afraid nothing more can be done for you."

Kurai looked to Stein and listened to his instruction. "C, connect our souls but not resonate... Incompatibility," he thought to himself. He tried to remember how he was supposed to do that, but ran without luck. All he could do was go off of light intuition, the kishin looking to Scarlet's scythe fragments. He began to focus gently on sensing, finding that a strange orb began to take shape around one. That was the fragment he picked up, looking to it with light surprise that he could still even sense a soul. "Like this," he asked Stein as he focused on reaching Scarlet and establishing a connection, their souls touching but not going farther than that. Upon connecting it gave him (Kurai) a light voltage throughout his body, though he withstood it and kept the connection going. "What now," he asked Stein as he held his hand tightly around the fragment, eyes closed in focus.

Stein looked closely at Kurai.

"Now, here's where things get tough. You can't go back once you begin this, otherwise you could risk damaging Scarlet's soul permanently, so I'd advice you to consider this before going through with it. If you succeed with this next part, you will be able to talk to Scarlet directly for the first time since you merged with her."

He took a breath.

"This is the part where the soul resonance comes in."

Kurai took a deep breath as he continued to hold Scarlet's fragment in his hand tightly, his eyes seemingly glued shut as the small surge of voltage kept powering through his body and soul. "I'm ready," he told Stein after a few moments of silence. "I need to resonate with her again... I need to make up for getting her destroyed twice." He spoke lightly in guilt. By feeling what he did his soul began to move closer to Scarlet's without his input, a small amount of resonance beginning as his wavelength adjusted minimally towards Scarlet's. "What do I need to do," he asked.

"First of all, you must make sure you have a strong connection with her soul. If the connection is unstable at all, you may loose her during the resonance, and her soul will be cut off. Imagine it like this, you and Scarlet are both electrical devices. When resonance occurs, you both increase the voltage that is running through you, thus increasing your power. When you reach resonance, the voltage is off the charts. Now imagine if you suddenly and swiftly unplugged Scarlet while the socket was still running at millions of volts. What would happen then? Well, let's just say it would cause great damage to both of your souls, and the weak state that hers is in right now, that may be more than she can handle."

Kurai felt a little afraid of destroying Scarlet by complete accident; that was why he ended up checking their connection at least twice to make sure that it was at its strongest. "Okay," he breathed out in a sigh, growing his focus on increasing the resonance. The fragment in his hand began to glow a light purple, a light wind beginning to kick up in the classroom. "Resonance," he spoke up loudly, a handle beginning to shape in his hand. After about ten minutes, Scarlet was back, her reflection showing up in the blade as she looked to Stein. "Thanks," she told him before she turned back and stepped from Kurai over to him. "For bringing me back... But I can't be his weapon anymore."

Stein did his signature 'spectacles adjustment', causing his glasses to flare in the light, before turning the bolt one click. He then looked over to Scarlet, and then to Kurai. "Interesting, the resonance caused Scarlet to recover almost completely. What an odd situation, a kishin egg with a healing wavelength... How peculiar..." he said. He then looked to Scarlet as she spoke, and then looked to Kurai once again, his face remaining monotonous and unchanging. "Lord Death was afraid this would happen..." he said, commenting on the words spoken by Scarlet. It wasn't very unexpected, Scarlet's choice was very much justified; despite Kurai's change of heart and even him reviving her, he was the one that committed the evil act that caused Scarlet's situation.

Kurai listened to Stein's comment and he grabbed Scarlet's arm. "What do you mean," he asked, her pulling her arm free as it turned into a scythe blade. "What I mean is that you ate me," she yelled and turned. "You're a danger not just to me or others, but yourself!" She lunged forward, Kurai staggering back as she prepared to fight. "We were good friends but you accepted a kishin into your soul..." She shook her head gently. "No, you are one! Die kishin!" She kept attempting to strike him, Kurai dodging under desks and around the classroom. He understood her notion and her actions, feeling apologetic. "I won't do it again," he cried out. "Lies! You did it once; even you can't control a kishin egg," Scarlet argued back, and after half an hour passed he was still running. She caught him off-guard by predicting his move to dodge. "So die!" She struck him across the chest, leaving a wound for Kurai to fall to the ground with that wouldn't kill him, but leave him in a bit of pain. She stood dominantly over him, angrily preparing to put his life to an end alongside the kishin egg before her scythe blade disappeared. She looked to her arm, shaking it a bit while she looked to Stein. "It, it just disappeared," she told him aloud in confusion and despair. "Where'd it go!? I'm so close to ending the kishin!" Kurai had his eyes closed tightly with a few tears in his eyes; he didn't exactly want to die.

At the very moment that Scarlet was about to end Kurai's life, Stein quickly lunged forward and thrust his hand onto Scarlet's upper chest. "Soul Thread!" So long as the attack was successful, Stein released multiple binding threads of soul wavelength throughout Scarlet's body. This caused her to be immobilised, but the attack required great concentration and if Stein stopped concentrating, the threads would release Scarlet. "Kurai, move out of the way," he grunted, trying to speak while using his uttermost concentration to keep the Soul Thread from falling apart. He had no intentions of inflicting pain on Scarlet, however, as Kurai was still technically a human, he had to defend him, even if Scarlet kind of had a right to take revenge on him.

[So Stein wants to protect Kurai but feels Scarlet has a right to revenge? xP]

Scarlet, after having wiggled her arm a bit in confusion, found herself struck and threaded in place by Stein's wavelength. "It isn't like I can kill him anyway," she told him upsettedly. "I can't get my arm to change into a blade anymore!" She had been trying to for the past few moments, and it clearly wasn't working. Kurai, meanwhile, listened to Stein and got up, putting his left hand over the cut Scarlet had made while he walked and leaned against the wall Scarlet was facing. "I can't change my arm! I can't even change at all! What'd he do to me," Scarlet yelled aloud in frustration at Stein, Kurai hearing a light sound. It sounded as though metal had collided against metal, or blade against blade, and it prompted him to look to his right hand. His fingers had turned into small blades from the middle of his fingers to the tip, his expression turning into light surprise and fear. "I, Instructor Stein... What is this!" He had absorbed Scarlet's abilities as a weapon by some strange means and he was just learning about it. When Scarlet saw it, despite being unable to move her head, the look in her eyes showed both anger and depression. "I'll kill him twice now! Thief! Liar! Kishin!" Kurai didn't hear the names with his focus lost to the blades for his fingers. With the arrival of new capabilities, he began to feel a light temptation to strike down Scarlet and take her soul, though it was so weak he resisted without problem. "B, blades? Where did they come from," he asked himself lightly waiting for Stein's response.

[Too long, too long a nom xP]

("I, Instructor Stein" : I, Frankenstein xD)

Stein released the threads, although at the same time he made sure to hold Scarlet back. He couldn't let her go, even though her weapon powers had somehow left her she still posed a threat and was extremely motivated to kill, Kurai was in a weakened state after all, and there were still many ways for her to kill him, even if she wasn't able to turn into a weapon. He then looked to Kura and read his soul wavelength. "How interesting... When Scarlet split from you her weapon DNA was left in your body... That means that you're a weapon now, a true kishin egg. As for Scarlet, if she so wishes, she is now able to become a meister. But first on the topic of you becoming a weapon, I wonder what kind of weapon you've become... The weapon DNA should have mixed with your own DNA, so your weapon may be something completely different to Scarlet. Are you able to transform?"

[Lulz, Frankenstein o3o] [Also, it took longer than I thought; had a lab report to write and then a post to make on PW... Such work, much distress, long post to relieve! p3p]

"Let me kill him," Scarlet cried out to Stein, her rage evident while she attempted to get her hands closer to Kurai. Being held back by the instructor felt greatly like a betrayal, and though she'd soon understand his reasoning, it didn't lessen what she felt. She turned, rushing towards the door causing it to fly open when she flung it backwards, her gaze looking to Stein before Kurai. "I won't forgive you kishin! You'll die someday," she spoke upset. Kurai just felt a bit worse, having zoned back to actual reality to hear what she spoke. Scarlet had begun to find him a real monster to the point she wouldn't call him by his name anymore. Unable to hear her footsteps after just a mere few seconds, Kurai lowered his head before he leaned it up to look at Stein, listening to what he said about her genetics having passed to him.

When questioned about turning into a weapon, he wasn't quite sure if he could. "I... I'm just learning about this myself instructor..." He spoke he would attempt to, and after a few moments of deep focus, it seemed to work; he was gone in a mystifying black flash, appearing on the ground as a weapon of dark color. It wasn't long after he changed that he turned back into a humanoid, looking to his right hand having turned normal again. With that seemingly solved for the time, he slid down the wall he was leaned against and tightly grasped where he had been struck, tears finding their way to his eyes as he felt pain from the wound finally. "I'm not just some monster," he told Stein. "Even if weapon and kishin now... It's not like I've killed someone; I haven't... I haven't opened the third eye and fallen to madness..." He seemed to head somewhere. "So why... Why must I only be called 'Kishin'!" He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes with his free arm. "I am a kishin, but not the spawn of a devil! I have a name!"

He stood up anew and squeezed his nose gently, shutting out his crying as he stepped towards the door a single time. "I shouldn't bother you with my emotions... I'm just a wreck..." He turned his back to the door and looked to Stein. "I'm not even a student here anymore. But thank you for helping me as you have." He turned and wrapped his arms gently. "I'll prove I'm not evil; I'm a good kishin... I won't kill for greed, lust, or power." His words would provide explanation as per why his wavelength was one of healing as well as how he could harness the egg in his soul for power. Regardless, he left and returned to his home, aware that he was likely going to be questioned when he went for his examination in a few days. He looked to the mirror he had cracked, tossing his key to the table as he walked and fell to his bed. "What will Death think... A real kishin egg as an old underling of DWMA... A good kishin..." The questions looped as he fell asleep, his dreams filled with terror to the point he woke up throughout the night. And this repeated the next night... It then repeated a third night as he woke up and walked to a window at five in the morning.

"Tomorrow's the examination... And I can't even sleep." His head rung as he resisted another surge from the kishin egg, looking to his torso having bandaged himself up. "Is Death going to have me killed... Or after the examination will he think of me as a chance to have a kishin that fights other eggs..." He began to think even further to the point that perhaps he could even end up Death's partner, but he laughed off the idea even thoug his heart felt it as a possibility. "I should try to rest more... Death would be disappointed if I collapse and snooze in the Death Room." He turned to head to rest before he heard a light sound, tilting his head to listen in a bit sure it wasn't really anything of concern for him.

The door then make a loud clanking sound, being unlocked by a key from the outside hallway. The door opened, emanating a creaking sound as it did so. A subtle light from the candles in the hall eased in through the space between the ajar door and the wall, but it wasn't anything too vibrant. Stein walked in with a mirror, where Death's image was shown. "Your kishin egg seems to be stable for now. It is still safely contained within your human soul. Lord Death would also like to speak to you," he said, positioning the mirror so Death could talk to him. "Hello, Kurai. I have some good news for you. After a successful first evaluation, we've decided to accept you into the academy! There is one condition, however. We ask of you not to tell any of the students about your kishin egg. It would alarm them and one thing we don't need here is panic. Do you accept?"

[Examination at 5 AM? Hardcore xP]
[Could you explain what a healing wavelength is? I know what one like Maka's does, but I don't think the anime really explains healing wavelengths well, or even at all]

Kurai was caught off-guard to find that the sound was the door being opened. Upon seeing Stein enter with Death's image in a mirror, he clinked a few times. He listened that he had been accepted again to the academy, a little surprised about that and that they had come to him as opposed to the other way around. Upon thinking a moment, he looked to Death directly. "Death, aren't they all aware I'm already a kishin? I was poked and used in classrooms after all." He then pointed to a closed eye on his head. "And then there's this. It's not open, but it's there." His hand then fell to his side. "Then there's Scarlet... She'd get me killed." He then silenced, thinking a moment; no one had really seen him out of the armor he had worn for months. "But I suppose... Supposedly they wouldn't know if I had been armored." He put one hand on his chin. His eyes showed strain from exhaustion without peaceful rest. "I guess I can accept..." He looked up from where his eyes had turned downward in thought. "I wouldn't tell anyone because I'd be killed." After a few minutes of being silent, he then spoke. His thoughts had turned to his nightmares. "Death, could I... Could I ask you a question about something one-to-one?"

[Well it's basically self explanitory, the only person shown in the anime (so far x3) with a healing wavelength is Marie. When a person with a healing wavelength resonates they are able to heal anyone that they touch. it can also purify, shown when Marie tries to make Medusa 'good' by hitting her as a hammer, however the attempt fails as Medusa dodges the attacks, as it needs to touch to have any effect.]

"Of course! Of course! Come see me in the Death room! I'll tell Death Scythe to give use some privacy right away!" replied Death. Stein then looked at Kurai, noticing his armor. "You don't need to keep your armor up you know, you aren't in any danger here," he pointed out, before leaving.

[Long nom o3o]

Upon Stein having mentioned it, Kurai noticed freshly that he was in his kishin armor. Immediately dissipating it, he rushed towards the door before through the hall and down the stairs. He passed by Stein before he was out the front of the building and headed towards the academy. He began to think about what he was going to tell Death, looking to his hand one moment seeing a hallucination before it disappeared. It scared him lightly as he got into the academy and headed immediately for the Death Room, having run their quickly without much of a problem. He breathed heavily as he sat down inside of the room, relaxing and calming himself noticing that Death Scythe (Spirit) wasn't there. He looked up to the strange, black, unsymmetrical figure that was Death, thanking him for permitting him time to talk with him. "Especially on short notice... I... Um, just wanted to talk a bit with you... About something that's been happening the last couple of days..."

"Well," Kurai began. With a bit of focus he had blades in place of his fingers, holding the hand up to Death. "I'm a little afraid to be a weapon... I've always been a meister, and I can see everyone nagging me now..." His vision shifted to Death's mask, his hand turning normal as he sat it down. "Stein said I had a healing wavelength... I don't know what that is... Which makes me confused even more..." He lowered his head lightly. "And then... Then..." He fell silent a moment. "There's the nightmares. I haven't been able to sleep the past few days... And I woke up this morning in my kishin armor when I hadn't any input on it." He raised his head to look to Death. "The first two nights I dealt with the nightmares... All they were were of watching my mother's death, but last night... Something beckoned to me in my sleep... It scared me Death; this... Thing... It spoke to me, called me a friend... It told me I was just like it and that it would make me feel better... It was my kishin armor, the small holes for its eyes glowing red, and human blood dripping from the mouth." He was beginning to tear up lightly. "It told me it would be my flesh if I accepted it and let it devour me!"

Kurai placed a hand on his neck, feeling his breath shorten just by talking about the dream. "When I looked it in the eyes I felt as though I was choking, and as I choked I felt like I was drowning. I looked down and was horrified... There, there was blood coming from the wound Scarlet inflicted, but it was black... It felt warm; I felt empowered watching the wound heal..." He shook his head a bit, releasing his neck. "I could tell it was healing not just in my dream... The thing; the armor; it told me it was a gift, an example of power it'd give if I succumbed to it... I felt like my soul was drowning..." He closed his eyes. "I've kept the kishin egg under wraps and I still can, but I'm afraid to sleep. It'll still be there, waiting for me to pull me into the darkness of madness where I can't be recovered... I know it's the egg doing this..." He then opened his eyes, looking to his hand seeing three eyes drawn on it before the hallucination faded with him gasping for air a single time, his eyes closing a second time to avoid seeing hte hallucination again.

When Kurai entered the Death Room a table was set out with tea on the table, Death himself wating for Kurai holding a cup of tea, occasionally sipping it as the conversation between the two went on.

"Being a weapon is nothing to worry about, in fact, I'd say being a weapon isn't as a difficult job as being a meister. The disadvantage is that a weapon's job is to protect the meister, and in any official business the meister speaks for both themselves and their weapon."

"A healing wavelength is basically as the name suggests. When you resonate with another soul you are able to heal and purify anything you touch."

"I fear that my worries may be beginning to happen, perhaps your soul, however powerful, is unable to fight off the kishin egg and remain stable forever. As I have explained before we may be able to explore the options we have to remove the kishin egg, if you are at all interested. Your kishin egg may give you power, but with some practise, you could quite easily overcome that power without the need for the kishin egg. I do have to limit the ammount of power you are allowed to have for a similar reason, as the more powerful you become, the more powerful the kishin egg becomes. However, it is yours to decide."

Kurai listened to Death's explanation of being a weapon and having a healing wavelength. He was grateful for the information. Upon listening to him talk about his fears, he put a hand over his heart. "Wait, what," he asked lightly, feeling the egg beginning to surge with greater force than it had. He figured he had heard Death wrong and he scratched his head momentarily, thinking about what the shinigami had spoken to him. "Death," he stated a bit calmly. "I don't want to get rid of it... Even if I could surpass the power it has now, I want to use it for good." He grasped his shirt a bit. "I want to learn to be the first good kishin." He laughed lightly. "It's probably a terrible goal, but it's probably just as bad as beginning to want to be your death scythe for my lifetime."

"You wish to be the first good kishin egg, hm?"

Death sipped his tea, and then continued talking.

"Very well, but from now on you are forbidden to consume souls. Any collected souls will have to be delivered to the DWMA, the more souls you consume the more powerful your kishin egg becomes, and we cannot allow that to happen. We are glad that you are eager to aid the DWMA, however, and I would like to express my gratitude."

[If he doesn't consume souls how will he grow in strength?]

Kurai listened to Death. "You wish to be the first good kishin egg, hm," he heard in his mind repetitively before Death continued. He heard the terms of Death permitting him as a kishin in the academy, and all he could do was slide to the table a bit more and put his hands down atop it gently. "Yes," he began. "I can agree to the restrictions. I don't want to eat souls regardless; already have I once been an abomination that did that..." He pondered his past momentarily. "The horror it must've been for the souls I devoured... Even if they were released after time."

He coughed and set a hand over his mouth while he had, laying it down anew as he looked to Death. He was straightening himself up a bit to not feel shame in front of Death. "It does raise one question though Death... How exactly will I train and get stronger to be of more assistance? I'm not exactly a meister anymore, and I don't plan to have one now." He sat back and moved his arms to his lap. "I won't be able to eat souls either. How can I grow my abilities?" He felt a light shiver down his spine from the egg; it was trying to make him crave souls, and it was failing.

Death once again took a sip of his tea, perhaps to buy some time to consider what to say.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to get stronger, as that would mean empowering the kishin egg as well. You know what happened the last time. At the moment, by harnessing the kishin egg's power, you are quite powerful, so it shouldn't matter too much."

He sipped his tea again.

"As for being a weapon with no meister, have you heard the term 'Autonomous Weapon'? An autonomous weapon is a weapon that can fight without the need for a meister, although every weapon is more powerful with a meister. Some weapons find being autonomous more difficult than others, but for you it shouldn't be too difficult. Your weapon form is attachable claws, and when you half transform, you are able to grow the attachable claws from you hand. By practising with fighting like this, you should be able to work well."

Death then slid a piece of paper towards Kurai.

"Here is a contract, agreeing to everything that we have discussed. You don't need to sign it straight away, take as much time as you need."

Death then took a final sip of the tea, finishing the cup.

Kurai listened to Death speaking to him that he couldn't become stronger due to the kishin egg. "But Death, isn't my soul surrounding it? Is it not a possibility to strengthen me but not the egg itself?" He then put a hand lightly on his chin. "Or a possibility that I can learn to utilize its power in more ways than one?" He then looked to the contract set in front of him, wondering if being autonomous was the bets idea; after all, having a meister wasn't what he wanted, and he feared that hte meister would learn his secret regardless.

"Not really... As you know a key attribute of a kishin egg is that they are infinitely power hungry. Well although it doesn't affect you so much, the actual kishin egg itself still holds this attribute. It will fight as hard as it can to obtain any power that it can. When you consume a soul, that egg will do anything it can to harness the power of the soul, therefore it is almost impossible to stop the egg from absorbing the souls that you consume. That's why this decision had to be made."

"Then what of the second option," Kurai asked Death. "Surely that is just mental power; focusing the power where I want it to go with my head." He was pleaing lightly, clearly understanding of Death's explanation. "One may have strength and power, but they may be unable to unlock its full potential just because of the mind." He looked to the contract a second time.