I woke up. That was good. I wasn't sure why I thought I wouldn't? I felt some cool inconstant brush on my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw Mari above me, asleep on the couch, sitting up. I moved up, cringing at the crook in my neck as I rubbed it out. I looked down at Mari, and pulled a blanket over her shoulders.

It was early, the sun hadn't even really broken th horizon yet, but I went to shower anyway. I touched my hair, making a face at the way it felt. Why did hair have to get dirty so quickly? I opened my bathroom door and turned the water of the shower on, humming something as I opened a door, retrieving my tooth brush before brushing my teeth. I lifted my phone, that was charging in the bathroom, as the water started to steam, scrolling through the various texts before ignoring them all and shutting my phone off.

I got into the shower, smiling at the hot water. This was nice. I could have ten minutes under the water to think about nothing but... nothing. I smiled and let my eyes close. 'A snake...' My eyes flashed open as I felt a twist in my gut. I looked down at my stomach.

"I hate you." I said to the probable snake. Could Medusa... or whoever hear me through the snake? That was a little disconcerting. I finished in the shower, my one remaining sacred thing ruined by my troubles. Poor me. I toweled off, coaxing myself into a better mood. I heard Mari swear once, and looked into the living room as I started brushing my hair.

"(Y/n)! Call off your dog! He's licking me!" She yelled, and I started laughing. "Skye!" she said helplessly.

I walked into the room a few minutes later, dressed, and braiding my hair. She looked tired but somehow still presentable as Skye licked her face before seeing me and scampering over. I whooshled his face with pets, grinning down at him. I looked at Mari, seeing her fix her bangs and I gaped a little as I watched visible magic wash over her, her clothing changing. She was now in a black dress, long sleeves reaching down to her wrists while it ended above her knees, her usual leather jacket sitting on the coffee table.

"That's handy." I said, and she laughed. I walked into the kitchen, getting food for Skye as I pondered my refrigerator. I had a jar of jam, an old sandwich. I made a face. I set Skye's food down and looked at the pill container on the counter. I reached in and pulled out a few of the vitamins as Stein had instructed.

"I'll buy you breakfast this morning." Mari said, leaning over my counter and looking at my fridge. Her eyes were bright blue right now, matching her hair. I knew that it was magic over them, hiding the eerie black color they really were. I didn't know why this didn't bother me.

"Okay." I said, walking and pulling my jacket off the hook by the door, snatching Skye's leash, which I didn't really plan on using, from the counter. "I won't complain!" Skye followed me, Mari laughing as I pushed the door open. I didn't lock it, leaving my keys in the apartment. The security was super high, and it wasn't as if I had anything that was really worth anything in the apartment. There were far more interesting things in, say, the infirmary. Lots of jars of things, I'd discovered.

Mari linked her arm into mine, Skye running ahead of us in the hallway. It was barely six. I supposed that I had a free pass from Stein to not go to class, and Mari never really went anyway. I cringed as I thought about all the classes I'd missed recently. Honestly, I couldn't really care. Sitting in a class room and listening to Stein go on about subject he even sounded bored with was beyond insufferable. And anyways, I didn't want to have to think about trivial things like that. I let out a sigh, realizing how I sounded.

"Hey!" a voice called from down the hall, and Mari and I turned to see James's bright face from a little ways away. I smiled as I saw his grin. "I thought I could sense you two leaving. Breakfast?" He asked as he reached us.

Mari smiled and he slipped his arm about her waist, kissing her nose. "Good morning." She said, smiling up at him.

My face was a little pink from their sweet shows of affection. Sure, I had a... situation with the three guys, but Mari and James were just very nice together. Maybe it was because I was close with both of them. "Good morning to you too, James." I said, huffing.

He grinned at me, rolling his eyes. "Oh, come on (Y/n)," he said, his British accent coming through, "let me have a moment with my girlfriend."

"Oh? Girlfriend?" I said, crossing my arms. "Is that what it is now? I'm watching both of you!" I said, smiling.

We continued down the hall, now a group of four with Skye and James. Everything was quiet, the slight sounds of people stating to wake up for school faint on the other sides of doors. It was peaceful, a Thursday. We made it out of the school, and started making our way down the long stairs. I wondered if they'd ever install an elevator?

"It's nice today. A little cold." I said. "I'm glad we don't have to do anything. I might just skip class." I said, bumping into Mari. She laughed and James seemed to pout.

"Oh, come on you two. Don't ditch me in class like you have been doing!" he said.

Mari chuckled. "I'm not technically a student, remember?" She said. I nodded, smirking at James. He looked defeated.

"Don't look so down, James." I said.

He looked up. "Oh that's right. Don't forget, (Y/n). Stein assigned us a mission for this afternoon and evening. He said we're going on it no matter what."

I swallowed, thinking about everything. "But—"

Mari cut in. "Don't worry. I'll come along." She said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "For your first mission, you should really have someone with a little more experience there. You know?"

I nodded, feeling anxiety starting up in the pit of my stomach. "Okay..." I said.

"Enough of that!" Mari said, letting go of James and grabbing me, pulling me to the nearest breakfast place. It was a small shop full on tiny table and cute little chairs. We took a seat and a waitress came up, taking our orders.

I looked out the window, Skye sitting quietly with his head resting on my leg. When our food came, I gave him half of my bacon, smiling at the way that he licked his chops. "What a good dog." I said, petting his head.

"Maybe I'll get a dog." Mari said, munching her food. James had a coffee, nothing else, and he watched with a smile as Mari ate her four plates of food. I wondered sometimes how she weighed a hundred thirty pounds instead of three hundred. Although, I never saw her actually eat lunch, and she did go on a lot of side mission for Stein and the other administration, so she must've gotten a lot of exercise.

"Are you sure that's a good idea in your fancy apartment?" He asked. She chuckled and shrugged, continuing to eat.

When we were all finished, we paid and started walking back to the Academy. We still had twenty minutes or so to get to class, and stein was usually late on Thursdays for some reason. We climbed the stairs and went to the classroom. I decided to take Skye with me, some people flocking around him like it was the first dog they'd seen in months.

We all took our seats as Stein rolled into the classroom exactly seven minutes late. He started the lesson immediately, not fazed by the dog. The class was energetic, Stein deciding to give us a study period, and, apparently, we had nothing to study for so it was free. All our friends gathered and we had a pretty normal day.

It was all very odd. Only James and Mari had any idea out of our friends on what was actually happening to me. It was a little hard to act totally normal about everything. I dazed off a few times, Patti continually talking into my ear to wake me up.

When class ended for lunch, Stein called us over. "(Y/n), James," he said, looking at Mari for a moment. They seemed to have a silent conversation. "Mari," he added. "Your assignment. You should leave now. It'll take some time to get there and you probably don't want to be there too far past dark." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He adjusted his glasses. "Well, there are a lot of human souls and Keshin eggs just kind of laying out in the open, and it's attracting a type of "swarm" to the area." He continued. I felt like there was something off about it all. I was just nervous for my first mission.

"Okay. We'll head over." James said, nodding.

Stein reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. He handed it to Mari, and I looked over it as she and James did too. The address was there, the name of the certain Keshin we were after stated. "You can drive them, Mari." He said.

Mari grinned. "Sounds good to me." She lifted what must've been her keys out of her bag. She walked out of the classroom. "I'll pick you guys up in front of the steps in fifteen." She said.

I nodded to Stein and James and I walked back to our other friends. They were waiting. "First mission?" Soul asked, looking into my eyes.

"Sounds like fun." Black Star grinned.

Kidd gave me a smile, nodding. "Looks like you can starts collecting souls." He said.

"We'll watch Skye, too!" Liz said, playing with Skye's face.

"Yeah, and thanks." I said, feeling my cheeks heat up. There was something scratching at the back of my memory. Ever since the whole thing happened with my other... form, all these strange memories had been returning. They were all about my friends. They felt like they were mine, but also wrong somehow. I wasn't sure.

"Well, you guys will do fine." Maka said, pulling me from my daze. I smiled at them, and we continued chatting until it had been ten or so minutes. We left, and I watched our friends go off through a side door, going to have lunch, I supposed.

James and I walked in silence for a few minutes. I cleared my throat. "I'm worried." I said, stating what was on my mind. "About what's going to happen, I mean." I finished.

He nodded. "It'll be fine." He said.

"But what if—" I started, and he stopped me.

He smiled. "Everything will be fine." He said. I let out a breath and nodded. We walked down the long steps and waited a few minutes before we heard a loud revving sound, and a sleek black car pulled up. By the way James's mouth dropped some, I figured it was some expensive brand car.

The window rolled down and I saw Mari's grinning face. "Come on. We have a forty-minute drive." She said.

"Shotgun!" I blurted out and ran around the car, getting in. James took the back, swearing under his breath about how he thought he'd break something by touching it.

Mari adjusted the stereo as she pulled away from the Academy steps and down the streets of Death City. "Let's go do this." Mari said, smiling at James and I. "You two are going to kick ass. I'm just there in case. I'm going to watch. Film it." She said, waving her phone a little.

I laughed, and James rolled his eyes with a smile. Things couldn't go wrong, right?