The figure turned, and I was startled as I saw that the mask that Lord Death wore wasn't terrifying. It actually looked relatively happy. I wondered why he wore the mask. Perhaps it was because he had scars, or maybe, he simply just didn't want to show his face.

"Ah! (Y/n)! So glad you came." He said, moving forward. I stepped back a little, a feeling of fear in my chest. He only laughed. "Yes. I guess that I can be a little terrifying the fist time that you meet me. But please. Don't be." He said. He gestured for me to come forward, and I cautiously did, a little scared. He seemed to look me up and down, nodding a second later. "Good. Good." He said. "You can join." He said.

I was a little confused. What exactly was happening? He wants to enroll me in the academy? What if I didn't want to? I looked back at Stein, the red haired man, Marie, and Mari. Where else would I go?

I looked back to Lord Death and nodded. "A quiet one?" he asked, laughing a little, and I felt red begin to brush over my cheeks. "That's fine." He chuckled, and then pulled a slip of paper out of what seemed to be thin air. "Here." He said, handing the slip of paper to me. "It's a contract, one that you must sign to join the Academy. All students do."

I looked down at the paper, the letters taking a moment before they made sense. When was the last time I had read anything? Too long, apparently, because it took me longer than it should to read over the contract.

It had rules, guidelines, and stated the punishments that would occur if I broke any of the "agreements", as they called them. It said that besides being expelled form the academy, that depending on which thing was broken, I could be hunted down and slaughtered if, say, I ate a human soul (though that mostly only applied to weapons, most meister bodies unable to consume the souls of people or keshins alike.).

I looked for a pen, and Lord Death handed me one. I looked up at him. The man seemed strange. It was as if he didn't have a soul—no. It was as if his soul was so big that it could enclose an entire city. I decided not to think much of it as I singed my name on the paper and handed it back to him.

He nodded, his cheery voice ringing out from his mask and making me flinch a little. "Well! I hope that you have a nice time at the Academy!" he said. "Mari will show you around the school, and tell you how everything works and such." He said.

I looked back at Mari, and she was smiling. "Come on, (Y/n)." She said, holding her arms out.

"Stein, Spirit, Marie," Lord Death said, and the three adults, the red haired man must've been Spirit, stayed back, waiting to listen to what the tall, dark figure had to say.

Mari pulled me down the long hallway of blades that lead out of the Death Room, still making me nervous with their sharp edges. She was talking happily, keeping our pace fast. Unfortunately, this wasn't good for my still healing body. I tugged on her hand, getting her to stop so I could take a breath. I gasped for air, a shiver running over my skin as I felt a cold draft in the hallway.

"Are you cold?" she asked. I nodded a little, and she made a noise that told me she was thinking. She snapped her fingers. "I got it!" she said, and looked at me. An uncomfortable, but at the same time warm and comforting feeling ran over me, and I looked down to see a soft leather jacket on my shoulders.

It was black leather, lined with soft satin that make my skin shiver a little. For some reason it felt like the jacket was familiar. I looked at Mari, smiling. "That better?" she asked, and that's when I saw the look in her eyes. It was odd, as if she was hiding something behind her blue eyes. And I got the feeling that it was more than just their real color. She looked like she was remembering something, reminiscing.

I tapped her shoulder a little, and she jumped, flinching. I looked at her questioningly, and she plastered a smile onto her face. "Just thinking about this person I used to know." She said, and I nodded.

She began to lead me through the hallways, explaining how the schedule worked; School classes everyday until twelve, and then time to go on missions, or do extra classes. I took in all of the information, my head spinning.

"It's a little confusing." She said. "I know. When I first came to the school, it took almost no time to get used to it though." She said. She pulled a thin phone from her pocket, and I watched as she pressed a button and the screen lit up, showing the time. There was a photo of her with a ton of other people, all of them making silly faces at the camera.

I wonder if those are her friends? I thought as she tucked her phone away, seeming to calculate the times in her head. "I skipped class this morning to go on a special mission." She said, looking at me. "But it's only eleven, so class should still be going on." She said. We started walking through the hallway. After a few minutes of walking, we came to a door that had big letters on it.

"Half Moon"

I looked at Mari questioningly, and she gestured to the door. "The name of the class." She said. I nodded as she placed her hand on the door. "Stein's the teacher. If he finished with Lord Death, he'll probably already be back here." She said. She pulled the giant door open to show rows and rows of seats, students, by the looks of them, sitting with books, pencils, and looking toward the front.

I saw Stein, who had now turned, looking at me. I was a little surprised to see him. Even though Mari had said that he would probably already be in the classroom, I hadn't known that he'd be able to move that fast. The Death Room felt so far away, but then again, maybe Mari had just been going slow for my sake.

Mari grabbed my arm lightly, and tugged on me, pulled me into the classroom where Stein had stopped his lecture and all the eyes were on me. "Ah." Stein said, and set what looked like a small knife, a scalpel, down on the desk he was standing in front of.

"Students," Steins said, looking up to the rows and rows of students who, without fail, had powerful souls. He nodded to me. "This is a new student. Their name is (Y/n)." he said, scrolling something on the board as he waved for us to find our seats. Mari grabbed my arm and pulled me up to two open seats in the very back row.

The stairs were a feat for me, but I managed to get up them without falling and keeping a strong face. At least, I hoped that it had looked strong. We took our seats, me panting slightly from the exertion and Mari grinning at the other people next to her, a girl with dirty blonde hair. I heard the name "Maka" and thought that that must've been the blonde's name. Maka.

On my other side, there was a boy with shocking white hair, and I wondered if it was bleached. He glanced over at me, and I lost my breath when I saw his red eyes. I had the strangest feeling that I had seen them before, but then again, that would've been impossible. I had never met the boy before.

He smiled at me, leaning on his arm and looking me up and down. "Hey." He said, and I smiled shakily back. I didn't reply. Not out of rudeness, but it seemed that I couldn't. He shrugged, and I noticed that he had sharp teeth, looking like shark teeth. It was a little unnerving, but I just looked back up to his eyes. "Not much of a talker?" He asked, and then chuckled when I blushed. "That's fine." He said, and I watched as he pulled a slip of paper from his backpack and scrolled something on it.

He slid it over to me, and I looked down at the words written on the paper. It read, "Soul" on it. My eyebrows scrunched together, and he wrote something beneath it. "Name". I felt the blush on my cheeks grow darker. Here I was thinking he was asking about something to do with the class, and he had just written his name on the paper.

I tentatively took the pencil from his hand. His skin was warm when it brushed his fingers, and I pulled away quickly at the odd feeling that started. It felt like fire raced up my arm. That hadn't happened when I touched Mari, but when Marie touched me, it felt kind of the same. After what had happened to me over the past few years had I become so sensitive to the touch of other people?

It seemed that Soul hadn't noticed and I just continued on, even as shivers ran down my spine. Why is Mari different? I thought as I wrote a few words down on the page. That's when I realized that she hadn't touched me once, or, at least, directly. She had grabbed my arm, that had a jacket sleeve over it, and even when she had picked me up to carry me, she hadn't touched me.

I slid the paper over to Soul, the words "I'm (Y/n)" written. I heard him laugh a little. He scrolled down a few words. "I know. Stein said that." It read. I felt my cheeks brighten again as I remembered Stein telling the class my name not three minutes ago. I was really bad at the whole 'talking to people' thing.

I wrote down an apology, my letters straight and readable, even though it seemed that my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I hadn't noticed until now that they were. He took the pencil from me and wrote, "Why are you apologizing?" he smiled at me again, his shark teeth seeming more normal now. I smiled back.

I WAITED TEN WHOLE MINUTES JUST SO I COULD POST THIS AT 12AM (West Coast time) AKA CHRISTMAS!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!! DRINK EGGNOG!! READ FANFICTION AND ALL THAT GOOd SHIT YEAH BYE!!!