Practice, practice, practice [Open to all]

Alfred was speeding through the forest, taking down bushes or anything that had the misfortune of being in front of him. He stumbled into a clearing and fell on his face, still hearing voices of a very angry teacher yelling at him to return at once, scrambling up to his feet and continued his dash.

This was a normal sort of thing. Alfred often did something to piss off a teacher. Last week not coming to class, this time for not doing his punishment cleaning the library and sneaking out through a window. That sorta stuff.

Yes, just a normal sort of thing. The blond knew he would need to go back and face the music eventually, but for now, he was content with being on the lamb and just plain eating up the time he had before he was drug back. The boy jumped and aimed for a tree, his grip tightening onto the branch and swinging to another, panting, looking behind to see if he could still hear anyone. He didn't have that fancy soul perception most of the other meisters had, so he had to rely on what he could see and hear. He paused, being surprisingly quiet, blue eyes scanning the area.

Nothing. He sighed, leaning forward and dropping down from the tree into the clearing and sinking to the ground, taking a deep breath to calm down and regain his breath. Man, he really shouldn't have eaten before running like that!

"Huh?" Alfred blinked, looking around at who had spoken and suddenly spotting who had just said that. 'I hardly saw the guy there... damn I'm horrible at locating people, maybe that's why I don't get cool missions!' The scythe thought to himself, standing up and pushing off the tree to give his weak legs a head-start in moving.

"Teachers and all that jazz." He grinned, tilting his head lightly as he walked, feeling where he had landed pretty hard on his left leg and slumped down about halfway to the person across from him. He didn't feel like he recognized him before, but he could tell this was a meister.

"And yeah I'm cool." The boy replied, rubbing his leg and inwardly wincing. 'Well, maybe I should keep the jumping down till this sprain or whatever it is heals up... better be fast.' Alfred spoke inwardly before meeting the Meister's eyes with his own. He seemed timid with the way he spoke, much of a contrast to himself who never stuttered.

"So what are you doing out here then, and who are you anyway?" He crossed his arms, the wind fluttering the fur color on his jacket just a bit.

Acadia didn't really understand why she had been given such a random task by her fellow staff. Originally she had been indulging in her guilty pleasure of reading one of the new books that the school had received and was informed of a student was there to serve his punishment. He was assigned to clean up the library and from a quick glance she could tell of his discontent of his placement. Acadia could never understand why most of the students disliked such a wonderful place of knowledge and learning.

A while later she noticed her co-worker had stomped into the library looking for the same student. Since the teacher had duties to attend to, the young librarian had to leave her post momentarily in search of the misbehaving student. The only information she had was that it was a weapon soul.

In the end, Acadia began wandering around in search of the boy. With soul protect on it was indeed hard for her to locate the student. But she had to find the student or she too would end up in trouble.

As she slowly moved through the area, Acadia enjoyed the scent of the outside which contrasted with the library scent she was so used to. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks as heard some voices nearby. Glancing by from her location, she spotted two students. Pausing for a moment of thought she came to the conclusion that it was better to wait before rudely intruding their conversation.

"So you can see my soul?" Alfred asked, his blue eyes wandering around himself, not seeing anything. Looking at the other, still nothing. He envied that. He could not see sould, yet he was told how amazing they were. He knew they tasted really good, but those were evil souls. His eyes wandered back down to his leg beneath his hand. "Yeah, I'm cool, told ya, just landed weird is all." He stated with a warm smile.

Alfred had been peaceful up until he heard the boy's name. "Williams?" He asked, feeling something in his chest jump and his soul shook just a tad. That name didn't exactly bring back good memories to him, but he grit his teeth. It could just be pure coincidence. He was sure someone else had to have the last name. "Alfred. I'm Alfred F. Jones." Another grin, a beaming one with a starry look in his eye as he calmed down a bit from the initial shock of the name.

He turned his head to match Matthieu's, stareing over at the peak of blond hair and a form he recognized, jumping to his feet. "Shit! They found me already!?" He cried, trying to make a break for it, but his left leg gave out and he tumbled back to the ground with a 'thud', stareing at the librarian with a defeated look.

Acadia blinked in surprise as she was addressed by one of the students. Matthieu Williams was his name if she caught it right from the boy. Her attention however was focused on how the boy directed his questioning to her. First of all she had to ease the tension in the air. Being gentle and warming was indeed a second nature to her. " Pardon me for my intrusion. I hope I didn't scare either of you.", she stated as she entered the clearing. She watched as one of boys tried to escape but ended up failing. Was he wounded perhaps?

Giving a pause she hoped for the best," My name is Acadia. I am one of the librarians for DWMA. " Wait a moment. Didn't the boy just ask what she was? Although she felt a little impressed by the Matthieu's soul perception capabilities, it she feared that they would treat her differently if they knew that she was a witch. " I'm not exactly sure what do you mean by your second question but I think we should tend to your friend first." Avoiding the question, she tried to shift the priority of the situation to the other student by the name of Alfred. It was better that they did not know the truth.

She strolled over to the boy on the ground and kneeled beside himself to have a better look at the sprained leg. Judging from what he had said earlier, he was probably the student her co-worker was looking for. Acadia felt that it was not right to drag an injured student back and have him possibly injure himself even more. So she heaved a soft sigh and hoped she wouldn't get in trouble.

" Mr.Jones.", She tried to adress him in a friendly manner " The teacher who was in charge your punishment kindly asked me to bring you back but from the looks of your injury, it would be best to take you to the Dispensary first to get that treated." Acadia gave a polite smile as she gestured to his leg.

Alfred's eyes were locked onto the woman at all times, pausing a bit at the way Matthieu asked his question and the way she responded. That was kinda weird. His gaze shifted to the meister a bit before returning to the woman as she sat next to him. He knew he would be drug back even if it meant being beaten within an inch of his life!

His eyes clenched shut for the moment, waiting for the impending beating or an intimidation of the Reaper Chop, even holding his head as if from pain, but batting open one eye cautiously, looking to Acadia and gulping. So he wouldn't be beaten within an inch of his life? Aweso--

Wait. The Dispensary? "Augh! No way that's where that creepy Stein guy is! I heard stories about him dissecting people!" Alfred flailed back a tad, not getting far at all and looking more like awkward flailing. He didn't like hospital-like rooms or being treated for anything, especially when it involved creepy doctors.

His eyes wandered to Matthieu who had picked him up, which he didn't much mind, it got the pressure off his leg, stareing at him.Just what was this guy offering? Was he gonna take his place or something? Normally, Alfred would have accepted, but he was the hero, and this kid hadn't done anything. Heroes don't go around blameing other people.

"I'm fine! Seriously!" He waved his hands in front of his face.

Acadia was quite taken back by the reaction of the two students. Matthieu's sudden offer to replace his friend was very sudden. The boy would sacrifice himself for his fellow friend? That was indeed a character of a good model but seriously cleaning up the library wasn't a terrible job. She would know better than anyone else.

Standing up she observed Alfred. For a moment she felt like she knew the two boys for a long time but couldn't put a finger on it why. Putting that thought aside Acadia gave a chuckle at what Alfred had said.

" I've never seen or heard such an occurrence happen before. Mr.Stein is quite a nice man once you've met him so I'm not quite sure where such rumours came from. " Honestly, what were these sorts of gossip about the other staff she had been hearing about these days. Dissecting students? That's not even allowed in this school. Then again, nothing was technically normal about the school either.

" If you really wish to avoid that place, we can get that injury treated in the library.", She paused hoping that her offer would sound nice enough for the students to not run away. " And since your friend here also willing help with the library you two can share the job of cleaning the library up together."

Okay maybe Acadia was a little too direct.

"I heard it from all kinds of people! Especially that one Death Scythe that's still around here! Stein's partner! The one with red hair-- kinda perverted, yeah!" Alfred stated, not remembering the man's name, but remembering his appearance and of course how he acted when he had met him. He knew Stein because he was prone for hurting himself being as clumsy as he could be.

Not to mention he was in Stein's class. He always fell over when he came into the room, which was funny until he kept talking like nothing had happened, and if you talked while he was talking you got a scalpel thrown at you. Also, Stein was the only one to ever wield him. It was during a practice for meisters to match wavelengths, so Stein picked the most difficult one to match with, and that happened to be Alfred.

"No, don't make Matt go and do my stuff for him, that's not cool 'teach!" he scythe cried, struggling a bit to stand on his own. He was still debating to get treated in the library or by Stein. He really had a tough time with that since it was obvious the teacher was mad at him for escaping so they wouldn't go easy on him or anything, but he decided it would be better than getting one of his kidney's taken.

The blond sighed. "Look, we can just wrap it up or something in the Library as long as Matt doesn't have to do anything." He decided to strike a deal at least. He was sure Matthieu would thank him for it later. Another person to think of him as a personal hero!

Looking at Alfred and then Matthieu, she noticed they seemed to be conflicting a little bit. Well, she had to do something about that injury first. " We can figure out your punishment later." Pausing she noticed that he had mentioned something about a Death Scythe.

Death Scythe....Death Scythe...The name sounded familiar. Wait a moment. Red hair and perverted. That man?! Acadia's flickered violet for a moment while her cheeks flushed red as she recalled upon the person that Alfred was talking about. The last time she had met Spirit was an awkward moment for the girl. She really didn't want to mention the details about it.

" Well then why don't we settle for some tea together in the library then? You can tell me the details about this information you have been told." And she would deal with the information later. A calm smile came from the librarian as she was going to give a certain Death Scythe an earful after for teaching the students such nonsense.

Alfred frowned a bit at this. He had no real choice in what was going to happen, so he decided he might as well go with it. He would have to be taken back to the library anyway, and he would much rather do it in a way that didn't have him experimented on. And it seemed Matthieu wanted to be in the library. He had no idea why anyone would want to be in that place. 'He must be a teacher's pet or something.' He thought to himself, nodding lightly.

"Does it gotta be tea? I hate that stuff." He stuck out his tongue and scrunched up his face in a disgusted manner. He just never did, he always liked coffee better. And the only time he would ever drink tea was if his mother made it hot and put a lot of sugar and honey in it. "Can I have some coffee or something? I like that. It's way better." The weapon grinned.

He tilted his bad ankle back and stool like a flamingo on one foot, trying to get the other student to lessen his grip on him. He could just hop his way back if he wanted to, it wasn't that hard. He may be clumsy, but balance when he needed to have it was another thing, he supposed.

At least they were now at a compromise. It was odd how certain people preferred coffee while others like tea. Was there some sort of conflict between these two hot beverages that she had missed? " We have coffee too so you don't need to worry.", She informed Alfred and gave Matthieu a quick smile. " And I'm glad to hear that. It's not everyday I serve afternoon tea to other people, especially students."

Standing up, she gave a quick pat to her skirt making sure that it wasn't wrinkled or dirty. Looking over to the shorter boy she made sure the two were okay. He seemed to be contemplating about something. She guessed that it was either the rumours of Stein or that pervert Spirit.

" So since we have a long way back, why don't you tell me about yourselves?" She had some interest in the boys as they still felt quite familiar to her. It was almost as if they were the boys she had been searching for over the pass few years she was at DWMA. There could be no way for such a coincidence to occur but it wouldn't hurt to know them better. Mathieu's surname did peak her interest however.

"Mmm, c'mon I'm fine." Alfred pouted, trying to detach himself from the other blond to limp on his own. He still had a bit of a lean on Matthieu, but had taken it upon himself to put most of his weight on his good foot. He figured he could handle this on his own. He grinned when he learned they had coffee. That would probably make him feel a thousand times better just by drinking it! That's how it usually was! Alfred knew for a fact that stupid tea couldn't help him like that. It just had no real punch to it. More like it made you go to sleep, not wake you up like coffee did.

He supposed this was better turnout than he could have ever imagined. He could get his leg patched up without creepy old Stein holding a knife to his face and he wouldn't have to clean the library! Plus the teacher didn't even seem mad at him! This was awesome, no, he would need a new word to describe this. He'd need to think of it later when he wasn't in pain and had coffee. He always thought better that way.

For a moment, Alfred considered transforming to make it easier to get back to the library, but he remembered shortly after that every time he transformed and someone tried to pick him up their hands either burned or he was too heavy because they weren't awesome enough to match wavelengths! Better like this where he wasn't burning anyone.

"I'm Alfred F. Jones! I'm the hero of Shibushen! I'm gonna be everyone's hero and be the best Death Scythe ever! In the history of ever! And everyone will look up to me then!" He grinned to the librarian. That sounded like enough of an explanation. He didn't need to explain anything else, he was a hero, plain and simple!

Alfred sighed and shook his head. "You can't handle me." He pouted, continuing to limp almost on his own now. He didn't expect the fact the other could see souls to change anything. No one could handle him, he had started to expect it. Stein had even confronted him and told him that if he wanted a partner he'd have a hard time if he kept up his act. But Alfred didn't know what act he was keeping up, he was just being him, and he could be nothing else.

"I don't mean that in a mean way, I mean it as you probably will burn your hands or won't be able to pick me up." He stated, feeling the need to re-state that in case it sounded like an insult. If he wanted to insult someone he would do better than that anyway. Alfred's eyelids fell a bit on his sky-blue eyes. So this kid didn't have parents either? Well, he could relate since he hadn't seen his parents in ages. He could hardly even say he had parents at this point. But he'd have them back once he became stronger, when he became a Death Scythe, and the hero of Shibusen. Then he would have them back. Everyone would accept him then...

Parents? Come to think of it, Acadia never really paid much attention to her parents either but only visited their graves once in a while. It was far too long ago for her to remember them. She had only an old and worn photograph she had at home. She could barely make out their faces from the aged photo which was now sepia in colour. " Oh I see. I'll tell you about myself too seeing that it's only proper. Well I'm here at Shibusen because I'm looking for some of my relatives. Oh and I also own a pet polar bear too. Her name's Kumarie and she's sleeping at the library right now." Acadia gave a quiet chuckle as she imagined Kumarie to wake up in a grumpy mood since no one's in the library.

However, something else had caught her attention. The two boys seemed to be conflicting in some way. Between personalities or wave lengths. She was unable to use her magic, but Acadia could still feel the two wavelengths of the two students. It was almost like a second nature she had honed in order to protect herself in case someone had the ability to see through Soul Protect. It would leave her vulnerable if an enemy had such an ability so Acadia forced herself to be able to sense other souls to a small degree as a fail safe measure.

Glancing over to the injured boy, Alfred's wavelength felt erratic and varied from one second to another. At moments it was slow and suddenly would pick up in pace. It was simply so irregular that there was no set pattern or flow of the wave. On the other hand, Matthieu's soul was constantly adjusting which caused Acadia's mental alarm set off. This boy was unknowingly quite a dangerous student. Being able to be like a mould of sorts meant that as every second ticked by, this boy was getting stronger whether he knew or not. Stein has really picked quite the two students to deal with.

Snapping from her analysis, Acadia smiled and felt the urge to place a reassuring hand on both of their shoulders. The two seemed to be struggling internally with their own problems but if her hypothesis was correct, due to their differences these two would be able to sync perfectly. Although she was taking a gamble threatening her own life, for some reason Acadia wanted to support the two students. " Why don't we give it a try then? For some reason, I have a small feeling that you two might match up even for a short period of time."

Alfred stopped short in front of the slightly shorter blond, keeping his weight on his good leg and blinking. If he transformed and no one could pick him up, he would end up on the ground when he became human again. That would be a huge pain in the ass to deal with, but it looked like he wasn't going to get around Matthieu.

He could feel the other boy's soul with his abilities as a weapon. It was no longer shaking, and though he could not see it, he could feel the soul calm down like it was an ocean or something. He was surprised by the way it had shifted like that just by him saying what he did. A sigh escaped his lips. "Fine." He grinned, taking Matthieu's hand with his own.

The young male closed his blue eyes and relaxed each part of his body, letting his soul's always-erratic wave wash over him and take over his body. His body went aglow with a dark blue light, a warming shine covered the things around him as his soul showed itself briefly by covering his body. Alfred's body shifted in the air and wound into a pole shape, the shining metal appearing in Matt's hand.

Alfred's weapon form was a black long pole with what appeared to be splatters from a paintbrush in a line at the top. Red, white, and blue. Different flecks of those three colors appeared randomly down the cold steel. In the middle of the pole sported a black pole that stretched out to act as a handle of sorts. The top and bottom of the pole had black poles that formed a half-square someone could supposedly stand on that rested at the tops of two glimmering silver blades that appeared with the same blue glowing light and a loud 'shing'. One blade flipped to the left side, the other to the right. A double bladed scythe. The shining blades had two zig-zag patterns that were deep blue in color, reflecting light just like the silver part of the blade.

"There, happy?" Alfred's face and bare upper body appeared in the upper blade, crossing his arms in the reflection. He hadn't turned into a weapon for a long time, it felt good to show it off. Now all that was left was to see if Matthieu could wield him long enough to get back to the library.

Alfred was wide-eyed at the sight. This guy could use him? He had never had that happen! The way he handled him was different and he wasn't quite used to being used as a weapon. But Matthieu seemed to handle him well without hurting himself with that always-present second blade. Alfred on his own was more fierce with how he fought, being spun around in such ways were different, but he supposed every meister would have their own way of wielding someone like him.

He blinked over to the blond, his reflection slightly blue-tinted still under the influence of his soul budging to the surface. His blue eyes seemed to intensify by this, and being wielded as he was he could feel the soul holding him. His reflection dissipated into the blade for a moment and he took a deep breath. Alfred wanted to concentrate on the soul carrying him. It wasn't like he could do this often. Not at all. While not in resonance, he was still more in-tune with the soul carrying him.

It was dark, nothing but darkness. He looked around and noticed a deep blue soul. That was his. He smiled to himself upon seeing the small but strong soul gleaming against the dark. The other was a lighter soul with a few colors put into it. 'Is that his soul then?' He could almost reach out and touch it, something told him not to, something even felt familiar about it, but before he could touch it, he opened his eyes again to the sound of Matthieu's voice.

"Really?" Alfred asked, his reflection re-appearing and blinking to the other blond. "Well, I guess I am kinda awesome, huh? I always knew I was an awesome weapon. It's why I'll make the greatest Death Scythe ever!" He smiled brightly, noticing the looks he was getting. he felt a swell of pride at people being able to see him in this awesome form.