You're shocked by your parents decision. How can they do this to you? They know it's your dream to go to Harvard, yet they tell you to go here instead?

"We think it's for the best," your mother says, sitting across from you at your kitchen table. You look out the window behind them and it's a beautiful day. You instantly regret declining your friend's request to go hang out.

You angrily place your hands on the table and quickly stand up, sending your chair flying. "But I don't want to go to the Death Weapon Miester Academy! I want to go to Harvard!"

But they shake their heads at you. "You'll thank us later. Now start packing. Semester starts next week. You're going to stay with whoever you partner up with, and until that happens you're going to stay with our family friend's son." Your father says, shooing you from the room.

You're filled with rage. As an only child, you're not used to not being able to have freedom and be able to do whatever you want. You can't help but think to yourself Why do they have to control my life when it matters? Anything else! Moving away from my friends, whatever. Just not this!

It takes you all week to pack, and because of the summer holidays you have that opportunity. When your done, the room looks empty and barren. You don't bother call your friends good-bye because around them you're uncomfortable and your secretly okay with leaving them behind.

You stand in your kitchen the day you're supposed to leave. Your father and mother have finished packing the car. It's time to leave, but you don't want to. You run your hands over your kitchen table, where not to long ago your parents told you about how you were transitioning from your school.

You can feel someone walk in. It's your mother. "Come on sweetie. Your flight leaves in a few hours."

But you can't help the shock as you turn. "FLIGHT?!"

Your mother shakes her head. "Yes, I'm sorry it's so far. But you'll have fun right? And be safe?"

But you simply push past her and get in the car. You're ready to get out of here, and you're ready now.

As you exit the cab, you can't help but notice how strange the city you're in looks. It's probably all that candy you ate on the plane, you tell yourself. It'll look fine in the morning.

You've got your suitcase in hand and your staring at your map. You've only got a bit more money, after your 6 hour flight and 3 hour cab ride. It's 9:00 and you're ready to find the apartment you're gonna stay in. Your luggage is being mailed, so you've only got to carry a bit of stuff. With your head held high, you prepare yourself for a long walk through the strange city called Death City.

It's been an hour. You're drenched to the bone and tired. If it wasn't for the fact that you had a hard-shell suitcase that repelled rain water you'd give up. But that meant that inside there was dry clothes inside you could change into once you found your address.

You know it may not be the smartest idea, but from where you're standing you can see a long alleyway. At the far end there is a street sign with Death Lane written on it. You've found your street.

You don't want to risk losing it. You begin to cross the alleyway. But you realize as your walking it's the perfect place for an ambush because of the ways it branches of in many directions. And you're not the only one.

A strange man with a spring for a nose and a scar running down his face is attacking a girl not much older than you. She's on the ground, arms shielding her face as he lashes at her with his talons. As he takes another swipe at her, she collapses. She's lying on the ground, waiting for the final blow. You step towards them, ready to interfere. But a hand covers your mouth and your waist.

The hands pull you backwards as a voice whispers in your ears "There's no chance for her. She'd be dead before we could make the street."

You let yourself be pulled backwards. The arms are strong, and the hard chest and deep voice indicates it's a male that's got you. You figure once you're in a good spot you'll hit him where it hurts and run in the direction of your street.

But as soon as your out of sight and ear range the hands let go. You turn. A boy around your age with white hair and red eyes meets your gaze and holds it. He's pretty good looking, you can't help but thinking. He's pretty good looking.

He's got a girl with him. She's around your age too and has her dirty blond hair in pig tails. Her green eyes twinkle in the low light.

"We'll take care of it. Wait here. Come on Soul." the girl says to you. So the boy's name is Soul, you think. Soul. It's a pretty cool name. A pretty cool AND familiar name.

But he gestures to you. "We can't leave her here alone Maka. Not cool."

But now you know you've heard Soul somewhere before. And it's extremely rare, so it's highly unlikely it's about someone else. As they argue with each other, You're lost in thought. But then it hits you.

"Soul? Soul Evans?"

He glances at you. "Yeah, why?"

You face palm and hand him the letter you got explaining what's going on with school and such. He nods and hands it to Maka.

She looks up from it. "You're the person we were waiting for?"

"You knew about this?" Soul asks Maka. You can't help but smile.

"We'll take you home in a minute. But right now Soul and I have a kishin to take care of." Maka said, marching ahead. "We've got a job to do."

You shrug. "I suppose you do."

Your bed hasn't arrived yet so you sleep on the floor of Maka's room. She's set up a nice mat covered in blankets and pillows for you. She's also cleared half of her dresser for you, and you're stunned by her kindness.

You lie down comfortably on your make shift bed. Once your real one comes you're going to move to a few feet away from Maka where one of her bookshelves currently sat. She was moving it to their living room.

You wait until you've said goodnight to Maka to sleep. You also make sure to thank her for everything. She smiles at you. But just as you're almost asleep you think (and ask!) her a question. "How come Soul didn't know I was coming but you did? I thought he would've heard from his father."

She sighs. "When your parents asked if you could stay with us he said yes. Then he sent us a letter saying that a family friend was coming to live with us until she was on her feet. I read it in the morning and left it out all day. Then I recycled it that night. I thought he had read it. I was wrong."

Your throat feels weird. You were forced upon Maka. But before you can apologize she continues talking.

"But I'm glad this happened because now I have the opportunity to know you!"

"Yeah. Me too." You both try to fall asleep then, and part of you is glad you came. Yes you still want to go to Harvard, but you realize that here may not be too bad. There's Maka and Soul...

Why did your heart beat speed up? It feels like it's going double time. Before you fall under, your last thought is of Soul's arms around you. A thought that you're glad to keep.

You wake up at around 7:50. The sun is shining and you're ready to go to wherever Maka and Soul are going to take you.

You sit up to see if Maka's awake. Not only is she awake, but she's not in bed. You start to get up when you hear Soul and Maka talking about you.

"What are we going to do? Your room isn't big enough for two beds." It's Soul. Your heart falters. Is he upset about you being here?

"I'm okay with it. After all, it's only temporary." Maka. At least she doesn't mind.

"I mean, she doesn't bug me at all, and she seems friendly. And turning down the request of a family friend? Not cool."

You hear Maka sigh. "What are we going to do financially?"

"The letter said she had money and they'd put it in her bank account as she needed it. Why Maka? Are you worried? Not cool."

"I'm more worried about how Kid will react when he realizes we have 889 students instead of 888. That'll be an event."

You've just gotten over the strange boy at the top of the stairs yelling "889- is not symmetrical!" When you realize you're late for class.

But in all of them you sit next to Soul. And in all of your classes you can't focus because you sit next to Soul. How your arms would occasionally touch- The whispering in your ear telling you what the professor means- all of it. You feel your heart pound every time.

You're at your locker between lunch when you hear a group of five people walk through the hallways. You feel intimidated.

"Come on. Kid, it'd be SOO fun." A tall girl says. She's the oldest except for another boy. She's talking to a boy with similar features- black hair and stripes, dressed in black and white, the shinigami mask- they must be siblings. Wait a minute, you think, Kid?

It's the boy from earlier who Maka and Soul were talking about. The one that'd be angry with you. He was also the guy at the top of the stairs who couldn't introduce himself he was so mad.

"No Athena. Liz, Patty and I need to speak with father. Make Fyre do it." Kid responded.

The girl, Athena, groans. "He won't do it. He says it's 'irresponsible'"

You shut your locker door. You have all your books for your next class after lunch. As you close it, Kid has his first opportunity to glance at your face he stops. "Wait, are you new?" He says, freezing.

You stop and blink. "Um, is this a trick question?"

Athena mutters "Oh great."

He steps forward. "You ARE new aren't you? Because you obviously don't know all my rules about symmetry. Rule one-" But he can't finish because Athena elbows him in the ribs.

She sticks her hand towards you. "I'm the eldest daughter of the reaper, Athena Artemis Death. The lunatic here is my brother Death the Kid. My green eyed friend here is Fyre, and the tall lady is Liz. Plus her little sister Patty."

You blink twice and shake her hand. "Reaper? Why haven't I heard of you before?"

She laughs. "Haven't heard of me? IwuvSoul posted two fan fictions based purely on my adventures!"

You blink. "What're they called?"

"Soul Eater After Story and The Dead- My Guide."

Fyre elbows her, but it doesn't look like it hurt her. You can hear him hiss under his breath, "You promised never to talk about that!"

You're deeply relieved when you see Maka walking towards you.

"Oh hey Athena. Fyre," she says nodding in his direction. "It's been a while."

He smiles. "Yeah. There's a lot of kishin out there, and Athena won't stop until they're all destroyed."

Athena elbows him. "You make ME sound like the bad guy. Hey-" she says, turning to you. "We don't know your name yet."

You blink. "Oh. My name is _."

She places her hands on her hips and smiles at you. "Cool name. You'll go far in life. Unlike this" she kicks Kid "useless excuse for reaper."

But Kid doesn't react. He's on the floor muttering "889 students- Is not symmetrical!"

You're ready to scream "Freaks!" and run away when the bell rings. Lunch is over. You decide you're not THAT hungry and that you'll eat later when you get home. As the bell chimes, students on this lunch shift run out of class with their hands on their stomachs and their mouths. They all run to the bathroom.

Maka frowns at them. You turn to her. "Where's our next class? It's with-" you glance at your schedule. "-Doctor Stein."

Maka looks grim. "It's right there. The one everyone ran out of. Soul is going to meet us there." She turns to the reapers. "Later Athena, Fyre, Kid, Liz, and Patty. We've got a dissection to go through."

By the time you've entered the room, The only reminisce of the previous class is a little blood on the table at the front of his class. A few students got in before you, and one of them is Soul.

You slide in next to him. Doctor Stein is cleaning his scalpel, smiling evilly at the covered cages behind him.

You swallow hard. It seems like the flooding of students has ended. And they're all headed to their seats.

Professor Stein grins now at the class. "Were doing- let's see- dissection today!"

A groan radiates. You help.

"But _ has to miss out. Lord Death wants to talk to you. Alone."

You swallow. Grabbing your books, you head out the door. You brace yourself for the worst when a thought occurs. Maybe he's just calling you down to welcome you because it's your first day? But why did he insist alone?

And if it's a private meeting with Death it can't be good.