Stein X Marie

Betrayal

(This story is gonna be in a different format from now on hopefully. Instead of 'I' and 'Me' it's gonna be 'she' and 'he'. :) Hopefully it'll be a bit better for reading.)

It was a couple of days later, and Marie was healing from the wound in her arm. It didn't really hurt anymore, so she barely noticed it. At the moment, she was in the process of organizing their little dorm to distract herself from boredom. She simply wanted to pick up and organize some of Stein's dissection equipment to help him while he was out asking around about the letters. They both knew that the only people who would've cared enough to intercept those letters went to this academy, so she'd sent Stein out to ask around discreetly to see if they could find the culprit. Although.. She was fairly afraid of who it could be, as she knew she'd be extraordinarily hurt if it was someone they were close to.

Stein had asked around for the first few hours of the day, finding nothing on who could've intercepted the letters. He was honestly becoming frustrated and was incredibly confused by this action. What gain or purpose could stopping their letters possibly serve to someone? He finally decided to give it a rest for the morning, returning home and sighing as he turned to Marie. "This doesn't make any sense Marie. What could taking our letters do for anyone?" He muttered, this scenario running through his head as he tried to figure it out. It didn't make any sense to him. And only a few people knew about  how close they were to add to it all, they were all friends.

"I'm not sure.. I don't know why anyone would do such a thing. Everyone who could've done it knew how much it would hurt us.." Marie answered sadly, stopping her work to look up at Stein. She moved over to him, wrapping her arms around his torso in a loving hug. Her incredibly calming wavelength permeating the air around her, the girl hoping to calm Stein's obviously fraying nerves. "But it's okay. We'll figure it out soon I'm sure." She mumbled, her head barely reaching his shoulder as she was quite a bit shorter than her Meister.

Stein sighed again, Marie's wavelength really helping his nervousness in this moment. He looked down to her, watching her to kind of see how she was feeling as well. "Yes....well I would hope so anyway." He murmured, going through his mental list of people who did know about them and only becoming more confused. He really couldn't find any one person that he pin pointed as suspicious.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door, causing Marie to turn and go to the door as she was usually the one to answer. She smiled when she saw their good friend Spirit standing there with a bit of a nervous air around him. However, being Marie, she didn't notice the nerves and immediately let him in. "Oh it's so nice to see you, Spirit! We've been contemplating who could've ever disrupted them getting to us.. But we can't figure it out. Can you help?" She asked hopefully, backing up to stand by Stein.

Spirit tensed up immediately when Marie mentioned the letters, then automatically trying to shake off that reaction and smiling sheepishly. "Oh, letters? I... I never knew you sent any, Marie. Stein never got any letters." He murmured, seeming normal, though the subtle hint of fear was still there for those who looked for it. Marie was too blindly trusting of her friends to see it, so it went directly over her head.

Stein nodded to his former partner in greeting, still a bit preoccupied with this question on his mind. However, unlike Marie, Stein was cautious of everyone in a situation like this.  He noticed Spirit's attempt of hiding the fear, this certainly becoming a bit suspicious. He hummed thoughtfully, listening in to the conversation. "yes.  quite unusual isn't it spirit? we both sent letters but neither of us received any of the other's. few people knew about us, so do you have any ideas?" He asked, carefully watching the death scythe's reaction to this.

A slight shiver went up Spirit's back at Stein's words, a sweat drop appearing on his forehead. "It is quite unusual, huh. I have no idea who could've done such a thing, but I'll help you look if you like." Spirit replied, the fear intensifying as he took a subtle step toward the door, obviously wanting to get out of there. "It must've been someone here.." He added, trying to save himself by hinting so they wouldn't think it was him. No one gave real clues if they were the culprit. Stein and Marie knew that.... right? Spirit thought to himself, glancing at a rather clueless Marie who had returned to sorting a particularly cluttered corner of the living room.

Stein noticed the slight step towards the door, his suspicion only growing of the man. "Yes. It was someone from here, wasn't it Spirit?" He murmured, stepping forward towards the redhead as he spoke. Soon, Spirit was practically cornered. "Maybe I should dissect you to tell...." He muttered, his eyes becoming a bit wide and turning that pale gray color. He stared down at the scythe with an air of slight madness around him. "I think that would be fun." He whispered, slowly reaching into his pocket and grabbing his scalpel.  If Spirit was innocent, he wouldn't have anything to worry about. If he was lying......

Spirit's eyes went as wide as saucers and he pressed into the corner, eyes darting around, looking for a way out. Finally, as Marie turned around and gave a small gasp, Spirit relented. "A-Alright! N-No dissecting!" He exclaimed, a shiver in his voice.

Marie, intrigued and also nervous, walked back over to Stein's side and set a hand on his shoulder. She just wanted to make sure he wouldn't go too mad in his intimidation. Spirit sighed, standing straight and fixing his jacket, looking into the professor's eyes. "It was me Stein... But you have to listen to my reasoning." He explained calmly, a sad look in his blue eyes that almost made them duller than the bright blue they usually were.

Stein twitched slightly, looking away from him and instead to the ground more towards Marie. "Fine Spirit, but you better start talking." He growled, glancing up to him with controlled anger in his eyes.  He was absolutely holding himself back from dissecting his former partner. "explain your reasoning." He ordered, watching him and already thinking of all the ways he could tear him apart.

Spirit looked down and fidgeted with his hands. "Well... I-I thought.." He started, then letting out a deep breath and finally looking back up. "I thought if I let you think that she'd forgotten, maybe you would be able to move on. I didn't want you to get depressed when you couldn't see her and only had letters to rely on. I thought is was the right thing to do, Stein.. But I was wrong." He admitted, just hoping that what he said was enough. He did seem very sorry for what he did, and he knew there was nothing he could do to take it back.

At hearing this confession, Marie teared up, hurt and betrayed by Spirit's actions. She didn't make a sound though, allowing Stein to speak instead. She simply let the tears fall silently down her cheeks as she put her head down, her hair covering her eyes and hiding them.

Stein heard this, however he remained eerily quiet. Finally, he looked up, giving a fury filled and yet cold glare towards Spirit. He stared at the man for a moment, thinking over his reasoning. He then stepped forward again, grabbing spirit by his throat and then holding him up against the wall, the shorter man's feet dangling inches above the ground. "That.... wasn't your decision Spirit. I waited. For years!" He growled, his voice trembling with seething rage. "Do you even understand what you've done? She was my ONLY friend spirit! I would've easily had letters over nothing at all." He spat, his eyes a bit wild as he relived those years for a moment.  He had been so confused, wondering why Marie hadn't responded. Had she forgotten about him? Moved away as to not even see him anymore? Had he done something? Or had she never liked him at all? But no. It had been Spirit, stealing and hiding her letters and taking his away before they were sent. Madness began to eat at him more, taking ahold of his anger and betrayal.  If he couldn't trust spirit,  who could he trust? They had shared wavelengths, became friends. And he had done this. Well... now he was going to pay.

(Ooohhh dear.. Spirit is in trouble! Poor Stein and Marie.. :( But another cliffhanger! I promise this time it won't take a year to continue. 😂 Hope you liked the chapter! And thanks to All_Anime_Otaku For helping me out with this story!)